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16th August 2020View past Sundays

Today we are going to be learning about prayer which is another word for talking to God.

If you have a chance, take a look at this 2 minute video about chatting to God with young children (see the video here). We would also recommend watching this video as well if you have time, you will need to create a login to watch it, but it is free and this video and the whole course are really fantastic (see the video here).

As a quick overview, we are going to be thinking about this concept of ‘chatting’ to God which is taken from the Parenting for Faith course and books (which we would really recommend). ‘Chatting’ encourages children to use informal language, as well as non-verbal forms, to communicate with God. It’s about reinforcing our children’s understanding that they have their own relationship with God. All our activities this week hopefully will help with this.

Verse ‘Always be full of joy. Never stop praying. Whatever happens, always be thankful.’ 1 Thessalonians 5v16-18

Book My Very First Prayers by Gabrielle Mercer (see link here). Tamsin, one of our Nest team, has recorded a wonderful video of this term’s story using Makaton signs (see the video here).

Songs For this term please choose whichever are your favourite songs from our Nest resources page (see the videos here).

Activity 1 This is a chance to practice chatting to God with your child. We are going to include this activity each week of the prayer term and although it might feel a bit awkward at first, we hope that with a bit of practice this will become easier and help to encourage our children to chat to God themselves. Your child naturally learns by copying you and we want to show them that they can have their own relationship with God. It is also something we can try to do every day by letting our children see and hear us chatting to God out loud. For example ‘Thank you God for this dinner I am making, I really love spaghetti, God isn’t it funny that it looks a bit like wiggly worms!’.

Grab a cushion and ask a question (some ideas are below). Then tell God your answer into your cushion and encourage your child to do the same. If children are non-verbal or don’t want to speak then you could suggest the following: God is a proud parent just like us, who wants to see their new skills, so they might want to show Him how they can clap their hands or the funniest face they can make. Just remember to keep directing it as communication with God, not a performance for you.

What is your favourite animal? What did you have for breakfast today? Who is in your family? What is your favourite colour? Do you like singing or dancing? What food do you love to eat? What is your favourite toy? Do you like it when it’s sunny or rainy?

Activity 2 Decorate biscuits (any shop bought biscuits would work or you can make some if you’d like to) with icing and smarties (or any multicoloured chocolates/sweets). As your child puts each smartie on their biscuit, pray for the associated item on the list below. If you don’t want to do biscuits you could get some coloured balls, pieces of paper or material and pick one out of a bag and then pray for the related item.

If you can't come to us, we decided we would come to you! Some of our Treehouse children and families have been telling us what they have been up to in our first episode of Doorstep Diaries.

This week we will be hearing Stories of Change' people sharing about Jesus and telling us how he has changed them. Why do you think Netflix and Disney are so successful? They sell stories, and stories capture our hearts and minds. 

Matthew 5:16 - Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

GAME 1: Think about your favourite stories, maybe have some of them piled on the table to help. E.c.t Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Room on the Broom. Take it in turns to act them out, or describe the storyline - the person who guesses which story it is then has a turn.

GAME 2: Set a 1-minute timer, choose a topic you LOVE talking about, it could be a game, a recent day trip or your school. Your challenge – talk about this subject for 1 whole minute without stopping or pausing. It may be more difficult that it sounds.

VIDEO: Today is an exciting day, because we are going to have some guests – telling us a story about how Jesus has changed them.

The bible is FULL of ‘Stories of Change’ but right now there are hundreds even millions of ‘Stories of Change’ all around us. In Leeds, In Bradford, In England and across the WHOLE world.

Do not feel you have to listen to all the stories in one go, use the video to watch a story and discuss.

QUESTIONS:

Who is telling the story?

Have you seen them before?

What was the story about?

How did Jesus change their lives?

Have you ever felt like them? Shy, angry, sad

Have you ever felt like Jesus is near to you?

You can have a Story of Change too – Jesus wants to get to know you and become your friend. He longs to spend time with you.

Matthew 5:16 - Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Have a go at saying this verse with actions, Can you memorise it together? Can you find it in the bible? What does it mean? 

WORSHIP

I BELIEVE 

EVERY MOVE I MAKE - Dance along and praise Jesus 

RESCUER  - This might be more appropriate for older children to watch and reflect on 

CRAFT: Mix and Match

In story books we find all sorts of characters, especially so in the bible, it wouldn’t be a good story if everyone was the same, we have Esther who was beautiful, Noah who was good at building things, Goliath who was scary and strong, Abraham who was really old … the list goes on.

Have a go at making a mix and match drawing, designing different features for your characters. You could use story books, bible characters or just your imagination when coming up with designs. See an example here or here 

Check out the video here to see how it works. Then have some fun creating your own designs. 

PRAY

Dear Jesus, thank you all the amazing changes you bring to people's lives. Thank you that you turn sadness to happiness. Thank you that you turn tears into joy. I pray that my life is changed by getting to know you more. I pray that you give me the courage to speak about you to others and talk about who you are to me.  Amen. 

Content coming soon