From Advent to All Saints day, travel through the Church Year with your children's and youth groups. There is also a selection of ideas for travelling liturgically at home.
Click on the links below to find the relevent sections:
Advent resources
- Excellent pinterest board on Advent & Christmas by Mary Hawes
- Advent in 2 minutes - Excellent youtube resource on advent - Advent in 2 minutes - Excellent youtube resource on advent
- Re:Quest has Advent information & resources, click on the Festivals icon at the top and scroll down - http://bit.ly/2ZrmcXX
- All-Age Advent Service from ROOTS in four parts. Starting with creation, it moves to the Old Testament promise of justice, the coming of the Saviour and finally the expression of hope in Revelation - http://bit.ly/2UFrgo0
- The Real Advent Calendar - The Real Advent Calendar is a Fairtrade Advent calendar with a free 24 page Christmas story-activity book. http://bit.ly/2GDWTu8
- We Wonder family podcast for Advent is around 15 minutes long and designed for listening to as a family but could be used with groups or for planning sessions too. - Find out more
Family Advent Reflections: Books and resources
- The Christmas Story is written for parents, grandparents and carers to share with their children through an interactive family Bible and prayer time. Each section provides a brief comment on the passage, questions to discuss, a visual aid to encourage engagement with the story, an activity idea, a prayer idea, a key verse and an Old Testament story link. Find it here
Christmas resources
- Excellent pinterest board on Advent & Christmas by Mary Hawes
- Re:Quest has Advent information & resources, click on the Festivals icon at the top and scroll down
- Muddy Church has a range of 'Wondering and Wandering' resources to encourage us to get outside this season. Winter and Christmas Resources
- The Salvation Army have created resources for toddler groups and family carol services including this wonderful instant nativity script based on 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'
- The Impossible Promise from The Bible Society includes a video, instant nativity, Makaton signs, poems and booklets. Explore here
Many churches and other venues will be delighted to be opening up for Christingle Services again this December. All the resources you might need to plan and run a service in a range of settings are now available. Christingle Resources can be found here
Epiphany
Resources and ideas to explore with home, school and church
Candlemas
- Ideas for use in a service or group celebration from the Mustard Seed Team
- Going for Growth - ideas for Candlemas
- Bible Reading Fellowship (BRF) resources and ideas
- Ideas for assemblies for Key Stage 1 and Whole School from Assemblies.org.uk.
Lent
- Ideas to explore Lent with home, school and church from the Mustard Seed Team
- Excellent Pinterest Board for Lent, Holy Week and Easter from Mary Hawes
- Lent and Holy Week resources from BRF
- Ash Wednesday and Lent in two minutes: a video resource from Busted Halo
- Holy Week in two minutes: a video resource from Busted Halo
- A wide range of Lent ideas
- An Intergenerational event for Lent
- Lent resources from the Children's Society
- Lent & Holy Week photos to prompt discussion & creative ideas
Mothering Sunday
- Ideas for use in a service or group celebration from the Mustard Seed Team
- Children's Society Resources
- Round the clock care - celebrating carers on Mothering Sunday, a children's session from ROOTS on the Web
- Excellent Mothering Sunday Pinterest board packed with ideas and links, from Mary Hawes
- Some great downloadable ideas from BRF
- A collection of alternative and inclusive prayers for Mothering Sunday can be found here.
Easter
- Excellent Pinterest Board for Lent, Holy Week and Easter from Mary Hawes
- Lent & Holy Week resources from BRF
- Ideas to explore Easter with at home, school and church form the Mustard Seed Team
- Faith in Kids - four statements of Jesus from the Gospel of John used to explain Easter
Pentecost/Trinity
- Pentecost ideas from BRF
- A dramatic reading for Pentecost from ROOTS
- A Pinterest Board for Ascension, Pentecost and Trinity
- Ideas to explore Pentecost with at home, school and church from the Mustard Seed Team
- Ideas to explore Trinity with at home, school and church from the Mustard Seed Team
Harvest
- Download a Harvest themed Bible Chat Mat that Bath & Wells have produced
- List of downloadable ideas from BRF
- Youtube video from caritas about sharing food
- Early Years Harvest celebration from Care for the Family
- Pinterest board on Harvest from Mary Hawes
- List of Harvest links from the Evangelical Alliance
- Together in the Harvest - A-Rocha
Halloween
Hallowe’en has become firmly fixed in the annual calendar and has deep and ancient pre-Christian roots. Like many of these festivals it was adopted and adapted by the church as of the eve ‘All Saints’ or ‘All Hallows Day’ hence Hallowe’en. All Hallows remembers all of the people who have served God.
Lots of the associated customs come from these origins: carving turnips (pumpkins), sharing food and drink, dressing up, and mischief or misrule. Trick or Treating might have origins in soul cakes where people prayed for other households and those who had died and were given a ‘soul cake’ for their prayers.
Many churches have embraced this season in the form of light parties or giving away gifts of sweets and carving a pumpkin with a cross or heart has become popular more recently.
Resources for churches, families and schools
Some ideas to help churches, families and schools to connect, create and reflect with this festival.
- Hallowe'en: some ideas for all people all places
- Download a printer friendly version
- The Ghost that wasn't a Ghost - book for paresnts who wnat to cover the topic of scary things as this time of year but doit with a biblical story of the disciples were afraid
- Shine your Light (Scripture Union) - Some resources to help children 'Shine their light' within their friendship groups and the importance of giving it a try. It includes a personal testimony of someone who found Jesus through their friends and some practical resources for children and teens
- Halloween Sunday School Activity - Slime and Isaiah 64:8 (Chrsitianity Cove)
All Saints and All Souls
All Hallows’ Day, also known as All Saints’ Day is on 1st November and is a day to remember all the saints who don’t have their own saint's day.
All Souls’ Day on 2nd November is The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed and celebrates all the saints. It allows us to remember with thanksgiving those whom we have known more closely. The people who gave us life, cared for us or nurtured our faith.
- Collective worship resources to support the All Saints message from the Right Reverend Roger Morris, Bishop of Colchester
- Some activity ideas to explore light and saints with a group of children
- Recipe for Soul Cakes - the origin of Trick or Treating?
- Example of a Saint's Story to be told and followed - St Cedd
- Saints Trail or treasure hunt
Remembrance
- Poppy Windmill Kits (Baker Ross) - A group craft for Sunday Schools or Craft groups. Everything is cut out for you so good for KS1 with less cutting.
- How To Wear Your Poppy (Twinkl Resources) - Lovely little Poppy Wreaths for all ages to make together.
- Key Stage 1 Resources, Teaching Remembrance (Royal British Legion) - A great resource for children to put themselves in the shoes of an evacuee during WW2 but also gives a glimpse into what life might be like for refugees displaced by war, something very relevant right now.
- Remembrance Day: Free SEN resources for teaching (inclusiveteach.com) - Inclusive resources for those with SEN. Great interactive resources and a clear way of teaching/talking about WW2.
- The Art of Remembrance - worksheet from the National Memorial Arboretum for 8-16 year olds
- Ideas for Remembrance (Diocese of Chelmsford)
At Home
- Handouts for Observing Liturgical Seasons at Home (buildingfaith.org) - seasonal ideas for worship at home
