Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

 We are gearing up for Epiphany on Sunday and have a great all age service planned. At the side of church, for those who want to be a bit hands on, we have a few crafts ready and this new craft will be one of them. This craft is really effective but will need some help for very young hands. You will need:    3 x A6 size yellow/orange  paper, scissors, glue, 2 lolly sticks. Start at the short end one of the pieces of paper and make concertina folds all the way down. You should now have 3 concertina-ed papers. Snip the ends off of each concertina, as shown in the photo. Fold each concertina in half. Open out and glue together the bits of paper closest to the fold line. This will make your concertina into a fan. Glue the three fans together as shown. You will now have a large fan! Let the glue dry for a moment. Squeeze the fan shut and point it with the snipped ends downward. Glue lolly sticks to each side of the fan as shown here. Wait for the glue to dry. Hold on to t...

Here is a 10 minute family service for Epiphany including thank you prayers, sorry prayers, story and interactive prayer activity. Click here for the service words if you'd like to follow along. Here are some extra things to do on the theme of the Wise Men: Epiphany Star Finger Print Prayers Make an Epiphany King Cake Epiphany Play Dough Mat                                           

If you're telling the story of the visit of the wise men this Sunday, here is a short video to help!  

For the last few years our church has taken up the tradition of chalking a blessing on the door to mark the day when, traditionally, the wise men visited Jesus. This is a tradition which is especially popular in Europe and I first came across it when I was living in Germany. Normally we bless some chalk in the service and then chalk the front door of church, saying a prayer asking God to bless that place. People then take a stick of the chalk home and do the same for their own front doors. This year we are placing packs in the church porch and at various places in the community so that anyone who wants to can join in the tradition and chalk their own doors. Here are images of the double sided prayer card we have put in each pack, along with a stick of chalk. To print a page of cards, click here . Here's a very short video I made of doing it at my own house, where the best place to chalk was actually on the name plate of the house!

This year, the Church of England has launched a campaign called Follow the Star, which is encouraging churches and local groups to engage in star related activities in Advent and Christmas.  If you are joining in, and even if you aren't, here are some 'star' ideas to help you out! Star tea light mats and Advent prayer Nativity star reflective colouring page Nativity Star craft and prayers Messy Christmas Star Ornaments Epiphany star finger print prayers Epiphany play dough mat

This is a very simple prayer activity, for all ages, which helps to connect with the story of the Wise Men following the star to find Jesus. It's especially useful if you are celebrating Epiphany this Sunday!  This activity is best done when you have told the story of the wise men and had the chance to discuss it. You will need: A fairly large star shape made of paper or card, finger paints (or any paint!), hand washing facilities If you are doing this as a group, sit around the star shape and make sure there is plenty of room to access the paints. Choose a prayer to pray.  When you have finished your prayer, put your finger in the paint and leave a finger print on the star as an 'amen' Pray for: People who are travelling a long way- that God will look after them and keep them safe People who are looking for something- that they find it People who like to learn and understand more about the world- that they will have opportunities  People who rule an...

For Epiphany I wanted our children's group to make a traditional King Cake- puff pastry with a ground almond filling and a hidden ceramic baby Jesus.  See Here for t he traditional version. However... I realised that a lot of children are a bit picky about almonds and we have to be careful about nut content at church.  So- what better than golden syrup as a replacement?!  The golden syrup, of course lends itself to the story of the wise men bring gold as one of their gifts. If you'd like to make a Golden Syrup King Cake, try this recipe out! Ingredients: 320g Puff Pastry sheet (from the chilled section or a frozen one that has been thawed) 200g Golden Syrup 50g white breadcrumbs Egg or milk to glaze * You will also need a ceramic baking bean wrapped in foil to represent baby Jesus. 1. Preheat the oven to 170/340/ Gas 4. Open out the pastry sheet and cut off a section at the end for decorations.  Cut what is left into rough halves and place on a ba...

This year we are going to have a special session with the children where we really celebrate Epiphany.  We are hoping to make King cakes but this will definitely be one of our activities: an Epiphany play dough mat that will help to explore the idea of gifts we receive and what we can give to Jesus.  Click here to print off the page and have fun!

This Sunday Sparks looked at the story of the Wise men coming to visit Jesus.  Again we had quite a lot of time for playing around the theme and dressing up was very popular! We played pass the parcel with pictures of things God gives us in each layer.  As every layer was unwrapped we said thanks to God for that thing  At the centre was a picture of Jesus and a bag of chocolate buttons to share because Jesus is a gift God has given us that we can all share.  We thanked God for giving us Jesus.  We talked about presents and when we get them.  This led to the idea that Christmas is Jesus' birthday.  We made Wise men hats with paper plates and shiny paper  Dressed up as wise men and the star (and shepherds and Mary and angels!)  Played with the Nativity set We also played with the baby dolls and everyone enjoyed singing 'Away in a manger'- in fact the children insisted on singing it several times!  It's really gre...