Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

This Sunday's Gospel is about God's provision for creation- the birds of the air, the flowers of the field, and us.  Here's a printable colouring sheet to download and colour in, inspired by the passage.  Click here to download:  Link this to the activity here for more exploration of the text.

Across the world we are seeing violence, war and unrest and it is understandable that children will have questions about what they see and feel. Giving the opportunity to discuss and explore questions and prayers for peace is important and this is a resource to help in a hands on way. While using the play dough, children will have space to think and talk if that is what they would like to do. To print out the play dough mat, click here. Cover with a plastic sheet protector for multiple uses and give children space to explore. Talk about: what is peace? what is a 'peacemaker'? How would you recognise a peacemaker? What could you do to be a peacemaker? Where in the world will you pray for?  

This is a fun scientific activity to explore the theme of hidden things being revealed that is a key to the story of Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus. You will need: A sheet of red cellophane, red colouring pencils, blue or green pencils, white paper Here is a video of what you need to do: On Paul's journey to Damascus he encounters Jesus in a way that transforms him.  Even though he is temporarily struck blind, Saul/Paul's eyes are opened to who Jesus really is. Write words about or draw a picture of Jesus with your non-red pencil and then hide it with red squiggles. Use the red cellophane to reveal the hidden words! The red cellophane acts as filter for the red light so only the non-red words or pictures will be seen.

This Sunday we lit the first candle on our Advent wreath and began looking forward to Christmas. If lighting the candles week by week in Advent is part of your tradition, then you might enjoy this printable reflective colouring sheet. Click here to print off your copy and have a great Advent!

This is a great idea from our amazing children's worker, Sharon.  A few weeks ago we were looking, as a congregation, at the question of what heaven is like. We talked about one of my favourite passages,  Revelation 21:1-4 . Those who were being creative with the passage looked especially at verse 4:    He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, sadness, crying, or pain. All the old ways are gone.” Sharon had the brilliant idea of using handkerchiefs to convey the message of heaven being a place where God wipes all of our tears away.. Here's what they did. You will need:  White fabric or  white handkerchiefs ,  fabric pens Thinks about what heaven will be like and what it will be like never to be sad or in pain again. What would it be like for God to wipe our tears away? On the handkerchiefs, draw or write words about heaven and take the handkerchief home as a reminder of what we hope for.

Yesterday we were thinking about the theme of 'love your neighbour', and made these paper people circles as a symbol of all being joined together in the community. You will need: print out of the 'love your neighbour' sheet or paper, pencil and scissors Option 1-Download the printable sheet and cut the circle of people out Option 2-Download the printable and fold it into eighths.  Cut along the marked edges of the front eighth and open up to show your circle Option 3-Cut out a paper circle and fold it into eighths.  Draw the half people shapes on the front eighth (as shown below) and cut!

In the Bible, clouds are often a sign of God's Presence. When the people of God find themselves on their Exodus journey, they are led by a pillar of cloud during the day and Moses goes up the mountain and disappears into the clouds where God is.  This activity is an active way of exploring this story and thinking about how we each experience God's presence with us. Download and print the cloud spotting sheet here. Go outside to spot cloud types, maybe after hearing one of the stories about clouds in Exodus, and have a think about the discussion questions on your walk: What shapes and pictures can you see in the clouds Where do you feel that God is with you? What can you see that reminds you of God? On our walk the clouds were fairly dramatic and rainy and we cut a viewing window out of the centre of the sheet. Fortunately, we didn't get too wet! This activity could be adapted for the Ascension story or for any story that contains clouds!

This is our second monthly take home prayer activity for our local primary school. After we had demonstrated the prayer activity in assembly, each child took home a small pot of bubble mixture and a prayer card to try it themselves! To print out a sheet of the prayer card, click here.

After the success of our Prayer Space at school and the enthusiasm from the children, we thought it would be a great idea to give each child a practical prayer to take home with them. It was a great idea until I found myself sorting skittles into 120 little bags. Fortunately it's a fairly small school! I went in to school to do a collective worship session where I demonstrated the prayer activity and then each class was given prayer bags to distribute to the children. I know from feedback on the street and on my next visits that at least some of the children did the prayer at home, so I will call that a good result! You will need : a copy of the prayer and a small bag for each child, Skittles sweets, bag ties, stapler. I put roughly 10-12 skittles into each bag, tied the top of the bag and then stapled the prayer to the front. Click here to print off a sheet of prayers.

If you grew up in the UK then you are probably very familiar with Flying Saucers- sherbet filled rice paper sweets that do look rather like flying saucers! I have to admit to being fairly partial to the odd flying saucer and when I last went to the cash and carry I bought an enormous tub of hundreds of the things. It became very clear I was never going to get through all of them, so I took them with me to a great children's ministry residential I was at this week and challenged a group of children's leaders to come up with some creative prayer activities with them. They did not disappoint.  Here are some of their ideas... 1. Hold the flying saucer in your mouth. Don't bite or chew! Think about something worrying you and offer it to God. Feel your worry 'dissolve' or 'disappear,' then bite into the sweetness released! 2. Flying saucers are out of this world! Think of an amazing experience or encounter. Place the flying saucer in your mou...

We have a beach in the parish which is always full of dog walkers, so this Sunday we did 'Blessings on the Beach,' giving out printed blessings to humans but also dog blessing bags for the dogs! The blessing bag consisted of a dog treat and a prayer to bless the relationship between the dog and the human.  We blessed about 30 dogs and numerous humans. People really seemed to love it and animals were a great way into faith conversations!  The prayer could easily be used for any pet, though, and it struck me that it might be a really meaningful activity for children to get involved in- either for their own pets or pets that they know in other homes.  After all, if God made all creatures and saw that they were good, then God must want good things for them! Thank you God for everything you have created. Bless this pet and the relationship it shares with those who love it. May that love continue to grow. Amen. You will need: Print outs of the prayer, small bags, dog tre...

This week our Sunday service has unexpectedly turned into an all-age event and we've had to come up with some interactive prayers that will fit the lectionary based talk. Thank heavens for the excellent resources at Blackburn diocese!  I really recommend their weekly@ materials, especially if you are a smaller church, like we are, where you have a wide range of ages in the same children's group. Plus it is free! I have written some all-age prayers that can be used with a whole congregation, basing the idea on the Paper Aeroplane Challenge Game in their lesson plan for this Sunday (September 2nd). These prayers are based on the theme of 'letting go' of what keeps us from God and keeping our hearts focussed on Him. They fit roughly with Mark 7: 1-8, 14, 15, 21-23 (this week's gospel reading), but could easily stand alone. You will need: a piece of paper and a pen/ pencil for each person (A6 size paper should be fine) Ask each per...

This is a hands-on and slightly messy prayer activity that will work with all ages, including the youngest children! You will need: Paper, paint, foil or dishes to put paint in, cookie cutters to represent things to pray about or thank God for e.g. hearts, people, animals, house, tree, flowers. Set out paint in bowls or on foil (if you want to make this slightly less messy, use one colour of paint only!) and lay out a variety of cookie cutters. Speak to children about the cookie cutter shapes and what kinds of prayers they might represent e.g. people shapes- people they would like to thank God for or people they want to pray for animals/ Flowers/ trees- thanking God for creation and/ or individual pets hearts- praying for people they love house- praying for the homeless or thanking God for their homes Next, encourage children to choose one thing they would like to pray for and to dip that shape into some paint before pressing paint side down onto the paper.  ...

For some reason, the lectionary has given us three consecutive weeks on Jesus the living bread in John 6, so here is something to help children to engage with what can be quite an abstract concept! You will need: 2 copies of the printable sheet, card, glue, a laminator (optional) Print off the sheet here   (or here if you would prefer pictures with labels) Cut out the pictures individually and glue them to pieces of card so that the picture can't be seem through the back.  I also laminated mine to make them more long lasting (I intend to make good use of them!) Lay the cards face down and take it in turns to turn two cards over. If your cards match, keep the pair. If they don't match, turn them over again and wait for your next turn to try again. The person who has the most pairs at the end of the game is the winner. Talk about:  Can you name the different types of bread? Which one do you like most? Which have you never tried? What do...