The Wise and Foolish Builder Snack

Snack for the story the wise and foolish builders made from wafers, cereal, cravers, rice paper, chocolate and icing, oh and  sugar sand!
Story snacks are always well received and a good reinforcer of the story.

Toy Story Junior Church (friends of Jesus-Mary, Martha and Lazarus)

 That's it folks, until next (this) month, when we are doing Mr Potato Head (The Body of Christ.

Moses Story (Part 1)

For this holiday club we did the story of Moses. Here are snippets of the story telling and the play to support this.

Close Up of the Story Photos.  

Play Resources

 God Hears: Matching two shakers of the same sound, and ELC sound cubes.

God Sees: Kaleidoscopes, distorting mirrors and lenses, colour paddles and torches.

Jesus Friend to All

We were doing the story on the Ten Lepers, with a focus on how Jesus was friends with all (a holiday club message we were revisiting) and even though they had leprosy He helped them and didn't shy away. We photocopied our hands to tell the story (one way we told it) drawing straight mouths on each of the hands turning to happy when healed. Moving on to write our own thank you's around the hands.

The photo above is something we thought of whilst photocopying, noticing our hands were all different and little details were being captured led us to talk about how Jesus was all of our friend's even if we are different. So we made posters of group of hands, which turned out lovely!!!

I think we will use the hand photocopying idea again!!

Junior Church Format

I have blogged about Junior Church/ Children's Church on many occasions but don't think I have ever written the order of the session any where! So I thought I'd take this opportunity to do so. The times are variable and a very rough guide, we move times/ adapt to the needs of the group and each session.

Light Show

Further to last post thought I would add this wonderful light toy that is designed for under water e.g. in the bath, but works equally well outside. It can be used for exploration of for themes e.g. light, stars etc.

It projects well onto ceiling and walls but even better onto close surfaces e.g. an umbrella or chiffon or indeed both as in one of the photos. I placed it in a large shiny Ikea fruit dish that reflected well.

It can be purchased from specialist SEN retailers or ebay and Amazon, search around under the heading "under water light show"  the vary in price from £5-£50 (depending on size/ amount of light sequences/ or just difference)

Here is a link to the one featured here (possibly not the same retailer)

Church Sensory Space

We have been creating a Sensory Space at junior church relating to relevant sessions for all children attending (with initial inspiration to support children with SEND) ALL children have been utilising the space amazingly, either as a calm space, prayer, exploration etc. and in response to story (we have found it's great place for children to build relationships without business). Yesterday there was even a post it note on wall from one of the children (For prayer writing) saying "Thank you for this room" 

I googled sensory spaces in church and there is not a huge amount to be honest, and I guess understandably it may be considered useful for a small group of children (which is not the case) and also generally a large budget needed. Inclusive Church blog has a couple of blog entries: Special needs ministry sensory room   and creating a Multi Sensory Environment. 

We have not created our environments on a huge budget, but generally by looking around for cheap items that have lights/ tackle qualities. Generally poundland (or other pound stores) and budget home wear stores. Also ebay, amazon and second hand sites (particularly if battery operated, consider safety checks here). So here are some budget ideas. If you start thinking sensory you'll find you see stuff everywhere.