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2nd August 2020View past Sundays

Today we are going to be learning about prayer which is another word for talking to God. **Next week we will be doing an activity involving blowing bubbles. If you are not able to get hold of some by then please contact Emily (email here) who has some of the Nest ones we can share with you.**

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 Make some cloud prayer pictures similar to this example (see link here). Draw and cut out an outline of a cloud. Write this term’s verse (see above) in the middle and ‘We pray for…’ at the bottom. Cut out some coloured strips of paper to stick along the bottom of the cloud. Then help your child think of some things we can chat to God about and write them onto the coloured strips. Spend some time chatting to God about these things.

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 are starting a new series called Everything Has Changed! 

Today's title is - Your life will change, but God doesn't. 

Check out the video which will help guide children through the first part of Treehouse, then try the game and activity below. 

Your life may look different right now, you may have experienced lots of change and this week we are going to think and talk about the changes you are going through. Some changes feel good, like getting a new bike, but others can leave you feeling a bit sad - That's ok. Watch the video and take some time during the pause point to write down the changes that you have gone through. 

ACTVITY - What's changed for you?

When writing down changes, use colours or happy/sad faces next to each change to think about how it makes you feel. You could draw a mind map, you could use words or images. Here are some ideas to get you started. 

How has your house changed? How have your friendships changes? How has your school changed? How have your parents changed? How has your local area changed? 

Our bible verse today is Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. 

That is good news! Even though changes may come our way, our God is the same. He remains powerful, strong, loving, kind, caring and he loves listening to us. 

So what can we do when we feel like change is hard?

- Talk to God 

- Share our feelings

- Dance, sing and worship to come closer to God. 

WORSHIP 

Every move I Make - Let's get up and moving to this dance along song 

When I Look Up - We can look to God when things are going well, or when things are feeling hard. 

CRAFT - Change Stones 

Find some stones, maybe from your garden or a local park or somewhere on your road, bring them inside and decorate them in different colours to represent changes. Leaving school may feel like a hard change and your stone may be a darker colour. Meeting new friends on your street may feel like a happy change and be decorated in a happy colour. This can be as simple as using felt tips to colour or design your Change Stones, or you may get messy and use paint. As you create, talk and discuss each change and explore the feelings attached to each one. 

GAME 

Set a timer, you have 10 minutes to change the way you look. Maybe you could change your hair and put it in a different style? Maybe you could use nail polish to change the colour of your nails? Maybe you could use make up/ face paint to change your face? Maybe you could design a dress using a bin liner as a base and get really creative? Maybe you want to try on wearing different clothes for fun? Take a before and after picture and send them to Lucy - lucy@theoakchurch.co.uk and they will feature on the video for next week. Remember, you may change your appearance, but you are still the same person. Just like our lives change lots, but God remains the same. 

PRAY

Thank you God that you love us. Thank you that you listen to us when we talk to you. Thank you that you never change and you are always good. Please help me with the difficult changes in my life. Amen. 

Content coming soon