Showing posts with label Children's work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Children's work. Show all posts
11 August 2010
Youth Ministry YouTube Recommendations
http://www.youtube.com/godrox
http://www.youtube.com/tfneditor
http://www.youtube.com/youthspecialti...
http://www.youtube.com/thatjustinguy
http://www.youtube.com/chooseshalom
http://www.youtube.com/xbox360fanboy131
Ignatius: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLGLBVSpBzY
22 March 2010
17 March 2010
09 March 2010
Free Christian Children's Talk 6 - Humpty Dumpty
So I've just got back into doing children's talks in church since the new minister started back in September. Was a bit nervous but people seemed to enjoy this one so here it is for all to read/share/use etc...
Who knows of any nursery rhymes?
Let the children give a few answers
There are lots of different nursery rhymes, but I want to talk about one in particular, it's Humpty Dumpty. Can you say it with me?
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again
Excellent! I wonder does anyone know what Humpty looks like?
Let the children answer, they'll hopefully know the answer is...
...an egg! Yes he looks like an egg! I have one with me here. I didn't have Stewie as an aide at the time but he wanted to help today...
And what happened to Humpty when he fell? He cracked! So let's crack this egg (be sure to do this into a bowl or something and not just the floor!)
Oh dear! Look at poor Humpty! He's not in a good shape at all is he? I wonder how we could get him back together? What do you think the king's horses and king's men tried to do to fix him?
Allow a few answers - I got some funny ones including sellotape, superglue, masking take, staples, blu-tac and magic!
If you have time you cold try and get the egg back in the shell and try to stick together to show how difficult this is
I don't think we can do it. But you know sometimes we can be in messy situations that seem hard to get out of, a bit like poor Humpty. Maybe you've fell out with a friend over something and it seems there's just no way to sort it out, or maybe you're having trouble at school and it seems no one can help, or perhaps you've done something wrong and you don't know how to fix it. We can all get into hard and messy situations like Humpty from time to time.
But we're not like Humpty are we? We're not eggs! We're people and even better we're God's people! And when we have problems we don't need the King's horses or the King's men, because we have God who is the King on our side! When we ask him for help and allow him to help us, the King will get us out of the sticky messy situation we're in
Who knows of any nursery rhymes?
Let the children give a few answers
There are lots of different nursery rhymes, but I want to talk about one in particular, it's Humpty Dumpty. Can you say it with me?
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again
Excellent! I wonder does anyone know what Humpty looks like?
Let the children answer, they'll hopefully know the answer is...
...an egg! Yes he looks like an egg! I have one with me here. I didn't have Stewie as an aide at the time but he wanted to help today...
And what happened to Humpty when he fell? He cracked! So let's crack this egg (be sure to do this into a bowl or something and not just the floor!)
Oh dear! Look at poor Humpty! He's not in a good shape at all is he? I wonder how we could get him back together? What do you think the king's horses and king's men tried to do to fix him?
Allow a few answers - I got some funny ones including sellotape, superglue, masking take, staples, blu-tac and magic!
If you have time you cold try and get the egg back in the shell and try to stick together to show how difficult this is
I don't think we can do it. But you know sometimes we can be in messy situations that seem hard to get out of, a bit like poor Humpty. Maybe you've fell out with a friend over something and it seems there's just no way to sort it out, or maybe you're having trouble at school and it seems no one can help, or perhaps you've done something wrong and you don't know how to fix it. We can all get into hard and messy situations like Humpty from time to time.
But we're not like Humpty are we? We're not eggs! We're people and even better we're God's people! And when we have problems we don't need the King's horses or the King's men, because we have God who is the King on our side! When we ask him for help and allow him to help us, the King will get us out of the sticky messy situation we're in
17 March 2009
12 February 2009
Free Christian Children's Talk 5
I hesitated about posting this one because its rather personal to our church, but the morning I did this talk in church the convenor for our vacancy was leading the rest of the service and asked me for the details so she could use it in her own churches the following week so it seems right to post it for others to use seeing as it has been reused already.
You'll see as you read this that you'll need to rewrite it slightly but it shouldn't be too difficult.
I've a picture on the screen and I have the actual thing in my hand here, can you tell me what animal this is?
It's a kangaroo! They don't have boxing gloves like this one normally but can anyone tell me which country you'll find kangaroos in?
Let kids have guesses
In Australia! It's very far away from here, you can see on this map.
That blue country at the top in the middle is where we are and the blue country in the bottom corner is Australia - all the way on the other side of the world from us.
I want to tell you about one of the bigger boys in our church called Mark who was in Australia in January taking part in the Youth Olympics shooting some arrows in the archery.
And he came back with 2 of these toy kangaroos, and he came back with 2 of something else too!
TWO GOLD MEDALS! One for the individual mens and one for the mens team! And it wasn't easy because everything was working against him
- Mark was sick and not well when he was in the final
- He was far from home with no family to support him
- He was competing against the junior world champion
- Who also was an Australian so the crowds were cheering on that boy instead of Mark
- The boy Mark was against was 3 years older than him
- And it was tense in his final shot because the Australian was 9 points ahead, so Mark had to shoot a 10 which is a perfect bullseye!
Talk about pressure! But instead of paying attention to all those things and worrying about them, Mark looked straight to the target and focussed on that. He was so calm and so cool that he was able to shoot a 10 and win! He kept his focus.
I want to read from Hebrews 12v1-2
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. " (NIV)
Did you hear that? "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus"? Just like Mark was so focussed in the target not letting anything distract him we also need to be focussed on our relationship with Jesus and not allow anything to get in the way of that.
Let's pray
Dear God, We're sorry for the times when we forget to put you first and are distracted by other things. Help us to be focussed on you and your plan for our lives. Help us to give you your rightful place as number one. In Jesus name, Amen.
If you plan to use this I'd love to know!
You'll see as you read this that you'll need to rewrite it slightly but it shouldn't be too difficult.
I've a picture on the screen and I have the actual thing in my hand here, can you tell me what animal this is?
It's a kangaroo! They don't have boxing gloves like this one normally but can anyone tell me which country you'll find kangaroos in?
Let kids have guesses
In Australia! It's very far away from here, you can see on this map.
That blue country at the top in the middle is where we are and the blue country in the bottom corner is Australia - all the way on the other side of the world from us.
I want to tell you about one of the bigger boys in our church called Mark who was in Australia in January taking part in the Youth Olympics shooting some arrows in the archery.
And he came back with 2 of these toy kangaroos, and he came back with 2 of something else too!
TWO GOLD MEDALS! One for the individual mens and one for the mens team! And it wasn't easy because everything was working against him
- Mark was sick and not well when he was in the final
- He was far from home with no family to support him
- He was competing against the junior world champion
- Who also was an Australian so the crowds were cheering on that boy instead of Mark
- The boy Mark was against was 3 years older than him
- And it was tense in his final shot because the Australian was 9 points ahead, so Mark had to shoot a 10 which is a perfect bullseye!
Talk about pressure! But instead of paying attention to all those things and worrying about them, Mark looked straight to the target and focussed on that. He was so calm and so cool that he was able to shoot a 10 and win! He kept his focus.
I want to read from Hebrews 12v1-2
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. " (NIV)
Did you hear that? "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus"? Just like Mark was so focussed in the target not letting anything distract him we also need to be focussed on our relationship with Jesus and not allow anything to get in the way of that.
Let's pray
Dear God, We're sorry for the times when we forget to put you first and are distracted by other things. Help us to be focussed on you and your plan for our lives. Help us to give you your rightful place as number one. In Jesus name, Amen.
If you plan to use this I'd love to know!
27 January 2009
Free Christian Children's Talk 4
It's been over a month since I posted here and I've felt bad about it, yet the longer I left writing a new post the more I felt it had to be something good. It's bizarre the effect blogging can have on you.
With our church being without a minister we have had lots of visiting ministers each Sunday which hasn't allowed me to do children's addresses during the service until recently and here's what I said:
"I have some pictures of different characters here that I want you to tell me who they are. Here's the first one....
...it's Wallace and Gromit. Great work, let's see the next one...
...it's Bill and Ben. A lot of the grown ups will remember watching them when they were young too! Who's next?
...it's Bob the Builder, excellent. And here's the last one...
(the children will probably not know this one, they didn't in my church and I didn't expect them to, so I said....) .... you don't know? Do any of the grown ups remember who this is? Yes, it's Morph. Morph was a little plasticine man who lived amongst the pens, pencils and paint brushes of an artist and he gets into all sorts of mischief, mostly caused by his friend Chas. Let's watch one of the cartoons...
(I had a DVD lined up to show but the guys on the screens couldn't sort it so next time I'll use one from YouTube)
Morph was a very popular character and he must still be today because do you know what I got for Christmas? I got a 'Make Your Own Morph' set. It came as a box with some blocks of plasticine and instructions on how to make him. Would you like to see how my Morph looks? Ok here he is...
..What do you think? Does he look like the real Morph? Well the instructions for making him were really easy looking but when it came to it there's a lot of detail and attention that has gone into making Morph. It took me a couple of hours to get him right! I really wanted him to be just right.
You know when God made us He thought very carefully about how you should look, how you would think, what you be good at and even who your family should be. He didn't stop there though, you see when I made my Morph I put a lot of care into making him, but since then he's sat on my desk at home not doing very much. God didn't just make us then leave us to get on with things, He wants to be a part of our whole lives, he wants to put even more care and attention into our lives, but for Him to do that we need to talk to him and allow Him to work in our lives.
We should tell Him what we’re thinking about, what we’re happy or sad about, what we’re worried about – anything, He wants to hear it all. He promises to always be there for us, listening to our prayers and helping us everyday."
If you're using this talk, please let me know.
Images found through a google search - sorry I can't be more specific. The only exception is the photo of my morph which is obviously my own
With our church being without a minister we have had lots of visiting ministers each Sunday which hasn't allowed me to do children's addresses during the service until recently and here's what I said:
"I have some pictures of different characters here that I want you to tell me who they are. Here's the first one....
...it's Wallace and Gromit. Great work, let's see the next one...
...it's Bill and Ben. A lot of the grown ups will remember watching them when they were young too! Who's next?
...it's Bob the Builder, excellent. And here's the last one...
(the children will probably not know this one, they didn't in my church and I didn't expect them to, so I said....) .... you don't know? Do any of the grown ups remember who this is? Yes, it's Morph. Morph was a little plasticine man who lived amongst the pens, pencils and paint brushes of an artist and he gets into all sorts of mischief, mostly caused by his friend Chas. Let's watch one of the cartoons...
(I had a DVD lined up to show but the guys on the screens couldn't sort it so next time I'll use one from YouTube)
Morph was a very popular character and he must still be today because do you know what I got for Christmas? I got a 'Make Your Own Morph' set. It came as a box with some blocks of plasticine and instructions on how to make him. Would you like to see how my Morph looks? Ok here he is...
..What do you think? Does he look like the real Morph? Well the instructions for making him were really easy looking but when it came to it there's a lot of detail and attention that has gone into making Morph. It took me a couple of hours to get him right! I really wanted him to be just right.
You know when God made us He thought very carefully about how you should look, how you would think, what you be good at and even who your family should be. He didn't stop there though, you see when I made my Morph I put a lot of care into making him, but since then he's sat on my desk at home not doing very much. God didn't just make us then leave us to get on with things, He wants to be a part of our whole lives, he wants to put even more care and attention into our lives, but for Him to do that we need to talk to him and allow Him to work in our lives.
We should tell Him what we’re thinking about, what we’re happy or sad about, what we’re worried about – anything, He wants to hear it all. He promises to always be there for us, listening to our prayers and helping us everyday."
If you're using this talk, please let me know.
Images found through a google search - sorry I can't be more specific. The only exception is the photo of my morph which is obviously my own
20 December 2008
chocolate nativity
The Girls Brigade leaders in church decided that instead of buying presents for all the girls and wrapping them, that they would have Thorntons come with a whole pile of advent calendars and lots of icing filled piping bags. I was able to make one myself and was so thankful my name is so short!
It was real hard for some girls with longer names like Christine or Danielle or Rebecca trying to fit their names on. But it was so much fun and the girls all enjoyed it.
I've had fun opening my advent calendar this year, it's been the first year in a while that I've had one.
The first few days started off with chocolate stars and trees and crackers but the last few days have had kings with gifts, shepherds, angels and now today the nativity scene....
It excited me to see that the birth of Jesus hasn't been completely forgotten by a commercial chain store like Thortons. I couldn't help but say a prayer for everyone else opening their Thorntons advent calendar today that the chocolate treat would be a little reminder to them of the reason for the season too.
It was real hard for some girls with longer names like Christine or Danielle or Rebecca trying to fit their names on. But it was so much fun and the girls all enjoyed it.
I've had fun opening my advent calendar this year, it's been the first year in a while that I've had one.
The first few days started off with chocolate stars and trees and crackers but the last few days have had kings with gifts, shepherds, angels and now today the nativity scene....
It excited me to see that the birth of Jesus hasn't been completely forgotten by a commercial chain store like Thortons. I couldn't help but say a prayer for everyone else opening their Thorntons advent calendar today that the chocolate treat would be a little reminder to them of the reason for the season too.
13 September 2008
Imitation
I recently saw this video on YouTube and I have to say I was well impressed by this little bird's skills of imitation. You have to watch it to understand and to believe it.
As I watched it I got to thinking about how as Christians we're supposed to be imitations of Christ which then lead me into a whole line of thinking for a youth talk or childrens' talk. I'll not be posting that talk just yet - need to flesh it out a little more first but I thought I'd share the video for those who may be interested in creating their own discussion or Bible Study or talk of some sort using
As I watched it I got to thinking about how as Christians we're supposed to be imitations of Christ which then lead me into a whole line of thinking for a youth talk or childrens' talk. I'll not be posting that talk just yet - need to flesh it out a little more first but I thought I'd share the video for those who may be interested in creating their own discussion or Bible Study or talk of some sort using
01 September 2008
I shouldn't have said anything
So I'm back from Summer School where I had a really great time, full of great fellowship and teaching. I've come away with lots to think about and work on implementing in our own youth ministry.
In getting ready to go away I wrote a post about the end of summer and yesterday I was leading the congregation in prayer, introducing it with the words "we're approaching the end of summer". I really shouldn't have said or wrote either of these things because I can't help but notice leaves falling off the trees and other signs of Autumn. Normally I'm not bothered because I love the beauty of Autumn but having not really had any real summer this year again I just don't feel ready for it all.
It got me thinking about the changes we go through in life and how often changes of season come without us being ready for them, even if we have known about the change coming for a long time. I remember being in university knowing God was calling me into a full time youth work job so after university I spent a year at Belfast Bible College preparing for full time ministry, but when that year was up and I got a job I still felt unprepared and a little overwhelmed. Looking back on that time now I can see how God was using my struggle to make me stronger, better prepared for things to come and to make me more dependent on Him instead of me.
I don't feel ready for Autumn, not just the changes in nature but the change back to the routine as our church organisations start up again. I haven't had time to prepare much for it yet or to think through programme much yet but I need to remember God is using this time of change and unpreparedness to make me stronger, better prepared for things to come and to make me more dependent on Him instead of me.
In getting ready to go away I wrote a post about the end of summer and yesterday I was leading the congregation in prayer, introducing it with the words "we're approaching the end of summer". I really shouldn't have said or wrote either of these things because I can't help but notice leaves falling off the trees and other signs of Autumn. Normally I'm not bothered because I love the beauty of Autumn but having not really had any real summer this year again I just don't feel ready for it all.
It got me thinking about the changes we go through in life and how often changes of season come without us being ready for them, even if we have known about the change coming for a long time. I remember being in university knowing God was calling me into a full time youth work job so after university I spent a year at Belfast Bible College preparing for full time ministry, but when that year was up and I got a job I still felt unprepared and a little overwhelmed. Looking back on that time now I can see how God was using my struggle to make me stronger, better prepared for things to come and to make me more dependent on Him instead of me.
I don't feel ready for Autumn, not just the changes in nature but the change back to the routine as our church organisations start up again. I haven't had time to prepare much for it yet or to think through programme much yet but I need to remember God is using this time of change and unpreparedness to make me stronger, better prepared for things to come and to make me more dependent on Him instead of me.
20 August 2008
Mega Quest
This week our church is running the annual holiday bible club for primary school kids. The past few years I've always felt a bit panicked about it and rushed about prep at the last minute. This year for the half hour before we started on Monday I stood in the middle of the hall and couldn't think of anything else that needed done and it made me panic that I may have forgotten something. The thing was that this year I was much more organised than the previous 2 years. Maybe it was experience or maybe it was that I have become better at planning my time but either way my lack of last minute panic made me panic anyways. Funny isn't it? Perhaps next year I'll have learnt from this and won't be panicking.
We've been using a resource called Mega Quest which we've mixed a little with Desert Detectives. Monday we covered the story of creation, Tuesday we looked at
Moses receiving the commandments and today we heard the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. Tomorrow is the disciples on the road to Emmaus and Friday is about what heaven will be like. We're basically covering the Bible cover to cover - something which some of the parents have really appreciated this and how a couple of the kids have been asking where other Bible characters fit into the story. A couple of the younger kids are experiencing worship led by a band playing songs they know for the first time and they've been excited about this - one was asking his mum "will the big boys and girls be playing the fun music again today?" It really excites me that kids are engaging and are excited about what we're doing and it excites me to see what God is doing through our club in these kids' lives. Another thing I'm excited about is how our young people are getting involved and gaining leadership experience through it all too. I need to work on ways to continue developing and using the talents they have and finding ways they can serve God more.
I came across the cartoon on Geek and Poke and couldn't help but add it in here.
We've been using a resource called Mega Quest which we've mixed a little with Desert Detectives. Monday we covered the story of creation, Tuesday we looked at
Moses receiving the commandments and today we heard the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. Tomorrow is the disciples on the road to Emmaus and Friday is about what heaven will be like. We're basically covering the Bible cover to cover - something which some of the parents have really appreciated this and how a couple of the kids have been asking where other Bible characters fit into the story. A couple of the younger kids are experiencing worship led by a band playing songs they know for the first time and they've been excited about this - one was asking his mum "will the big boys and girls be playing the fun music again today?" It really excites me that kids are engaging and are excited about what we're doing and it excites me to see what God is doing through our club in these kids' lives. Another thing I'm excited about is how our young people are getting involved and gaining leadership experience through it all too. I need to work on ways to continue developing and using the talents they have and finding ways they can serve God more.I came across the cartoon on Geek and Poke and couldn't help but add it in here.
14 July 2008
Different busy
When I get to May/June things seem to slow down that little bit as the young people are doing exams or enjoying the sunshine, more people are heading off in their caravans for the weekend and organisations are closing for the summer time. I enjoy this time in youth group because we don't plan anything really and just have the time open as a drop in and decide what we want to do when we're there. July is when the busyness all kicks off again and a lot of people in the church don't understand and think surely all the organisations have stopped, what exactly do i do with my time? But this is a time when I'm cooped up in the middle of planning for the Holiday Club for the children, running weekly events for our youth, planning for a youth camp called Tech Camp run by the Presbyterian Church in Ireland as well as preparing for Autumn (and even next summer!) and this year preparing for our minister retiring in September. There really is a lot to be getting done
I have to confess that this must be my favourite time in the year because I love the change in pace, the change in the attitude people have over the summer and the fact that I get a little time to myself to think through and plan properly for everything, whereas the rest of the year I feel so rushed from running between one meeting and the next.
However I'm sure once I'm in the middle of September with all our organisations starting up again I'll probably be at the point where I'm glad to have the structure back again! In the meantime I'm just loving the summer!!!!!
Photo sourced from SXC
25 June 2008
A wedding to remember
A few months ago on twitter a comment popped up from marramgrass saying "So many people keep asking me to shoot weddings, I'm starting to wonder if I should stop saying no out of hand." and a brief twitter conversation began where in summary I suggested he get a youth group to pose as a wedding party and then link it into a Bible study on Christ as the groom and the Church as the bride. A few days after suggesting it the cogs started turning in my head and I thought....
1) I could make a whole series of wedding related Bible studies out of this
2) There's bound to be some children's address potential too and most importantly.....
3) This could be a great end of year bash!
So about a month later after all this thinking I fired an email off to Mr Marramgrass who was keen to give it a go too. We set a date and the next time I met the youth group I announced it and had volunteers to be the bride and groom thus unofficially engaging them to be married in 4 weeks time. Now a lot of people have laughed at me for having had a brief engagement myself and trying to plan a wedding in such a short space of time but thankfully there wasn't as much planning for this one given that we already have a church, have halls for the catering etc, the date was set and I was ready to just wing it. The bride got a little carried away in the planning and had gone to the props department in school to try on about 12 different dresses out of the 30 or so they had (the local wedding dress shop had donated them all) and picked one and nearly each time I was speaking to her since there were conversations about how she would do her hair etc. In contrast most of the guys were wondering what food there would be lol.
Well the big day rolled round and pretty much everyone had a job, there was the bride and groom, the "minister", the organist, the father and mother of the bride, bridesmaids, best man, dj, father of the groom and me the caterer who also doubled as the mother of the groom. It was all pretty thrown together with "vows" written at the last minute and the praise and reading being sorted about half an hour before we began.
It was hilarious, the most surreal wedding I've ever been to. Well it's just funny when the bride and groom give each other jelly shaped rings vowing:
"With this ring I promise to make your finger sticky, I promise to laugh at your jokes in your speech when no one else does and I promise to eat your share of the cake"
After all that craziness we posed for some photos then went to eat and dance the night away! It was a fab day which they've been asking to do again ever since! I think I'll wait a couple of years to plan another one. in the mean time enjoy some of the fab photos Mark took for us.
The guys all waiting on the girls.... what else is new?
Here come's the bride at a million miles an hour!
This is one really casual minister...
The bride and groom....
.... you would think they actually liked each other!
Hitting the dance floor
The Wedding cake I made that was devoured in a matter of minutes
Everyone together
The plan is to prepare a series of Bible studies for the group over the summer so they will be ready in time for the Autumn when we start back again.... and maybe sneak in a few children's addresses about it over the summer.
1) I could make a whole series of wedding related Bible studies out of this
2) There's bound to be some children's address potential too and most importantly.....
3) This could be a great end of year bash!
So about a month later after all this thinking I fired an email off to Mr Marramgrass who was keen to give it a go too. We set a date and the next time I met the youth group I announced it and had volunteers to be the bride and groom thus unofficially engaging them to be married in 4 weeks time. Now a lot of people have laughed at me for having had a brief engagement myself and trying to plan a wedding in such a short space of time but thankfully there wasn't as much planning for this one given that we already have a church, have halls for the catering etc, the date was set and I was ready to just wing it. The bride got a little carried away in the planning and had gone to the props department in school to try on about 12 different dresses out of the 30 or so they had (the local wedding dress shop had donated them all) and picked one and nearly each time I was speaking to her since there were conversations about how she would do her hair etc. In contrast most of the guys were wondering what food there would be lol.
Well the big day rolled round and pretty much everyone had a job, there was the bride and groom, the "minister", the organist, the father and mother of the bride, bridesmaids, best man, dj, father of the groom and me the caterer who also doubled as the mother of the groom. It was all pretty thrown together with "vows" written at the last minute and the praise and reading being sorted about half an hour before we began.
It was hilarious, the most surreal wedding I've ever been to. Well it's just funny when the bride and groom give each other jelly shaped rings vowing:
"With this ring I promise to make your finger sticky, I promise to laugh at your jokes in your speech when no one else does and I promise to eat your share of the cake"
After all that craziness we posed for some photos then went to eat and dance the night away! It was a fab day which they've been asking to do again ever since! I think I'll wait a couple of years to plan another one. in the mean time enjoy some of the fab photos Mark took for us.
The guys all waiting on the girls.... what else is new?
Here come's the bride at a million miles an hour!
This is one really casual minister...
The bride and groom....
.... you would think they actually liked each other!
Hitting the dance floor
The Wedding cake I made that was devoured in a matter of minutes
Everyone together
The plan is to prepare a series of Bible studies for the group over the summer so they will be ready in time for the Autumn when we start back again.... and maybe sneak in a few children's addresses about it over the summer.
11 May 2008
14 April 2008
Sesame Tree
I finally got to watch some Sesame Tree: Northern Irelands new kids show. Alan in Belfast has posted loads about a Northern Irish version of Sesame Street hitting our screens and it keeps reminding me to check it out everytime I check out his blog. Getting to see it today was helped satisfy some curiosity about the show and made me remember loads of the little clips from Sesame Street that was on almost every lunchtime as I was growing up. I loved the show: it's great to have local kids learning and teaching each other too alongside some really cool muppets. But what I loved most about the show was how Hilda the Hare says "that was beezer"..... now that's "beezer!"
11 April 2008
Free Christian Children's Talk 3
It's been a while since i posted a children's talk so here's a copy of the very first children's talk I ever did! Looking at my notes it wouldn't mean anything to anyone else so I've rewrote it to make sense and also to sounds like how I actually said it.
Recipe
You will need to set up some things in advance:
2 tables - 1 with all the right quantities for the recipe, the other with either wrong quantities or wrong ingredients, along with bowls and spoons for mixing the ingredients together
Copy recipe to powerpoint and project on screen if you have them.
"I rushed out of the house and didn’t get breakfast….
I'm so hungry! You might have heard my tummy rumbling during the last hymn! Well I hope it's ok, but I'm going to need to eat some breakfast now. Can I have someone to help me make breakfast?"
Pick a volunteer who'll understand the recipe and be able to put everything together
Muesli
Add the following ingredients to a large bowl:
• 1 crushed up weetabix/wheat flakes
• 4 spoonfuls of oat flakes
• A handful of bran flakes
• A small glass full of banana chips
• A small glass of raisins
• A glass of milk
"OK right well let's see the recipe for first thing we need to put in the bowl is the weetabix, oh wait I have 2... well I'll add them both and make it extra weetabixy
Next some oat flakes.... oh wait i have some almond flakes, but I suppose they're kind of like oat flakes... they're both flaky right?
Next some bran flakes.... i only have 1 flake... well sure i have the extra weetabix in there to make up for less bran flakes."
Look at volunteer's bowl "Yours looks very different to mine, are you sure you're doing it right? Anyways next we need some banana chips.... I have a whole banana, same thing really.
Next a small glass of raisins... do you think jelly beans would work ok? That's all I have here. I'm sure it'll be fine.
And finally the milk, sure coconut milk will be great... it's a type of milk right?
OK I'm starving" Have a taste, pull faces to show it doesn't taste good
"That's horrible! It doesn't taste good at all!" Look at volunteer's muesli
"Well mine doesn’t look like yours! Let me have a taste of that!" Have a taste, pull face to show it's tasty
"How come yours is better than mine? We both were given the same recipe! Well I suppose I didn't follow the recipe properly, I used different ingredients and had more of some things and less of others. And when you're cooking it's good to follow the instructions. Mine would have tasted nicer if I had done what the recipe told me to do.
You know this reminds me of the Bible, because the Bible is like an instruction manual, it gives us guidance, it teaches us to live the way God wants us to and shows us how to be friends with God.
Sometimes we think it's best if we just do things our own way and ignore the advice and help that God gives us in the Bible. But God is so much smarter and wiser than we will ever be and he knows what is best for us.
In the Bible, Jesus gives us 2 very important instructions
To love God with all our heart, all our soul and with all our mind. That’s a lot of love.
And the second is to love each other the way we’d like people to show us love.
The whole Bible tells us how we can do that and how we can follow God better by living the way he wants us to. Because God is smarter and wiser, knows what's best for us and wants to be friends with us. The Bible really is a great book that we should try to read everyday."
If you are using this talk please let me know for curiosity's sake, I'm just interested to know where it's being used.
Picture sourced from Diary of a Food Nobody
Recipe
You will need to set up some things in advance:
2 tables - 1 with all the right quantities for the recipe, the other with either wrong quantities or wrong ingredients, along with bowls and spoons for mixing the ingredients together
Copy recipe to powerpoint and project on screen if you have them.
"I rushed out of the house and didn’t get breakfast….
I'm so hungry! You might have heard my tummy rumbling during the last hymn! Well I hope it's ok, but I'm going to need to eat some breakfast now. Can I have someone to help me make breakfast?"
Pick a volunteer who'll understand the recipe and be able to put everything together
MuesliAdd the following ingredients to a large bowl:
• 1 crushed up weetabix/wheat flakes
• 4 spoonfuls of oat flakes
• A handful of bran flakes
• A small glass full of banana chips
• A small glass of raisins
• A glass of milk
"OK right well let's see the recipe for first thing we need to put in the bowl is the weetabix, oh wait I have 2... well I'll add them both and make it extra weetabixy
Next some oat flakes.... oh wait i have some almond flakes, but I suppose they're kind of like oat flakes... they're both flaky right?
Next some bran flakes.... i only have 1 flake... well sure i have the extra weetabix in there to make up for less bran flakes."
Look at volunteer's bowl "Yours looks very different to mine, are you sure you're doing it right? Anyways next we need some banana chips.... I have a whole banana, same thing really.
Next a small glass of raisins... do you think jelly beans would work ok? That's all I have here. I'm sure it'll be fine.
And finally the milk, sure coconut milk will be great... it's a type of milk right?
OK I'm starving" Have a taste, pull faces to show it doesn't taste good
"That's horrible! It doesn't taste good at all!" Look at volunteer's muesli
"Well mine doesn’t look like yours! Let me have a taste of that!" Have a taste, pull face to show it's tasty
"How come yours is better than mine? We both were given the same recipe! Well I suppose I didn't follow the recipe properly, I used different ingredients and had more of some things and less of others. And when you're cooking it's good to follow the instructions. Mine would have tasted nicer if I had done what the recipe told me to do.
You know this reminds me of the Bible, because the Bible is like an instruction manual, it gives us guidance, it teaches us to live the way God wants us to and shows us how to be friends with God.
Sometimes we think it's best if we just do things our own way and ignore the advice and help that God gives us in the Bible. But God is so much smarter and wiser than we will ever be and he knows what is best for us.
In the Bible, Jesus gives us 2 very important instructions
To love God with all our heart, all our soul and with all our mind. That’s a lot of love.
And the second is to love each other the way we’d like people to show us love.
The whole Bible tells us how we can do that and how we can follow God better by living the way he wants us to. Because God is smarter and wiser, knows what's best for us and wants to be friends with us. The Bible really is a great book that we should try to read everyday."
If you are using this talk please let me know for curiosity's sake, I'm just interested to know where it's being used.
Picture sourced from Diary of a Food Nobody
06 March 2008
Uses of salt
Marko has posted about how there are over 14,000 uses for salt and it already has me thinking about a million different youth and children's talks... maybe it would be useful to others out there?
27 February 2008
Resource review: Cecil the Lost Sheep
This morning for an assembly at a Special School I used a book that I had seen all over the place but not read until a few days ago. It is part of a series of books called the "Lost Sheep" series wrote by Andrew McDonough based on stories and ideas Jesus taught us. Cecil the Lost Sheep is the first in the series and is a bargain at £2.99!!! Initially I thought these were just bed time books for little kids, and yes they are aimed at little kids and would be definitely be fantastic bedtime reading, but it made me not worry too much about the book seeing as I don't have any kiddies to read to. Then I spotted a huge version of the book one day when I was visiting the Youth and Children's offices at PCI that is used for telling the story to larger groups to allow them so see the pictures and words, so it lead me to thinking it was an ideal book for an assembly or children's address. When I got my hands on the book (when it was so kindly donated to our new church library), I read through it and loved the way it was written, the illustrations and loved how it told the story of the Lost Sheep in a way that kids will understand and relate to. Even better still, from the point of view of someone who gives talks to children rather often, inside the back cover is a little bubble giving an little intro and conclusion to bookend (no pun intended) telling the story to a group and also gives a simple biblical meaning to the story. I can't wait to see the other books in the series! I'm going to have to keep them on hold for an "emergency talk" sometime.
26 February 2008
Encouragement
On Sunday, I was leading the League of Church Loyalty Service in church where we give prizes out for the children's church attendance and traditionally the youngest Sunday School group (ages 4-7) help to lead it.
I always dread leading services, mostly for the "preaching" part of it. Really I've never had any training or guidance on how to do it, so all I have to go on is what I've learnt by observing others and any time I spoke in university it was a little like this:
Photo found on http://youblog.typepad.com via Google images
Also usually the service I'm given are the family services, which I'm more than happy with I don't think I'd want to preach a "normal" service anytime soon anyways, but this means that I've to try and keep the message understandable for everyone and interactive for the younger children who are used to leaving part way through the service. This worries me sometimes because by trying to keep the message simple and understandable yet applicable for all ages can be quite tricky and I often feel like I'm lousy at speaking because of this. Sunday was one of those times. On Saturday night I was going over my 3 little talks and cringing, it just all sounded rubbish in my head, but I prayed that God would take my rubbishness and use it to his advantage.
So Sunday morning came and the service went well but i felt it could have been better, really though I was just glad it was over. I went to the door with the minister to shake hands with people as they left church and lots of people complimented the service saying how much they'd enjoyed it. It kind of irritated me, I mean it's great that people enjoy church but did they connect with God? Did they grow in their faith? Were they challenged? Was God the centre of what had happened? My interpretation of "I really enjoyed the service" or "That was lovely" was that they had only looked to their own interests and what makes them happy. Did it make God happy? Did he enjoy it and think it was lovely? Is it OK to think of church as just lovely? I also was looking for a little constructive criticism, but it wasn't going to happen.
Sunday morning disappeared and I rushed off to my next thing in the afternoon forgetting all about the service. I hadn't even thought about it really until today at our church lunch group when so many of the folk there were so thankful for the service, for a great message that they felt they needed reminded of, a few who weren't there on Sunday had said how they'd heard all about the service from others and were sorry to not have been there and even someone who said they were glad they understood it straight away. I felt encouraged that people were still thinking about it and talking about it, how often do people talk about the Sunday service after it's over? And the fact that they were telling others about it really encouraged me too.
I'm not just encouraged personally but also that people haven't just enjoyed the service, but got more out of it than a warm fuzzy feeling. God really can use a mess to bring about his purpose!
Preacher cartoon found on http://www.timshen.truepath.com via Google Images
I always dread leading services, mostly for the "preaching" part of it. Really I've never had any training or guidance on how to do it, so all I have to go on is what I've learnt by observing others and any time I spoke in university it was a little like this:
Photo found on http://youblog.typepad.com via Google images
Also usually the service I'm given are the family services, which I'm more than happy with I don't think I'd want to preach a "normal" service anytime soon anyways, but this means that I've to try and keep the message understandable for everyone and interactive for the younger children who are used to leaving part way through the service. This worries me sometimes because by trying to keep the message simple and understandable yet applicable for all ages can be quite tricky and I often feel like I'm lousy at speaking because of this. Sunday was one of those times. On Saturday night I was going over my 3 little talks and cringing, it just all sounded rubbish in my head, but I prayed that God would take my rubbishness and use it to his advantage.
So Sunday morning came and the service went well but i felt it could have been better, really though I was just glad it was over. I went to the door with the minister to shake hands with people as they left church and lots of people complimented the service saying how much they'd enjoyed it. It kind of irritated me, I mean it's great that people enjoy church but did they connect with God? Did they grow in their faith? Were they challenged? Was God the centre of what had happened? My interpretation of "I really enjoyed the service" or "That was lovely" was that they had only looked to their own interests and what makes them happy. Did it make God happy? Did he enjoy it and think it was lovely? Is it OK to think of church as just lovely? I also was looking for a little constructive criticism, but it wasn't going to happen.Sunday morning disappeared and I rushed off to my next thing in the afternoon forgetting all about the service. I hadn't even thought about it really until today at our church lunch group when so many of the folk there were so thankful for the service, for a great message that they felt they needed reminded of, a few who weren't there on Sunday had said how they'd heard all about the service from others and were sorry to not have been there and even someone who said they were glad they understood it straight away. I felt encouraged that people were still thinking about it and talking about it, how often do people talk about the Sunday service after it's over? And the fact that they were telling others about it really encouraged me too.
I'm not just encouraged personally but also that people haven't just enjoyed the service, but got more out of it than a warm fuzzy feeling. God really can use a mess to bring about his purpose!
Preacher cartoon found on http://www.timshen.truepath.com via Google Images
10 February 2008
MIA
Sorry I've not been posting here much this week, its been a rather busy week and now the power cable for my iBook has gone and died so I'm posting this short entry from my iPhone.
Yesterday I was at a great conference held by The Good Book company in Portadown. I've been going for 3 years to it now and it just seems to get better every year. Its great biblical teaching and the speakers always give great insight into how to teach biblical truth effectively to children and young people.
This year the theme was based around Moses' Law vs Christ's Law and how grace affects each of them. Unfortunately I could only stay for half the day but got loads out of it. I'll post some of my notes when the new power cable comes in a few days.
Today should be interesting now seeing as all my teaching plans involved things that are on my uncharged and unpowered computer, and also cos I've letters for parents about the trip away next weekend on it that now I can't get printed so I may have to write it all out from memory and photocopy this afternoon. Anyways, say a little prayer that this cable comes by Tuesday so I'll hopefully be back to regular service.
Yesterday I was at a great conference held by The Good Book company in Portadown. I've been going for 3 years to it now and it just seems to get better every year. Its great biblical teaching and the speakers always give great insight into how to teach biblical truth effectively to children and young people.
This year the theme was based around Moses' Law vs Christ's Law and how grace affects each of them. Unfortunately I could only stay for half the day but got loads out of it. I'll post some of my notes when the new power cable comes in a few days.
Today should be interesting now seeing as all my teaching plans involved things that are on my uncharged and unpowered computer, and also cos I've letters for parents about the trip away next weekend on it that now I can't get printed so I may have to write it all out from memory and photocopy this afternoon. Anyways, say a little prayer that this cable comes by Tuesday so I'll hopefully be back to regular service.
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