Click image to download pdf.

St Brigid’s Feast day is February 1st. One of the ways in which you can celebrate this day is by creating what have become known as a Brigid’s Cross.

Our pack above includes pre-measured strips of paper decorated with the Church of Ireland cross and a symbol of the Trinity and a heart intertwined, step by step instructions, as well as some information about the life of St Brigid. For additional help you can also watch an instructional video created by Rev. Abigail Sines where she makes crosses with all three mediums. https://vimeo.com/504840692?share=copy  

St Brigid’s cross is a distinctive variant of the Christian cross made with straw or rushes, (you can also use Pipe Cleaners or, as with our cross, with paper). While traditions associated with the cross have varied through time, there is still significant interest from school children especially in creating their own St Brigid’s crosses on either 31st January or 1st February. St Brigid is said to have woven this cross to assist a pagan chieftain’s deathbed conversion to Christianity. (adapted from St Brigid’s Cathedral website)

You can read more information about Brigid here: https://stbrigidscathedral.com/life-of-st-brigid/   and here: https://www.churchofireland.org/news/12236/st-brigid-a-powerful-focus

A service of the word was also created for St Brigid’s day and can be found here: Celtic-Commemorations-2017—St-Brigid

Welcome to Gingerbread and Generosity 2025 – Houses of Hope!

We are so thrilled to launch this initiative in partnership with Bishops Appeal and (South American Mission Society (SAMS).

It is our hope that, by using the packs below, you will be able to host a Houses of Hope event where families and individuals are invited to learn about the two projects in South America whilst having fun together decorating gingerbread houses.

Here are just a few ways you might use this pack:

• Host a gingerbread decorating event – perfect for Messy Church or a post-service gathering with snacks and festive cheer. You can make it a donation-based event or charge a small fee to support Bishops’ Appeal.
• Use one of the included services—either our Advent-themed service or the “Jesus is the Light of the World” Christingle option. During the service, you can take up a collection and hand out family packs for at-home fun.

No matter how you choose to use this pack, we hope families will upload a photo of their gingerbread creations and enter our Houses of Hope competition, with a chance to win one of two £50/€50 One4All vouchers!

To download the pack you wish to use simply click on the relevant image below:

Watch the video below to learn more about how your support impacts children and families in South America.

You can also copy the link to show this video at your Church event. 

Click image to download PDF

Helping Children to chat with God about the things that worry them.

Invite children to draw around their hand in the middle of the circle, and if they want, to colour in the words of the Bible verse. The poster can be stuck up on a wall in their room or on the fridge wherever is easy for the child to access. When they are worried about things they can come and place their hand in the middle of the circle, read the verse and chat with God out loud or in silence about the things they are worried about.

Encourage your child/ren to read aloud the verse and think with you about what it means to pray and give our worries to God—does it mean that everything will suddenly be better or that the worry will disappear?

Just as a guide, you could say something like:

Giving our worries to God means that when we feel worried, scared, or sad, we can chat to God about it – we often call this prayer. It’s a bit like giving God a heavy backpack full of worries and saying, “God, this is too much for me. Can you help me carry it?”

Does God take away the trouble? Sometimes He does, and things get better quickly. Other times, the trouble might still be there, but God promises to be with us and help us through it, so we’re not alone. He gives us strength, peace, and people to help us too.

Click image to download PDF

To create this craft, follow these steps:

1. Take a paper cup and cut a small hole in the base.
2. Have the children color in the figure of Jesus and the accompanying verse. We recommend using colored pencils for this activity.
3. Attach a piece of wool or string to the cut-out of Jesus. You can either:
– Stick two cut-out figures of Jesus together back to back with the string positioned in the middle, or
– Tape the string to the back of one cut-out of Jesus.
4. Pull the string through the hole in the cup. At the top of the string, attach the cloud verse. Again, you can either:
– Use two cloud cut-outs and stick them back to back with the string in the middle, or
– Tape the string to the back of one cloud.
5. Finally, you can decorate the cup with cotton wool to make it look like clouds.

Enjoy your craft!

Click any image to download complete pack

This Lent Activity was shared by Lynn in Kilternan and is a wonderful way to encourage all ages in your congregation to connect with Lent in a meaningful way. You can put the packs together as boxes or bags and have them available in your Church for people to take if they wish throughout the Lent period or you can take out to those who are house-bound.

Original idea: Build Faith: https://buildfaith.org/lent-in-a-bag/ and St Martin in the fields: https://www.stmartininthefields.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Lent-in-a-Bag-Instruction-and-Devotion-2015.pdf

Sand Activity: Sun hats and Wellie boots:https://www.sunhatsandwellieboots.com/2016/02/family-sand-tray-for-lent-exploring.html

We have two offerings for you here:

Download your Churchyard Butterfly HERE. 

First up are butterflies for decorating your churchyard and giving those vital signs of life to your local community that this is a place of life and joy.. 

This simple butterfly can be printed back to back. Then challenge the children – or indeed any age – in your congregation, or the school connected to your Church to decorate their butterfly with beautiful patterns and colours.

Gather all the butterflies, cut them out and laminate them, then hang them from the trees in your church yard or from your railings and invite families to come and find their Butterflies. You could even tie it in with the Small but Mighty trail which is free to download on the Sunhats and Wellieboots page HERE.

You could either have this as a come any day activity to encourage people to explore the church grounds, or you could make it a Spring day event and have the church open to welcome families to stay and chat over tea and snacks, have congregation members available to link in with new faces.

Download your Paper Plate Butterfly HERE

The second butterfly is a more delicious sort altogether! This printable can be coloured in and stuck to a paper plate where your group can place their edible butterflies. Little hands can develop their fine motor skills by cutting out the circle.

To make the butterflies we used chocolate fingers, chocolate covered pretzels and mini smarties – all held in place with melted chocolate which hardens when dry. You can of course let you culinary imaginations run wild and use a multitude of foods to make your butterflies, even vegetables (much to my daughter’s disgust!!) It’s fun way to get a wonderful Bible verse back into the homes of your Children.

Download by clicking the image above

Valentines can be a great opportunity to spread God’s love to everyone – not just the loved-up couples.

Use this simple love-heart sheet, print them off, attach them to a small bag or box of chocolates and give them out to your Church family or encourage your congregation to take one each and give them to someone who doesn’t come to church….yet! Or you could use it as a Valentines outreach to give to people in the street, or your Toddler group. 

Download by clicking the relevant image below (full colour or black and white).

We recommend printing on thicker paper or card to ensure durability.

This is a simple paper craft to help tell the Easter story. We have two versions, one is full colour and the other is black and white so that children can colour in the scenery and characters as you chat about the story.

You can take one section of the story at a time if using it as part of a wider lesson for example on Palm Sunday. Or you might choose to do all 5 together to tell the story from the triumphal entry to the resurrection – we would recommend using the full-colour pack if doing all 5 in one session.

Pages should be printed back to back to ensure the Bible verse lines up with the back of the scene.  Assembly instructions are included in the pack.

Click either of the images below to download the pack:

Full Colour: 

Colour In: 

Click image to download pack

     

Click any image above to download the full pack

The Jesse Tree has served as a meaningful tradition for many years, allowing us to delve into God’s Big Story from Creation to the birth of Jesus. We’ve designed 24 snow globes as an innovative way to engage with the Jesse Tree, perfect for families at home, or for use in schools and churches.

You can create globes that serve as windowsill or table displays, or cut them out without tabs, adding a hole at the top to hang them from a tree in the traditional Jesse Tree style.

Each globe features an edited verse from the story, a picture to be coloured in, a simple question for discussion, and a brief reflection that encourages the group to pray together.