Summer Sundays!
SUMMER LOVIN’
We’re stripping things back a bit. Each week of August there will be little snippets of new content available on this session for you to enjoy and do over the summer weeks!
30TH August
FOR THOSE AGED 6 AND UNDER:
Talk to God about choices!
Are you right or left handed? Chances are most of us are right handed. That’s because only about 10% of the world’s population is left-handed.To be left-handed means that someone like to write or throw a ball with their left hand.Scientists aren’t sure what makes you left-handed or right-handed. Some think it’s in our DNA - the blueprint inside your cells that makes you, YOU! Others think its how your brain develops when you are young.
Most people are able to use one hand for things like writing but some can do it with BOTH! These people are called ambidextrous.
FUN FACT: Have you heard the phrase “walking in someone else’s shoes”? This means trying to understand how someone else feels. Most of the things we use everyday are made for those who are right-handed - from scissors to notebooks to knives and forks!
Why not try being left-handed for the day and if you are left-handed why not try being right-handed? You might find it a little difficult but it’s worth knowing how others feel so we can be kind and loving towards them.
CHALLENGE
It comes quite naturally which hand you’ll use to write with but there are other choices which can be a lot harder.When you have a problem that’s when you should talk to God. Tell him what the trouble is. He does already know but he still wants to hear what you have to say. God promises that if you need help, he’ll show you what to do - through the bible or through another person, Whether it’s to the right or to the left, God will keep you headed in the best direction.
Talk to God now. How you feel and what is going on in your week.
“Lord, remind me to talk to You about all the choices I need to make. I trust You show me the right way to go!”
FUN ACTIVITIES TO DO:
Colouring Sheets!
Get creative
Hand and finger painting. Your hands are amazing and your fingerprints are unique to you. Can you paint a cool picture using fingerprints and handprints?
Did you know EVERYONE has a different finger print! No one has fingers like yours!
HERE is a cool way to collect your fingerprints so you can see them clearer. You could collect the fingerprints of everyone in your house just like a detective!!
FOR THOSE AGED 7 AND ABOVE:
Changing like stars!
About 37 light-years away from Earth there is a star called Arcturus.It is a red giant nearly 25 times the size of our sun! Arcturus is one of the brightest stars that we can see in our night sky. It is so bright that it shines 115 times more light than our sun. But Arcturus is changing. As it slowly burns up it’s outer layers, it is being changed into a much, much smaller white dwarf star.Now think about this: if God can change a star that is 25 times bigger than our sun (and our sun is HUGE, you could fit 109 earths into the moon!) just think about what he can do with you!
As awesome as a star changing is, the change that God is working inside you is even more amazing.
God is like an artist, like a potter who works with clay. You are like the clay and each day he shapes and moulds and changes you. He uses His Word (the Bible), the people around you, and the things that happen in your life to teach you to do what pleases Him. Like doing what’s right when you want to pretend nothing is wrong. And being brave when you’d rather hide. And having peace even though everything seems to be going wrong. God is changing you to be like Jesus, that’s the greatest change of all and helping you face anything that comes your way.
CHALLENGE
Watch THIS video! I love the quote in this video and remembering that God changes us in amazing ways by often giving us opportunities to change. Think about something that you need help with. Ask God to give you an opportunity this week to be better.Keep a diary and see if you change!
“Dear Lord, change isn’t always easy or fun . But I trust You to change me and make me more like Jesus.”
FUN ACTIVITIES TO DO:
Colouring Sheets!
Get creative
Create a pencil pot or a statue of your favourite thing from play dough or salt dough. People who make pots take their time to make sure they are beautiful and exactly how they want them to be. They takes bits off and add bits on all the time. Mould your clay or dough into something amazing and as you do think about how God might be changing you.
On a clear night you should be able to see some constellations of stars in the sky. Use THIS website to see what you might be able to see this evening!
23rd August
CHECK THIS OUT!
FOR THOSE AGED 6 AND UNDER:
Don’t sweat it!
On a hot summer day you’ve probably noticed this wet stuff dripping down your face. It’s called sweat and it’s your body’s own built-in air conditioner to help you cool down. You have around 3 million sweat glands all over your body!
Most of them are on your hands, feet and face. You see your body needs to stay at 37 degrees to keep up all the functions that your body does like breathing, digesting food and making new cells.
But when you exercise or when it’s hot outside your body can get too hot and make you sick. That’s when your brain cells tell your body that it’s time to cool down and that’s when the sweat glands get to work. It’s pretty cool because as the sweat evaporates into the air it cools your skin.
FUN FACT: Want to hear something crazy? Hippos have pink sweat! Special glands in their skin put out an oily, reddish-pink liquid making it look red or pink. Their sweat is like a moisturizer, antibiotic and sunscreen all rolled into one. As it turns out, hippos have very sensitive skin!
It’s not just our bodies that can get hot, our tempers can too. It’s so easy for little things to make us angry - whether it’s knocking over your drink at lunch, or getting frustrated with homework or something you can’t do or aren’t allowed to do.
But anger never fixes the problem does it? It usually makes it A LOT worse.
CHALLENGE
What can you do to “cool down” when you get angry?Why not take a deep breath and say a little prayer asking God to help you cool your temper and show you what to do next.
Learning to let God help you keep cool during the little stuff makes it easier to keep your cool and not get angry when the big things come around.
“Lord, when little things and big things make me want to lose my temper, help me not to sweat it. Remind me to ask You what to do instead.”
FOR THOSE AGED 7 AND ABOVE:
God gave you an amazing body!
We have amazing bodies! God made us and it’s amazing what our incredible bodies can do.
DID YOU KNOW...
Your nose can remember about a trillion different smells.
Your heart beats about 100,000 times every day and 36,500,000 times every year.
Your body is made up of trillions of cells, and each one has its own unique job to do.
Your nerves send messages to your brain at a speed of about 250 miles per hour -that’s faster than a race car!
God gave us all some pretty incredible abilities, and I think He did it so that we would know how awesome our God is. But all these incredible things your body can do is just the beginning. The most amazing thing that happens is inside your heart. When you decide to follow God, He gets to work in your life, helping you do more that you could ever imagine. He helps us with tough stuff like forgiving and loving those who are grumpy or do wrong things towards us. Or helps us with stuff like serving and the really great stuff like telling others about Him.
But God doesn’t just work powerfully in your life; He also world creatively. That means the way you love and serve and share God can look completely different from the way someone else does.Whether it’s through singing, painting, baking, or picking up rubbish - or any of a million other ways - God will help you use your life to show the people around you just how much He loves them. God is just that great!!
CHALLENGE
Jesus said that the most important of all commands is this: “Love the Lord your God. Love him with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind” (Luke 10v27)How can you show God you love Him in all 4 of these ways? How can you love Him with your heart, praise Him with your soul, serve HIm with your hands and feet, and learn something about Him with your mind?
“Lord, You are so great, and You’ve given me this amazing body. Show me how to use my hands, my feet, my brain, my heart and soul to serve You. Help me reflect Your power to the watching world.”
FUN ACTIVITIES TO DO:
Colouring Sheets!
Get creative
Make your own obstacle course! You could make one in your garden or even at the local park. Once you’ve made it time yourself and see how quickly you can get round it. AND THEN see if you can beat your time.
Build up your own body using the colouring pages below.
Start with the SKELETON then add the ORGANS. Next put on some MUSCLES and finish with SKIN on top! Then if you place them all on top of each other and shine a light through the pages it will almost look like an x-ray of the body!!
Why not do a Taste test and see how your tongue works!?
The instructions can be found HERE!Why not make a lung model and understand how amazing our organs are!
The instructions can be found HERE!
These were all found on this amazing webside: Fizzics Education. They have up to 150 free science experiments that you could try at home if you love science or have really enjoyed the experiments above!
16th August
FOR THOSE AGED 6 AND UNDER:
God is with us in every season!
CHECK THIS OUT!
What is your favourite season?
There is Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.
Spring is known as a season when there are new things like flowers and baby animals. Summer is the season we are in now which is hot and sunny! Autumn is the colourful season because the leaves begin to change colour. They turn red and orange and some stay green. In America this season is called FALL because it is the season when leaves fall off the trees! Winter is the coldest season and it’s the season which we have Christmas in! When I think winter I think of snow and icy weather.
Have you ever wondered why we have these seasons?
It’s because of the earth’s position. It doesn’t sit straight in one place. The earth moves around the sun and turns on its axis.
It takes 365 days for the earth to go all the way round the sun and the amount of sunlight that falls on each part of the earth changes a little bit every day.
The places that get more sun have summer and spring and the places that are getting less sun are having autumn and winter. Because the earth is always moving the seasons are always changing!
The seasons are constantly changing in fact just about everything changes on earth. From families to schools to people's jobs to friends even us, human beings, we change! Sometimes change can be hard and you don’t know what you can count on because of everything changing. BUT remember this: God NEVER changes. He is always the same.
In the bible…
God is the same today as he was yesterday and he’ll be the same tomorrow too!
(Hebrew 13v8 + James 1v17) So when he says he loves you like in John 3v16 and he promises to always be there for you like he says in Matthew 28v20 and Deuteronomy 31v6 you know it’s true. Whether it’s spring, summer, autumn or winter God is always the same.
CHALLENGE
Draw a picture of you in your favourite season.
Then think about something that has changed recently? How did the change make you feel? Is there a big change coming up soon that you’re worried about?
Add the answers to these questions into your picture and talk to God about it. Remember we can trust God and he stays the same which means we can rely on him even when everything else changes and become different God doesn’t
“Lord, no matter what “season” I’m in - whether it’s sunshiny or sad or somewhere in between - I know that You have a purpose for it. Help me to trust you.”
FUN ACTIVITIES TO DO:
Colouring Sheets!
Get creative
Make your own seasons picture.
Fold you paper in half and half again do that you have 4 boxes on your page. 1 for each of the seasons. Draw a tree in each box. Next write in each box which season you are going to show. Think carefully how you want to draw or create each season. For winter you might want to get some cotton wool and stick it down as snow. Be sure to think about the colours you use for Autumn too!How creative can you be?!
Make a bird feeder.
Follow these instructions on THIS video!
FOR THOSE AGED 7 AND ABOVE:
God is with us through the EXTREMES of life!
CHECK THIS OUT!
If you liked this video there are more David Attenborough videos on YouTube plus some of his full documentaries of animals and the world are on Netflix at the moment!
EXTREME: It means that something is about as far from ordinary as you can get.
In the world we have extremes like deserts and rainforests. Deserts are super dry and get less than 25cms of rain every year. Imagine now a desert.
I bet you are thinking of it being really hot and dry and there being lots and lots of sand and maybe a cactus or two! But deserts can be rocky or even icy and cold.
There are deserts in the Antarctic and North Pole too!
But Rainforests are the opposite. They get more than 2 metres of rain every year. When you think of Rainforests, what do you imagine. Do you think of the Amazon? Really humid and rainy, full of wildlife and plants? You’d be right but there are rainforests all over the world in places like Asia, Australia and America.
FUN FACT: The village of Mawsynram in India has the honour of being the wettest place in the world! It get a about 467 inches of rain every year. If all the rain fell at once that’s 11 metres which is the same as 3 double decker buses on top of each other! That’s a crazy amount of rain to even get in a year! But the Dry Valleys in Antarctica are the driest places on earth - which gets zero annual rainfall, it doesn’t rain at all!
Deserts and Rainforests are extreme with their weather and life can be a bit extreme like this too sometimes. Some days are like being in the rainforest where you are showered with good things. But other days may feel more like the desert without a drop of happiness in sight. When we have “desert” days it’s often hard to remember that God is near and that he promises to use our bad days for good which is pretty amazing.
Romans 8v28 says “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him”
CHALLENGE
Think about a desert or a rainforest. Do some research and look up some animals that live in these places. Hopefully you will see that some of these animals are specially designed to live in these harsh EXTREME places.Camels are perfect for sandy places with not much water. Their feet help them walk easily on the sand and did you know they have three sets of eyelids and two rows of eyelashes!? This helps to keep sand out of their eyes!God always promises to give us what we need when we live through good and bad times. So whenever you are struggling remember to ask God to help you and he will give you what you need.
“Lord, I don’t understand why bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. But I do know that You love me and You are always blessing me - rain or shine.”
FUN ACTIVITIES TO DO:
Colouring Sheets!
Desert AND Rainforest
Get creative
Make a rainforest peek out picture
First you need a piece of paper. Draw on some trees and create a cool scene with lots of animals and plants. If you have watched any nature documentaries or seen pictures of the rainforest you’ll know that there are lots and lots and lots of trees often hiding the wildlife living in the forest. So next cut out some leaves shapes. Next add glue to just one side of the leaf and stick it to your picture so that the leaf covers up an animal but when you life the leaf flap the animal is revealed. Do this as many times as you like! Then make sure it’s all coloured in and enjoy discovering all the animals as you try to find them under the leaves!
Make a Sundial and tell the time using the sun!
Follow these instructions on THIS video!
9th August
CHECK THIS OUT!
FOR THOSE AGED 6 AND UNDER:
Did you know God is closer than you think?
When you look up at the clouds or look up at night at the stars, space seems so far away...BUT actually it’s closer than you think!
Scientifically speaking, space begins where Earth’s atmosphere ends and this is called the Karman Line.For years scientists thought it was about 62 miles up but now they think it’s only about 50miles up which means if you drove a car straight up then you would be in space in less than an hour!!
Space might seem impossibly far away, but it’s really quite near.
This is just like God. There are times when he feels far away like when we’re sad or worried or when you know you’ve done something wrong.
BUT God is close and is always right there with you.
In the bible…
A man called Joshua faces a terrible battle.
God promises to be with him wherever he went (Joshua 1v9).When Jesus leaves his disciples and returns to heaven he says:
“I will be with you always” (Matthew 28v20).God says he’ll pick you up and carry you close to His heart (Isaiah 40v11).
CHALLENGE
Go outside and look at the clouds or at night look at the stars.
Think about God who made the stars.
Thank him for what you can see.
Talk to God about how you are feeling and what’s happened today.
God’s not far away and he wants to talk to you. He’s much MUCH closer than space. He’s in your heart, right by your side every moment of every day. What a great promise!
FOR THOSE AGED 7 AND ABOVE:
Did you know God is always with you?
The earth has a special layer in the atmosphere above the clouds called the OZONE layer. Ozone is a tiny little gas molecule with a great big job to do. It’s sort of a cousin to oxygen - the gas in the air that we breathe. Ozone is blue in colour and has an unpleasant smell IN FACT the word ozone comes from the greek word meaning “smelly”.
As I mentioned before Ozone mainly hangs out in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and wraps around our planet like a huge shield. It protects us from the Sun’s dangerous, burning ultraviolet rays. Without the ozone layer the UV rays would hit the earth and cause terrible skin and eye problems as well as shrivelling up all our plants!
This is a bit like how the goodness of Jesus wraps around you and protects you from sin. You see, we all sin and do bad things. Sometimes it is by accident and sometimes it’s not and we do things on purpose. The absolute worst thing about sin is that it “burns up” our relationship with God. But God doesn’t want that to happen. That’s why He sent Jesus! When you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and you follow Him, His goodness wraps around you.
In the bible…
Isaiah 61v10 says this:
I will rejoice in the LORD my God!
For he has dressed me with salvation and wrapped me up in righteousness.
CHALLENGE
What does it feel like to be wrapped up in something?
Find a blanket or maybe some wrapping paper or maybe some bubble wrap.
Once you’re all wrapped up think about how God has wrapped you with his love and goodness. What do you think that feels like?
“Lord, no matter what “season” I’m in - whether it’s sunshiny or sad or somewhere in between - I know that You have a purpose for it. Help me to trust you.”
FUN ACTIVITIES TO DO:
Colouring Sheets!
Get creative
Make a picture using things you can find in your garden.
Go outside and see what leaves and things you can find.
Either use them to draw a picture or see if you can copy them to make a picture of your own.
You could also make some rubbings:
Find a leaf and place it under a piece of paper. Next get a crayon and rub it over the top. You’ll see the leaf make an impression on the paper!
You can also do this on trees and get some bark rubbings.
Once you have some cool rubbings cut them out and use them to make a picture of the sky or the park or your favourite thing.
Make a rocket balloon!
Follow the instructions on THIS website to find out how!
“Lord, wherever I go and whatever I do, I know that You are always with me, watching over and shielding me, helping me to do what’s right. Thank you for being my strength and my shield. ”
FUN ACTIVITIES TO DO:
Colouring Sheets!
Get creative
Make a space painting!
You will need a sponge, a paintbrush and some paint (mainly dark colours: black, blue and purple with a white and yellow for some stars)
Start off by colouring in the background. Make it look like the night sky. Drop a bit of each dark colour on your canvas. Sponge them together to make the sky. Now you need to let it dry.
Once it is dry it’s time to make stars and planets on your sky! Using the paintbrush flick white and yellow paint onto your canvas. These will be your stars! You may also want to paint on some planets to complete your picture!
Make your own rocket!
Follow the instructions on THIS video to find out how!
2nd August
FOR THOSE AGED 6 AND UNDER:
Have you ever seen an Anteater?
CHECK THIS OUT!
Anteaters have crazy long tongues! How long is your tongue? If you were an anteater you would probably be able to lick your belly!!
They use their long tongues to get the food they want as often it is in hard to reach places. They can poke their tongue in and out up to 160 times a minute! That’s SUPER quick!
They can eat lots and lots and LOTS of termites and ants in that time. Anteaters can do lots of damage with their tongues. Even though our tongues are smaller, we can hurt people with our by using our tongues when we say mean or bad things to others. The bible tells us that we should be careful with our words.
It’s important to make sure what you say is kind and loving. Words can hurt much longer than a punch will.
CHALLENGE
Ask yourself these questions before you speak this week
Are my words true?
Are my words helpful?
Are they kind?
If they aren’t maybe rethink or just give your tongue a rest and don’t say anything!
“Lord, help me remember to think before I speak so that the things I say are good and kind. Help me not to hurt people around me with my words.”
FUN ACTIVITIES TO DO:
Colouring Sheets!
Get creative
Frog with moving tongue: WATCH THIS to make your own!
Tongue Twisters
Try and say these!
- She sells sea shells on the sea shore. And the shells she sells by the seashore are sea shells for sure.
- I scream, you scream, we all scream for Ice Cream!
- Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear. Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair. Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t very fuzzy, was he?
- Or WATCH THIS!
FOR THOSE AGED 7 AND ABOVE:
Have you ever heard the saying, “You are what you eat?”
CHECK THIS OUT!
How cool is that!? What a flamingo eats determines or chooses what colour they will be!
I wonder if they were to switch and eat something else like green plants if they’d turn green!? This may be a strange thing to think about but it does apply to us too.
FUN FACT: The same pigment or colour found in the shrimp the flamingos eat can be found in carrots, apricots and sweet potatoes. If babies eat too much of these foods their noses can turn orange!!
Now you probably won’t turn a strange colour if you eat just one thing but the things you take in will change you. What you hear, see and think about will affect you and become part of who you are. Whilst we’ve been in lock down we’ve probably been on our screens quite a lot. But I wonder if everything you have watched has been good for you.
CHALLENGE
Think about what you “consume”. From TV to books to YouTube videos.
How is it affecting you?
Has it changed you?
Would God be happy about you watching or reading it?
“Lord, help me to be careful about the things I listen to, watch and read. Let everything I “take in” be pleasing to you.”
FUN ACTIVITIES TO DO:
Colouring Sheets!
Get creative
Paper spinners to help you explore colours more!
WATCH THIS to make your own!Make a fact file or top trump of your favourite animal. How many facts can you find out about the animal you love most!?
Science Fun!
Have some fun with milk and food colouring!
HERE’S a video of how.
Edited and adapted by Amy Farrar from several sources including ‘How Great Is Our God’ by Louie Giglio.
