Children’s activities in church

[cautiousoptimist1]

I regularly attend church with my 2 toddlers. They both enjoy the music and generally like the environment, I let them wander around or sit and draw. I think their happy noises are acceptable (they’re not screaming or squealing just the occasional babble and a delayed amen from the 3 year old!) and I would take them out if they were upset.

I’ve become a bit disillusioned recently about any future provision for them. I’m on the PCC so have kind of accepted that if anything is going to change, I’ll need to be a figure in leading it. So I’ve volunteered to lead children’s activities once a month which the vicar is grateful for and has given his support to. This will involve me finding ideas for crafts and a song maybe and then preparing them ahead of the service which I’m ok with but I’m not sure where to start. Does anyone have any ideas of websites or resources to use for telling toddlers and young children stories and linking a craft to the reading of the week? We won’t be leaving the church so bible study for the adults will be going on at the same time.

Thank you in advance for your ideas.

I don't have any English-language resources, but tbh I always get frustrated that children's church inevitably involves bloody crafts (this despite being guilty of it myself*). I always think it would be fun to mix it up a bit - perhaps build a Lego scene one week, do a role play another, learn a new call-and-response song (of course this depends on ages that need to be catered for).

*Some crafts can be fun. I've done salt-dough doves at Pentecost (brought the dough along ready-made and some cutters) and Christingles in Advent (went down really well, particularly as the dc where I am don't have this tradition).

A phase of movement at the beginning and in the middle goes down really well and prevents excessive restlessness.

Oh, btw, once a month doesn't sound like much, but it's really quite a big ask - I do it 2 or 3 times a year and that's enough, tbh. And people can have big expectations... You'll need other parents (preferably dads as well as mums) on board, and others. Perhaps your congregation has some enthusiastic youngsters who might be interested in ministry training eventually - this will be a good way for them to gain experience.

Plus safeguarding, ideally (certainly in the UK) you'll need a second adult in the room (to protect yourself as much as anyone else).

There are loads of resources for Sunday school activities, just choose one for the very youngest age group. You can buy a book. The ' good book company' or scripture union might be good places to start looking. Whenever I have to do a children's talk or similar I always look online for ideas. If you can present people with a planned activity, they might be more likely to help you. I'll check what our church uses.

www.thegoodbook.co.uk/training/childrens-work/click-sunday-school-sample-pack

Also veggie tales and what's in the Bible DVDs are good ( although very American)

You must have at least one more adult, then a third adult if over 16 kids (assuming you have under 5's) you must all have dbs checks. There's lots of good resources for crafts online and the Church of England website has links to kids activities though age range is key.

There's loads of supporting books especially if it's C of E - it's grouped into age groups for appropriate activities. I think primary age it was called Rocks.

I think Pebbles for little ones!

Thank you for your responses.

This is for an activity during our family service. Adults do bible study and we advertise an activity for the children to do with their parents, it’s for 10-15 minutes in place of a sermon rather than a full junior church. I’m aware that we advertise an activity so want to consistently provide something aimed at children which doesn’t have to be a craft but that’s what I’d expect it to be. At the moment my 2 girls are the only real regulars!

I don't think 10-15 min is enough for a craft, plus lead-in and -out. I think then you only really have time for a prayer and a song plus a child-friendly retelling of the Bible story relevant to the sermon text (there are sets of large pictures available which tell Bible stories in sequence). You can make this interactive even with quite little ones - asking questions, kicking off by asking for associations with key figures/settings in the story etc.

We use the scripture union lightlive website. It has activities from 0-14 years.

I would recommend buying in Scripture Union or CPAS resources. HTB’s Praise Party has good music resources.

I don’t have any personal experience of Godly Play, but I think it follows the Lectionary.

Messy Church for parents to do with their children.

Locally a few churches do ' Messy Church', I don't know the ins and outs of organising it but I have taken my DD a few times ( neither me nor DH are religious but when we moved to our rural location it was a good way of getting to know people locally ). They do lots of different crafts and each month there's a theme. A Google search of 'Mesh Church' should help. My mind is blank and the only craft I can think of is when they made a Whale shaped ball in a cup... Plastic cup, two googly eyes stuck on, cut out a whales tail and stuck it on the bottom. Finally put a screwed up ball of foil onto then end of a piece of string and attaching the string inside the whale so you could catch the foil in the whales mouth ( the cup). It was part of something to do with the old testament I think (I was trying to wrangle DD and breast feed DS during the session so didn't pay much attention to anything going on around that day!).

Thank you. We are looking at messy church too but as a separate venture with the idea that it has its own congregation rather than using it as a way into Sunday service.

Messy Church like you say OP is a different venture.

I like PP suggestion of Lego. And fuzzy felt could work too.

You could also try different "prayer stations" each week, the resources are online.

As for music can you get the priest on board to encourage youngsters to play along to the hymns/songs with tambourine/shakers/bells etc? I don't know your context but I've seen this work in high and low churches.

As it sounds like you literally just want a simple craft, Pinterest is your friend. Google "kids craft (name of Bible story)" and loads will come up.

For example " kids craft good shepherd" took me here You can even just use Google images.

There are lots of home schooling Christian parents in the US and they are very good at sharing their ideas. If you explore, you'll begin to identify the useful ones. Anything that can feasibly be done during a 10-15 min slot will be quite easy to work out from the image, but some will also have links to templates etc.

I used to run a messy church and this is where most of "my" brilliant ideas came from!

Scripture Union also publish books of lesson plans for toddlers, but you don't really need a whole programme.

This is a great idea. I go weekly to a toddler group at a local church hall, plus messy church when it's on sporadically. Craft things we do focus on seasons - small paper plate with bun tough bun case in the middle on a stick for a daffodil for spring, paper plate with cotton balls for snowman for winter etc, bird made from tough paper, bird feeder made from pipe cleaners bent into interlocking hearts with Cheerios threaded on and hung on trees (this was from RSPB website I think) so you could also source ideas from similar websites plus Pinterest is good. Depending on the age range of the children. Messy play does paint on sponge circles that they press their hands or feet into and make animals with the shapes (reindeer's are a good one for this).

Hope this helps and good luck I love our church sessions x

There are some good online resources such as:

sermons4kids.com/
rfour.org/childrenstime.html
www.sermonwriter.com/childrens-sermons/
faithformationjourneys.org/

I agree with a pp about not always doing crafts. To mix it up a bit, I try to include other activities such as:

• outside play when the weather is ok (eg blindfold games to demonstrate trust, three legged races to demonstrate working together etc)
• very simple cooking
• preparing a bible scene which they then act to the rest of the congregation

My top tip is to wing it a bit - don't spend ages preparing or you may end up resenting it!

Danielle's Place has some brilliant ideas and quick easy crafts. You could try Activity Village as well. Their crafts aren't religious but can be tied in with lots of relevant themes.
There are literally millions of ideas on the web or you could buy some SU resources. For specific prayer resources, have a look at Thy Kingdom Come and the like. They have good interactive prayer ideas. Or you could try a different prayer station each Sunday, linked in to whatever the theme of the main service is.
If you want stories, I heartily recommend the Jesus Big Storybook Bible or the Veggie tales Bible story book. I have used these with my own kids, with boys brigade, messy church, summer mission and more to great effect.

Also, food crafts are always a favourite. I do one every month in messy church. Anything from making bloody plaster biscuits for the good Samaritan to pink icing pigs for the prodigal son to marshmallow lambs for the lost sheep. We've also made breakfast cereal bird feeders, soup in a jar, polo fruit rainbow bracelets, rainbow fruit kebabs and so many more that I've lost track. Kids love them every time.
You do have to be prepared for a mess, though.

Once you get into it, ideas come thick and fast.

We've had a water trough for any bible story including water. Have boats, people whales etc and retell the story. You can do similar with a sand tray.

Paper plate crafts are good- they can be cut into doves, sheep faces, masks etc.

Have a look at 'flame creative' online. They have activities for younger children.

You can do 'who am I' games, where children ask questions and you answer yes or no, and they try to guess who.

Thank you everyone, some really great suggestions. I particularly like the idea of not always being a craft.

Have a look at flame creative flamecreativekids.blogspot.com/?m=1 there is some great stuff there.