All Inclusive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFbpnVUSepA

Christmas article

https://www.london.anglican.org/articles/easter-childrens-ministry-idea/

First Steps Together: for younger children

Christmas resources

ADVENT RING

You will need: three potatoes; knife; silver foil; five candles; tray or biscuit tin lid; Christmas decorations

Cut three medium potatoes in half, gouge out a candle-shaped hole in the outer side of five of them, wrap foil around the potato halves, stick a candle in the hole and place on a flat tray/biscuit tin lid with one in the centre. Decorate the tin lid with tinsel, fir cones etc. Light the central candle each Sunday to represent Christ’s presence and one more candle each Sunday of Advent. (You probably won’t have a session on Christmas Day to traditionally light the central candle so we suggest lighting that candle every Sunday.)

It is possible for each candle to symbolise the four different parts of the story. So you could surround the base of each candle with the following:

Week 1 – a circle of wire covered with tinsel (Gabriel’s halo)

Week 2 – blue cloth (traditionally Mary wears blue)

Week 3 – a ring of cotton wool (sheep)

Week 4 – a star (wise men)

Be very careful with lit candles and don’t leave them unattended. If you are not able to use ‘live’ candles, then use battery-operated ones.

CHRISTMAS SONG

This simple rhyme can be sung to the tune of ‘Mary had a little lamb’. Add a verse each week as instructed in the session plans.

The angel came to Mary, to Mary, to Mary,

The angel came to Mary

To say she’d have a baby.

The angel spoke to Joseph, to Joseph, to Joseph,

The angel spoke to Joseph:

“Mary will have a son.”

The baby was born in Bethlehem, in Bethlehem, in Bethlehem,

The baby was born in Bethlehem;

Mary laid him in a manger.

Shepherds raced to see him, to see him, to see him,

Shepherds raced to see him.

It was just as the angel had said.

Wise men came from far away, far away, far away,

Wise men came from far away.

They worshipped baby Jesus.