Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

Pentecost is full of amazing imagery- fire, colour, wind, words- and it really lends itself to a treasure hunt outside. Where can you spot the things that remind you of the story? As usual this is a tried and tested idea, so take a look at some of the Pentecost related treasure we found! Click here to download and print the Hunt Sheet Flame shaped leaves Red leaves Red Yellow We even heard and saw the wind in action

In the Bible, clouds are often a sign of God's Presence. When the people of God find themselves on their Exodus journey, they are led by a pillar of cloud during the day and Moses goes up the mountain and disappears into the clouds where God is.  This activity is an active way of exploring this story and thinking about how we each experience God's presence with us. Download and print the cloud spotting sheet here. Go outside to spot cloud types, maybe after hearing one of the stories about clouds in Exodus, and have a think about the discussion questions on your walk: What shapes and pictures can you see in the clouds Where do you feel that God is with you? What can you see that reminds you of God? On our walk the clouds were fairly dramatic and rainy and we cut a viewing window out of the centre of the sheet. Fortunately, we didn't get too wet! This activity could be adapted for the Ascension story or for any story that contains clouds!

Over the past year or so, we have been holding a monthly Muddy Church session for all ages. Muddy Church is an amazing idea and you can find out more (with all sorts of brilliant resources) here. We have adapted the format to suit our congregation and the session is usually a wander through the park with a focus for wondering and exploring, linked to a Bible verse or story. We then finish, after 45 mins- 1 hour, at the cafe for a drink or an ice-cream! We have all ages participating and our usual crowd varies in age from 3-70s. It's great if you want to do something intergenerational! Our most recent session used a verse from Psalm 91 and looked at the theme of God's protection, or what we could find that was 'safe and sound.' Here is a printable version of the sheet we used on our wander: And here are some of the things we found! A Conker hidden in the cleft of a tree Something 'strong' supporting a tree and keeping the branch upright A snail's hiding pl...