Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

On Sunday we are holding our all age carol service and one of the activities will be Christmas story bingo. Anyone who wants to participate can take a sheet as they come in and can then cross off every word on their sheet that they hear in the readings, talk and carols. There are 10 different word sheets and, for young children who can't yet read, there are 6 different picture sheets. If people are paying attention there will, of course, be multiple winners who have crossed off all of the words at the same time, but that's part of the fun! Click here to print off the Christmas story word bingo. Click here to cross off the Christmas story picture bingo. When I printed the sheets off, I printed 4 to an A4 page, but go with whichever size works best for you!

Game: Pop Up Pirate Story Link: Be ready! (Luke 12: 35-40) Talk About: What things in your life do you have to wait for? How do you feel when you are waiting? What do you do to get yourself ready for the event you are waiting for? What things in life do you do where you need to be prepared in advance? e.g. packing school bag, packing for a camping trip Waiting for Jesus to return- like the pop up pirate, we don't know when it will be, so we need to be ready! What will it be like when he comes? (Revelation 21 gives a good idea) How can we get ready? What can we do in our lives to show that we are following Jesus? (the master who returns in the story blesses his servants and gives them a meal, so there is a theme of blessing from God that we could link to us working to bless others as we wait for him to come). Prayer Take it in turns to put swords in the barrel. Every time you put a sword in, ask God to help and be with someone who is waiting for something e.g wait...

Guess Who is a popular and easy game that even younger children can play. Here are some ideas about how you might connect the game with God... Story link:  You formed the way I think and feel.      You put me together in my mother’s womb. 14  I praise you because you made me in such a wonderful way.    I know how amazing that was! Psalm 139: 13-14 Talking Points: What is special about you? How are we similar and different to the people around us? What is your favourite thing about yourself? What is your favourite thing about someone else? Use the game to think about the ways in which people are unique. How do we know who we are looking for? Several people in the game have orange hair, but not all of them have curly orange hair or orange hair and blue eyes. God has made us all differently but he knows every part of us and knows all about us. He knows not just our appearance (like in the game) but our personaliti...

This Summer we are experimenting with a 'board games cafe' once a week at the local community centre. It's probably wrongly named because none of the games need a board, but they are all popular and readily available children's games! It got me thinking about how we could use the games as a church activity as well, so this is the first instalment of some prayers and activity ideas based on games... You will need : A Hungry Hippos game (or more than one!) Play the game and get your hippo to collect as many of the balls as possible. Prayer Idea 1: Count the number of balls you have and, for each ball, say thank you to God for something or someone. Prayer Idea 2: Count the number of balls you have and, for each one, say thank you for a food you like Story Link: The parable of the rich fool (Luke  12: 13-21) The hippos are greedy and try to get as many balls as they can. What things in life are worth having? What does the story say about storing o...

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...

This is a game we played with our children when we were teaching them about what Holy Communion was.  Different symbols are used to help explain different aspects and themes of the liturgy and the children quickly started to make associations! Bread and wheat- Jesus as the bread of life/ bread used as his body at the last supper Grapes and cup- Wine used at the last supper (also linked to the true vine) Cross- remembering Jesus' death Dove- The Holy Spirit is present Heart - Jesus' love for us People- We all come together to share communion as part of God's big family  World- we pray for the world and remember that Jesus came for all of us Handshake- sharing the peace and forgiving others before taking communion You will need: two copies of the printable sheet, glue, 20 small cards (big enough to glue the pictures onto) Cut out the pictures.  You should have 20 (2 of each symbol).  Stick each picture onto a separate piece of card so that t...

Here is a simple game to play at home or at church that will help to introduce the key symbols of the Palm Sunday story- palm leaves, donkey, robes laid down on the floor and a crown to symbolise Jesus' kingship.   Click here to print out the picture sheet. Cut out the picture squares and back them with card so that the ink of the pictures doesn't show through the back when they are lying face down!  If you want to keep the cards long term it might be good to laminate them too. Mix the cards up and lie them all face down.  Children take it in turns to turn over two cards.  If they are a matching pair then children can keep them.  If they don't match, then replace the cards and wait for the next turn.  The winner is the person with most matching pairs at the end of the game. Use the pictures to either introduce the story or to reinforce the elements of the story and get the children to explain in their own words what the pictures mean or to ...

So now we are into November it officially time to start planning Advent: less than a  month to go before Advent Sunday! Here is a game to get you in the mood and to help children to get involved in the Advent story.  Either play the game then tell the story and see which of the key events the children recognise, or vice versa.   You will need: A print out of the game per group, counters or buttons to use as counters, dice. Click here to print the game. Happy playing!

Playing a game is a great way to help children to familiarise themselves with the different parts of the Easter Story.  Here are some cards to print out to help you with that very purpose! There are 8 cards, all showing a different part of the story: Entry into Jerusalem, The Last Supper and washing of feet, Gethsemane, Pilate, crucifixion, tomb and resurrection.  Use all or some of them depending on the elements you are exploring.  Tell the story and speak about the pictures, then play a game to help reinforce the key happenings.  Click here to print out the sheet. There are loads of ways you could use the cards...  Pass the parcel with a different card in each layer Hidden around the room Print out a set of cards per child.  Use 6 of the cards (perhaps leave out foot-washing and Pilate) and number them 1-6 in order of happening.  Children throw a die until they get a 1 and can collect the first picture.  After they have the first ...

I'm exploring ways of looking creatively at the themes of Psalm 23 and one thing that always strikes me is that God the Shepherd leads us whatever is happening in our lives- whether it is calm and still or dangerous and scary.  I wanted to help children to think about God being with us to guide us, even when we're not sure where we're going, and a marble maze seemed a perfect idea to illustrate it.  Even though the path is tricky, there is someone guiding the marble to its destination.   You will need: a cardboard box, card (thin enough to fold), sellotape, scissors, a marble.  Fold small pieces of card so that you can sellotape a 'bottom' to the floor of the cardboard box and have the other part of the fold standing up as a 'wall.' Arrange the folded pieces of card to make a maze pathway for the marble to roll along (be sure to include some dead ends!).  Write 'S' where the marble should start its journey and 'E' where the maze sho...

Here's a fun way to get children to engage in thanking God and asking for blessing while also symbolically releasing their prayers into his hands. First, get children to write and draw their prayers on a small slip of paper (about the size of an average till receipt). Next, roll the paper tightly round a straw (the long straight part rather than the bendy part!) and secure it with sellotape.  Fold the top of the paper over and secure it with some more sellotape.  The paper will now have made a sealed pocket around the top of the straw. Talk to children about releasing prayers to God and trusting in His love and His power.  Say a short prayer, giving your prayers to God and then blow on the free end of the straw.  Watch the prayer rocket fly as you release your prayers!

Children love this game, so here's a twist that adds prayer to the mix... You will need: A piece of paper, pens or pencils (each player should have a different colour) Draw some dots in lines and columns on the paper (see below).  I used 10 rows of 7 dots. Each player takes it in turns to draw a line between two of the dots.  Eventually, you will be able to close up boxes.  Whoever draws the line that closes the box can write or draw inside the box... Someone's name- ask God to bless them and help them Something that you want to thank God for Something you would like to ask God for Take time to say the prayer out loud or in your head, then carry on! The winner is the player who has filled the most boxes by the end of the game.

This is fair trade fortnight and on Friday we are gong into some schools to teach the children about fair trade, linking it to to Jesus' message of freedom and good news for the poor and oppressed (see Luke 4, where Jesus quotes Isaiah 61) and what Christians believe about behaving justly.  As a fun way in to thinking about fair trade and ideas of fairness in general, here's an easy game to play! You will need: A game sheet per child, dice (one per pair or 3 is good) Click here to print off a sheet with 2 game sheets on it, as below. Children work in pairs or 3s to throw the die, but have their own individual sheet to colour in. Children in a pair/ 3 take it in turns to throw the die.  Colour in a section of the Fair Trade symbol according to the number thrown.  Eg.  If you throw a 2, colour in a section with a 2 inside it.  If you throw a number , but have already coloured in all that number's sections, you will have to wait until your next throw! ...

I happened across a mini Jenga style stacking tower game in the pound shop the other day and couldn't resist using it for a prayer activity! Based on the four prayer points of thanks, blessing for others, healing and sorry, I printed out some words and pictures and glued them to the bricks.  Click here to get a printable version for mini bricks Click here to get a printable version normal size bricks Now you are ready to play the game! Stack the bricks in a tower.  Take it in turns to remove a brick and pray the prayer it is labelled with.  If you get a 'sorry' prayer, you don't have to pray out loud!  The game is over when the tower topples and the winner is the person with the most bricks at the end.

Children really seem to enjoy games as a way of entering into prayer, so here's an idea you can print off and use!  Click here to print off the dominoes. The dominoes contain combinations of the following pictures, looking at please, thank you, blessing and healing prayers.  I printed off a couple of sets, 2 pages to a sheet so that the dominoes came out at a more handy half the original size.  I then laminated them so they would last longer! To play the game deal each player 5 dominoes and leave the rest in a pick up pile.  Player 1 sets down a domino and prays according to one of the pictures on it e.g. 'God please bless...'  Player 2 then finds a domino with a picture that matches one from the first domino and sets it down with the pictures joining.  Player 2 then has to pray a prayer according to the pictures that are now touching.  Carry on!  If a player can't go, they need to pick up another domino.  The first player w...

For anyone planning a Light party/ Bright party as a Halloween alternative, here is my guest  blog on  childrenswork.co.uk  including a game, craft, food craft, mini talk and take home activity.  Have fun!

This is a good game to play to help children recap on key characters and events in a story… Seal an envelope.  When sealed, cut into strips and tape shut one long edge of each strip.  This will leave you with some little pockets. Attach the pockets to lengths of ribbon (I used glue dots as they’re quite strong and not messy!) You have now made some head bands to place story cards into.  Let children know that the cards for this game all have pictures that relate to a character or object from the story you have been covering.  Children all put on a headband and the leader slots one of the cards into each headband pocket.  Children wearing the headband will not be able to see the card that they have, but the others will.  They can then ask the others yes/no questions to try and figure out who or what their card shows based on what they remember of the story e.g. “Am I a human?”, “do I have wings?”.  Take it in turns to ask questions ...

It's great to tie the teaching in with an interactive game if at all possible and here's a game that helps to make a point! I was thinking about the story of Abraham and Sarah and their puzzlement at the idea that God would give them a baby when they were so old.  This idea came to me.  It helps to illustrate the point that we, as humans, have difficulty understanding God's plan sometimes and don't know how to put the pieces together.  God has the solution though and what we find tricky is not hard to Him. I've made up two sheets- one showing the solution and Bible verse from when Jacob has 3 visitors who tell him about the baby and one with some pentominoes to cut out and fit together.  I loved this activity when I was teaching! Get the children to cut out the pentominoes and fit them together to try to make a large rectangle (a blank rectangle is also included).  If the children want to they could colour the pentominoes to make each shape more distingu...

I was sorting out the games in one of our cupboards today and came across about 5 packs of playing cards we obviously had never opened.  It started me thinking about how we could use them to pray with... Here's a prayer activity that would work really well in a family prayer time or as a small group prayer activity.  Take a pack of cards and lay them face down.  Take it in turns to take a card off the top of the pile and pray using these guidelines: For a red number card say a 'thank you' prayer  For a black number card say a 'sorry' or 'please' prayer  For a king card, think of a word to describe God and how great He is.  For a queen card pray for someone who is female.  For a jack card, pray for someone who is male.

Here we are with another flexagon, but this one is much easier to make! I've been really interested to see 'wordless books' as a way of telling the gospel, especially to children. Click here  for some examples. The books rely on colours to symbolise different aspects of the story of salvation:  Black- our sin Red - Jesus' blood and death on the cross White- the purity and clean start his death gives us Green - the growth of our relationship with Jesus as we get to know more about him and he helps us to grow as disciples Gold - heaven- because of what Jesus did on the cross we are able to come closer to God and share in His Kingdom. I thought it would be interesting to make a flexagon to tell the story, basically because they intrigue me and I love playing with them! Here's how to make your own...  Print and cut out the flexagon pattern.  Click  here  for the print out.  Fold carefully along the middle and cut out the pink sections. ...