Pray and Play area is live!

We now have a "Pray and Play" area in the church for the under-5's.

Previously, our community space was available for parents who needed to take their children out of the service, but this caused several problems. First of all, it didn't help the children to actually engage with the service - they were still expected just to sit still and be quiet in church, and if they misbehaved, they were removed. This sends the wrong message to children, telling them they are a distraction rather than a welcome part of the congregation.

Secondly, the community space has only secular toys in it. This didn't help create "sacred space" for the children.

Finally, the community space is at the back of the church. This means that parents who wanted to be prepared for having to take their children out needed to sit at the back. This meant the children were all clustered at the back. They couldn't see the altar, could hardly hear what was happening, and spent the whole time they were in church staring at the backs of adults' heads.

So we've made a welcoming space for children by the font - this will be available over the summer while there is no creche for the under-5's. If this experiment is successful, we will make this space permanent. There will still be a creche during the service, but the Pray and Play area will be available for the beginning and end of the service when the children are in church with their parents, and for any visiting children who don't feel comfortable going to the creche yet.

Now, I got a brilliant camera on sale yesterday (it was a £200 camera and I got it for £70 - woo-hoo!), so I've taken some photos of the space. I'm still figuring out the settings, so a few of these photos are weirdly dark, but you'll still get the general idea of the Pray and Play space.

A general overview of the space. Chairs and a pew are available around the edge of it, so parents can accompany their children. We have a variety of toys and books, all at child height, as well as a small altar with a cross, a chalice and paten, and a Madonna and Child icon similar to the one on the church's chancel.

All the toys are quiet - none have bells or electronic noises that could be distracting. They are all made of natural materials. They all have potential for imaginative play, i.e., none of them can only be played with in one particular proscribed way. They relate both to STORY and to LITURGY.

A child's-eye view of the space, from the entry point.

Based on an idea found on the Spiritual Child Network's website, I've created flags for the children to hold at various points in the service. These flags have clear visual cues showing them what is happening at that point in the service. The children in the pictures are a mix of races and genders. From the top row, L to R, the flags are: singing, listening, waving (for the beginning and end of the service, waving hello and goodbye), passing the peace, praying, and going to the altar rail.

The altar cloth is green, to match the season. If the Pray and Play area becomes permanent, the colour of the altar cloth will change to follow the liturgical year.

The chalice, paten, icon and cross are as close to unbreakable as possible, so children can play with them.
The space has a clear sightline to the altar, so parents and children can participate in worship and see what's happening.

Our "Liturgy Box" contains the Church Set from Beulah. This includes people, of a variety of ages, genders and races, a priest with a robe and chasuble, an altar, lectern, cross, candles, font, water, bread and wine, and altar book.

The laminated card in front of the baskets has a dual purpose - on the front is an image showing the child what that basket is all about. On the back is an itemised list of that basket's contents, so children and parents can tidy up when they're done playing, and so church staff can know quickly and easily if any items have gone missing!

We have several copies of "Let Us Pray," our service sheet for children, and markers. To the left of the picture, you can see (L to R) our Good Shepherd Basket, our Christmas Basket and our Creation Basket.
The contents of our Good Shepherd basket.

The Jesus doll. During the programme year, he goes home with a different child every week, to show them that Jesus goes with them out of church and into their daily lives. During the summer he'll live here. (This is available from Articles of Faith.)
The Easter basket contains lots of symbolic imagery of resurrection - butterfly and caterpillar finger puppets, a lamb puppet, a stuffed baby bird, and a rabbit puppet - as well as more concrete images from the Easter story, such as an angel, a palm cross, a crucifix, toy bread and grapes and a plate, and a donkey puppet.


A Big Book on the Eucharist is set up next to the altar. It has clear, simple photographs and text, showing the different parts of the service. (This is available from Pauline Books and Media.)


We have toys that stand on their own as well as the baskets.
We have a book corner, with books that are Bible stories, prayers, and allegories. Each book is age-appropriate and beautifully illustrated.
There is an information sheet for parents, giving them ideas on how to use the space.

If you want to know where we got any of our resources, feel free to ask in the comments!

Summer Programme plans!

The topic is "To Be A Pilgrim." We'll be using Dangerous Journey, the BBC's children's adaptation of Pilgrim's Progress. (Note: it says it needs a Region 1 DVD player, but it's actually formatted for all regions.  I do find it heavily ironic that this is a BBC production and you can only get it if you import it from America.)  Our plans are heavily ripped off a Lenten programme my mother did on the same topic when I was about eight or so.

The whole week will focus on producing a puppet show for the final day. The puppet show will be performed USING THE SERVING HATCH FROM OUR KITCHEN AS OUR PUPPET THEATRE. I just came up with this idea and I love it. We'll have a backdrop showing the entirety of Christian's journey and occasionally we'll pop up and perform musical numbers at certain points in the show - the beginning ("He Who Would Valiant Be"), after the Valley of the Shadow of Death ("One More Step Along The Road I Go") and at the end ("Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer").

Each day will start with half an hour of free choice - our themed baskets (Easter, Christmas, Liturgy, Creation, Good Shepherd and Baptism) will be available, as will a child-sized altar, drawing materials, and a book corner. We'll have outdoor play and quiet time each day as well.

Here's the basic overview of the week:

Monday - The Slough of Despond and the Interpreter's House.

Making puppets of the characters we've met so far.

Drama games - 10-second objects with objects from the story, experimenting with moving as different characters, hot-seating some of the characters from the story, devising a dance to show Christian's journey so far.

Object-handling - children have a selection of items, including a guidebook, a postcard, an "I heart London" badge, a scallop shell, a picture of an old pilgrim badge, a walking stick, etc. They choose three objects to take on their journey with them and explain why they chose them and why they would be useful. We look at how the scallop shell could be used - a plate, a cup, a knife, etc. - and I briefly talk about old pilgrim traditions (what the pilgrim badge was used for and how it's similar to modern souvenirs), how they're the same and different from modern tourism. The children each get a scallop shell to be their mascot of this week's journey and paint it with their name and symbols of what's important to them.

Then we'll play a game. This is one I learned from Malcolm and which is IMMENSELY useful in a variety of situations. You need a big open space and a bunch of chairs. You can put the kids in teams or with a small group (as is the case here) all together. Each group has the same number of chairs as there are people in the group, all in a row at one end of the space. Each person stands on a chair. You tell them that they have to, using the chairs, get the whole team across the space - if anyone touches the floor, the whole team has to go back to start. Let them try to figure out how to do it. Eventually they'll figure out (maybe with help from you) that by squeezing two people on one chair at the end and passing the extra chair down the row, they can move the whole team across the space. This will be our "Slough of Despond" game - using teamwork, we can get across it!

Tuesday - the Hill Difficulty and the Fight With Apollyon.

More puppet-making, and starting on the big map that will be the backdrop of our puppet show. For half an hour in the afternoon we'll brainstorm about what needs to go into our script - who are the important characters, what are the important events, and what are some of the lines that we need to include? Using the kids' ideas, I'll put together the first half of the script that night.

Wednesday - The Valley of the Shadow of Death and Vanity Fair.

More puppet-making in the morning.

Drama games - "I am walking," 10-second objects, and conscience alley (for several different points in the story)

In the afternoon, we'll cut out pictures from magazines and newspapers to illustrate different places that Christian has been on his journey.  Then we'll have an obstacle course. For the slough of despond, they'll have to step across chairs of different heights without falling off. For the Interpreter's House, they'll have to find their parchment which will be hidden somewhere around the room. For the Hill Difficulty, they'll have to climb up the steep pews in the balcony without touching the ground. For the Fight With Apollyon, they'll have to play "pin the arrow on the monster" (stolen from Beulah's David and Goliath activity - thanks, Mommy!). For the Valley of the Shadow of Death, they'll have to walk across the top of the storage cupboards in the balcony (fairly wide, and with not far to fall if they don't make it). For Vanity Fair, they'll have to walk through a series of obstacles on the floor, while, on either side of them, are tables full of sweets that they will NOT BE ALLOWED TO TOUCH. For Doubting Castle, we'll play a game where we all randomly join hands and then have to untangle ourselves without loosing our hands (this simulates being bound, as Christian and Hopeful were in Doubting Castle). Then it's time for the Dark River - a pop-up tunnel they have to crawl through, which will lead them straight to the Sunday School room, where we will play some joyful music, have some sweets, and finish with closing worship.

Thursday - Doubting Castle and the Dark River

This day is geared towards preparing for the show - finishing the puppets and the map, finishing the script, and practicing the show.

Friday - show!

Final practices, setting up the theatre and the party, and performing at noon (half an hour of show, half an hour of party).

Why "dumbing down" is a bad idea.

"Children don't understand all these old-fashioned words.  We need to make the service more accessible."

This is a common suggestion from Children's Ministers and others concerned with making worship friendly to children.  And while it's true that liturgical leaders need to think about how to make worship understood by children, I worry that sometimes that impulse goes too far.

I'm thinking specifically of hymns and singing here, though the same can be applied to other aspects of the service.

It's important, when looking at "accessible" songs for children, to make sure that they are simple but not simplistic.  Is there an attempt to provide context for a story, or make connections between different stories?  Are the hard parts left in, or is the Bible sanitised to the point of banality?  Is there redemption or just a bland happiness around the figure of Jesus?  Is the imagery rich, and Biblical in origin?  The hymn "Peace is Flowing Like a River," for example, provides a great depth of theological understanding in very simple terms, using real Biblical language - "Peace is flowing like a river / flowing out of you and me / spreading out into the desert / setting all the captives free."  This can be repeated with Faith, Hope, Joy, Love, etc. and simple movements can be used to illustrate the words.  Compare that to the fairly bland lyrics of "God is so Good" - "God is so good / God is so good, / God is so good / He’s so good to me! / God cares for me / God cares for me / God cares for me / He's so good to me."  There's nothing wrong with the occasional simplistic song if the kids love it and sing it with joy, but it's not a rich enough diet, by itself, to feed their spirituality.

But I think there's also a place, in worship, for things that are neither simple nor simplistic - I think there's a place for things that kids don't understand.  I think it's worthwhile to start teaching them real hymns, at a young age.


If children understand everything immediately, there is no mystery.  There is no impulse to come back and go over the material again, to gain further understanding.  It's fine for some aspects of worship to be understood only partly by children - it's not like schoolwork, where they only get one crack at it and then move on to the next thing.  The Nicene Creed and the Lord's Prayer will be there for them, week after week, year after year, ready for them as they grow in understanding.  It would be a shame to sacrifice richness - of liturgy, of language, of music - for the sake of accessibility.

I think many Children's Ministers are concerned with bringing worship down to the children's level.  While this is admirable, it's also possible to raise children up to the level of the worship.  I was taught very clearly last Sunday that this is not only effective - in enabling children to understand what's going on, but desirable - in that children respond more deeply to the richness of mystery and growth in understanding than they do to more simplistic material.

We learn one hymn every half-term in our Sunday School.  Recently, Thomas joined us from the creche, where he'd spent most of this year.  But he was now five years old and clearly growing restless with the younger children, so his parents moved him into Sunday School.

Thomas is very clearly a kinaesthetic learner.  He's very physical and has a very active imagination.  During our activity time, he will often choose to play with the feltboard pieces rather than join in with the activity (we usually have two or three kids at the feltboard at any given time - it's one of the choices they have for the activity time, along with our structured activity, our reading corner, and our prayer corner).

This week, however, after he played with the feltboard for a little while, Thomas came over to the activity table where we were illustrating hymns and prayers to make a Sunday School Service Book for next year.  He chose the hymn that we've been learning this half-term and spent about twenty solid minutes completely absorbed in illustrating it.

Here's the result:

 

This is a difficult hymn, with many archaic words.  And at its heart, it is a metaphor of our life on earth as Christians.  Thomas - at the age of FIVE - has drawn a pilgrim with his staff, some mountains, a stony road, and, in the top left corner, the pilgrim's destination - the Celestial City.  At the top, the sun is peeking out from behind the mountains in the distance.

Thomas may not understand all the words, but he knows what this hymn is about.

Here's what we did:

1. Have the words to the hymn on the wall of the worship area, with illustrations.  I Googled "Pilgrim's Progress Christian Burden" "Christian's Fight With Apollyon" and "Christian Celestial City Bunyan" respectively to get illustrations for the three verses.

2. The first time you introduce a hymn, do just the first verse.  Go over and define some of the phrases, not just the words, translating them into modern speak.  Sing just the first verse, teaching it one or two lines at a time - you first, then the kids.  Finish it by singing the first verse all together.

3. The second time, briefly recap what the hymn means in modern language.  Sing the first verse and introduce the second verse.  Allow children to ask questions about the pictures and the words.  Where possible, turn these back on them - "what do you think that monster's doing?"

4. Then repeat it over and over, including the final verse.  If possible, use a CD to encourage children to sing.  We use the "No Organist, No Problem!" CD set, which has organ arrangements of many common hymns, so it's basically "hymnal karaoke" for the kids - they provide all the singing, but they're not doing it a cappella.

5. Finally, once they're relatively familiar with it, add movements.  This reinforces the imagery and the themes of the hymn, as well as helping kinaesthetic learners like Thomas connect with it.  Here are our movements, but feel free to come up with your own.

He who would valiant be ’gainst all disaster,


Stand with arms raised and flexed, in "strong man" position.

Let him in constancy follow the Master.


Walk in place.

There’s no discouragement shall make him once relent

Shake finger and make frowning face, as if scolding.

His first avowed intent to be a pilgrim.

Stand bravely with hands on hips, a la Superman.

Who so beset him round with dismal stories

Hands still on hips, lean forward, with wrinkled forehead and mean face.


Do but themselves confound—his strength the more is.

Strong man position again.

No foes shall stay his might; though he with giants fight,

Fight with imaginary sword.

He will make good his right to be a pilgrim.

Hands on hips, Superman pose again.

Since, Lord, Thou dost defend us with Thy Spirit,

Raise arms and stand in orans position.

We know we at the end, shall life inherit.


Hold imaginary crown between your hands, place it on your head.

Then fancies flee away! I’ll fear not what men say,


Wiggling fingers, push arms away from yourself.

I’ll labor night and day to be a pilgrim.

Superman pose again.

Worshipping God doesn't mean staring at the back of someone's head.

At the moment, the community space is the only space available for kids who are getting restless during the service. 

But the community space is separate from the church, so parents who take kids there are excluded from the service, as are their children.  It is also a very secular space - going there during the service means children don't have a chance to develop spiritually by going to church, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of church!  Also, it’s at the back of the church.  This means parents tend to sit close to the doors, in case they need to make a quick escape, and that means the children end up sitting at the back of the church, where, instead of seeing the altar, the priest, the bread, the wine, and the cross, they spend the whole service seeing nothing but the backs of grownups' heads!

So over the summer, while there is no crèche, this is what we’ll do.

An example of a "Pray and Play" area similar to the one we will set up.

We'll take away the first two rows of chairs by the font.  In their place we'll put a quilt, and surround it with chairs.  On the quilt will be many of the toys from the creche - the themed baskets, the icon, the standing cross, the quiet Noah's Ark, the Jesus doll, the Easter storytelling doll, etc. 

If a small child begins to get restless, the parent can bring them to the quilt - the parent will still be able to participate in the service, and the child will still be in church, i.e., able to see the altar, able to hear the music and the prayers, surrounded by the church community, and with access to toys that teach them the symbols and stories of the Christian faith.

If this is successful, we will make this space permanent.

 Some examples of similar "Pray and Play" areas in other churches.

Summing up.

Sunday School: 86 different children

Summer programme: 1 who isn't already counted under Sunday School

Hawkesdown House assemblies: 132 who aren't already counted under Sunday School

Baby and toddler groups: approx. 30 who aren't already counted under Sunday School

School visits to the church: 47 who aren't already counted under Sunday School

Counselling: 1 who isn't already counted under Sunday School

This year, St. George's has ministered to approximately 300 children!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Alison and Ben Watson, whose daughter Olivia Rose was born on Wednesday morning.

Alison and Ben were married at St. George's, Alison was confirmed there in May, and she is one of our Sunday School leaders.

We look forward to meeting Olivia!

O God, you have taught us through your blessed Son that whoever receives a little child in the name of Christ receives Christ himself. We give you thanks for the blessing you have bestowed upon this family in giving them a child. Confirm their joy by a lively sense of your presence with them, and give them calm strength and patient wisdom as they seek to bring this child to love all that is true and noble, just and pure, lovable and gracious, excellent and admirable, following the example of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.