Good Friday 2013 - Messy Church

Welcome to Messy Church @ St. Helen's Stapleford!

This page takes you through the various activities we had at Messy Church on Good Friday. Have a look and try a few!

Theme: Easter

1. Prayer crosses

Write a prayer or the name of someone on a cross and hang it on one of the branches

Jesus prayed before he was arrested because he was very worried about what was going to happen

God loves us to talk to him and tell him what we are concerned about.





2. Mosaic crosses


Colour in each section of the cross with different colours using glass paints.  You can use this cross as a window decoration.

Jesus know he was going to die and he told his friends about it so they wouldn’t be surprised

Have you ever had to tell someone something difficult?  How did you do it?



3. Palm Trees


Decorate the tube with brown paper for bark and add green leaves to make a palm tree

People waved leaves from palm trees around when Jesus cam into Jerusalem

There were lots of palms trees around.  Do you know any kinds of trees?






4. Easter story spinners


Colour in the pictures of the Easter story on the card.  Put one circle on top of the other and connect them with a split pin

A lot happened in this week of Jesus life

Can you tell the Easter story by looking at the pictures?



5. Cross necklaces


Thread a cross on the elastic and add some beads.  Tie the ends together to make a necklace.

Jesus dying was very sad, but it was very important.  It was the way Jesus planned to make us his friends

What is it like having friends?  What do you enjoy doing with them?  Do you know Jesus wants to be your friend?

6. Easter story display


Use the different materials you have to make a model of the Easter story

We know what happened to Jesus because it was written down by people who remembered it.

Can you remember what order the different parts of the story happened in?

7. Pin tail on donkey


You will be blindfolded.  Then see whether you can pin the tail in the right place on the donkey.

Jesus rode on a donkey when he came into Jerusalem

Important people rode on horses, only very ordinary people rode on donkeys.  Have you ever ridden a donkey?

8. Decorate hard boiled egg


Decorate a hard boiled egg and then see how far you can roll it

The stone that was put in front of Jesus tomb was rolled away.  It would have been very heavy so the people who found it were surprised

We don’t know how it was rolled away, except that God must have done it when noone was looking

9. Easter gardens


Put compost in a container, then add crosses and a cave for the tomb where Jesus was buried.

Jesus was buried in a garden.  The cave belonged to someone wealthy who asked if he could  do this.  People had to be brave to admit to knowing Jesus.

Can you think of some things you have to be brave to do?

10. Paint crosses on nails


Would you like to have your nails painted.

The people who knew Jesus were very sad that he died, but very happy when he came back to life.  They never forgot it.

When you see the cross on your nails remember that Jesus died and then rose again

11. Glass paint picture


See the words He is Risen on the glass sheet.  Help to fill them in with glass paint.

Jesus travelled round when he came back to life.  He met his friends so that they would be sure he was alive.  He ate with them and talked with them.

Do you think it was easy for his friends to believe he was alive?  Or do you think they might have been puzzled?

12. Money bag

Thread a lace through the holes of the piece of material.  Pull them tight and add a toggle.  Then put some money in the money bag.

Judas was paid 30 silver coins to show the people who hated Jesus how to find him.

If you carry money around what do you put it in?

13. Sponge painting

Paint the picture of crosses on the hill using the sponges

When Jesus died, two other people who had done something wrong were also put on crosses with him

Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong, but he was punished anyway

14. He is alive banners

Choose one of the pictures and trace through it onto a sheet.  Then colour it in and add plastic strips to make it into a banner.

After three days Jesus came back to life and never died again.  He is alive now but in a different way from us as we can’t see him.

Even though we can’t see him he sees us and knows all about us

15. Hearts

Decorate a heart biscuit with icing

God loves us very much.  He even died because he cared about us so much.

God knows us very well and cares for us.  Would you like to say thank you to him?

16. Easter bracelets

Thread each of the shapes onto a thread to make a bracelet.  Take a sheet that tells the Easter story using these beads

Some parts of the story are happy and other parts are sad

Which part of the story do you like best?

17. Plastic egg

Cut some shapes out of foam for different parts of the Easter story.  Put them in an egg and decorate it.

Jesus started the week being cheered by the crowds.  But the people turned against him and he was killed.  At the end of the week he came back to life again.

Can you tell the story using the shapes you have cut out?

18. Pop up Jesus

Decorate a cone.  Attach a person to a stick and put the stick through the hole in the cone.  You can push the person out of the cone, just as Jesus came out of the cave he was in.

Jesus was buried in a cave.  But when his friends came to visit it he wasn’t there.  They saw him alive again and he talked to them

Do you talk to Jesus?

19. Handprint cross

Fill in the cross with handprints

Jesus died for us because he loves us

Our handprints show he loves each one of us