David and Goliath

This page takes you through the various activities we had at Messy Church on  9th May 2015. Have a look and try a few!

Paintball Goliath

Roll a ball in paint.  Catapult the ball at the giant Goliath

The Philistines challenged the Israelites by asking one of them to fight Goliath

Would you have been brave enough to fight Goliath?

Painting

Paint some of this picture of Goliath and David

The Philistines challenged the Israelites by asking one of them to fight Goliath.  David volunteered.

What sort of person would be willing to fight Goliath?  He was huge. Goliath’s armour was also heavy

- his copper coat of mail weighed 5,000 shekels (57 kg; 126 lb).

- the iron blade of his spear weighed 600 shekels (6.8 kg; 15 lb).

Flip picture

Write something you are afraid of on the bottom layer.  Then write something that protects you on the middle layer.  Finally write God on the top layer.

David said he could face Goliath because ‘The Lord will save me from him’

How do you face up to difficult things?

Cardboard feet

Strap the feet onto your feet and see what it is like to walk around?

Goliath was frightening because he was so big.  He was about 3m tall

What would it be like to be 3 metres tall?  What would be good about it?  What might be difficult?

Heavy Armour

Try on these heavy clothes.  Can you write your name or draw a face with them on?

The King wanted David to wear his armour to protect him.  But it was too big and heavy for David.

How did it feel to write or draw with the clothes on?

Wool Sheep

Wrap wool round the cardboard to make a sheep

David was a shepherd who looked after his family’s sheep.

What do you think shepherds do to look after sheep?

Masks

Choose a mask for the animal you want to be.  Then colour it in or decorate it.

Before David came to the battle field he cared for sheep.  He had to kill lions and bears if they attacked the sheep.

Which animal do you think would be the most frightening to meet

Catapult

Cut your cup in half.  Tie a knot in the end of the balloon and cut the balloon in half too.  Then stretch the balloon over the end of the cup.  Put a marshmallow in the cup, pull the knot back and fire

David used stones in a bag to kill Goliath

How good are you at aiming with your catapult?  Can you aim it at something and hit it?

Bible Bags

Wrap a Bible in brown paper, leaving one end open.  Then take the Bible out of the open end and you have a bag.  Punch holes in the top and thread string through for a handle.  Stick on a ‘Trust God’ label.  Put five of the edible stones in your bag and tie it up (don’t eat them yet!)

David took five smooth stones out of the stream and put them in his bag

When you eat the stones think of something that you find difficult and tell God you trust him to help you

Goliath Cup

Colour in Goliath.  Attach Goliath to a cup.  Then attach a string with a cotton wool ball on the end to the cup.  You can throw the ball at Goliath

David killed Goliath with a catapult and a stone.  He was good at it as he had used it as a shepherd.

What are the things you are good at?  What would you like to learn to do?

Shield

Make a shield by wrapping the cardboard in foil.

Then think of some things that protect us, write or draw them on pieces of paper and stick them on to the shield.

Goliath came forward to fight with a soldier walking in front  of him to carry his shield

What do you use to protect you from the rain, from the sun, from getting dirty?

Biscuit Shield

Take a biscuit and spread icing on it.  Put a malteser in the middle and coco pops around the edge to make a shield.

Goliath came out with his armour on and with a spear and a shield .  He challenged the Israelites to find one of their men to fight him

How scary do you think Goliath looked?

Skittles and Dominoes

Throw a ball at the skittles and see how many you can knock down

Stand the dominoes in a line facing each other.  Knock one down and they will all fall over.

David threw a small stone to knock Goliath down

Sometimes small things can help with big problems.  Perhaps just telling someone about the problem will help.  Can you think of any other ideas?

Messy Picture

Put some foam in a tray.  Drip some food colouring in using a lolly stick.  Then swirl it round with the stick til you have a messy pattern you like.

Take a piece of card and lay it gently on the top of the foam so that it picks up the colours.

Take up the card, scrape the foam off and let it dry

David  hadn’t expected to fight Goliath.  He had come to bring his brothers food.  But it didn't turn out the way he expected, he faced a big challenge by doing what he knew how to do and trusting God with the rest.

Think of anyone you know facing problems (it could be you).   As you make your Messy Picture ask God to help them.

The Last Supper

This page takes you through the various activities we had at Messy Church on  7th March 2015. Have a look and try a few!

Upper room

Take a shoebox.  Glue the table and benches together.  Add some bread, a cup and a candle.  Make pipe cleaner people or use plasticine to add something to the scene.

Jesus sent two of his followers to follow a man to a house, and then to say to the owner, ‘The Teacher says: “Where is my guest room in which I can eat the Passover meal with my followers?” The owner will show you a large room upstairs that is furnished and ready. Prepare the food for us there.”

Do you ever eat upstairs or do you always eat downstairs?

Playdoh Food

Make some food out of playdoh and put it on a paper plate.

Once they had found the room, the disciples prepared the Passover meal

What do you have to do to get a meal ready?

Bread table

Use the icing to fix 4 marshmallow legs under your table. Make some food out of the fondant icing to put on your table.

Jesus was celebrating a festival called Passover with this special meal.  At Passover the Jews remembered the story from a long time ago of Moses leading their people out of Egypt

What do you eat if you have a special meal?

Prayer table

Make a place for yourself at the table with Jesus.  Decorate a plate and cutlery.  What would you like to say to Jesus?  Write it on the cloth.

Jesus had this meal with his 12 closest disciples

What would it be like to have a meal with Jesus?

Painting

Paint some of this picture of the last supper.

Jesus was celebrating a festival called Passover with this special meal.  At Passover the Jews remembered the story from a long time ago of Moses leading their people out of Egypt

What festivals do we celebrate?

Last Supper scene

Colour in the pictures of the disciples and Jesus and stick them to the box to make a last supper scene

Jesus had this meal with his 12 closest followers.  It was the last meal he had with them.

Who would you invite to have a special meal with you?

Disciples

Draw in each of the disciples’ faces and colour in their clothes

This was the last meal Jesus had with his 12 disciples

Who would you invite to a special meal?

Cushion

Glue shapes or draw on the cushion.  Then stuff it.

At Passover meals today people sit on cushions to remind them that they are free and relaxed not slaves

What do you think is the most comfortable sort of chair?

Placemat

Decorate the plate with food. Put it in a laminated pocket and ask the helper to laminate it for you.

Jesus thanked God for the meal they were eating

When you use this placemat it can remind you to thank God for the food you have to eat

Decorate bowl

Decorate your bowl with porcelain pens. When you get home follow the directions to cook it to fix the design.

Jesus took a cup and thanked God for it and gave it to his followers and they all drank from the cup.

Do you have any special cups at home?  Why are they special?

Goblet

Put glue on your goblet and decorate it with tissue paper.  Then give it another coat of glue

Jesus took a cup and thanked God for it and gave it to his followers, and they all drank from the  cup

The shared cup was part of the special meal and they used it to tell the Passover story

Clay bowl

Make a bowl or chalice out of clay. If you don’t know what a chalice is look at the picture to help you.

When Jesus gave them the cup he said, “This is my blood which is the new agreement that God makes with his people.

What a strange thing to say.  What do you think he meant by talking about blood?

Bread

Put your hand in each box and taste the pieces of bread. Look at the photos of the different types of bread and try and match them up

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread and thanked God for it and broke it. Then he gave it to his followers and said, “Take it; this is my body.”

What do you think Jesus meant by this?

Stencilled towel

Use fabric paint and the template to make footprints on the towel.

At the meal, Jesus washed his friend’s feet.  He did it as an example for them, to show them that they must serve each other.

What does it feel like to have someone wash your feet? 

Money bag

Wrap up a few chocolate coins. Decorate the bag and put the coins in.

Jesus said that one of his disciples would turn against him.  He was right; Judas took money to do it.  The disciples were very sad when they heard this.

Do you know how much Judas was paid?

Paul's shipwreck

 

This page takes you through the various activities we had at Messy Church on  7th February 2015. Have a look and try a few!

Sand picture

 

 Put glue on your card in curves for a rough sea. Then sprinkle on different coloured sand to make a picture of a boat at sea. Shake off any sand that hasn’t stuck. Then glue the clouds and sprinkle black pepper on.

Paul was being taken by boat to Rome in Italy. He was a prisoner being taken for trial for the true things he had said about Jesus

They were sailing in winter even though the weather was bad. Paul told them not to go but they still set off. Have you ever done something that you were told not to do?

 

Lego Boat

Make a boat out of lego
 
Paul travelled on an Egyptian boat that was on its way to Italy

Paul's boat will have had big sails and two oars at the back to steer it

 

 

Polystyrene boats

Cut a triangle and decorate it for the sail.  Thread it on a stick for the mast.  Attach the mast to the bottom of the boat.

Paul travelled on an Egyptian boat that was on its way to Italy.

How fast do you think the boat would have travelled?

 

Water play

 

Have some fun playing with the water.  Can you make a little storm?

 

Paul travelled by ship to Italy.  There was a big storm on the way.

 

Have you ever been on a boat?

 

 

 

Sea painting

Paint a stormy picture of the sea

Paul travelled by ship to Italy.  There was a big storm on the way and they were very afraid

What have you used to make the picture look stormy?

Knots

Can you tie any of these knots in the rope?   Many different knots are used on boats.  They tie  things together securely and they can also be undone easily.

Many of the ropes and other equipment had to be thrown overboard to lighten the ship

Which knot do you think is the most useful?

Misleading weights

Guess which of these objects is the heaviest.  Then weigh them to see how heavy they are.

Anything heavy had to be thrown overboard to lighten the ship to help it survive the storm

What do you think would be the heaviest object on board a ship?

Star mobile

Stick stars on top of the spiral card.  Attach the boat to the thread.  Put the thread through the centre of the spiral and tie it to the stick.


It was so dark for several days that they couldn’t see the sun or the stars and they gave up all hope of being saved


Sometimes when it is cloudy we can’t see the stars at night.  Can you imagine a storm so bad it was dark like that in the daytime too?

Shiny angel

Paint the wooden person with shiny paint so that it is like an angel

An angel of God appeared to Paul and told him not to be afraid.  God wanted him to get to Rome so he and the rest of people on board would be saved

 

What would it be like if an angel spoke to you?

Wooden Heart

Write on the heart ‘Take heart for I trust in God’ or decorate it


Paul trusted God and he encouraged the others on the ship to trust God too. He told them to ‘take heart for I trust in God’

Can you think of a time when you had to trust someone else?

Sea and sandbank

You can make an origami boat or sail one of those that has been made already.   Make the wind blow by using the fan. How fast can it go with the wind behind it?  Does it float or sink?

A hurricane wind drove Paul’s ship along.  It went on for days and eventually they were driven on to a sand bank

Have you ever been on a boat?  Did you enjoy it or did you get seasick?

 
 
Clay anchor

Shape an anchor out of clay.  It has pointed ends so that it can hold into the ground when it is dropped in the sea.  It has a ring at the top to tie the rope to. 

The sailors dropped anchor to try and slow the ship like a brake.  When they came near land they put four anchors down to stop them hitting the rocks.  Then they cut them off so they could run aground on the sandbank.

Do you know how big a real anchor is?

 Grassheads

Put two teaspoons grass seed in pop sock, fill til enough to make head and tie off.  Glue eyes and nose on and stick the verse to the cup.

Paul said to the sailors that not one of them would lose a single hair from his head

What do you think Paul meant by this?

Food shipwreck

Put blue icing on a wafer for the sea. Then put a biscuit on for a plank from the ship. Tie a jelly baby person on with a strawberry lace.   

The centurion ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. The rest got there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.

Can you swim?  Have you ever swum in the sea 

 

 

Modroc Island

Make an island out of modroc by dipping it in the paint.

They came ashore on an island called Malta

Have you ever visited an island?  Which one was it?  What was it like?