Making crafts work

Still buzzing from a great day at the Growing Young Disciples conference in central London. I especially enjoyed running a workshop on Making Crafts Work for those who run childrens' groups and Sunday Schools. Here's a few key points that I became more convinced of during my preparation:

The need to be:

• Achievable: A child's ability to do certain things grows with age. At age 3, colouring is basically obliteration. A 3-year old may take a minute to finish (off!) a colouring exercise, and then get bored and difficult to manage for the rest of the time a precise 6-year old takes to colour exactly within the lines. Getting the timing right with the activity and the age range needs to be thought about carefully
• Appropriate: Sticking cotton wool balls onto a sheep picture is great fun for a smaller child, but older children very quickly start to think that these things are rather childish for them. Likewise, a complicated "make" will be impossible for smaller children, although the older ones will understand it.
• Enjoyable: Children love doing craft, and get a great kick out of presenting something that looks good to their parents/carers when they are picked up. It's worth spending extra on making crafts out of more than flimsy copier paper - if you resolve to do do everything on card, they will not only enjoy it more, but it stands a better chance of making it home and onto the wall or the fridge (see below).

But crafts are not just about having fun. We do them in childrens' groups in order to retell the story, reinforce the message and take the bible teaching back into the home with them.

Crafts have to work spiritually

The need to:

• Reinforce the lesson not detract from it. An easy craft following the story of Daniel in the Lion's den is to make a Lion mask from a paper plate. The kids will be roaring round the church attacking people over coffee afterwards. Great fun! But has it reinforced the lesson that it was God who protected his faithful servant Daniel by "sending an angel to shut the mouth of the lions" Daniel 6 v 22. By simply cutting a mouth flap in the mask, and talking about how God shut the mouth of the lions, you can turn a fun but distracting craft into a fun and faithful craft.
• Practice the story/message. One of the great benefits of craft is the opportunity to sit with children and retell the story using the craft. You tell them (I will often do the craft myself, and use it to tell the story); you get them to tell you; and then...
• Hand over the child, the craft and the message to the parents. I'm convinced that the Bible places the responsibility for the spiritual education of children firmly in the hands of their parents - especially fathers (see Deuteronomy 6 v 7 for example). So our job as children's leaders is not to replace parents, but to support them in it. I try to set up my own sunday school so that when I hand the child back to Mum or Dad, I get the child to explain the story, using the craft to their parents, so that the conversation about God's word continues into the home. With older children that can sometimes be a discussion. For example, a few weeks ago we were telling the children the story of how Jesus died, and I asked them to think: Is this a happy or a sad story? At handover time, I got the children to repeat the question to their parents, and started a discussion with them that, I pray, would continue in the home and through the week.

Making crafts really work - both practically and spiritually needs to be thought about. The opportunities for craft ministry with children are enormous - do make the most of them.

Resources

Some great resources to help with making the most of crafts:

• Their God is so Big: Packed with principles for working with young children up to age 7. Also got some great craft ideas in it!
• Fabulous Crafts: Focused fun! Great activities that get children thinking more about the Bible.
• Click: Our great sunday school teaching resource that has a huge menu of crafts, games and activities that help focus the fun.