Here is a collection of ideas for using at a Christmas or Advent Messy Church…
Nativity Sticker Christmas Cards with stickers from Baker Ross
Wise Men Hats made from paper plates
Nativity stick puppets (also using the stickers from Baker Ross)
Shaving foam snow sensory play
Click here for a Pinterest board of even more Christmas and Advent crafts.
This is one of our most popular Messy Church crafts ever!
You will need: Digestive Biscuits, icing sugar made into runny icing, crushed up shredded wheat, jelly babies, fondant icing rolled out and cut into squares big enough to cover the jelly baby
Take a biscuit
Ice the biscuit and crumble on some shredded wheat to make the ‘hay’
Lay a jelly baby on the hay
Cover the jelly baby with a fondant icing blanket
Eat!
Here are some easy and fun activities for a Easter themed Messy Church…
Shaving foam and paint marbled eggs
toddler sensory play with water beads, plastic eggs and polystyrene eggs
A baby area with hearts (to reflect Jesus’ love) and balls (close enough to eggs for new life!)
Special cups to think about the last supper (click here for details of how to make them)
Cards using stickers from Baker Ross
Palm Sunday spinners (click here for details of how to make them)
Tape resist crosses (click here for details of how to make them
Butterflies are great symbols of new life when you are talking about the resurrection. These are really easy and really effective to make- but are probably best made by older children as the folding can be a bit fiddly!
You will need: Brightly coloured magazine pages, string
First get a magazine page,
Then cut it into 2 squares- I used one 12 x12 cm and one 8cm x 8cm
Starting with a corner, concertina the paper diagonally
Tie the two concertinaed squares together with thread (put the larger square at the top).
Hang the butterflies up!
Playdough mats are incredibly helpful as ways of consolidating stories and exploring their themes. The idea is very easy: print out the mat, laminate it (so that the play dough will come off easily and so you can use the mat over and over again) and then get busy! Here are some example play dough mats to print off and use but why not get creative and make your own or get children to make some to help others to learn about the story…
Sometimes it can be hard for children to understand the difference between prayer and worship. It’s helpful to explain worship as being about telling God how great He is and celebrating the wonderful things He has done for us.
Here is a little game I’ve made to try and get the children to practice thinking about who God is and why He’s amazing!
Play the game in pairs. Each person uses different colour counters. Choose a square and when you have completed the little task, you can put your counter there. The first person to get 3 counters in a row is the winner!
For a printable version click here.
The Well Creative Children's ministry 