Published: 26/03/2020 , Last updated: 09/02/2020

Activities for Children & Families

The Church of Ireland is keen to support families in growing their Christian faith at this time. We hope that some of the following resources will be helpful for you.

Support with mental health

These are difficult times – in different ways – for children, parents, grandparents, and our wider family circles.  The following eight–page downloadable booklet may help you, or others whom you know, to learn more about responding with faith in Jesus: Faith and Anxiety – Everyday ideas and strategies for adults and children 

#Connect4Creation for Lent

The Bishops’ Appeal for World Aid and Development is encouraging parishes across the island to take part in its #Connect4Creation project for Lent 2021. This initiative helps members of the Church to connect with God, who is in our midst, and with their surroundings and the natural world.  Just click here to find out more.

Looking for more ideas for activities? Here’s how our Children’s Ministry Network can help your parish to share the Christian faith and welcome children and families.

Find out about ideas for activities for both now and throughout the year on our website or our Facebook page.

Check out the following videos for ideas for Children’s Ministry.  It may not be possible to put all of them into practice right now, due to the current restrictions, but some could be stored up for trying out in future when a more normal routine returns to church life.

Make Yourself at Home

This video accompanies the ‘Make Yourself at Home’ parish resource developed for parishes wishing to review their welcome, inclusion and participation of children and their families in all areas of Church life.  It enables them to acknowledge all the great work that is being done, identify small changes and take decisive action.  The main developer of the resource, Tammi Peek, takes us through the key ideas and content. 

Creative Prayer

Lynn Storey explores different ideas for Creative Prayer:

Bible Story Telling Ideas

Learn about a variety of ways to engage children in a Bible story with examples from ‘Jesus Calms the Storm’ (Matthew chapter 8 & Mark chapter 4):

All Age Worship

The Revd Rob Clements explores ideas for All Age Worship:

Sharing resources from around the Church

Dublin & Glendalough Children’s Ministry

Prayers for noticing God’s presence, for celebrating colours, and for times when things at home get squishy – check out these poems from the Revd Cathy Hallissey to help children talk to God and share their ups and downs with him.

Dublin & Glendalough Kids is a Facebook page which brings together children’s ministry resources for use at home at this time. The page is a hub for prayers, crafts and videos, often linking directly to the weekly Gospel readings. It is aims to support clergy, children’s ministry leaders and families in the dioceses at a time when we are often doing church at home. Look out for Copperpot in our puppet video!

Family Time is a book full of devotional ideas to help parents encourage their primary school–aged children in the Christian faith. The ‘Play, Say and Pray’ format takes a Bible verse and teaches it with a simple illustration, a game, a short explanation and a prayer. It’s accessible and it’s fun! You can download it for free here.

Ripple – the Diocese of Connor’s Children’s Ministry – shares children’s talks and programmes, including for Messy Church, memory verses, prayer ideas, quizzes, seasonal activities and teaching resources.  Visit its resources page here.

JIGSAW is a curriculum designed to help you, the families of children and the whole Church, work together to encourage and grow children in their faith. Full of ideas, resources, videos, crafts and much much more to help direct and guide teaching of the Christian faith in an easy, fun and Bible–centred way. Click here to check it out on Facebook.

Safeguarding

All information on Safeguarding Trust – our child protection policy covering both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland – is available on our Safeguarding website: 
https://safeguarding.ireland.anglican.org

Youth ministry

Posts, online events, and updates from the Church of Ireland Youth Department, to help young people and their families, and youth leaders and workers, are available at www.facebook.com/COIYD

Thank you

We’d like to thank everyone who has given permission to share resources more widely, and thank you for all you are doing to share our faith with children and families.