Psalm 23: God Guides Us Marble Maze

I'm exploring ways of looking creatively at the themes of Psalm 23 and one thing that always strikes me is that God the Shepherd leads us whatever is happening in our lives- whether it is calm and still or dangerous and scary.  I wanted to help children to think about God being with us to guide us, even when we're not sure where we're going, and a marble maze seemed a perfect idea to illustrate it.  Even though the path is tricky, there is someone guiding the marble to its destination.

  You will need: a cardboard box, card (thin enough to fold), sellotape, scissors, a marble.

 Fold small pieces of card so that you can sellotape a 'bottom' to the floor of the cardboard box and have the other part of the fold standing up as a 'wall.'

Arrange the folded pieces of card to make a maze pathway for the marble to roll along (be sure to include some dead ends!).  Write 'S' where the marble should start its journey and 'E' where the maze should end.  It won't look pretty but I'm sure the children will be incredibly inventive!

Let children test their mazes out...

Think about:

• times when life can feel a bit confusing and you're not sure where you're headed. How does it make you feel?
• the way shepherds lead sheep from one place to another and how they care for them on the journey
• the idea of being 'guided' or 'led'
• see what connections the children come up with between the game and the psalm- you are likely to have a profound discussion!
• times when God has answered prayers in confusing or hard times

Pray

• Ask the children to hold their marble and thank God for being with them through everything that happens in life.  Then let them guide the marble through their maze.