Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

This prayer activity would work really well if you are looking at the Armour of God or any story involving God's protection. You will need: oranges or tangerines/ clementines (one for each child plus a couple of spare ones), permanent marker pens, a tall, clear jug or vase. Peel an orange or tangerine and put it into the water. It will sink to the bottom of the jug.  Then put an orange with the peel left on into the water. It will float. The peel is actually like armour, keeping the orange safe from sinking.  Ask children to write or draw on their oranges things that they would like protection from in life- maybe things that scare them. Float the decorated oranges in the water as a celebration of the protection and strength God can give.

I have a bit of a weakness for glow in the dark things. I ended up buying 100 glow in the dark baby Jesus figures before Christmas and I still haven't figured out what to do with them, but the day will come! My new favourite thing, though, is glow in the dark tape.  It has a lot of potential!  I got some quite cheaply online  and have used it for a craft to help children explore the concept of God being with them in the darkness and hard times.  This craft would work well with stories about God's protection and presence e.g. Daniel and the lions' den, Moses and the Red Sea, Paul and Silas in jail. You will need: Paper (any colour), scissors, glow in the dark tape, marker pens Get children to cut up the tape and stick it on the paper in any design they fancy.  They can then, if they want to, decorate the tape with marker pens/ write verses about God's presence and protection. Useful verses might include: Psalm 16:1  Protect me, God, because I d...

I came across this way of creating a piece of artwork the other day and I absolutely loved it!  Although not intended for that purpose, this activity really lends itself to thinking about protection and how God can look after us. It could be used with any story that involves a theme of protection and here is a way of using the art idea as a prayer activity... You will need: Bubble wrap with giant bubbles, fabric, felt, tissue paper, ribbon, wool, scissors or a craft knife. Unroll and spread out the bubble wrap so that a whole group of children can gather around it.  Before you start the craft, get an adult to cut a slit in the middle of each of the giant bubbles in the bubble wrap using scissors or a craft knife. This can be a bit fiddly, but it is worth it! Make sure that you only cut the back of each bubble, creating a pocket for the fabric to sit in.   Ask the children to fill each bubble with fabric, wool or tissue paper, u...

Next week our younger children will be exploring Psalm 121 and thinking about God's help and protection.  They really enjoy doing anything related to food, so here is an activity I have planned for them.  As it's about God's protection it would work equally well with any story that has that theme: Daniel in the Lion's Den, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Jesus calms the storm...  You will need: undecorated cupcakes, a knife or spoon, small sweets e.g. Skittles, fondant icing, rolling pin, circular cookie cutters. Cut a hole in the top of a cupcake with a spoon or a knife. Fill the hole with sweets. Roll out some fondant icing and cut out a circle of it that is big enough to cover the top of your cupcake. Cover the cupcake with the fondant and decorate it (maybe with the initial letter of your name). The sweets will be hidden under the icing and protected by it. Bite into the cake to reveal the protected sweets! Talk about:  Link the ...