Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

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...

The rainbow is a great symbol for Christians of God's love and promise to us.  It's also the symbol of new beginnings- a key message of Christianity.  This activity helps children to think about their own ability to share God's love with others and to pray for those who don't yet know that love.  Plus it's pretty amazing to watch over time! You will need: 6 clear cups, water, food colouring in red, yellow and blue, 6 sheets of absorbent kitchen roll Fill 3 of the cups half full with coloured water and arrange with the three unfilled cups like so: Fold the kitchen roll in half lengthways and then double it over again. Place the end of each piece of kitchen roll in one of the cups of water and the other end in an empty cup, so that it looks like this: Wait! The water will start to climb the paper and pass into the empty cup where it will mix with the water from the next cup but one, which will also be transferring over... Your empty...

This is a game we played with our children when we were teaching them about what Holy Communion was.  Different symbols are used to help explain different aspects and themes of the liturgy and the children quickly started to make associations! Bread and wheat- Jesus as the bread of life/ bread used as his body at the last supper Grapes and cup- Wine used at the last supper (also linked to the true vine) Cross- remembering Jesus' death Dove- The Holy Spirit is present Heart - Jesus' love for us People- We all come together to share communion as part of God's big family  World- we pray for the world and remember that Jesus came for all of us Handshake- sharing the peace and forgiving others before taking communion You will need: two copies of the printable sheet, glue, 20 small cards (big enough to glue the pictures onto) Cut out the pictures.  You should have 20 (2 of each symbol).  Stick each picture onto a separate piece of card so that t...

I'm a believer in children never being too young to absorb aspects of faith, so I thought I would have a go at making a 'quiet' book out of felt that would introduce Christian symbols in a touchy feely way. While the title 'quiet' book always raises my eyebrows slightly because I like children being a bit noisy, I can understand why the soft nature of the felt lends itself to that title.  It definitely keeps the children occupied! Some of the tinier members of our congregation have enjoyed using the book and one elderly lady in particular was fascinated by it and I had to discreetly take it out of her hands! Don't be fooled.  This book is sewn and glued together in a very basic way because I don't have time for elaborateness! I'd love to see what other people come up with :-) Felt people attached to ribbon candles with flaps opened to reveal flames Unzipped heart containing felt people stuck to a length of ribbon A Cr...

Over the next 4 weeks or so, the whole church (adults and children) is looking at and learning about various aspects of Holy Communion: what it is, why we do it, signs, symbols, stories and liturgy.  At the end of the series, we will have a special celebration where I will preside at communion for the first time and one of our children will take her first communion.  It is actually quite exciting to all be learning together! We have set up a 'treasure chest' for children to role play with during the service, using an old box we found in an antique shop.  This is what we put inside... Handkerchiefs in the 4 liturgical colours (plus extra white ones for children to use as purificatory to wipe the cup with), wooden crosses and doves. A felt book of church symbols (see a future post on this!) Some metal cups and plates found for a bargain price in a charity shop, some wooden bread, hearts, battery operated candles and a globe ball. We pu...

So yesterday was Trinity Sunday and we bit the bullet and had a go at teaching about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (with as little heresy as possible!) We decided that the best way of proceeding was just to talk about the many different ways we relate to God and the many different ways that God relates to us, and to do this we gathered a collection of symbols.  The idea was that the children could pick a symbol and describe what they thought it meant in relation to what they know about God and the three persons of the Trinity.  There were no wrong answers!  It helped that Pentecost had been the week before, so Holy Spirit symbols were still fresh in their minds.   Our basket of symbols contained: a cup play bread rainbow ribbons 'fire' streamers 'water' streamers a bottle of water, a battery operated tea light felt flames wooden people  a globe ball a windmill a cross a dove hearts (including a heart with arms- thank you IKEA!) ...

I've seen some 'stained glass' crafts on Pinterest recently that make use of plastic lids ( click here for an example using tissue paper).  I've just invested in some new sharpies so I thought I'd try out a variation.  Sharpies are great but any permanent marker will do!  This is a great activity to introduce children to some of the key Christian symbols they might encounter in church and especially in stained glass windows. You will need : A copy of the Christian symbols sheet.   Click here to print out, permanent marker pans (e.g. Sharpies), clear plastic lids (the circles on the sheet are just about right for the size of lids you find on large pots of yoghurt), blue tack  Turn the lid flat side down and trace over one of the designs with a black or dark marker to make an outline of the picture  Turn the lid over so that the outline marking is on the inside.  This will stop the outline smudging as you colour.  Now colour in the desi...