St George's Day
Happy St George’s Day everyone!
On Saturday 20th April we threw open the doors for a morning full of dragons, knights in shining armour and damsels in distress. We welcomed 30+ families for 90 minutes of craft, cake, bouncing on our bouncy castle and a good natter.
We had medieval fancy dress and a book corner full of interesting facts about castles and the measly middle ages. We also had colouring sheets, word searches and mazes to complete.
Crafts included making medieval lady cone hats and helmets; designing our own Coat of Arms (a shield design used by soldiers and knights to identify their families that was often shown on their armour and on their houses); making and decorated Dragon puppets, with moveable legs, wings heads and tails; and calligraphy using quills and ink and making ancient scrolls, using tea and wax seals (this was a very messy table!).
It would be wonderful to see you at our next Stay & Play on Saturday 20th July from 10:00am-11:30am. In the meantime, we have 'Creation' Messy Church on Saturday 18th May also from 10:00am-11:30am.
I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and, as always many thanks to all the cake bakers, drinks servers, craft helpers and tidying up-ers that made the day run smoothly.
Liz, Children and Families Worker
P.S. Why not read the story of St George and the dragon here?
Stay & Play
Our theme for the morning on Saturday 22nd September was change and growing up.
Doors opened at 10am and we had a bouncy castle, a large mat of toys including the doll's house and garage, jigsaws on the theme and Mr Potato Head to assemble.
Cakes were generously supplied by members of the church and rolling tea, coffee and cakes were served throughout the morning by Steve.
We took part in crafts illustrating the fact that some of us are still growing, by creating a hand print poster as well as adding our hand prints to a poem we could take away.
We recorded our different heights on a height chart and decorated templates of ourselves of varying sizes with different material and wool for our hair.
We also wanted to explore the idea that as we get older, we can enjoy learning new skills and taking part in new hobbies. We had a table where volunteers were showing people how to knit and the younger ones did some threading using brightly coloured laces.
The volunteer helpers all brought a picture of themselves from when they were younger and we had a competition of "Who's Who" to see how many of them could be recognised.
We came together for the last ten minutes to think about how all the activities fitted together. We thought about the fact that growing up meant going to new places, such as starting pre-school, school or a new class. We thought about how things change for us when we gain new member of our family such as a new brother, sister or step parent. We were reminded that change doesn't stop when we get older. Adults change jobs and move house etc.
We thought about the fact that we can be nervous and worried when we're going somewhere new or doing something we've never done before. Emma explained that she finds it really helpful to know, not just that God is watching what she's doing and where she's going, but that God is with her. So when she goes into a meeting that she's worried about, God goes with her too. God understands what it's like to be human because he sent his son, Jesus, to earth, so he knows how we feel.
Emma said that we don't need to be grown up to know Jesus. He's known us from when we're a tiny baby and he's loved us and cared for us, whatever our age. God wants us to get to know him. Then we sang a song together which reminded us that we should "Get up out of bed.. and say thank you, it's a brand new day". We can approach each day with confidence, knowing God is with us to help us face it.
