Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

 This Sunday we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, so here's some resources to help if you're doing that too! Baptism of Jesus Story Video Baptism of Jesus Spinners Story Cards Colouring Play dough mat Take home activity

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...

This easy-to-make spinner is a surprisingly effective way to see the dove descending on Jesus' head when he is baptised! Click here to print out the PDF. You will need: Colouring pencils, scissors, glue, sellotape, a straw Cut out the picture section and colour it in. Fold down the middle and turn over.  Sellotape a straw to the middle of one half of the sheet and glue round the edges of the other half of the sheet.  Glue the halves together, like so... Now swizzle the straw between your hands and watch the dove appear over Jesus' head!

I've found it hard to track down a little story book that only tells the story of Jesus' baptism, so I've made some simple story cards that use accessible language... For children who don't read yet, it's really interesting to see if they can suggest what the pictures are showing before you actually tell the story.  Sometimes they have very interesting ideas formed from what they already know of the character of Jesus! Click  here  to print out the cards.  This weekend, I used the cards in conjunction with some fuzzy felt and it was fascinating to watch the children initially take the pieces to act out the story of Jesus walking on the water because this was a story they already knew and identified with Jesus and water!  Fuzzy felt is a great way for children to retell a story they have heard because it's easy to use and cheap and easy to make.  Just back a board with felt and cut out your own felt shapes to stick on!

This is a new colouring sheet to help children reflect on the story of Jesus' baptism in Luke 3. Click  here  to print off the sheet.  After they have heard the story let the children colour in, maybe in silence or with some music playing in the background and then give them the chance to share any reflections they might have on what they have heard!  Alternatively, use the colouring-in time as a space to discuss the story and what their response is.

I'm making a Baptism story bag for my placement church so that we can help children to relate to what is happening during the service.  It seemed a good idea to get something related to the story of Jesus' baptism in there, so I've made a fuzzy felt set to help tell the story. I've made a few sets now, gluing the felt base to the inside of a box lid and putting the rest of the pieces inside the box.  This makes it easy to to tidy away and keep everything together! As you can see, I've used pale blue felt for the base, two shades of blue for waves, a dove and some hearts to help to emphasise God's love.  I cut a slit in the dark blue wave layer so that the stick 'Jesus' could move easily up and down in the 'water'.   More details of the Baptism bag to follow soon.  It's nearly finished!