Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

If you're looking at the story of the road to Emmaus, this is a really effective activity to help explore the theme of recognition and seeing clearly who Jesus is! You will need: A clear glass baking pan, a glass, paint, water, a story or Bible verse sheet (see below). Mix some paint and water so that you have a cloudy but not thick mixture. Do NOT mix this in the baking pan as the sediment sticks to the glass bottom and makes it hard to see the pictures!  Pour the paint mixture into the pan. Put the sheet you are using under the pan and push the bottom of a glass onto the bottom of the tray to reveal the pictures underneath! Either: Reveal pictures that tell parts of the story and see if children can recognise which part of the story the picture relates to. Or Reveal numbered parts of a bible verse from the story and put them all in the correct order. Talk about what a 'fire' burning inside you might mean! To print off both of the above options, click here.

 This Sunday, as we journey through the resurrection story, we get to the story of the disciples who meet Jesus on the road to Emmaus.  This play dough mat will help children to explore the story they've heard, while also creating something with their hands.  Click here to print off the sheet. As usual, cover with a plastic sleeve and you'll be able to use it again! Extra things to talk about as you create a path: I wonder... ...how the disciples felt when the stranger joined them? ...where have you seen Jesus breaking and sharing bread before? ...what it felt like to recognise Jesus? ...why Jesus vanished/

Story Cubes are a great way of both telling and recalling parts of a story. With this cube, tell the story of Holy Week and then throw the cube to remember individual events. There are 2 versions- a colour your own page and a page that is already coloured and labelled. Use one or both! Click here to download and print. Think about all of the things that happen- Palm Sunday, Last supper, Garden of Gethsemane, Crucifixion, Burial in the tomb and resurrection and wonder about them. I wonder... ...which part of the story is your favourite? ...which part of the story makes you ask a question? ...where you are in this story?

  I love investigating what is going on generally in the creative world and I've recently been massively inspired by the work of Anna Bruder at A Line Art - particularly her recent work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Click here to see all about that! It struck me that bringing colour to black and white flowers was a really powerful symbol of the new life of Easter Day, so that's what we will be doing in our Easter day service. My plan is to give everyone who comes a flower and to invite them, at any point in the service to come and fill the flower with colour at one of our craft tables. We'll then use them at the end of the service as a symbol of the new life of the resurrection and create a flower garden. This works particularly well if you are using the passage from John's gospel where Jesus is mistaken for the gardener. Here's a quick how to: Print some flower shapes onto card (if you want to use mine, click here ). Stick the flower head to a paper st...

 This craft is really easy to make and helps to emphasize the enthusiasm of the crowd's Hosannas as they waved their palms. You will need: White A4 paper, green paper or card, glue, scissors, stapler. Cut a sheet of white A4 paper in half lengthways. On one of the halves, write the word 'Hosanna' and colour in. Start at one end of the paper and make a concertina. Fold an A5 sheet of green card or paper in half and cut out a palm leaf shape. This will give you two leaves. Glue a strip down the middle of each leaf. Stick one end of your concertina to the glued strip on one leaf and glue the other end to the stip on the other leaf. Press down firmly. This makes your Hosanna sandwich. Staple the bottom ends of the leaves together. Make sure you are not also stapling your concertina! Open your palm leaves to see the Hosanna!

Celebrate the new life of resurrection with this butterfly craft. You will need: two squares of coloured paper (one smaller than the other), string. Easter Egg Prayers Easter Day colouring sheet Easter Day Play Dough Mats

A craft to help you to explore the events of Holy Saturday. You will need: Shiny or holographic card, coloured/ patterned paper, sticky back plastic or lamination pouch and laminator, dark coloured paint, washing up liquid, paint pot, paintbrush, cocktail stick.

Crafts to help you explore the events of Good Friday. You will need: Hammer, nails, piece of wood, wool, paint, oil, paper, paintbrush, paint container. Good Friday Play Dough Mat Tape resist cross

Watch to see 3 crafts that will help you to explore the events of Maundy Thursday.  You will need: squares of paper, paper plates, card, paper, scissors, wool, foil, play dough and the play dough mats (below) Last Supper Play Dough Mat Garden of Gethsemane Play Dough Mat Special Cup Craft

I've put together a discovery basket for younger children when we do our Easter family activities morning. This basket looks at the story of Palm Sunday and I'll have some story books with it so that parents can help children to engage with the items! Contents include:  Donkey puppet, plastic palm leaves, palm crosses, a crown, strips of fabric of different textures (to represent the cloaks put on the ground). Coconut halves (donkey hooves!), bells to make some noise, a heart, a stone (to represent the road Jesus travelled along) and a small tin with magnetic letters spelling 'hosanna' and 'Jesus.'

We are holding a special Easter activities event this year aimed at families. Most, if not all, of the families do not attend church, so I wanted to produce something they could take away and do that would carry the message of Easter in a easy to approach way. This is what I came up with and there will hopefully be enough for each person to take a bag away with them. The activity involves planting the seed paper and linking the growth of the flowers to the hope and new life Jesus brings at Easter. You will need : Little drawstring bags or envelopes, enough printed strips for each bag, a piece of plantable seed paper for each bag (it is cheaper to buy A4 seed paper sheets and cut them up than buy pre-cut shapes!) Print out the 'Planting New Life' Strips and cut them out. Fold and put into a bag with a rectangle or square of seed paper that will also fit the bag.  Give out and watch prayers and hope grow in the community!

In a couple of weeks we are going to be hosting a community pizza making event and Easter Egg hunt.  Because our pizza making project is about building initial trust and relationships in the community amongst those who have never been to a church, we are never the first to mention God (even though we make Pizza in the church itself!). We wanted to have a Christian flavour to the event, though, as it is in celebration of Easter!  We are going to use pictures of the Easter story in our egg hunt and I thought I'd share it with you here. You will need: Print outs of Sheet 1 and Sheet 2 (1 of each), Print outs of the competition sheet (1 per person), marker pens, hole punch, string, pens or pencils, Easter eggs and copies of the Easter story as prizes. Cut the egg shapes out of sheet 1 and 2 and laminate them.  Pictures show: A palm leaf, a crown, a cup and bread, a cross, a sad face, a cave and a rock, a happy face, the word 'alive.' With a marker pen, on th...

Palm Sunday is fast approaching and we will be having an intergenerational service to mark the occasion! Here is a colouring sheet I have put together so it can be used as part of what we do.   Click here to print off a copy and please do share one photos on our Facebook page if you use it!

Here are some prayers you could use in a group, a family or even in a whole congregation if you have enough chocolate to go round!  The prayers are very simple and help to pick up themes of the Easter story. You will need: a hollow chocolate Easter egg per group Show the children the unbroken egg (if it comes in two halves, you may need to hold them together!) Relate the closed egg to the tomb where Jesus' friends put his body after he had died.  Talk about what it feels like when we are left on our own, one of our friends goes away or someone we know dies. Ask God to help everyone who is sad, upset or lonely or who has lost someone that they love. Now break the egg into pieces and reveal the hollow inside! When Jesus died it was not the end of the story- he rose to new life and was no longer inside the tomb.  Something amazing had happened!  Talk about where in life the children would like a chance to start again- maybe with someone they have ha...

If you are anything like me, then now is the time that you are getting ready for Holy week and Easter ideas.  Here is a quick round up of some resources that might come in handy... Play dough mats: Palm Sunday Last Supper Gethsemane Good Friday Resurrection Easter Story Cards Palm Sunday Spinners Messy Church Ideas Easter Day colouring page Don't forget to check out the Holy Week page for even more ideas!

This talk is suitable for smaller groups of children or even for a larger group as long as you have plenty of resources to go around!  The talk goes through key events of the Easter story and involves touch, taste, sound, sight and smell.  Beware allergies!! You will need: bread, some stones, salt water in a pot, nails, a piece of wood, salt and vinegar crisps, a bandage, a hollow, chocolate Easter egg, scented candle and lighter bread - Talk about the last supper.  Jesus gathered his friends around to share a last meal, to prepare them for what would happen and tell them how to remember him.  Share out pieces of the bread stone- Gethsemane.  After the meal, Jesus went to a garden to pray for strength and that God would help him in the coming days.  Children take a stone and hold onto it.  Think of things in their life that are hard.  Ask God to help them. Nails-  After being arrested, Jesus is led out to ...

Here is a simple game to play at home or at church that will help to introduce the key symbols of the Palm Sunday story- palm leaves, donkey, robes laid down on the floor and a crown to symbolise Jesus' kingship.   Click here to print out the picture sheet. Cut out the picture squares and back them with card so that the ink of the pictures doesn't show through the back when they are lying face down!  If you want to keep the cards long term it might be good to laminate them too. Mix the cards up and lie them all face down.  Children take it in turns to turn over two cards.  If they are a matching pair then children can keep them.  If they don't match, then replace the cards and wait for the next turn.  The winner is the person with most matching pairs at the end of the game. Use the pictures to either introduce the story or to reinforce the elements of the story and get the children to explain in their own words what the pictures mean or to ...