Responding to Scripture, Lent 2015

Each week during our children’s class, we use wooden figures to retell the scripture passage being used in worship. These figures were originally part of a now discontinued curriculum. We draw upon Godly Play and Following Jesus quite often, too.   Afterward, children have time to respond to the passage through art, building, retelling the story, prayer stations and sometimes cooking. Here are some of our responses from Lent this year:

For the Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11-32, we created “welcome home” signs that were sneakily placed on the coffee hour tables.

For Psalm 139 we created a group fingerprint art project that now decorates our stairwell. I pre-cut the paper doll shapes and then each child had a color to make thumbprints to cover it. I had older youth help with lettering the canvas.

For the Most Important Commandment, Mark 12:28-34, we created lots of heart art. The kids especially enjoyed the watercolor painting on old Bible pages. We made sure to let the kids know NOT to paint their Bibles at home. These Bibles had been well loved over many years at our church (missing pages, torn, etc). A great way to upcycle!

Lastly, in preparation for Easter, our older youth painted a variety of large, rough crosses with symbols of new life. One side is painted black for Good Friday. Here is our pre-painting set up. I will share the painted sides after Easter to keep the surprise.