Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

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!) ...

So the time has finally come to bite the bullet and think about teaching the Trinity... I am fully aware of the fact that it's nearly impossible to try and explain the Trinity without committing some kind of heresy so this is never going to be a perfect analogy and I don't claim that it is!! My main aim really is to get the children thinking about the different ways God relates to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and to try and get across the fact that God is all three at the same time. I'd like to just say 'it's a mystery,' but that's a bit of a cop out! Here's what we will be doing... You will need:  collage paper/ feathers etc or felt tips blue tack glass pebbles bottle tops card a circle split into three equal parts drawn or printed onto card Get children to think about what they have heard and know about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.   On each third of the circle use colours, shapes and symbols to draw or collage their ...

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...

We have had a lot of fun today!!   I love making things with paper and saw some flexagons on Pinterest.  I immediately wanted to make some and, more importantly, think how I could use them at church with the children!  Talking to my friend Sarah, inspiration struck as she suggested we could use them to talk about the Trinity.  My imagination went into overdrive and this is what we came up with... Now I warn you that this is a bit fiddly, but it's so worth it! 1. Print off the flexagon pattern.  Click here  to get a copy.  2. Cut out the two sides and arrange them like so.  You need to stick them back to back to make one piece...  ...so that the finished piece looks like this.  I've turned over the corner to show you the start of how it looks on the back  3.  It helps to fold along the lines so that the next part is easier.  4 Fold so your piece looks like this,  5. Then fold again to look like th...