This is our new activity in our Friday children's church. We have a structure of a service which stays the same each week and in the middle we have a slot that we use for exploring something biblical.
We have been trying to use some godly play resources with them even though they are a bit young to do it properly (they are all under 3). LittleLanky found it difficult to concentrate during the story and wanted to pick up all the wooden characters which made it difficult for everyone else to follow what was going on.
So then we thought we would just let them play with the godly play resources in an unstructured way but that wasn't massively successful either.
So... the latest idea is the bible storyboard. This is an A2 board with a nice thick piece of A2 paper that we told the story on. Today I told the story of the Feeding the Five Thousand. They all had a packet of crayons and I told them from the start that they could draw anywhere on the paper at any time.
So I drew a hill that Jesus stood on to talk to the crowd and then the children found a wooden figure to be Jesus and then put other figures out to be the crowd. Then I asked them to draw extra figures on the paper as well as there weren't enough wooden figures to be a big crowd (the adults helped too!).
I carried on telling the story while we all drew and moved figures around. So then the children found a figure to be the boy who brought his bread and fish to jesus and stood them together. Then I drew 2 fish and 5 loaves and explained that he blessed them.
I wasn't really thinking too hard about how to draw all the different elements on the paper and when I described Jesus blessing the bread and fish I drew a cross to show this. I didn't know why I did this and didn't really think to hard about it at the time. Reflecting on this now I think it was a good choice. I think I chose the symbol because it's how a priest blesses the congregation. It's intriguing from a theological perspective using a cross symbol for Jesus blessing something, as obviously the cross is all to come but I don't have a problem with this.
I then explained that the miracle that happened that day was there was enough food for everyone with plenty left over. So we all drew extra bread and fish across the paper.
After we had finished the storyboard time the children then rolled out their own bread (I had made a pitta bread dough before hand) and then this was baked afterwards and they had a great time eating. LittleLanky with some help from LankyAnglican made a pitta fish, which she later devoured with relish!
It seemed to go well. I enjoyed it. LittleLanky enjoyed it. I think the bible storyboard will be making an appearance next week and we'll use the godly play resources to add to our stories. It's all good.
Friday 18 November 2011
Thursday 10 November 2011
Church in a bag
We have just had our thursday evening service in the college and this evening we shared the church with a large amount of pottery which is part of an exhibition in the church. There was a bit of trepidation over how the small children would cope with this, as they didn't have their usual space in the church and had to stay within pews in order to keep the pottery safe.
I'm pleased to report all went perfectly. We brought out the 'church in a bag' concept for the first time and this evening it worked really well. LittleLanky did not go near any pots, which is good because we couldn't afford to buy any she broke!
Church in a bag - this is the name that we have given what we're doing but the concept is also known as 'liturgy in a box'. I got much of my inspiration for it from a children's communion service that I go to at the Michaelhouse in Cambridge.
Basically it is a simplified service booklet for young children that has photographs and some simple text to guide them through the service (with help from an adult) with physical resources to help them connect to different parts of the service.
In our bags so far we have:
Gathering - we will have some small wooden dolls once I have found them at the right price!
Confession and absolution - we have some puzzles and lacing cards. The idea is something you can do and then undo or break apart and remake.
Gloria - multi coloured streamers. It's basically a wooden curtain ring with ribbons stitched in place. I have chosen liturgical colours! I got this idea from the michaelhouse. They look fab.
The Word - a book of bible stories and other biblical items. They also have pencils and crayons to colour and draw in their booklet which has lots of spaces for this.
The gospel (subsection of The Word above) - they have battery operated tea lights. These are to connect them to the gospel procession. The ones they have are a little fragile so I may need to find more robust ones.
Intercessions - they have little wooden crosses. Damien crosses to be precise. They are quite ornate.
Eucharist - they will have little wooden egg cups and coasters each to represent the chalice and pattern. They have this at the Michaelhouse and it's remarkably effective. I just need to find them at the right price!
They have all this in a brightly coloured cloth bag. I have six different colours. I actually got them from the university book shop. They have the logo emblazoned across them but they're brightly coloured, cost £2 and we could get student discount. I wasn't going to be sniffy about a logo for that!
So this is where I'm up to with it all. I'll post some pictures of it all when I go into college tomorrow. I will put the service booklet I have created up at some point but currently it wouldn't pass any copyright guidelines so I'll get that sorted and then show it.
It will be interesting to see how this goes. I want to take a bag with me on a Sunday to see how it goes with LittleLanky there. I think she'll appreciate it.
I think this is the idea that we will trial for the long term now. It can be used in lots of different settings and the children can sit together or apart so it has flexibility (as tonight showed!). The service booklet will change for the children week on week to reflect the seasons and to stop them from getting bored and we will add seasonal items to the bags as well. (That's liturgical seasons rather than normal seasons!).
Tonight I had one of the best experiences in church with LittleLanky that I have had in a long time. We were without LankyAnglican as he helps with the older children and hemmed in on all sides by people (the pots spread across the pews meant we had to worship close together, very close together!). This is normally a recipe for disaster but it wasn't. LittleLanky and I worshipped side by side. And it was good.
I'm pleased to report all went perfectly. We brought out the 'church in a bag' concept for the first time and this evening it worked really well. LittleLanky did not go near any pots, which is good because we couldn't afford to buy any she broke!
Church in a bag - this is the name that we have given what we're doing but the concept is also known as 'liturgy in a box'. I got much of my inspiration for it from a children's communion service that I go to at the Michaelhouse in Cambridge.
Basically it is a simplified service booklet for young children that has photographs and some simple text to guide them through the service (with help from an adult) with physical resources to help them connect to different parts of the service.
In our bags so far we have:
Gathering - we will have some small wooden dolls once I have found them at the right price!
Confession and absolution - we have some puzzles and lacing cards. The idea is something you can do and then undo or break apart and remake.
Gloria - multi coloured streamers. It's basically a wooden curtain ring with ribbons stitched in place. I have chosen liturgical colours! I got this idea from the michaelhouse. They look fab.
The Word - a book of bible stories and other biblical items. They also have pencils and crayons to colour and draw in their booklet which has lots of spaces for this.
The gospel (subsection of The Word above) - they have battery operated tea lights. These are to connect them to the gospel procession. The ones they have are a little fragile so I may need to find more robust ones.
Intercessions - they have little wooden crosses. Damien crosses to be precise. They are quite ornate.
Eucharist - they will have little wooden egg cups and coasters each to represent the chalice and pattern. They have this at the Michaelhouse and it's remarkably effective. I just need to find them at the right price!
They have all this in a brightly coloured cloth bag. I have six different colours. I actually got them from the university book shop. They have the logo emblazoned across them but they're brightly coloured, cost £2 and we could get student discount. I wasn't going to be sniffy about a logo for that!
So this is where I'm up to with it all. I'll post some pictures of it all when I go into college tomorrow. I will put the service booklet I have created up at some point but currently it wouldn't pass any copyright guidelines so I'll get that sorted and then show it.
It will be interesting to see how this goes. I want to take a bag with me on a Sunday to see how it goes with LittleLanky there. I think she'll appreciate it.
I think this is the idea that we will trial for the long term now. It can be used in lots of different settings and the children can sit together or apart so it has flexibility (as tonight showed!). The service booklet will change for the children week on week to reflect the seasons and to stop them from getting bored and we will add seasonal items to the bags as well. (That's liturgical seasons rather than normal seasons!).
Tonight I had one of the best experiences in church with LittleLanky that I have had in a long time. We were without LankyAnglican as he helps with the older children and hemmed in on all sides by people (the pots spread across the pews meant we had to worship close together, very close together!). This is normally a recipe for disaster but it wasn't. LittleLanky and I worshipped side by side. And it was good.
Thursday 3 November 2011
Logistics
Weve just had our usual Thursday service and I'm definitely starting to see some things with more clarity.
The first is that trying to get all the children working at the same thing at the same time is very difficult.
The second is that play doh is a pain in the neck!
The third is that it's all a journey and there is no right or wrong in this.
This evening we were fighting lots of unusual constraints such as: musicians in the space that the children spill over into (so we felt cramped), an unusually long service, an unusually quiet service and mid term tiredness in everyone. This could have led to disaster but it didn't. LittleLanky did get fed up towards the end and was not engaged in the service much but she was fairly contented considering.
However it made me think that I want to make some changes.
1) When LittleLanky can't see what's going on she completely loses interest - therefore the children's area needs a good view of the altar and the aisle for the gospel. I need to plan ahead and look at moving the children if there are musicians who block their view.
2) I think it needs to be more based around the individual child working through the service with their parent/carer rather than trying to do it as a group. I think it's great that they can sit together and interact but if we try to do too much as a group it's just becoming Sunday school in church rather than trying to be part of the service.
I have some great plans for how to bring all this about and I hope to be able blog about it soon!
The first is that trying to get all the children working at the same thing at the same time is very difficult.
The second is that play doh is a pain in the neck!
The third is that it's all a journey and there is no right or wrong in this.
This evening we were fighting lots of unusual constraints such as: musicians in the space that the children spill over into (so we felt cramped), an unusually long service, an unusually quiet service and mid term tiredness in everyone. This could have led to disaster but it didn't. LittleLanky did get fed up towards the end and was not engaged in the service much but she was fairly contented considering.
However it made me think that I want to make some changes.
1) When LittleLanky can't see what's going on she completely loses interest - therefore the children's area needs a good view of the altar and the aisle for the gospel. I need to plan ahead and look at moving the children if there are musicians who block their view.
2) I think it needs to be more based around the individual child working through the service with their parent/carer rather than trying to do it as a group. I think it's great that they can sit together and interact but if we try to do too much as a group it's just becoming Sunday school in church rather than trying to be part of the service.
I have some great plans for how to bring all this about and I hope to be able blog about it soon!
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