Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

Another activity this week, looking at the theme of Love your Neighbour, was this reflective colouring sheet.   If you'd like to download and print the sheet,  click here   and let me know how you get on! Think about Who is your neighbour? What does it mean to be a neighbour? How might you show love to others, especially those who are different to you?

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!

  This is a fairly easy and impressive looking paper cutting activity that can be used to explore any passage or story focussing on God's love. I especially love the fact that the hearts form both a circle and a star because those ideas lend themselves to thinking about God's love being all encompassing and never ending, and also draw attention to the star that leads to the baby who is the ultimate expression of God's love. You will need: Scissors, a square of paper (mine was patterned on one side and blank on the other), a pen or pencil, a flat, hard surface. Lay your paper square flat on a hard surface. Fold the square in half... ...and in half again. Open out the last fold you made. There will now be a line down the centre of the triangle. Fold one side of the triangle to line up with the centre line. Now fold the other side of the triangle over the top of that. Be aware that the folded sides will not be of an equal size, but don't worry! This is what will lead the ...

As part of our new church vision, we've been talking a lot about how we share God's love with each other and with the community. As part of our exploration, we looked at Romans 12: 9-21 during a cafe church service and this was one of our intergenerational activities.  We talked about how badges often show that we belong to a group or a team and we wanted to make and wear a badge that reflected our team or church family. After thinking about the different ways of showing love that the Romans passage talks about, we made 'love with arms' badges to show that we were people who wanted to share love by living it out. Click here to print out the instruction sheet.

Last week we were looking at the story of Jesus and Nicodemus and I made this short video about John 3:16 to help with the storytelling. It's got a lot of symbols in it and they have led to lots of wondering and questions!

Here are some ideas to help you to explore the themes of the story of Abraham's hospitality to the three strangers by the Oaks of Mamre (Genesis 18:1-15) with 3-5 year olds.  I've also incorporated Genesis 21:1-7, when Sarah gives birth to Issac.   The best idea is to tell the story and then to play!! Build a tent or shelter out of tables, chairs, cushions and blankets and think about what is was like to live in the desert. Explore themes of hospitality by playing with play food... ...making 'food' with play dough...  ...making 'special' food for important visitors. Put spread bread and then add a layer of jam or sugar strands.  Cut into shapes with cookie cutters if you want to make it extra special! Think about God's love for Abraham and Sarah and his gift to them by playing with hearts and gift boxes or gift bags. Play with baby dolls to remember the special baby that God gave to Abraham and Sarah Other ideas:  ...

The rainbow is a great symbol for Christians of God's love and promise to us.  It's also the symbol of new beginnings- a key message of Christianity.  This activity helps children to think about their own ability to share God's love with others and to pray for those who don't yet know that love.  Plus it's pretty amazing to watch over time! You will need: 6 clear cups, water, food colouring in red, yellow and blue, 6 sheets of absorbent kitchen roll Fill 3 of the cups half full with coloured water and arrange with the three unfilled cups like so: Fold the kitchen roll in half lengthways and then double it over again. Place the end of each piece of kitchen roll in one of the cups of water and the other end in an empty cup, so that it looks like this: Wait! The water will start to climb the paper and pass into the empty cup where it will mix with the water from the next cup but one, which will also be transferring over... Your empty...

Here are some ideas for exploring this passage... This session was used with a group of children ranging in age from 2-10 so there are lots of hands on things to do!  Memory verse hunt: Cut out the words of the memory verse below and hide words around the room.  Everyone will know that you are my followers if you love each other. John 13: 35  Children find words and have to make the verse when all words have been collected. Make up actions to try and remember the verse. Make bookmarks using the memory verse.  Make hearts using thumbprints Talk about:   What is love?  Talk about love for friends and family.  How do we show that we love each other?  Jesus showed love for Peter. Even though Peter denied him, Jesus forgave him and gave him a job to do and Peter went on to do great work for God (we had been looking at some storie...

Very soon we're going to be exploring Jesus's command " You must love each other just as I loved you. All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other.” (John 13:34-35.) This is a fun  visual  prayer activity that will help children to think about the idea of sharing love and to pray for  people they find it hard to love sometimes. You will need:  cups with about an inch of water at the bottom, strips of kitchen roll, felt tip pens (cheap and cheerful are good and definitely not permanent markers- you need the ink to run!) Draw a heart about about 2 inches up the strip and colour in with pen.   Write the initials of someone (or draw a  face of someone !) that you sometimes find it tricky to love- maybe because you don't get on very well.  Loving others is one of the ways that we show that we follow Jesus, but sometimes  this is hard and we have to ask God for help. Put the end of the strip in th...

I was recently reminded of this prayer activity and it was great to try it out again.  I'd forgotten how peaceful and reflective an activity it could be! This is suitable for use with all ages but certainly has a 'wow' factor that children will appreciate. What's great is that you can go as big or small scale as you want.  I've seen it done in paddling pools with larger groups but it works equally as well in a small container. You will need : Thin paper, pens, scissors, a container filled with water. Ask children to think of people or things they would like to bring to God and then ask them to cut out a shape from the paper. This shape could correspond to their prayer topic or, in a more guided session, each child could use the same shape and pray around the same topic.  Options could include: Praying for others - flowers or stars, writing the name of a different person on each petal/ star arm Love/ forgiveness/ sorry - heart shapes Thanks - the shape of...

As a previous post has looked at ways of exploring the story of Ruth with older children, I thought it was only fair to see how younger children might explore it through playful ideas! This is a great children's Bible with a good retelling of the story: As the children play, use the time to chat to them about what they've heard in the story... Explore themes of community and sticking together with the people we love using jigsaws and lego or duplo  Think about family, people we love and people who care for us with a collection of hearts  Think about journeys with old maps (and toy cars!) and act out the story with peg people  Make a game of collecting buttons to act out Ruth gleaning the wheat Use this craft  to continue exploring the idea of people we love and God loving and providing for us.