Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

This week our Sunday service has unexpectedly turned into an all-age event and we've had to come up with some interactive prayers that will fit the lectionary based talk. Thank heavens for the excellent resources at Blackburn diocese!  I really recommend their weekly@ materials, especially if you are a smaller church, like we are, where you have a wide range of ages in the same children's group. Plus it is free! I have written some all-age prayers that can be used with a whole congregation, basing the idea on the Paper Aeroplane Challenge Game in their lesson plan for this Sunday (September 2nd). These prayers are based on the theme of 'letting go' of what keeps us from God and keeping our hearts focussed on Him. They fit roughly with Mark 7: 1-8, 14, 15, 21-23 (this week's gospel reading), but could easily stand alone. You will need: a piece of paper and a pen/ pencil for each person (A6 size paper should be fine) Ask each per...

This is a hands-on and slightly messy prayer activity that will work with all ages, including the youngest children! You will need: Paper, paint, foil or dishes to put paint in, cookie cutters to represent things to pray about or thank God for e.g. hearts, people, animals, house, tree, flowers. Set out paint in bowls or on foil (if you want to make this slightly less messy, use one colour of paint only!) and lay out a variety of cookie cutters. Speak to children about the cookie cutter shapes and what kinds of prayers they might represent e.g. people shapes- people they would like to thank God for or people they want to pray for animals/ Flowers/ trees- thanking God for creation and/ or individual pets hearts- praying for people they love house- praying for the homeless or thanking God for their homes Next, encourage children to choose one thing they would like to pray for and to dip that shape into some paint before pressing paint side down onto the paper.  ...

For some reason, the lectionary has given us three consecutive weeks on Jesus the living bread in John 6, so here is something to help children to engage with what can be quite an abstract concept! You will need: 2 copies of the printable sheet, card, glue, a laminator (optional) Print off the sheet here   (or here if you would prefer pictures with labels) Cut out the pictures individually and glue them to pieces of card so that the picture can't be seem through the back.  I also laminated mine to make them more long lasting (I intend to make good use of them!) Lay the cards face down and take it in turns to turn two cards over. If your cards match, keep the pair. If they don't match, turn them over again and wait for your next turn to try again. The person who has the most pairs at the end of the game is the winner. Talk about:  Can you name the different types of bread? Which one do you like most? Which have you never tried? What do...

I'm getting ready for an all-age service in a few weeks time, when we are going to be thinking about Jesus as the bread of life. These are the creative intercessions that we will be doing with some bread. Even though we're going to be doing these prayers as a whole congregation, they would work just as well with a smaller group of children. You will need:  Enough bread rolls to pass around your congregation or group so that everyone will be able to tear off a chunk. Have a gluten free option as well, passed round on a separate plate, for those unable to eat bread. 1. Pass around the bread and ask everyone to tear off a chunk and to hold it in their hand. Pray for those people who live in places that are torn apart by war and for families that are torn apart and separated. Pray for those people who are ill and ask for healing. Pray for those with broken relationships. 2.When everyone has a piece of bread, ask them to hold it in their hands as you pray the next...