Effective Children's Ministry

Archive for the ‘Free Resources’ Category

You may well be planning your children’s Christmas party round about now. Are you looking for free downloadable resources, to help you  produce professionally designed invitations and flyers?

We thought you might be interested in a web site we’ve just come across.

Christian Tools of Affirmation have some products to buy, but they also generously make available  for free download PDFs which you can customize. Invitations, flyers,  cards, door hangers, even related service plans for schools, are on their pages.

This year’s theme is Love came down at Christmas.

Last year’s theme is also still available. It was Happy Birthday Jesus.

Last year we made a PowerPoint presentation with simple illustrations.  It was  intended for children aged 5-7 years. But, of course, you can adapt the language to any age group.

As the post announcing this resource is deep in our archives, we are flagging it up again here, to let you know that the free PowerPoint is still available for download, as is the PDF with notes for a simple presentation of the Bible story of the first Christmas.

We have found little children are not the only ones who love to hear this story retold. Older children and adults alike have enjoyed this presentation, with the colourful and endearing pictures. We hope you might find it useful in whatever context you are working.

>> Download the Nativity PowerPoint presentation 

>>Download the outline script for the Nativity PowerPoint Presentation [PDF]

Damaris Trust is a wonderful organization that creates resources for evangelism. Their goal is to relate the Bible message to popular culture, including using movies to explore the theme of redemption.

This year, Damaris have once again received permission to use snippets from the British film Nativity! Using this as a starting point, they have created ideas for a primary school Christmas season assembly.

When you visit the Christmas assembly page  you can click to open up the elements you wish to use and have a PDF made of those parts.
There is also a PowerPoint presentation to use and ideas for drama, singing and a time of reflection.

To view the Damaris suggestions and pick up the PowerPoint, visit the Collective worship for Christmas page.

You may also find these free Christmas resources of ours to be helpful.

In a previous post we have made available a free Powerpoint game: Christmas Cookie Count.

But there may be some of our visitors who have no laptops, data projectors or even a reliable electricity supply!

So for you, and others who prefer the low-tech version, here is a printable you can download.  Simply print out the cookies and the score numbers, cut them out, laminate them and away you go!

Download the Christmas Cookie Count – Printable version (PDF)

Did you know, we also have a simple printable Christmas spelling presentation that your kids can do.

Christmas Cookie Count is a simple but effective PowerPoint game. It can be played quickly as a stand-alone game, or used effectively as a review game after a Bible lesson.

Here’s how it works…

• Two teams play alternately
• After answering a review question correctly and being awarded points (we suggest 50 for a correct answer) the first team chooses a cookie. It is fun to have them describe the cookie, rather than simply point to it. This encourages the children’s powers of expression.
• The PowerPoint operator then clicks once on the selected cookie.
• that cookie will slide off the screen and a Bonus Score will then be revealed and should be added to the score so far.
• The next team will win their chance to play by answering a review question.
• They then choose their cookie and the revealed score is added to their total.
• The game continues until all the cookies have gone, or the time alotted has finished.
• The winning team is the one with the highest score.

RIGHT-click on the links below to download the PowerPoint and save it to your computer.

If you do not have the PowerPoint program on your computer, you can still enjoy the game by downloading the PPS version. This is a self playing version which will start and fill your screen. Use the mouse to click and advance the slides, and then click on the cookies in the usual way.

Download the free PowerPoint game: Christmas Cookie Count. (Full PowerPoint version)

Download the free PowerPoint game: Christmas Cookie Count. PPS (Self running Powerpoint Show)

NEWS UPDATE! We now have a printed version of this game for those who prefer the low-tech option!