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
Lent can be intimidating. What can I do? Where do I start? Some people seem to get it together and use it as a time to grow in their faith. But if you’re more like me, excited by all the lovely ideas, but aware I may not get past day 2 on any of them, … Read more
Title: Who made God? Author: Joanne Gilchrist Illustrator: David Kuiavskii Published by: Sarah Grace Publishing Price: £5.99 Useful for: children age 4-7 with big questions about God Best bit: I like the bright, bold illustrations, the rhyming text, the way we’re introduced to the different characters and the use of child-appropriate similes to describe God, but … Read more
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
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
Title: The Christmas Mystery Written by: Jostein Gaarder (author of Sophie’s World) Published by: Orion Children’s Books Useful for: parents of children aged 7–11 years old Best bit: The story is clever and beautiful, mysterious and fascinating, a treat for adults and children alike, with 24 chapters exploring the birth of Jesus, making it perfect … Read more
If like me you love candles, but struggle to find a safe-ish way to use them during Advent and other seasons, you will like this genius idea from my friend, Flora. She just fills a lovely ceramic flower pot with sand then pushes the candles into it! Da-dah! Candles are ready! I realise for some … 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
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
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