Craft: Love is…

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CORNFLOUR CONFESSIONS

 

You will need: cornflour; water; a large, flat container such as a roasting tin or a plastic takeaway container; lolly sticks or plastic knives

 

It’s often hard to forgive people when they have hurt us, but Paul talks about love’s capacity to let go of wrongdoing. The cornflour mix in this craft will not let anything drawn in it remain permanently, so it’s a great way to explore this characteristic of love.

Put a cup of cornflour into the container and mix in half a cup of water. Encourage the children to use lolly sticks or plastic knives to draw or write in the cornflour some of the things they do that annoy others. Watch the ‘wrongs’ disappear as the cornflour mix moves of its own accord. Talk about love being forgiving. When someone you love does something that annoys you, you try hard to let it go and not hold it against them. Relate this to God showing his love for us by forgiving us when we have done wrong things.

 

SPREADING HEARTS

 

You will need: a cup; water; water-based felt-tip pens; kitchen roll cut into strips

 

One of the important characteristics of love is that it helps us think about the needs of others. This craft is a very visual reminder of love reaching out.

Put about an inch of water in the bottom of the cup. Halfway up the strip of kitchen roll, draw a heart and colour it in. Above the heart, write the initials of friends and family. Put the end of the strip in the water and watch as the water climbs up the kitchen roll and starts to spread out the colour of the heart, which will then cover the initials. Talk about how love (modelled by the life of Jesus) helps us think of others and care about them just as much, if not more than, ourselves, just as the heart on the kitchen roll covers the initials of our friends and family.

 

CUP AND BALL GAME

 

You will need: paper or plastic disposable cups; ball-pool balls or ping-pong balls; sticky tape; string; scissors; felt-tip pens; stickers

 

Cut a piece of string the length of an adult’s arm. Tape one end of the string to a ball, then make a hole in the bottom of the cup. Poke the free end of the string through the hole from the outside of the cup and tie a knot on the inside to secure it in place. Add some tape to keep the string secure. Let the children decorate their cups with the pens and stickers.

The aim is to hold the cup and try to get the ball inside by throwing it upwards. This takes a lot of patience! Talk about what patience and perseverance mean and how this relates to love, for example when life is hard but people who love each other stick together to keep going.

 

PAINTED ROCKS

 

You will need: rocks; paint; paint pens; permanent markers; varnish

 

Paul tells us that love never fails and that, when everything else has disappeared, love is the greatest thing that remains. Rocks and stones are symbols of strength and long-lasting durability, so they are a great craft resource for exploring this theme.

Ask the children to decorate the stones with pictures of what love means to them or words about love, using the paint and pens. Use the time to talk to them about the words and pictures they have chosen. What stories from the Bible do they know in which God shows the strength of his love for people?