Remembrance Sunday Torn Paper Collage

November 3, 2021Leave a comment

Remembrance Sunday can sometimes be a tricky day with lots of questions and emotions. This collage craft helps to pick up on some of the themes of the day, gives children time and space to chat and ask questions and provides an opportunity to discuss what it will be like when God makes everything new and there is no more war or pain.

³I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.^[a] ⁴He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

⁵And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” Revelation 21: 3-5, NLT

You will need: Red paper of varying patterns and textures, black paper, backing paper, glue

Ask children children to choose some paper as their collage backing paper and then tear up red paper to make petals for their poppies. They might like to draw a poppy shape on the page first and then fill it in, or just go with a freestyle collage. Finish with black paper in the centre of each poppy.

As you tear and stick the paper down, use the time to chat. Discussion could include lots of things:

relate the tearing of the paper to the destruction of war and what it must have felt like for the soldiers and their families

Talk about how the churning up of the soil and the distribution of the seeds during the fighting led to the poppies growing there the following year. Life emerged where there had been death.
Think about God’s kingdom as talked about in Revelation 21: 1-7, where there will be no more death or crying or pain
What questions do children have? what do they wonder about war or peace or what God’s kingdom will be like?

Pray

use the words of the Revelation verses to help you think about people who died or who were injured in the wars and also about their families.
Light a candle and put the poppy pictures around it and ask God to wipe away the tears of all of those who are grieving or in pain today because of war.

The Wise and Foolish Builders Story Illustration

October 1, 2021Leave a comment

We used this Illustration to tell the story of the Wise and Foolish Builders (Matthew 7:24-27) at Cafe Church- a new intergenerational service that we’ve started since restrictions eased a little bit. One of the Cafe church team came up with the idea and set up the following display. I was a bit dubious to begin with because I couldn’t see how it was going to work- but I didn’t know the hidden secret!

Both structures look exactly the same. We read the story from a simple translation of the bible and, when we got to the part about the wind blowing, the team member waved a hairdryer at the structure on the right hand side. The ‘wind’ blew the cups down. When we got to the structure on the left hand side, however, the structure didn’t budge at all. I couldn’t figure out why not, because nothing was stuck down. It was only when I lifted one of the cups up and looked inside that I saw the answer…

Each cup in the second structure was half filled with craft concrete. This gave the cups a really sturdy weight that was immovable in the path of the hairdryer and gave a nod to building a structure on ‘rock.’

You will need: 20 paper cups, craft concrete, hairdryer

Make up the craft concrete according to package directions and half fill 10 of the paper cups. Wait for the concrete to dry. Stack the empty cups in one pyramid and the concrete filled cups in another pyramid and use your hairdryer to help tell the story!

Manna in the Wilderness

July 31, 2021Leave a comment

In Exodus 16, God first gives the Israelites manna as food in the wilderness. It’s describes as being like ‘flakes.’ These crackers aren’t like flakes exactly, but making them will help children to imagine themselves into the story.

You will need: 100g plain flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil, 3 tablespoons of water, a rolling pin, a mixing bowl, a fork, a baking tray, greaseproof paper, a knife or pizza cutter, an oven, honey

Preheat the oven to 180˚C and grease a baking tray or line it with greaseproof paper. Mix the dry ingredients together in the bowl and then add the oil and water. Mix together with a fork or your hands until a dough is formed. Roll the dough out thinly and place it on the baking tray. Prick the dough all over with a fork and then cut it into squares with a knife or pizza cutter. Put the baking tray into the oven and bake for 15-20 mins until the crackers are starting to turn light brown.

When the crackers have cooled, share them out and try them. Children might want to spread a little bit of honey on them, as we are told that the manna tasted like ‘wafers made with honey’ (Exodus 16:31). As you eat, talk about the story of God giving manna in the wilderness.

Talk about:

How would you have felt to see the manna on the ground for the first time?
Why do you think God gave the rule about only gathering what was needed?
What would you think of having this every day for many years?
What foods do you eat every day?

Pray:

Thank God for the foods you enjoy. Ask him to show us how to help those who don’t have enough to eat.

Creation Celebration Suncatchers

July 7, 2021July 7, 2021Leave a comment

As summer really starts warming up and the school holidays approach, it’s a great time to get outside and celebrate the beauty of God’s creation. At a recent community holiday club, the children loved making these suncatchers to hang in their windows- each one of them was unique and colourful.

You will need: paper plates, scissors, sticky back plastic, leaves and flowers (we were lucky enough to get some from a volunteer’s garden!)

Cut a hole in the centre of each plate and cut two sheets of sticky back plastic per plate, each one big enough to completely cover the hole you have cut.

Lay one of the plastic sheets, sticky side up, on the table and put the plate over the top of it so that the sticky part is showing through the hole.

Arrange leaves and petals on the sticky part until you are happy withe your design. Then put the second sheet of sticky back plastic over the top of the design, trapping the leaves and petals in between.

Hang the suncatchers in the window and let the sun shine through!

Read the creation story in Genesis 1. Talk about:

What is your favourite part of the creation story?
What do you think God meant when he said ‘it was good’?
What questions does the story make you want to ask?
How do you see the story in what you have made today?

‘God so loved the world’ suncatcher

May 31, 2021Leave a comment

You will need: PVA glue, a clear plastic lid (e.g. a large yoghurt pot lid), green and blue food colouring, cocktail sticks

Pour PVA glue into the lid and spread it out with a spoon until the whole lid is covered in a thin layer.

Drop some little blobs of food colouring into the glue and use a cocktail stick to swirl and spread them around. Try to make a distinction between land (green) and sea (blue).

Leave to dry.

When the glue is fully dry, attach the suncatcher to your window with a little bit of blue tack and let the sun shine through.

As the sun shines through, think about God’s love for us and for our world. What makes you feel loved? Who do you know who needs help to feel loved by God right now? How can we help to show God’s love to the world?

Dear God, thank you for loving us and wanting good things for us. We pray for people all over the world who are feeling unloved, guilty, sad and afraid. Help them to know your love and to know the love and hope Jesus brings. Amen

Exploring The Parable of the Sower

April 30, 2021Leave a comment

As we come further into spring, it’s a great time to tell the parable of the sower and to think about how we grow as disciples.

Here are some helpful resources to help you to do this:

Use the Parable of the Sower Playdough Mat (above). Click here to print off and use. For repeated use, it really helps to laminate the sheet!

Think about how seeds might grow on different types of ground by testing it out! Make ‘seed balls’ and then throw them into your garden and watch what happens as nature takes its course. This is a great set of instructions to help you to get started. Be aware that it might get messy!

Go into the garden and look at where plants are growing and where they aren’t. What do you notice?

Watch this video of the story, using photos taken in Israel of the 4 different types of land.

Use junk to make a model of something that really sticks out to you from the story. Share what you have made and why.

Talk about: