Prayer Rockets!

May 31, 2015May 31, 2015Leave a comment

Here’s a fun way to get children to engage in thanking God and asking for blessing while also symbolically releasing their prayers into his hands.

First, get children to write and draw their prayers on a small slip of paper (about the size of an average till receipt).

Next, roll the paper tightly round a straw (the long straight part rather than the bendy part!) and secure it with sellotape. Fold the top of the paper over and secure it with some more sellotape. The paper will now have made a sealed pocket around the top of the straw.

Talk to children about releasing prayers to God and trusting in His love and His power. Say a short prayer, giving your prayers to God and then blow on the free end of the straw. Watch the prayer rocket fly as you release your prayers!

Pentecost: Fork Flame Paintings

May 30, 2015May 30, 2015Leave a comment

This is a really great idea for all ages. We ended up working on the kitchen floor and even the adults decided to join in. Some of the children got incredibly creative…

You will need: yellow, red and orange paint, foil (for easy clean-up afterwards!), plastic forks, card or paper (we used black for a great effect).

Use a fork to blob some paint onto the paper and then swirl and pull or brush with the fork!

Encourage colour mixing as the flames flicker together…

Advent Playdough Mat

May 30, 2015May 30, 2015Leave a comment

Advent is a time of waiting and preparation. To fit with this, here is a play dough mat based around the idea of ‘journeying’ (reflecting the journey that Mary and Joseph went on to Bethlehem). Print out the mat, laminate it for repeated use and get creative!

Click here to print out the mat.

Fuzzy Felt Story Telling

May 29, 2015May 29, 2015Leave a comment

Visual ways of telling stories are great for all ages. Fuzzy Felt is especially good as the children can play with the pieces after you have told the story and recreate the events for themselves. The great thing is that the felt figures will stick to the felt background so you will be able to hold your felt board upright as you tell the story, making it easy for everyone to see.

You will need: A board or piece of cardboard, felt sheets, scissors, glue

Cover a board with a large felt sheet (use glue or staples) to make a ‘background’ board.

Cut simple figures out of felt to help you to tell the story. Here are some examples to give you an idea…

Nativity

Baptism of Jesus

Joseph

Jesus calms the storm

You can also make mini fuzzy felt boxes by sticking some felt to the inside of a sandwich box lid and then keeping small fuzzy felt pieces inside the box. See here for more on this.

Easter Story Play Dough Mats

May 29, 2015May 29, 2015Leave a comment

Play dough mats are a great way to help children to connect with a story. Print off the sheets, laminate them so that they can be used multiple times and it is easy to clean off any stray play dough and let the children get creating!

Here are some play dough mats to use with the Easter story…

Click here to print the mat.

Click here For the ‘In the tomb’ play dough mat.

Click here for the ‘He is risen’ play dough mat.

Easter: Rolling Egg Paintings

May 25, 2015May 25, 2015Leave a comment

Here’s a great activity we did that can help children to engage with the New Life theme of Easter: butterflies painted with rolling eggs! I like the idea of rolling eggs symbolising the stone that rolled away from the tomb at Easter, so that was an added bonus that we could talk about to the children who came along. This was especially popular with boys- maybe something to do with the high activity level!

You will need: A deep sided tray, plastic Easter eggs (that you can put something inside!), marbles, paint, paper butterfly shapes.

Place your paper shape inside the tray.

Put a marble inside each egg you are going to use to paint with. This will give it a little more weight. Add a few spots of paint to the paper (less really is more in this case!). Now shake the tray from side to side so that the eggs roll across the paint and decorate the paper.

The finished painting!

Try to wipe the eggs between paintings.

We also tried some crosses and egg shapes so that we could maintain the ‘New Life’ theme and also speak about Good Friday and the cross leading to a new start for Christians.