Sequin Fabric Board Prayers

I recently discovered 'mermaid fabric' and I love it as a sensory experience and a potential refection and prayer tool!

Mermaid fabric is essentially sequin covered fabric, but the brilliant part is that the sequins are one colour on the top and another colour on the bottom.  If you stroke the fabric upwards, it reveals the underside colour and I could basically sit there stroking all day!

I thought the fabric would be good as a reflection tool in the 'worship' boxes we are creating for children during worship times in a service.  There is a lot of awe and wonder here!!  Here's what I did...

You will need: Mermaid fabric, picture frames (with glass panel removed), PVA or hot glue, scissors.

I took the glass panel out of my photo frames and then removed the backing board, which I measured and then covered with the same size panel of mermaid fabric.  I used PVA glue to stick it on and that seemed to work fine.

I then put the backing board back into the frame and we were good to go!

There is so much potential for these boards...

• write the initials of someone you are praying for
• Pray for God's love to be shown and draw a heart in the sequins
• If you have a fabric like the one above which is black on one side and gold on the reverse, pray for God's light to come into dark places
• Use the boards as a sensory reflection tool to help you focus on the awe and wonder of God.

Try them out and let me know how you use them!

Button Prayers

If you are looking for an active, kinaesthetic, way of praying in a small group or even with the whole congregation, then this might be for you!

You will need: A collection of buttons of different shapes, sizes and colours- at least one button for each person praying.

Give everyone a button.

Feel the hardness of the button and think about people who are going through hard times.  Ask God to help them.

Buttons are used to fasten clothes together.  Ask God to bring together people who have fallen out and moved apart from each other.  Pray that He will bring peace.

Look at your button and see how many holes it has.  Think of that number of things you would like to say thank you to God for and say Thank you prayers.

Look at the colour of the button and say thank you to God for something that is that colour 

Find someone who has the same colour button as you.  You might want to make a small group of people with the same colour.  Say thank you to God for families.  Ask God to bless them and help them to live together and to love each other.

Find someone who has a different button to you- it could be different in shape, size or colour.  Thank God for making everyone different and giving us all different gifts.  Pray for the person you have found.  Ask Them what they would like God to help them with.

God Calls Samuel: exploring through games, crafts and prayer

This week we took a look at the story of God calling Samuel when he was a child in the temple.  We were very busy!

Games: We thought about having to listen so we had a great game of musical statues.  Next we got the boomwhackers out and took turns to tap out a rhythm and get everyone else to copy.

Another game we tried was shaking containers of dried food (rice, pasta, sugar) and asking the children to guess what food was in the tub from what they could hear. 

After telling the story, we thought about how God talks to us and how we talk to God.  We then tried out lots of different ways of praying!

Reflection bottles

We made prayer stones to hold when we spoke to God

Prayed with Skittles... 

Prayed for our friends and family...

Tried out forgiveness fizz...

Did some reflective colouring..

And asked God to forgive us!

The Hospitality of Abraham: Exploring with 3-5s

Here are some ideas to help you to explore the themes of the story of Abraham's hospitality to the three strangers by the Oaks of Mamre (Genesis 18:1-15) with 3-5 year olds.  I've also incorporated Genesis 21:1-7, when Sarah gives birth to Issac.  

The best idea is to tell the story and then to play!!

Build a tent or shelter out of tables, chairs, cushions and blankets and think about what is was like to live in the desert.

Explore themes of hospitality by playing with play food...

...making 'food' with play dough...

 ...making 'special' food for important visitors. Put spread bread and then add a layer of jam or sugar strands.  Cut into shapes with cookie cutters if you want to make it extra special!

Think about God's love for Abraham and Sarah and his gift to them by playing with hearts and gift boxes or gift bags.

Play with baby dolls to remember the special baby that God gave to Abraham and Sarah

Other ideas: 

• Make something no-bake like chocolate crispy cakes and give them as gifts to parents
• decorate placemats for special visitors
• get children to tell jokes and remember that Sarah laughed!