Christingle Messy Church

December 23, 2015December 23, 2015Leave a comment

Here are some ideas that we used at our Christingle based Messy Church. There was a mixture of Nativity and general Christmas crafts and we finished with a short Christingle service, lighting the candles and singing ‘Away in a Manger.’

Making Christingles: Get parents and children to help make the Christingles by putting in the candles, putting red tape round the orange and putting sweets on sticks. It might get a bit messy but that is the point of Messy Church!

Christingle Play dough mats: Click here to print off (laminate for continued use)

Christmas Colouring: Click here to print off sheets

Christmas Angel Game: Click here to print off

Making Christmas cards with Nativity Character Stickers

Make Jesus in the Manger Biscuits: (biscuit, runny icing, shredded wheat hay, Jelly baby and fondant blanket).

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!

Esther: Reflective Colouring Sheet

October 22, 2015Leave a comment

Using Colouring as a reflection tool is becoming more and more popular- not just for children but for adults too!

Here is a colouring sheet based on the story of Esther which will help children to reflect on the story and to learn a piece of scripture. It works well to have a quiet atmosphere with, perhaps, some music playing in the background. Encourage children just to colour and to think about the story and the words and images on the page. When the children have finished colouring ask them to share any reflections and be ready to be amazed!

Click here to open and print the colouring sheet.

Worry Assembly (The Exodus story: Wandering in the wilderness)

September 20, 2015October 22, 2015Leave a comment

This assembly works well with years 1-6 and is quite interactive- especially if you have a willing teacher who doesn’t mind taking a risk!

You will need: A retelling of the story of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness and being given manna by God, a sealed plastic ziplock bag 2/3 filled with water, sharp pencils or pens

We told the story of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness and worrying about where they would get food and drink and also about where they were going. A great retelling can be found in this book: 9780745964331

Talk to the children about what worries them and then talk about the way that God helps the people in the story. They don’t need to worry because He has got it covered!

Invite a teacher to come out to the front (we had a very willing head teacher who we had prepared beforehand!). Sit them in a seat and hold a ziplock sandwich bag filled with water (and sealed!!) above their head. How worried do they feel now on a scale of 1-10? Then bring out a pen or a sharp pencil. What if I threatened to push this pencil into the bag? How worried would you be then? Stick the pencil ALL THE WAY THROUGH the plastic bag in one steady move so that the pencil is poking out either side of the bag. No water will come out! Repeat this twice more.

Emphasise the point you knew that no harm was going to come to the teacher even if they were worried. You had it covered. When we are worried, we know that God has it covered and will look after us. We can tell Him anything we are worried about. Who can the children talk to if they are worried?

Say a prayer, thanking God for people who help us when we are worried and thanking Him that we can talk to Him about our worries too.

Storytelling with cards

June 9, 2015June 9, 2015Leave a comment

This is a storytelling idea that is easy, portable and flexible for many stories.

You will need: 4 Card strips (judge size depending on how close the children are going to be and how big the group is. You will probably need bigger strips for a bigger group, but expriment with what works best for you!), paper fasteners (split pins), something to make a hole with.

Make a hole in the end of each piece of card and join the pieces with split pins so that it looks as shown. You now have your storytelling equipment!

This is how you might use the strips to tell the story of the rich and foolish builders.

The wise builder went out one day to build his house and decided that he wanted it to be very safe. He found some strong rock to build on

He dug some foundations in the rock and finally, after a lot of work, finished his house. He was very pleased and went inside to have some rest.

The foolish builder went out to build his house and decided that he just wanted to get things done quickly. He didn’t mind where he built it, so he found some sand and built his house there.