Messy Church has now been Running in Blarney for 11 years – this is our second Online Messy Church – do check out the videos , story, activities etc below. All are welcome 🙂
Resources needed for today’s activities
Flour, sugar, margarine, eggs, icing sugar & decorations for the cake activity
Card, glue sticks, scissors, felt pens, paper, bucket, coins, permanent marker and some coins
Activity 1: Cake making and decorating
Make a cake (could be cupcake size) and decorate it for the 11th Birthday. You might even use a candle. (Recipe for cake and icing below or use your favourite ones!) Take a picture and send it to lighthouse@cupcork.ie and we will put the pictures up on the Lighthouse Facebook page for everyone to see (so no faces in the photos please!) These would make a lovely dessert for your party meal!
The Father in the story just had to have a big party when his son returned because he loved him so much and was just so happy to have him back. Who are the people you love? How do you show love to them? How do you show love to those outside your family? Is there something you could do as a family to show love to someone who is lonely or sad at this time?
Activity 2: ‘I Love you this much’ card
idea from https://tiffkeetch.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-much-card-and-kid-canvas.html
Draw around your hands onto card and cut them out. You could use the same or different colours for each hand! Then cut a long strip of card and fold it concertina style. On the front hand of your card write ‘I love you’ and on the strip of folded card write ‘this much’. Then stick the strip to the back of the card which says I love you and then place the other hand with thumbs together and stick the strip to the inside of the second hand. You could give this to your Dad, or uncle, or grandfather or … for Father’s Day. You could make more than one and give them to other people too.
The younger son in the story knew he had really messed up. But his Father still loved him. It doesn’t tell us in the Bible if the younger son told his Father he loved him. It is really good for us to tell those that love us that we love them.
Activity 3: Party food and decorations
Create some party food together and decorations for the table and have a party together. Decide what party food/meal you would like to create and assign activities for each person or work as a team. Here is one idea for the table: Each person creates a placemat from an A4 piece of paper covered with drawings and/or words of all the things you want to thank God for. You could also dress up and put on some music and dance to it either before or after your food/meal.
The Father was so happy that his son was back safe and well that he decided to have a party to celebrate. He had his servants give his son the best clothes available and cook the best food and they all had a great big party together. God loves us just like the father in the story. We all do wrong things but it doesn’t matter how small or big they are God still loves us and wants us to come to him and say sorry just like the son in the story said sorry to his father. You could write ‘thank you God you love me’ on your placemat. What else will you say thank you for?
Activity 4: Coin throwing game
Put a mark on the base of the bucket in the middle on the inside (use permanent or waterproof marker) Now put some water in the bucket and see if you can drop a coin onto the mark in the bucket. (It is very unlikely that you will be able to do this!)
In the story the younger son wasted all the money he was given. But the older son thought he had done all the correct things and was acting in the best way and so was so angry when his father gave a party. But no matter how ‘good’ we are there is no way we can ever be as good or holy as God is, which means we are never perfect like God is which is a bit like how no matter how careful we are when we drop the coin it probably won’t hit the mark. Just like we won’t ever hit the mark of being perfect and holy like God.
Recipe for cake
4 oz margarine, 4 oz sugar, 6 oz self-raising flour and 2 eggs
Cream the flour and margarine together. Add the eggs and beat. Then add half the flour and beat it and finally add the rest of the flour and stir it in until it is all well mixed. Place the mixture in a well-greased tin with a piece of baking parchment on the base and put in a pre-heated oven at 180degrees for approximately 30 minutes. Or you can put the mixture in cupcake cases and the cooking time will be approximately 10-15 minutes.
This mixture will make approximately 15 cupcakes or one 2cm deep cake in a 20cm tin
Water icing: mix icing sugar and a small amount of water to make a thick paste. You can add food colouring if you wish. Spread the icing on the cupcakes or cake and decorate as you would like with small sweets or any cake decorations you may have.