Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

 We are gearing up again for Christmas and, next Sunday, we will be holding our annual Christingle service. This year I've created a short video to explain the various parts of the Christingle and what they mean. Feel free to make use of the video in your own contexts! If you'd like to try some Christingle related prayer stations, click here to go to my  Ko-Fi page.   There are 6 prayer stations- one for each part of the Christingle and they are suitable for small groups or even for stations in an all age service. As always, the resources are free but any support is welcome! Here is a preview of the first station.

  Our harvest service last Sunday was all about thanking God for our gifts- food, people, talents- anything we wanted to celebrate.  One of the activities that both adults and children contributed to was our harvest leaf garland.  We folded leaves in autumn colours and added tags with things we were thankful for: You will need: ribbon, wool or string, paper in red, organge and yellow, scissors, pens Click here for a downloadable sheet of instructions!

This is a great idea from our amazing children's worker, Sharon.  A few weeks ago we were looking, as a congregation, at the question of what heaven is like. We talked about one of my favourite passages,  Revelation 21:1-4 . Those who were being creative with the passage looked especially at verse 4:    He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, sadness, crying, or pain. All the old ways are gone.” Sharon had the brilliant idea of using handkerchiefs to convey the message of heaven being a place where God wipes all of our tears away.. Here's what they did. You will need:  White fabric or  white handkerchiefs ,  fabric pens Thinks about what heaven will be like and what it will be like never to be sad or in pain again. What would it be like for God to wipe our tears away? On the handkerchiefs, draw or write words about heaven and take the handkerchief home as a reminder of what we hope for.

We've been thinking about the creation story this summer and here's a colouring sheet we created for both adults and children to use during the service. To download and print the colouring sheet  click here .  

 As part of our summer all age series we are looking at big questions about God. The first question we asked was- Why did God create the world? In the craft zone we made tree weavings and people of all ages joined in!  The time spent weaving gave a great opportunity to chat about the creation story from Genesis 1 that we had just heard. You will need: Paper plates, scissors, wool (we used brown and green). 1. Cut 7 or 6 slits in the top of a paper plate and 1 slit at the bottom. Thread wool through the slits so that it looks like the picture below. 2. Use the end of your wool to gather the strands together from the bottom... 3. ...tie the wool off to finish making the trunk and branches. 4. Now use another colour of wool to weave between the branches as 'leaves'

Another activity this week, looking at the theme of Love your Neighbour, was this reflective colouring sheet.   If you'd like to download and print the sheet,  click here   and let me know how you get on! Think about Who is your neighbour? What does it mean to be a neighbour? How might you show love to others, especially those who are different to you?