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...

I've been thinking about the armour of God recently and this is a fun activity that really helps to emphasize the idea of 'standing firm' in the strength that God gives. It also really takes me back to my childhood of playing with 'Weebles' (they wobble, but they don't fall down!) You will need: permanent marker pens, plastic Easter eggs that can be opened up, blue tack, marbles, small decorative stickers. An important attribute of the armour of God is that it helps us to stand our ground and to stand firm against the things that might try to upset us and throw us off course. These ‘weebles’ might wobble, but they will stand their ground and not fall over!  Open up a plastic Easter egg and put a blob of blue tack on the inside, at the bottom. Wedge a marble on top of the blue tack so that it stays in place.  Close the Easter egg and decorate it with the permanent markers and stickers to reflect your personality. ...

Last week we continued our Messy Church theme of Parables and investigated the parable of the mustard seed. It's a tiny parable but has so much in it! 31  He told them another parable:  “The kingdom of heaven is like  a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.   32  Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”  (Matthew 13: 31-32) Here are the crafts we used to think about the story... Mustard Tree cakes (cupcakes with a hole scooped out of them. Plant a Smartie 'seed' in the hole, cover with butter icing and show a paper tree growing where the seed has been planted!) Decorating branches Building Lego homes Growing Seeds Making bird gliders (Kits from Baker Ross at a really reasonable price) Making a prayer tree with prayers on leaves and birds ...

We had a last minute planning situation at our children's group this last Sunday, due to a leader's illness. We were not deterred however!  I got out my Godly play materials to tell the story of the Great pearl and then we had lots of activities to choose from that didn't take a lot of preparation. As most of the children in the group are under 5, it's good when we have a craft that is a bit loose and free flowing and they absolutely love anything to do with food! This craft involved some stuff that I found in my cupboard the night before... You will need: Plain biscuits, icing sugar (made into spreadable icing), sprinkles, cupcake cases, white fondant icing rolled into 'pearls'. Spread some icing on top of the biscuit and then add sprinkles to decorate your 'treasure'. Add a fondant pearl to the top of your treasure biscuit to remember that the pearl was the most special treasure of all.   Finish by covering the biscuit with a cupc...

This is one of our most popular crafts at last week's Messy church and was a hit with all ages- from adults down to the youngest children.  These sun catchers are great to colour and display in your window.  Let the light shine through! You will need: Clear acetate, Sharpies or permanent markers, copies of the picture sheet. To print the sheet click here .  Print off the picture sheet and either  1:Photocopy it onto clear acetate, cut out the individual pictures and let children colour them with markers or  2. Lay clear acetate over the top of the picture sheet so that children can trace over the outlines of the pictures with black marker before cutting out the picture and colouring the rest of it in. Have fun!

This is an activity that can be done by children of all ages and is a great illustration of Christ's light shining thorugh us. You will need : oil in small containers (I used vegetable oil), cotton buds, paper in various shapes.  Children might like to cut the paper in the shape of their initial or of something that speaks of their own personality. Use cotton buds to 'paint' oil onto the paper in whatever designs the children like.  Children might want to write words about themselves or words about Jesus. When the oil is dry, blu-tack the paper shapes to the window and let the light shine through the designs! Talk with the children about being light in the world.  We let the light of Jesus shine through us through the things we do and say, just as the light shines through the patterns we made with the oil.  You might like to create a group design on a larger sheet of paper, where children draw or write actions or words they can use...

It's very difficult to get away from sheep when you're thinking about Psalm 23! This idea for younger children explores the idea of the comfort God the Shepherd can bring in a slightly different and more open-ended way. You will need: PVA (white) glue, glue spreaders, paper (either individual sheets for each child or a large piece for a group project), soft items such as wool, cotton wool, ribbon, pom poms, chenille pipe-cleaners, tissue paper. Talk to children about God the Shepherd who guides his sheep, taking them to peaceful, restful places and protecting them through hard times. Feel the soft items and think about how soft things can often be very comforting. Encourage children to use the soft items to make a 'comfort' collage.  There is no planned finished product in this craft- just let the children use thier imagination and use the time to chat to them about what it feels like to be comfortable and safe and share any times when God has ...