Meet children at their level I’m a big fan of using toys to tell Bible stories. Since the Easter story is one of the hardest to share with children, using toys is one way we can make it more accessible. One of the great things about using toys instead of a book is that you … Read more
I know lots of people do things as a family to celebrate Jesus at Christmas, but what about Easter? In some ways, Christmas is harder as there’s so much else going on, but Easter is trickier to tell, especially to younger children. Here are some ideas to help you: Looking for more ideas? Here’s 36 … Read more
Title: Dave the Donkey Author and Illustrator: Andrew McDonough Published by: Malcolm Down Price: £5.99 Useful for: children age 3-8 Best bit: Fun re-telling of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem, death and resurrection from the view point of the Palm Sunday donkey! Worst bit: Very fast re-telling, with few details of the Easter story – for … Read more
We’ve celebrated Passover in our home for a number of years now, and each year it’s different, as we adapt it around who will be there. We tend to have a big feast-like meal interspersed with parts of the service (seder). We include elements which we use each week in our Shabbat meal, for example … Read more
I’m sure, like me, you occasionally visit the Baker Ross website. I usually go looking for one thing, and am quickly overwhelmed by the sheer variety of wonderful crafty things! What I find tricky, is buying craft items which can only be used in one way, so here are seven ways you could use the … Read more
A friend of mine has bought a Play Mobil nativity set and asked if I had any ideas on how she could use it to explore the Christmas story with them this Advent. I LOVE my Play Mobil nativity set, and so I had a few ideas to share with her, and thought you might … Read more
I love colouring and I love Christmas, so this Nativity I-spy Colouring Poster is a perfect combination. I’m also a big fan of using the activities we do around Christmas to celebrate Jesus in some way, so here are some ideas on how you can use this colouring poster: 1 Just colour it. Use it … Read more
I love using the seasons in our faith at home. This is fairly easy in the run up to Christmas and Easter, and in the Autumn we celebrate the Biblical feasts. However, between Pentecost and October, there’s a dearth of significant markers. However, the natural ‘calendar’ is often useful, and in the summer our days … Read more
Title: My Easter Egg Hunt Author and illustrator: Cathy Porter Published by: Amazon Price: £4.57 Good for: children aged 3–10 years Best bit: brilliant relatable storytelling working through the meaning of Easter for a child in a Christian family Worst bit: As always, I would have liked more pictures, but even when they were little, … 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
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
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