Using playdough to pray and respond

August 25, 2019Leave a comment

Play dough is a well beloved, cheap and easily accessible material and can probably be found in most church children’s areas. There’s so much that can be done with it: praying, playing and responding to stories and teaching. Here are some ideas to get you started…

Praying with Playdough:

Use play dough to make the shape of something you want to thank God for.
Play dough intercessions

Responding to stories:

Play dough faces
Play Dough Mats
Play dough mark making– roll the playdough out flat and use a variety of mark making items- lolly sticks, lego blocks, buttons, bottle tops, plastic knives, to make pictures of the story you have just heard. Children might want to make a picture of a key event or a key character, or write some words that relate to the story. Leave some time at the end of the activity so that they can share what they have done!
Play dough models: provide a collection of collage and construction items such lolly sticks, pipe cleaners, buttons, feathers, card and ask children to use play dough along with these items to make models of a character or event from the story. Again. leave time to share!

Play dough recipes:

no cook play dough
scented play dough
galaxy playdough (great for praying and reflecting!)

Easter Story Play Dough Faces

April 1, 2019Leave a comment

Here is a really easy but very hands on craft to help children to explore the various characters and events of the Easter story (though you can, of course, use it for any Bible story!)

You will need: Bowls (I used plastic Ikea ones), play dough

After reading the story, get children to talk about the characters and events they liked and didn’t like. Which people and events struck them the most?

Give each child a bowl and some play dough. Using the bowl as a head, ask them to make the face of one of the characters from the story. Try to make expressions such as anger, sadness joy.

When everyone has made a face, ask children to try and guess who each one is!

Ideas for open ended story responses

July 31, 2018Leave a comment

Sometimes the most significant spiritual moments with children come when they have been given the freedom to explore the things they have heard in their own time and in their own way. We often lose sight of the fact that children have incredible spiritual depth without (or maybe even in spite of!) adult intervention and we programme our time with them so that it is full of meaningful activity. Just think how stressful it can be to plan a whole Sunday session on very short notice!

We’ve experimented a lot at our church over the years and have found that giving children freedom to create their own responses to what they have been shown or told has two-fold benefits. Children are not contained by our expectations of what we want them to learn and, therefore, come up with fascinating insights or questions that we could never have predicted; and it is also less onerous for leaders in terms of preparation.

There are several options we offer children for the response time and, as they create or explore, we spend the time chatting to them about the story and what they think. Children will often take this time as an opportunity to retell the story in their own way, or to pick out something that was particularly significant to them. We don’t do this every single week, but children are familiar now with using open ended responses and the results are fascinating and often quite humbling for leaders!

Here are the top ten activities we like to offer on a rotating basis (maybe 3 or 4 options each time).

Playdough

2. Fuzzy felt

3. Lego

4. Building blocks

5. ‘Loose parts’ box

6. Junk modelling box (using e.g. recyclables)

7. Pens and paper

8. Paint

9. Chalk boards and chalk (or chalk boards with paintbrushes and water)

10. Play people e.g. playmobil, lego, wooden

I’d love to hear from you if you give this a go or are already doing something similar!

Bible Story Response: Styrofoam Prints

July 31, 2016Leave a comment

This is a really easy idea that can be use with any Bible Story whatsoever. Just beware that it involves getting the paint out!

You will need: paint, paper, flat styrofoam circles or squares cut from styrofoam plates or sheets, pencils, paint brushes

Talk to the children about their favourite part of the story, their favourite character or the most striking part of the story they have heard. Ask them to draw a simple picture of what they have shared on the back of the styrofoam circle or square, pressing lightly with a pencil.

When they have drawn their picture lightly, get them to press harder with their pencil on all of the lines so that the lines become quite deep (but not so deep that they cut through the back of the sheet!)

Paint a thin layer of paint over the etched in drawing and then press the paint side down firmly onto a piece of paper.

Lift up the styrofoam and you should be left with a print of your picture! Repeat and give the children time to share and explain what their pictures show.