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Jenga thanks
Aim: to challenge ourselves to be thankful for lots of things
This activity works well with a normal sized Jenga set, but it would be lots more fun to use giant Jenga and do it outside. Work with your group to set up your Jenga set making the bricks nice and even so the tower is (relatively) stable. As you do this, chat about things in your life you are thankful for. Encourage them to think of things too. Suggest they think about things they have which other people may not have (for example, fresh, clean water or a home). Depending on the age of your group, you might like to prompt them to think about more abstract blessings such as peace, joy or love, as well as spiritual blessings such as a friendship with God. When your tower is ready, take it in turns to remove a brick and say thank you to God for something. The chat is a good way to get them thinking about what they might like to thank God for and keeps the game moving.
Notes for adapting
...for an all-age service setting Giant Jenga would work well in this setting, or have lots of normal sized sets for people to use in groups or at prayer stations.
Story stones
Aim: to play with Bible stories and stimulate connections between them
Story stones are a great way to tell large Bible stories (eg to cover the whole of Jesus’ ministry in one telling!) as well as helping children to spot themes. To do this, you need to plan in advance which story or stories you’d like to share. You then need to prepare your stones. Think through the key elements in your story, the people, the objects, the weather, time of day and location. Collect some stones. These can be just normal garden stones or pretty glass pebbles if you prefer. Draw or paint simple pictures of your key people or objects on the stones with pens, Tippex or paint, then varnish over them to stop the picture rubbing off. Keep your stones in an attractive bag or box to reflect that they are special.
Introduce your story stones to the children, allowing them to take one out and say what it is. You could wait until all the stones are out, or start telling your story as they choose a stone, introducing the element they choose even if it’s not in the chronological order of the story. For example, if you are doing Jesus calming the storm and a child picks the sun, you could talk about how bright the sun often seems when it comes out from behind the clouds after a storm. When you have finished telling the story, give the children some time and space to reflect on what they’ve just heard and seen. They may like to hold some of the stones. They may like to retell the story using them. They may like also to chat about what they most liked about the story or what connections they saw. Don’t be tempted to rush this as this time is crucial for them to develop their own theology or understanding and experience of God. You could tell the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as there are many repeated elements, or the story of the Exodus. Or you could tell the story of Jesus’ ministry using the stones listed here:
STORIES
- Jesus calls his disciples (using stones 1, 2, 9,10,11)
- Jesus calms the storm (using stones 1, 2, 9,10,13, 15)
- Jesus feeds 5000+ people (using stones 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 19, 11)
- Jesus celebrates his last Passover with his friends (using stones 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 14, 16)
- Jesus dies and comes back to life (using stones 1, 2, 3, 18 and one stone as The stone)
- Jesus appears to his disciples by the lake and cooks a barbecue (using stones 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17)
STONES
1. Man
2. Four men
3. Woman
4. Girl
5. Boy
6. Baby
7. Bread
8. Wine cup
9. Water
10. Boat
11. Fish
12. Tree
13. Rain cloud
14. Moon
15. Sun
16. Heart
17. Fire
18. Angel
19. another man
Notes for adapting ...
for families at home
Why not help the children make their own sets of story stones of their favourite Bible story to take home with them?
Photo collage praise
Aim: to encourage people to think about God when out and about in the summer
Invite your group to take photos of things they do and places they go over the summer and bring them in (either printed or digitally) when you next meet. Work out the best way to make a collage. Refrain from becoming so involved in making it look ‘nice’ that the children don’t get to express their own creativity as they take part. As they make it, encourage them to share with each other what their pictures are of and what they liked about it. Let them know that when we are thankful for the good things in our lives, we can chat and thank God at the same time.
Notes for adapting
...for an all-age service setting
Invite the congregation to ‘submit’ photos for inclusion in a praise photo montage in your next all-age service. You could make a slideshow and play it with some praise music in the background for people to use to reflect on God’s goodness to us.
