Pentecost

Pentecost is an amazing celebration of the birth of the Church and its spectacular growth in just one day. There are so many visual and sensory images within the story that lend themselves to creativity. Here are some craft activities to draw out some of the key themes and events. 

 

 

BIRTHDAY CAKE 

You will need: four eggs; 200g butter; 200g self-raising flour; 200g caster sugar; jam; buttercream; two seven-inch (18cm) cake tins; extra butter for greasing; a mixing bowl; a wooden spoon; a spatula; an oven; a cooling tray; birthday cake candles; birthday cake decorations 

Baking is a good activity to do at home, and provides a lot of time for chatting. 

Grease the two cake tins and preheat the oven to 180 ?C. In the mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with the wooden spoon. Gradually beat in the eggs and then fold in the flour. Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden and springy to the touch. Leave the cakes to cool. 

When cool, fill the cakes with jam and buttercream, and decorate. Talk about the day of Pentecost signalling the first day when the Church began to grow. Talk about how your child would like to see your church grow and how they would tell people about Jesus. Give them a candle to add to the cake as a sign of their ideas. Light the candle, blow it out and share the cake. Use the eating time to discuss the story further! 

 

 

FIERY FLAMES 

You will need: tape measure; scissors; red, yellow and orange tissue paper and card; battery-operated tealights; glue 

Measure the circumference of the tealight and cut a strip of card slightly longer than the circumference. Cut flame shapes out of the tissue paper and glue them to the strip of card so that the bottom of each flame lines up with the bottom of the card strip. Make several layers of tissue flames. 

Fit the card strip around the tealight and glue it in place. Switch on the tealight to bring the flames to life. Use the craft as a starting point to talk about the power of fire and how that might connect with the Holy Spirit. 

 

 

PLAYDOUGH MAT 

You will need: playdough (red, yellow and orange would work especially well); laminated copies of the playdough mat

Using the playdough mat, encourage your child to make playdough flames above the heads of the figures. Use the opportunity to chat about what the disciples must have felt when they saw the flames in the upper room. 

 

 

WIND CHIMES 

You will need: small embroidery hoops (these can be bought cheaply online); wool; string; beads; pipe cleaners; paperclips; buttons; old keys; old CDs; sequins 

The open-ended nature of this craft leaves plenty of space for your family to discuss the story and the links between the wind and the Spirit. Wind string, wool and / or pipe cleaners around the embroidery hoop to decorate it and fix a pipe cleaner to the hoop so that it can be hung from above. Attach more lengths of string and pipe cleaners to the hoop so that there are strings that hang down. Decorate these downward-hanging strings with beads, buttons, small metal objects and anything that will shine or make a noise. When the wind chimes have been completed, hang them outside on trees or poles and listen for the blowing of the wind!