Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

At Cafe church last week we were talking about the different aspects of God's character and how different people are drawn to different pictures of who He is.  We looked at different images from the Bible... A Father (Hosea 11: 1-4) A Shepherd (Psalm 23) A Mother Hen (Matthew 23:37) A King and a Warrior (Psalm 24: 8-9) The Creator (Isaiah 40: 28) Love (1 John 4: 7-8) A Potter (Jeremiah 18:1-6) A Fortess, a Rock and A Shied (Psalm 18:1-3) ...and then talked about who God was to us.   This play dough mat was made to help children to explore their ideas in a hands-on way. To print the mat  click here. Laminate the mat before use if you want to use it multiple times!

I used this idea in an assembly yesterday, focussing on people we trust and what it means to trust God.   This would work really well if you are exploring miracle stories or stories about trust.  Suitable verses to use with it might be:  Joshua 1:9: Remember, I commanded you to be strong and brave. Don’t be afraid, because the  Lord  your God will be with you wherever you go.” Psalm 56: 3  When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. John 14: 1  Jesus said, “Don’t be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me  I have to admit that this trick is not an original idea.  I found the trick in this book:  Simple Science Object Talks by Heno Head Jnr  and would definitely recommend getting cold of a copy if you can! You will need: A glass of water (about half- 2/3 filled) and an index card. This is what you do: place the index card over the top of the glass, making sure that the whole of the rim is covered by it, and press...

This is a really effective and fun way to help children to think about God being with them, guiding and helping them, even when they can't see Him.  Be warned that it might get a bit messy! You will need: Paper plates or sheets of paper, cupcake wrappers, paint, bar magnets, magnetic metal objects e.g. safety pins, hooks, paper clips, small cookie cutters, brings, allen keys (i have many of these thanks to IKEA!)   Squirt some paint into the cupcake liners and put a metal item in each colour.  Put the paint covered item on the plate and put the bar magnet underneath the plate.  Move the magnet around and this will move the object and paint around on top!  Create some artwork! Think About:   Times you have felt God's presence, even though you can't see Him When have you known that God is with you and is helping you? What would you like God to help you with? Pray: Choose an object to represent a person you know.  Put ...

Here is a craft and prayer activity to help children to explore the unique person that God has made them. It works well with looking at Psalm 139:14, but also works with the creation story or any situation when we are thanking God for who He has made us to be. Craft Activity: You will need: Paper circles, scissors, pens/pencils  Give each child a circle of paper.  Fold it in half and in half again.  Use the scissors to cut patterns, as in making paper snowflakes. Open the circles out and talk about how each snowflake the children have made is beautiful and unique.  No two will be the same.  Now get children to write and draw on the snowflake the things they like about themselves and their favourite things.  Encourage children to look at each other's snowflakes.  Have you learned something new about any of your friends?  Talk to children about how God has made them all unique and special and that he knows all about them and loves them for ...

I've always loved this verse from the story where Samuel chooses and anoints David to be king.  God says to Samuel: The  Lord  does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the  Lord  looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7) On outward appearances, David is not the obvious choice.  But God sees what is inside him- something that others can't necessarily see! This is a great conversation starter for children because we are all living in a world where we make judgements on appearances.  How many people do they choose not to be friends with based on what they see, rather than taking the time to get to know them on the inside?   Here's a craft to help talk about God not worrying about what's on the outside of someone because he sees and loves what's on the inside! You will need: White card or paper, white wax crayon, watercolour paints and brush  1.  Write a message on the card with a white wa...

Looking at the next theme of the psalm (found especially in verses 7-12), involves a game and a craft... Mirror Game Pair the children up and allocate them as person A and Person B.  Get the children to stand facing each other and then ask person A to perform a series of movements that person B has to copy as if looking in a mirror.  After a while, swap roles so person B performs the move and person A copies.  After everyone has had a turn, speak to the children about how God is always with us and, like the person who was following all our movements, He follows everything we do and everywhere we go. Craft This craft will help the children to think about God covering and protecting them wherever they are and wherever they go. You will need: Envelopes, collage paper, glue, buttons  1.  Stick down the flaps of the envelopes and then cut the envelope into quarters.  This will give you 4 pockets per envelope.  Each child needs 1 pocket! 2.Enco...

At the moment, I'm having a bit of a spree of finding ideas and then adapting them for use with the children!  I found this one here . This is a great thing to do with your most able crafters amongst the children.   Our 11 year olds had no problem, but the rest of us worked together to make a joint effort! Each globe has 20 faces and I challenged the children to think of 20 different words (either as a group or individually) to describe God, each of which we would write on the faces. The globes look beautiful when finished, especially if you have time to decorate them, and it was an interesting challenge to think of enough attributes of God to fill each face without repetition!  We're now going to hang these in the room we use on a Sunday to remind children of the amazing character of God! Once you know how, the globes are quite easy to make... To make the globes you will need 20 circles, each with an equilateral triangle inside it.  I've made a template ...

A lot of children suffer from some degree of negative self image and one of the things we'd really like them to do is learn to see themselves as God sees them- loved and precious. This is an activity we did both in our school lunchtime club and (with a bit more elaboration) at our church mid week club for 8-11s.  Once we'd established the rule that only 'good'  words could be used about ourselves and others this turned into quite a joyful and encouraging session, though one or two children struggled to begin with! First we told the story of Gideon hiding in the winepress (click  here  for details of how to tell the story with a folding picture).  Out of the story we drew the idea that, even though we feel small, weak and useless sometimes, that's not how God sees us!  He sees how great we can be with His help! Next we drew round our head and shoulders on A3 paper.  We sat silently for a short while and asked God to give us encouraging word...

Here is a new prayer station that I tried out with the 8-11s at New Wine this year.  It's really easy to do- you just need a collection of mirrors that the children can use to look at themselves with.  Hand mirrors were not that cheap to come by if you want a larger number, but small mirror tiles (used in card making) are widely available and cheap!  You could do this as a whole group or have it as part of a prayer corner where stillness is encouraged. The idea of the station is that the children look at themselves and ask God to show them what He loves about them. Encourage them to allow some silence so that they can process.  This can then lead to discussion about how God sees us differently to the way we sometimes see ourselves, especially when we are saying negative things about ourselves.  It might also be appropriate for children to speak out positive words about others in the group as a reflection of God's love for them. Look into the mirror. ...

Our vision for the children is that they will come to have a deeper relationship with God that is all their own.  Part of going deeper with God inevitably involves a questioning process.  Sometimes this involves the children asking their own questions and sometimes it involves leaders asking them questions that are open ended and allow them to think, respond and elaborate on their ideas. One idea that we have started to use is question balls.  We've used these before with ice breaker questions on them, but this time the questions are spiritually focussed!  Children throw the ball to someone.  The catcher has to read out the question where their right thumb lands and try to answer it.  this is best done in a small group so that there is space and time for listening and elaborating!  It's so interesting to hear what the children think and just shows us the depth of their thinking about God... Here is a list of questions I've written on th...

Many thanks to Laura and Jo who ran the 5-11s group at our weekend away this weekend.  We had a great time!  When Laura sent the pictures through, I really loved this idea they'd used when talking about loving God with your whole heart.  We spend a lot of time talking about God loving us, but not too much time speaking about why we love Him! They blew up some heart shaped balloons and children were able to write on them the things they really loved about God.  It was so interesting to see the different things they'd written.

As one of our long term prayer stations, we encourage children to write letters to God and to post them into a post box on the table.  They can ask any questions they like and tell Him anything they want to. In our prayer times, even adults are drawn to this station.  What the children write can be very revealing about their relationship with God and with the world around them.  We keep finding that the children have such a capacity for depth and questioning that really challenges us as leaders.