Messy Church at Home

Welcome to our Summer of Messy Church at Home. Normally we hold several Messy Church sessions throughout the year but sadly due to Covid-19 we have not been able to so we are going to have the same fun for all the family just in a different way.  

Each week during the summer holidays we will have a variety of activities available on this page for you to make and create at home. Some of you may have seen Rich before he is Fr Chris' helper, Rich is VERY excitied to share some messy fun with you all..! We are looking forward to doing some interactive activities, and you will be able listen to Rich help Fr Chris read prayers and bible stories etc. So make sure to come back to see the weeks activities. 

Colouring Pictures

The following are coluring in pictures of church items or things relating to church for you to colour in. 

​Prayer

This week Rich has been asking Fr Chris about prayer and how to pray. Fr Chris explained that prayer is a big part of his life, he starts his day with morning prayer and ends his day with night prayer. You can pray when ever you want and where you want. Fr Chris likes to pray in church because it is a quiest and special place for him.  

Pray is simple terms means talking to God, you can tell God about your day, what you are thankful for, what made you feel sad or what your fears are and whatever else you are happy for, God is always there to listen. When we pray we often hold our hands with palms togther. The bible describes a variety of ways to pray from kneeling, standing, lifting hands but you can pray anyway you want to. 

Remember there is no wrong way to pray, Saying your prayers can be talking with God. If you know your child is worried or scared about something, like going back to school, offer to pray for them or with them, 

The Lord's Prayer 
The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, when they asked him how they should pray and we continue to pray this prayer. 

​Prayer Activities
​The following are some craft activities to do that revolve around prayer

Prayer Hands
Creating prayer hands are fun and useful to get children to pray. You will need:

• Paper
• Paint, paint brushes and container for paint
• Pens

How to create your prayer hands: Get your child to chose the colour paints they want and pour into suitable containers. You can either draw around your childs hand and paint onto the paper or get them to put their hand into a flat container of paint. Let the paint dry while you clean up. Next steps are to write a prayer element on each finger such as family, friends, teachers etc. Once it is finished you can use the picture as a prayer resource and aid.

Prayer Jar
Creating your own 'prayer jar'is a good way to pray with little ones. You will need

• Empty clean jar
  
• Decorating material
• Lollipop sticks and Sharpies 

Decorate your jar however you would like. Then get your collection of lolly sticks and write down some things to pray for such as family members, friends etc. 
 
How to use your prayer jar: Pick a time that works for your family, maybe meal times, let each child pull out a stick and read what is on the stick and then say a short pray related to the person. 

Print out the following pictures and colour in, dont forget to share them with us

​Friendship

We hope you are enjoying your summer holidays. and enjoyed the previous activities. ​Fr Chris has been talking to Rich about friends and friendships this week and how God calls us to love and treat everyone the same.
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” Proverbs 17:17

Bible reading: This week we learn about the story of David and Jonathon, click here to read the story.

Big Question?
So our big question this week is: What is a friend?
Spend some time thinking about what a friend is and how you can be a good friend.
​A good friend offers to help, supports you, shows respect, listens, cares, forgives, shares and accepts everyone - what else can you think off?

Activity: Draw a picture of you and your friend and write down what makes them a good friend. It could include being a good listener, sharing, being kind, caring.

Download and print our heart picture, here. Colour a piece in when you have been kind to someone. Remember even if we sometimes disagree with our friends we can still be kind and we should treat everyone the same and always with respect. You can also download the friendship flower here, colour in the flower and write a word in each petal that relates to a good friend (kind, caring, shares etc). 

​Bible Emoji's
Can you guess which bible stories these emoji's are telling ​(scroll down for answers)

💒😇💧 🔀🍷🍷🎉

🏃‍♂️⛵🌊🐳🙏🏝️​

The answers are Jesus turns water to wine at the Wedding of Cana and Jonah and the whale

​Craft Activity: Friendship Paperchains
Rich has been a bit sad that he could not see his friends because of the coronavirus. Fr Chris explained to Rich that his friends were still his friends, and even if he could not see them they were still linked together. Rich wanted to make a friendship paperchain with the name of his friends on each chain to show that they are still connected. Why dont you have a go at making a friendship paperchain - whether you have one or two best friends or more think about each one as you connect the chains.  

To make a friendship paperchain you will need

• Coloured aper
• Glue or double sided tapes

To make, firstly collect your coloured paper and cut into strips approx 3cm wide (or thicker if you like). Cut into strips (as per photo no 2). Then write the names of a friend onto one of the strips  and continue to write a name on different strips (photo 3).

When you have all the names written make a loop with one (remember to keep the names on the outside).  Glue the ends together or stick on some double sided tape if using this. Then loop another name strip through the first one, glue the ends (as in photo 3 below). Keep going until your chain in complete. Remember to think about your friends whilst making the chain, why they are your friend and what you like best about their friendship. Have fun.  

Rich really enjoyed making his friendship paper chain and is looking forward to seeing photos of yours so remember to share them. Remember to keep the kindness going, try and do something kind every day. 

Bible emoji's answers:
1) Wedding at Cana 2) Jonah and the Whale 

Friendship Prayer

Thankful

Welcome. We hope your summer holidays have started well. During the holidays Fr Chris and Rich are going to help us learn about some bible stories, have some fun but also learn how we can be the best person we can be which God wants for us all. This week Rich asked Fr Chris about being thankful, what it means and how do we thank God for all the wonderful things we have so our theme for this week is being thankful.

Big Question?
Some of you have been using 'big questions' with school. Big questions give all of us the opportunity to ask questions about what we see, hear, and experience, a chance to think about and value God's creation. 

Q: What makes our world so special ?
Maybe spend some time thinking about nature, people, our oceans etc. You could draw a picture of your favourite place, animal, tree etc or make something that represents whats special to you.  Remember to share any drawings or photos with us.
​

Click on the video below to play our family game of 'Would you Rather'.
(Click the arrows in the right hand corner to make the screen large. You can press return to pause slides to have time to answer the questions )

Bible Emoji's
Can you guess which bible stories these emoji's are telling (answers below)

🐘🐘🚤 🌧🌊🌈


👫🌳🍎🐍

The answers are Noahs Ark and Adam and Eve & the garden of Gethseme 

Activity: Write down some things that you are thankful for (you can download the sheet here). 

Craft Activity: Bead Crosses
As Fr Chris and Rich were talking about being thankful for all the good things we have in our lives. Rich wanted to find a way to show this so he made some bead crosses. Each bead represents something that Rich is thankful for such as family, friends, his home, food to eat etc. While you make your cross have a think about the things you are thankful.

To make bead and pipe cleaner crosses, you will need

• 1 and a half pipe cleaners
• Approx 25 beads

To make, first fold a pipe cleaner in half, then make a small loop at the top (as per photo 1). Next thread approx four beads and push them up to the bottom of the loop, leave a space to add your other piece of pipe cleaner (photo2). Take the half a piece of pipe cleaner and thread approx eight beads (photo 3). Using the same piece of pipe cleaner move the beads so there is a gap in the middle and then wrap this around your first piece, where you left the gap (photo 4) and now you will have a bead cross. You can use the loop at the top to thread a piece of ribbon so you can attach the cross to a pencil case or bag etc. 

​St Richard's prayer
We regularly say the St Richard's prayer here at St Richard's. Here is a version that you can download and colour in  along with a picture of St Richard and a cross

Thankful Prayer