Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

I'm not the most scientific of people, so the idea of play dough being a conductor of electricity never really occurred to me.  However, I came across this video   on Pinterest recently and it really got me thinking! Play dough conducts electricity because it contains salt and the electric circuit lights up the light- how perfect for teaching salt and light! I picked up a kit (click here to see the one I got, though you can pick up the components separately!) that contained, amongst other things, a battery pack and some LED lights.  This is what you will need: Play dough (homemade is best as it has a high salt content) Dough made with sugar and flour (I put a green tint in mine to differentiate it) Battery pack (with batteries inside!) LED light Make 2 balls of the sugar dough and insert one wire into each.  Connect one leg of the LED to each ball (make sure that the longer leg goes to the red wire side).  Switch the battery pack on and nothi...

The reflective coloring sheets I've been posting have been really popular and this is my first specific request! Not perfect but it carries the message I think :-)  This could be used as part of a lesson on being salt and light or just as a general reflection on the verse. For the printable version click  here . Please let me know how it goes if you use the sheets.  I'd love to hear!  

This is something very simple that I want to introduce this term as part of our prayer routine.  A lot of our prayer stations are to do with praying for ourselves and about ourselves so this activity is intended as a way of praying for others in the group, which will also (hopefully!) lead to more of a sense of family and community. I bought a bag of stones for £1 from the Range and used a permanent marker to write on them the names of everyone in the group (including leaders!). The plan is that, as a prayer station, children can choose one of the stones at random, hold it and ask God to bless that person.  They can they lay it on a cross shape.  We can also use the stones when we gather together after the prayer station time.  Everyone can choose a stone, ask God to bless that person and then remember to ask God to bless them every day that week.  If the person they are praying for is in the room, they could also ask for any requests to bear in mind! ...

Here's an easy way to help children who are quite visual to focus on something while they are reflecting on or listening to God... I found this idea on Pinterest  here , though this idea suggests using glitter glue which I didn't have.  I just used glitter and water but will be experimenting with glitter glue as well! Pour some glitter into a plastic bottle and fill the bottle with water.  For some reason, while most of the glitter sank to the bottom, some congregated at the top, but that doesn't really matter!  I used a mixture of gold and red glitter for this one. Shake the bottle and watch! It's actually quite fascinating and peaceful and reminds me of the  discovery bottles  Catherine has made for creche.  You're never too old!

As the previous posts of prayers and verses for children to colour in as a reflection activity have proved popular, here's another verse.  Tomorrow is Easter, so it's particularly relevant!  Click  here  for the printable version.

I was feeling a little bit crafty the other day and wanted to make some generic figures for acting out Bible stories with.  I'm not very into crafts that take a long time.  I like minimal effort, speed and something that looks good!  These dolls need no sewing and take about 5 minutes to do! You will need:  felt sheets, scissors, Dolly pegs with stands (I got mine from here  £1.60 for 10!), thin ribbon, thin wire (e.g. jewellery making wire, about £1 a spool), hot glue (or PVA glue) Cut a long rectangle of felt, just under twice the length of your peg.  Fold it over. Trim the sides into a kind of truncated triangle shape and cur a v shaped hole for the peg's head.  Dress the peg in the tunic and use a piece of thin ribbon or wire to make a belt, which will secure it to the peg.  Cut a smaller rectangle as a head dress (you will have to make a judgement on how big, based on the size of your peg!). Wind some wire around yo...

This is one of the activities we did yesterday when some classes from school came to do the Easter journey at church.  We used it to help talk about the garden of Gethsemane and how Jesus prayed to God to help him do the difficult thing he was faced with. We showed the children a long length of rope and talked about its strength and the fact that sometimes, when people are in trouble we talk about 'throwing them a rope' to help rescue them.  We used this to talk about the times in our life when things are hard and we need to ask for help because we can't do it by ourselves.  This led to talking about how Christians believe that God will help them and give them strength to get through.  We asked each child to think about who they would ask for help.  Would it be a particular person?  Would it be God?  Then each child came to tie a length of ribbon to the rope (held between two adults) as a symbol of thanks for the person who helps them to be strong...