Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

On Sunday we are holding our first Cafe Church since the pandemic started and the lectionary gospel passage is the one from Luke chapter 4, where Jesus stands up in the temple and talks about what he has been sent to do. The passage opens up so many amazing themes to explore, but the reading itself can be a bit abstract in places. Because we wanted to make it as accessible as possible, I made it into a Lego stop motion animation. Click here to watch! We'll be thinking around themes of vocation and calling, identity and the power of the Holy Spirit. One of the activities we will be providing on the cafe tables is a colouring sheet for those who want to take some time reflecting or who prefer to be doing something with their hands when the service is in progress! Click here to print off.

Yet again we have entered into a necessary national lockdown to help with the response to Covid 19.  Some churches are remaining open and some are closing temporarily. Whatever is happening where you are, there are lots of things to help you celebrate faith at home! This coming Sunday is when we traditionally celebrate the Baptism of Jesus. Here is a video of the story and some extra ideas for exploring it- especially useful if your church is closed and you will be at home with your family. Make a story spinner Print off this colouring sheet Make doves  from paper. Click for the video of how to make them. Think about God saying that Jesus was his son and that he loved him. Who is in your family? What is a family? How do you know that you belong to a family? What does it mean to be in God's family? Light a candle and say this prayer: God, thank you that we are part of your family and part of a human family. Send the Holy Spirit to help us and be with us in the coming year. Hel...

If you grew up in the UK then you are probably very familiar with Flying Saucers- sherbet filled rice paper sweets that do look rather like flying saucers! I have to admit to being fairly partial to the odd flying saucer and when I last went to the cash and carry I bought an enormous tub of hundreds of the things. It became very clear I was never going to get through all of them, so I took them with me to a great children's ministry residential I was at this week and challenged a group of children's leaders to come up with some creative prayer activities with them. They did not disappoint.  Here are some of their ideas... 1. Hold the flying saucer in your mouth. Don't bite or chew! Think about something worrying you and offer it to God. Feel your worry 'dissolve' or 'disappear,' then bite into the sweetness released! 2. Flying saucers are out of this world! Think of an amazing experience or encounter. Place the flying saucer in your mou...

This is a fun and active prayer activity, using the dove as a symbol of peace. You will need: A straw, the dove shape and paper rectangle cut out of the resource sheet ( click here to print), sellotape, pens Wrap the paper rectangle around the straw (not too tight) and then fold the top of the paper over to make a 'pocket' for the end of the straw.  Make sure that there is a little gap between the fold of the pocket and the end of the straw or your paper will stick to the straw and will not fly when the time comes! Write or draw prayers for people or places who need God's peace on the front of the dove shape.  Turn the dove over and sellotape the paper pocket to it, as shown in the picture below.   Turn the dove the right way round, aim it and then blow through the straw.  Watch your peace dove fly as a symbol of giving the prayers to God!

Here is a last minute Pentecost talk idea.  We will be using it tomorrow in our cafe church service! This works best before you read or tell the story. You will need:   A bag of sweets (enough to share with everyone) Lollipops for each layer Pictures of: a dove, a windsock, fire, the word 'welcome' in various languages.  To download a sheet with these pictures on click here. Newspaper sellotape The bag of sweets and the picture of the dove will be your central layer.  Wrap them in the newspaper.  On top of the dove layer, put the 'welcome' picture and a reward lolly! For the next layer, put the fire picture and a lolly and the top layer will be the windsock (the closest I could get to a wind picture!!) Talk about Pentecost being the birth of the church where, in one day 3000 people came to know Jesus.  We all got an amazing birthday gift that day- the Holy Spirit. At birthday parties you normally play games so we are now g...

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...

This is a really exciting way to talk about the power of the Holy Spirit! You will need: wax crayons (wrappers off works best) strong glue (eg. from a glue gun or superglue), a canvas (this really doesn't work on paper!), a protective sheet, a hairdryer. We did this outside with an extension cable for the hairdryer because there is a certain amount of splatter! Glue the crayons to the top of the canvas and let the glue set firm. Set the hairdryer to the highest level and start blowing it across the bottom ends of the crayons.  It takes a while but they eventually start to melt.  Set the dryer down a heat notch and continue to melt the crayons.  Watch as the colour is released!  We did this with children aged 5-9 and, as long as there was adult supervision they were brilliant at taking turns with the hairdryer and had loads of suggestions about where to aim it to make certain colours run in different directions. When you have finished, th...

This is a great activity for a prayer station or group prayer time focused on praying for the Holy Spirit to come.  It would also work well for discussing the transforming power of the Spirit.   You will need: Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), white vinegar, food colouring, eye droppers (less than 60p each at Boots!) Mix food colouring into white vinegar to colour it.  Keep each colour of vinegar in a separate cup and add a dropper to each cup.  Cover the bottom of a baking tray with bicarbonate of soda.  Drop a drop of coloured vinegar onto the soda and watch the explosion! Think and talk about: Talk about the power of the Spirit and how it can transform our lives if we pray for it to come.  Compare this to the power of the explosion that happens when the vinegar hits the soda.  It might be good also to talk about the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit that can grow in our lives.   Pray: Ask children to ch...

As today is Pentecost we decided not to beat around the bush but to go straight ahead and tell the children about the gifts of the Spirit! It can be quite hard, even for adults, to get your head round all the gifts so I decided to limit our explanation to 10 of the gifts I thought were easiest to explain.  You may or may not agree with my selection or explanations but it was a great introduction to a huge topic! I made a sheet, detailing 10 Spiritual gifts: To print the sheet, click  here Then I photocopied the sheet times the number of children we expected and cut out the individual labels.  That made a lot of labels!  Next I mixed the labels up and distributed them around the room. After telling the children the Pentecost story, we asked the children to go and find all 10 different labels and come back.  When everyone had collected all they can we explained each one and gave short specific testimonies about healing, apostles, tongues and miracles....

It only seems fitting to use fire at Pentecost so how could we not?! After we had told the Pentecost story, our talk at Messy Church was about the Holy Spirit helping us to do things we might not be able to do by ourselves.  Here's a copy of the talk and prayer response with pictures.  You will need a dove pan to do this.  It might seem quite expensive but the amazement of the congregation when you use it (adults and children alike) is well worth it!  I've used mine about 10 times already in assemblies etc. Photos by David Duncan :-) Talk On the day of Pentecost 3000 people became Christians.  It was like the church’s birthday!  The Holy Spirit came to the disciples with wind and fire and helped them to do things they’d never been able to do before like speak other languages and have the courage to speak in front of crowds of people! Sometimes we feel like we can’t do things or we’d like to change but it’s really hard and we can’t do it our...

We had a brilliant morning at our Pentecost Messy church.  There was lots of fun and even some fire! Have a look at the crafts we did on the Pentecost theme.  All have a fire or wind related element... Flame headresses: ribbon, tissue paper, gold card, shiny red paper.  Kylé also has some fire streamers tucked into the ribbon for extra effect! Fire streamers made from crepe paper, lolly sticks and elastic bands.  Flame biscuits: digestives, white water icing and fondant flames.  Bubble and hoops that make noises when you move them (sounds a bit like a rattling wind!)  Birthday cards for the Church's birthday! Pentecost spinners!  Click here to print off.  Paint blowing pictures.  Windchimes: Cups, beads, bells, buttons and pipecleaners.  Holy Spirit suncatchers.  Click here for instructions.