Skip to main content

Using colours and objects to explore the idea of Heaven

Every week we go into school to do a lunchtime club with 7-11 year olds.  Because everyone's learning style is different it's hard to keep everyone focussed at the same time,  but this activity had everybody participating for the whole time and they loved it!  More than that, it really helped us to go deeper with the children and to help them express their ideas about spiritual matters.  


The children had expressed a real interest in talking about Heaven.  We'd discussed it the previous week but I wanted the children to show me their ideas and to see what being creative would uncover!


We started by asking the children to imagine a place where they felt entirely safe and entirely happy.  We then invited them to choose a foam sheet of a colour that represented that place to them.  Next we told them that the Bible says that heaven is a place where there is no more death or crying or fear or sadness (except maybe tears of joy as one pointed out!). 




 We asked them to use the selection of objects we had to show what they thought heaven was like (arranging them on the sheet).



Next we lit a candle in the middle of the circle  and said that Heaven was like a place of light in comparison with the way in which the world can sometimes feel dark and worrying.  How did the children think you got to heaven?  We next asked them to make a path from their sheet to the candle using the objects, showing how they thought people got to heaven.  For safety purposes we blew out the candle while we did this!!


At this point we asked the children to explain what they'd done if they wanted to...

One child had used a silver ribbon in a winding pathway because she thought her personality was represented by something sparkly and silver but she thought the path to haven wasn't very easy.

Another had put a cross on her path because she thought that Jesus helped you get to heaven,  It was really fascinating to discover why children had used certain objects on their 'heaven' sheet and on their pathways and almost everyone wanted to share!  I explained that I had put a cross on my path because I believed that Jesus was the way to heaven.

Finally we relit the centre candle sand talked about how Jesus had taught us to pray 'your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven'.  How could we bring a bit of what heaven will be like into our lives now?  Again there were lots of suggestions, including not getting into any more fights!

We put out some mats and lit a candle for each child from the central flame, representing bringing some of heaven to earth now.

Here are some pictures of the final arrangement!







Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Button Prayers

If you are looking for an active, kinaesthetic, way of praying in a small group or even with the whole congregation, then this might be for you! You will need: A collection of buttons of different shapes, sizes and colours- at least one button for each person praying. Give everyone a button. Feel the hardness of the button and think about people who are going through hard times.  Ask God to help them. Buttons are used to fasten clothes together.  Ask God to bring together people who have fallen out and moved apart from each other.  Pray that He will bring peace. Look at your button and see how many holes it has.  Think of that number of things you would like to say thank you to God for and say Thank you prayers. Look at the colour of the button and say thank you to God for something that is that colour  Find someone who has the same colour button as you.  You might want to make a small group of people with the...
1 comment
Read more

Trusting God: The Amazing Water Glass Trick!

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Power of Prayer: Skittles Experiment!

This experiment with skittles is colourful, easy and makes a great statement about what we are asking God to do when we pray.  In essence, prayers are a way of joining with God and asking him to have an effect on the world and situations around us. We pray because we believe that our prayers, through God's power, will make a difference to the world.  In this activity, colour is released from the sweets into the surrounding water, creating a colourful picture, symbolic of how the prayers we raise to God are a way of us joining with Him to release the kingdom here on earth and have an impact. You will need: A bag of skittles, a plate, hot water (not hot enough to scald, but hot enough to make the colour run!) Arrange the skittles in the plate Pour some hot water onto the plate to cover its surface.  Pour it carefully so that the skittles stay in place.  Wait and the skittles will gradually release their colour Try an alternative... Cover the s...
Post a Comment
Read more