Creche: Welcome Songs

June 3, 2015June 3, 2015Leave a comment

Here are some songs to welcome children to a session. For children under 5 it’s great to build up a reassuring routine and songs are an important part of this process. Enjoy singing!

Welcome song (To the tune of Frere Jaques)

Hello, welcome,

Friends are here,

Let’s all join together,

God is near,

God is near.

Thank you song (to the tune of ‘Happy Birthday’)

Encourage children to think of something they’d like to say thank you to God for and then get singing (filling in the blank with the name of whatever or whoever it is!)

Thank you Jesus for ——

Thank you Jesus for——

Thank you Jesus for ——-

Thank you Jesus for ——

All Age: Christmas Gifts Talk

June 3, 2015June 3, 2015Leave a comment

This is a talk that can be easily used in an assembly or for an all age service and focuses on the idea of Jesus being an unexpected gift.

You will need: 4 items to wrap as gifts. One should be really easy to guess (e.g. a book), a couple should be quite difficult to guess (I used sunglasses and a duck shaped door stop!) and one should be an ordinary looking, quite boring container with chocolate coins hidden inside.

Ask the congregation what their favourite thing about Christmas is. Gifts are bound to come up! Talk about why we give gifts- to show people that we love them and care for them. Ask everyone to try and guess what is wrapped up in your gifts. Start with the easy to guess gift, proceed onto the harder to guess gifts and end with the box containing chocolate coins. Each time, after guesses have been made, reveal what the gift is.

Explain that sometimes we know immediately what we’ve been given but sometimes it’s harder to work it out and we even get gifts that aren’t what they first seem on the outside. Talk about the fact that Jesus is Immanuel ‘God with us’. God came down as a baby, the first Christmas gift, but like the container with chocolate in it, he wasn’t what we expected! On first sight he would have been just an ordinary human baby, but actually he was a treasure worth more than we can imagine. He was a gift that meant we could be brought closer to God and, through him, God could show how much He loves us. Share out the chocolate and as you eat it, pray that we will all come to see How much God loves us this Christmas.

All Age: Nothing is Impossible to God Talk

June 3, 2015June 3, 2015Leave a comment

Here’s a clever way to illustrate teaching about nothing being impossible to God. If you practise you will be able to talk while cutting which will be a bonus!

You will need: Scissors, postcards or A5 sheets of paper

Ask for volunteers to come out to the front give each of them a sheet of A5 sized paper and some scissors.

Ask them to cut a hole in the paper that they will be able to fit their whole body through.

Some volunteers will immediately decide that this is not possible, while some may have an attempt!

Sometimes we are faced with problems that really worry us and that we don’t know how to solve!

Now take a piece of the A5 paper and follow these instructions…

1. Fold the paper in half lengthways
2 Cut alternating ‘up’ and ‘down’ slits in the paper as shown

3.Cut through the fold of the paper, leaving the fold of the end slit pieces in tact

4. Open the paper out into a big circle that you can pass your whole body through!

You may need to try this a few times before you actually do it for real so that you know roughly how many slits you need to make for your body to get through.

Talk about the fact that sometimes we are faced with problems that we don’t know how to solve- things that seem impossible to us. Talk about times when you’ve faced a problem like this yourself and how trusting in God has helped you. What amazing ways has God shown you that he cares and is helping you? The Bible says that all things are possible to God (Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27) and that, knowing this, can give us hope that if we trust in Him he will do amazing things.

Salad Spinner Pentecost Flames

June 3, 2015June 3, 2015Leave a comment

I found a cheap salad spinner (£4 in IKEA!) and was finally able to try out some spinner art! It’s brilliant: quick, clean (because the spinner sits in its own bowl) and each piece is unique! The process of making the art really lends itself to Pentecost themes so here’s an idea to help celebrate the occasion…

You will need: A salad spinner; red, yellow and orange paint, small paper plates, a tub of hair gel (optional)

Put a plate on the bottom of the inside of the spinner and blob some paint in. Put the lid on and spin!

It only takes a few seconds of enthusiastic spinning and this is what you get… I think that trying to get the plate balanced across the bottom of the spinner would have helped this one (above) to be a little less lop-sided!

Some sites recommend adding a blob of hair gel and it does make the paint a little more runny. Experiment and see what works best for you.

I love it! I tried it out yesterday with some 2 year olds and they loved it too. All ages pleased in one go.

Plastic Cup Nativity Figures

June 3, 2015June 3, 2015Leave a comment

This is a great way to help children to explore the characters of the Nativity story and is a fascinating window into what they think!

Tell the Nativity story and then let the children reflect their observations. What do you think the various characters were thinking and feeling at different times in the story? You might want to collect some descriptive words.

Next ask them to make their own versions of the Nativity characters and be prepared to be fascinated!

You will need: Plastic or paper cups, paper, pens, sellotape, glue, rubber bands, pipe-cleaners, scissors

Here are some examples of what children have come up with! I especially like the Mary with Jesus glued on!

Basic Assembly Structure

June 1, 2015Leave a comment

After years of doing assemblies, I have finally hit upon something of a formula. This may or may not work in your particular context, but hopefully will be of some use!

Timings are obviously very approximate.

5 mins	Hellos and game (based on the theme of the assembly) for one or two children to participate in up front Click here to see a Pinterest board of game ideas
5 mins	Storytelling e.g. acting out with the children, using props or from a good storyteller Bible
5 mins	Short talk about the assembly with an illustration if possible (including an example from my own life where appropriate) Click here to see a Pinterest board of object lesson ideas
2 mins	Short prayer (or reflection time if not a church school). Generally this works well with a lit candle.