victoria 
This is a really popular prayer activity: 1 Grab a pack of multi-coloured sweets — Skittles work well! 2 Assign each colour sweet a category, for example: Red: family Purple: friends Green: environment/ animals Yellow: the world Orange: school/work 3 Take it in turns to pick one sweet. You could do this with your eyes … Read more
Anyone who’s been around me for long will know I love coffee, painting and my daily thanks chart. I love doing new creative things, and find developing habits hard work. This means I’m very excited about the ones I do have! I’ve found that habits are a great way of developing the life I want. … Read more
A really simple way to pray without using words is to build a Duplo house and give it a title such as: The House of Peace. Invite people to choose a Duplo person to represent someone they know who needs more peace / they’d like God bless with peace and put them inside the house. … Read more
I was chatting with my friend, Sarah, about being thankful, and she told me about this really cool thing they did last Advent in their family: They each wrote a thank you note to every other member of the family. The notes were short and simple, thanking them for something specific. The then folded the … Read more
Title: Whistlestop Tales – around the world in 10 Bible stories Author: Krish and Miriam Kandiah Illustrator: Andy Gray Price: RRP £10.99 (Available from WHSmiths for £9.36) Hardback, 230 pages Published by: Hodder Faith Perfect for: children age 7-11 who enjoy funny pictures and a good story Best bit: hilarious, dynamic artwork coupled with rich story … Read more
Draw faces on wooden spoons and use them to tell Bible stories! We created these together, making a collection of men and women (and some other odd characters!). We tried out using a pyrography pen, but a) it was very VERY hot so I didn’t feel comfortable letting my 8 and 10 year olds use … Read more
It seems this year that Autumn is particularly spectacular. The horse chestnuts seemed to go brown overnight a few weeks ago, but nothing else had happened. Then suddenly, I woke up to find trees which were green yesterday are now a brilliant, bold yellow. Others look like they have been dipped in the Creator’s massive … Read more
Write things you are thankful for with fridge magnets. You could use the words in a spoken time of prayer, for example before a meal once a week. I find this allows us to pray for things which we might not think are ‘important enough’ in a spoken prayer time, for example, I would thank … Read more
I was recently looking at the Benedictus, otherwise known as the words Zechariah says on the birth of his son, John the Baptist in Luke 1:67-79. It’s a powerful passage, although not as well-known as Mary’s song a few verses earlier in the chapter. As I looked at it, I started to see connections with … Read more
Use the contrast between the spikey shell and the smooth conker to reflect on God’s transforming work. Collect conkers still in their spikey shells. Invite everyone to carefully pick one shell up and hold it while thinking of something ‘spikey’ or not nice they would like God to sort out. This could be anything, for … Read more
Author: David Sims Illustrator: Becky Rawlins and Hope Gwilliam RRP £15.99 (it’s full colour and 124 pages long!) Published by: David Sims Perfect for: families with children age 7+ wanting a daily Advent devotional Best bit: gorgeous design and artwork, a delight for eyes! Worst bit: a lot of material, with choices, but some people might think … Read more
Title: Any time, any place, any prayer Author: Laura Wifler Illustrator: Catalina Echeverri Price: RRP £8.99 available for £7.64 Published by: The Good Book Perfect for: children aged 3 – 10 Best bit: awesome artwork from Catalina Echeverri, as always; my favourite is the Lord’s prayer page. There is also an art and activities book you can … Read more