Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

We've been thinking about the creation story this summer and here's a colouring sheet we created for both adults and children to use during the service. To download and print the colouring sheet  click here .  

 As part of our summer all age series we are looking at big questions about God. The first question we asked was- Why did God create the world? In the craft zone we made tree weavings and people of all ages joined in!  The time spent weaving gave a great opportunity to chat about the creation story from Genesis 1 that we had just heard. You will need: Paper plates, scissors, wool (we used brown and green). 1. Cut 7 or 6 slits in the top of a paper plate and 1 slit at the bottom. Thread wool through the slits so that it looks like the picture below. 2. Use the end of your wool to gather the strands together from the bottom... 3. ...tie the wool off to finish making the trunk and branches. 4. Now use another colour of wool to weave between the branches as 'leaves'

This is a craft that will be as individual as the child who makes it and would work well either in a small group or family situation.  I'm using it here to help explore the Exodus story but it would work just as well when you are looking at creation. You will need: Sticks, wool (or I have also seen cardboard strips covered in double sided tape used for this activity- see this inspirational post ), nature! Go for a walk outside and encourage children to pick up interesting leaves, flowers etc that they find on their journey (make sure that children don't pick wild flowers though!!).  Fasten the objects to the stick by wrapping wool around them (or sticking them to the tape). These are memories of their journey. When you get home, talk about what you have collected and where on the journey you found it. Talk about: Moses led the Israelites on a journey through the desert where they learned many things about themselves and about God.   Did you learn anythin...

This is a fun way to help children to explore the uniqueness that God has given them and to thank him for it.  It would fit well with teaching around the creation story or Psalm 139, or just as a stand alone activity. You will need: A shallow tray or plate, shaving foam, paint, cocktail sticks, lolly sticks, people shapes cut from coloured card. Let children choose a colour of card that most reflects them (e.g. their favourite colour from the selection).  Cut a person shape from it to represent themselves. Spread shaving foam across the bottom of the tray or plate, making sure that there is enough to completely match the size of the card person you have cut out. Drop small drops of paint into the shaving foam (less is more!) and use a cocktail stick to make swirling patterns.  Children can, again, chose colours they like best. Press the person shape down on top of the paint swirls and carefully lift off.  Use a lolly stick to scrape away the shavi...

Often, when celebrating God's creation with children, we rely very much on what we can see and we neglect other senses such as smell and touch.  This is a very multi-sensory way of celebrating the things that God has made in the world around us! You will need : A variety of tea bags, including fruit teas, which will bring a real mix of smells and colours to the mix; shallow bowls; hot and cold water; paper Put each type of tea bag (1-3 of each depending on how many children you have) into a separate bowl and pour on some hot water to make the tea start to infuse.  After the colours start to emerge, put some cold water in and leave until the teabags are at a good temperature to squeeze and hold by hand.  It works better if most of the water has been squeezed out before painting! Talk about the things God has made in creation and the senses He has given us.  Remind children that tea comes from a plant and is therefore part of creation!  Encourage the child...

This is a really great activity to help children to explore and interact with God's creation and it can be used with any age, including under 3s! You will need : Paint, paper, natural objects e.g. flowers, leaves, pine cones, sticks, stones, shells Get the children to feel the textures of the natural objects and talk about the patterns you can see.  Discuss how intricate nature can be and how much thought must have gone into creation. Use the natural items to paint a picture with- look at the different shapes and patterns you can make with them.  Give the children the freedom to explore and keep chatting as they create!  It's amazing the kind of observations they make and what they choose to do with the objects. When you have finished, display all the paintings and thank God for the things He has made and especially for each child's favourite painting object!

Here is a play dough mat to help children respond to the creation story.  Print off the mat ( click here ), laminate (if you want the mat for repeated use!) and then encourage the children to make a picture or model on the mat of their favourite part of the story or the part that stays in their mind the most.  There are small picture prompts at the bottom of the sheet to remind them of the key parts of the story.  Enjoy!

Here is a craft and prayer activity to help children to explore the unique person that God has made them. It works well with looking at Psalm 139:14, but also works with the creation story or any situation when we are thanking God for who He has made us to be. Craft Activity: You will need: Paper circles, scissors, pens/pencils  Give each child a circle of paper.  Fold it in half and in half again.  Use the scissors to cut patterns, as in making paper snowflakes. Open the circles out and talk about how each snowflake the children have made is beautiful and unique.  No two will be the same.  Now get children to write and draw on the snowflake the things they like about themselves and their favourite things.  Encourage children to look at each other's snowflakes.  Have you learned something new about any of your friends?  Talk to children about how God has made them all unique and special and that he knows all about them and loves them for ...

I got my dates a little bit out of sync when I was planning the lessons this term, so we ended up with harvest a month late in Sparks!  Never mind- the children enjoyed it anyway! We told the creation story with our new  Creation story bag After the story, children tasted some different fruits, made some print paintings with pasta, and then chose from a selection of play activities: Play food and 'cooking' utensils  Books about nature and farming play dough with animal and people cutters. While playing, leaders had the chance to chat to the children about the story and all the things God has made in the world. We finished with a prayer, thanking God for all the things that grow.  Each child planted some cress seeds in a cup and we asked God to help us look after the things He has given us.

Here is our latest story at home bag.  In honour of Harvest, we have made a creation story bag! Contents include: Creation story touch and feel story book Play food 2 playmobil people A wooden heart (as a sign of God's love) Animal snap cards Star ribbon Felt sun Globe ball Soft toy duck and Zebra Blue fabric (sea) Playdough (can be used to make shapes of things children would like to thank God for) It will be available for parents to borrow in the next few weeks !

Here's how we told the creation story at our Harvest Messy Church this week.  We're going to do the same thing again tomorrow at the harvest service at our local primary school.  It's very visual and helps you to involve a lot of children! You will need a big bag to put everything in.  We took things out one at a time (in the correct order!) and asked everyone what part of the story they thought it showed...  Day 1: God says 'Let there be light!' (black and yellow felt joined together)  Day 2: God separates the waters above and the waters below and makes the sky (dark blue and light blue felt joined together) Day 3: God separates the sea and the land and makes the plants (green and blue felt joined together and a flower)  Day 4: God makes the sun, moon and stars (headband with sun on one side and moon and stars on the other side)  Day 5: God makes the birds and the fish  Day 6: God makes the animals and humans ...

After telling the creation story, we thought it would be great for everyone to thank God for something in creation they really loved.   Someone had donated a large plastic map of the world which was just perfect!  We held the map up and thanked God for the world He created.  Then we played some music and asked people to come up and choose a picture of food, plants or animals and place it somewhere on the map to thank God for that thing.  Then we rounded off with a big thank you and Amen!  Even the toddlers could join in this activity easily :-)

Today we had our Harvest Messy Church and looked at the story of creation from Genesis 1.   Here are the crafts we did... Some of these crafts and other harvest ideas can be found on my  Harvest Messy Church Pinterest Board Day 1: Light and dark tent.  A pop up two man tent, covered in drapes to make it dark inside.  Children were then given glow sticks to take inside.  The toddlers loved this! Day 2: Separating the waters and the sky.  Water play. Day 3: Separating the land and the sea.  For this day we had two crafts using food and the seeds food is grown from... Play dough seed patterns Spaghetti painting Day 4: Sun, moon and stars- suncatchers for windows Day 5: Fish and birds- paper plate birds Day 6: Animal hunt- pictures of animals hidden round church for children to find Biscuit people Day 7: focussing on God.  What would you like to thank Him for? And an area for babies to play in... ...