Holy Spirit/Pentecost Discovery Basket

May 20, 2016May 20, 2016Leave a comment

At our recent Pentecost service, we had a basket available to help babies and toddlers explore the colours and symbols of the Holy Spirit (specifically love, wind, fire, doves, red). The children and parents really got stuck in to discovering!

Basket contents included:

Wooden doves
Wooden hearts
Fabric hearts
Battery operated candles
Red, yellow and orange ribbons tied to shower rings (streamers)
A gold glitter reflection bottle (gold glitter in water- shake it up and watch it settle!)
Windmills
Bubbles (carried on the wind)

Printable Nativity Figures: Colour and Play!

November 26, 2015November 26, 2015Leave a comment

Here are some printable Nativity figures for you to print out, colour in and then use to help explore the Christmas story.

Click here to print out the sheet. Colour the figures in and then cut them out. For extended use, it might be best to laminate them!

You can stick them onto lolly sticks to make stick puppets, sellotape a bent paperclip to the back to help them stand independently or even stick them to wooden blocks- much more friendly for smaller hands!

Enjoy your story telling!

Toddler Play: Heuristic Play (Exploring with Stuff!)

May 24, 2015May 24, 2015Leave a comment

Heuristic play is a method used in lots of nurseries and pre-schools to help children to explore, create and use their imaginations. For children in church it’s brilliant because it helps them to start thinking, questioning and exploring and well as inspiring some awe and wonder! As they are allowed to freely explore, it also helps the children to build their independence and creativity. Even the adults can’t resist having a go themselves!

Heuristic play involves having collections of items (plenty of each to go round) which the children can then play with without adult intervention. Play can be themed if you are looking at a particular story.

Use items such as: corks, kitchen roll tubes, boxes and tins, napkin rings and bangles (and mug trees to put them on!), shells, pinecones, corks, pegs, stones, egg boxes, ribbons, muffin tins, bottle tops.

Click here to see a Pinterest board of heuristic play ideas.

Here are some examples we have used in church:

Have fun watching imagination and creativity develop!

3-5s: Exploring the Feeding of the 5000

May 22, 2015May 22, 2015Leave a comment

Here are some ways to help young children to connect with the story of Jesus feeding the 5000. The focus is food so there is plenty of opportunity to speak to the children about the food they like as they play. This might feed in, later, to thank you prayers.

Tell the story with props (e.g. felt bread and fish)