Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

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...

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.

I've had some left over sand and plastic coins lurking around since holiday club and have finally decided to do something with them! This idea could be used for lots of things (memory verse words, for example, would work really well) but I'm using it for prayers to begin with. There are lots of things that we could say thank you to God for, but we often forget to do so, a bit like having treasure that we bury and forget about!  This activity helps us to remember to say thank you to God and also emphasizes the idea that the things and the people we have around us are precious like treasure. Get the children to draw on little stickers things they could say thanks to God for: people, animals, food, nature etc.  Stick the stickers onto plastic coins (you might need a bit of glue too, to make sure the stickers stay on!) and then hide them in a bucket of sand. Take it in turns to dig into the sand with your hand and pull out a coin.  Thank God for what is on the ...