Read the Christmas Story in four parts
Read through the Nativity Christmas story in four parts. Audio links included too!
All-age / intergenerational
Balloon Christmas prayers
This is a really simple, fun way to pray around Christmas. You could do this at home, or as part of a party or even a service! Blow up the balloons and write or draw on each something you love about Christmas. (This works best with Sharpies, but *Warning* they do stain clothes.) Play some … Read more
Encouragement Cookies
This fun activity was created by my friend Caroline. Instead of ‘fortune cookies’, she made ‘encouragement cookies’ simply by writing out blessings on slips of paper then put them inside home-made fortune cookies. Warning: the folding bit is rather hot, so be careful! What sort of blessings you write will depending on who you are … Read more
Chalk home blessing for Epiphany/New Year
This is a traditional activity used to mark Epiphany, the day when we celebrate the wise men visiting Jesus. It’s really simple: all you need is some chalk, and you write the following letters and numbers over your door as a prayer asking God to bless your home. This year (2022), we’ll be writing: 20 … Read more
Christmas art meditation using The Glorious Impossible
I love this book! It’s the Christmas and Easter stories told by the eloquent Madeleine L’Engle illustrated with frescoes from the Scrovegni Chapel by Giotto. You can see my review of the book here, but this post is about how I’ve used the pictures and story in this book to meditate on the Christmas story … Read more
Review: The Christmas Surprise
Title: The Christmas Surprise Author and Illustrator: Steph Williams Published by: The Good Book Company Price: RRP £2.99 reduced to £2.54 or 10 for £2.10 each Good for: a gift for young children unfamiliar with the Christmas story Best bit: It’s funny! And it talks about what Jesus’ name means (rescuer) Worst bit: Not really anything. I probably wouldn’t have put … Read more
Review: Advent Journal for all ages
Title: Advent Journal for All ages Author: Nick and Becky Drake from Worship for Everyone Illustrator: Connie Buck Published by: Worship for everyone and Gas Street Church Price: £7.99 each, two for £15, or 3 for £20 Good for: Anyone wanting a quick but real way to connect with God during Advent, especially those who would like four themed songs … Read more
24 Christmas Books
Wrap up 24 Christmas-y books then unwrap and read one a day during Advent. All you need to do is collect* and wrap up 24 Christmas books and number them 1—24. Open one a day and share together. I found seven Christmas books for £5.80 in three of my local charity/ secondhand book shops, so … Read more
Duplo Prayer
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
10 Fun, Easy Ways to Learn Bible Verses as a Family Together
The Bible is full of wonderful verses to help us live our lives with God. As a child I learned loads of verses in Sunday School, acquiring a massive collection of stickers and little cards with yet more Bible verses on as my prizes. We even did Scripture Exams! Although I loved them, I was … Read more
Celebrating Baptism Birthdays
This week is my eldest daughter’s baptism birthday. She was baptised at our (then) local Anglican church age 1, with a large congregation of our family and friends. It was a wonderful event, with lots of interactive elements in the service and a bring and share picnic at ours afterwards. She was too young to … Read more
Exploring the Bible Together Experiment Week #3
This week was week 3 of our experiment. Our group: 2 adults, 5 children age 8-12 years old This week I managed to get the tech set up on time, and slightly re-arranged our lounge to give us enough seats to comfortably sit and all be able to see and be seen. This really helped … Read more