Faithful Families Resources September 30 2012

Weekly Inspiration

Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing.

~ Jim Rohn ~

Family Closeness

Game:

Feely Bag

Get two bags or two old socks. Place identical items in each of the two bags or socks. Some suggested items to use are: bottle caps, cotton balls, small sponge pieces, keys, large buttons, etc. Show your children the two bags and match each set of two items one to one. In this way, the child will see and understand that there are two identical items of each kind. Refill the two bags or socks and give one of the bags containing identical objects to the child. Take one of the objects out of the bag and show it to the child. Tell the child to feel in his bag for an object that is just like the one that you took out of your bag. Remind the child to "feel" not look.

Sharing:

Questions for stimulating discussion in your family.

Opposite Sharing

Brooklyn Lindsey in Opposite Day presents the idea of talking in opposites as a way of helping young people share. In essence this means answering a question the opposite of what you really think.

Using opposites, get your family member to tell you in a few sentences what they really think and feel about:

• Making mistakes
• What makes them happy
• Their favourite hobby 

Story:

With your family read Mark 10.13-16

(for a way of explaining/talking about this reading with children look at http://www.sermons4kids.com/let_the_children_come.htm

Questions for Discussion:

• Why do you think people brought their children to Jesus?
• Why do you think the disciples were telling them not to come?
• What do it mean to receive the kingdom of God like a child?  

Prayer and Celebration

Praying in the moment

Praying in the moment means helping children to learn that God is with them every moment of the day. Whenever you are about to do something significant, whether it is the first day back at school or the start of a  day at a fun park, pause to thank God for all that lies before you and invite Jesus to be with you that day. If it is something hard you are about to do ask God to help you and give you the things you need to confront it.

Family Time

Story Night

Dedicate a night to telling stories. Ask each member to bring and tell a story. This could be something that happened to them, a story they have made up or the retelling of a story that they have read. Stories are not allowed to be read.

(This material is based on and draws from earlier Faithful Families emails by Stephen Harrison & Richard Browning: An Unless Ideas Production.) Unless otherwise noted all material on this blog is copyright Stephen Harrison and Richard Browning

Faithful Families Resources September 23 2012

Weekly Inspiration

A wise person truly said, “It ought to be as impossible to forget that there is a Christian in the house as it is to forget that there is a ten-year-old boy in it.”

~ Roger J. Squire

Family Closeness

Game:

Talkomatic

A family member must talk on a topic for one minute (20-30 seconds for younger ones) without repeating a word (words like “and” “the” are okay), going off track or pausing. What they say doesn’t have to be true but it must stay related to the topic chosen. Try to pick topics that members will know at least something about, but it could be anything at all like dogs, balloons, Wednesday, being happy, you name it.

Sharing:

Questions for stimulating discussion in your family.

Opposite Sharing

Brooklyn Lindsey in Opposite Day presents the idea of talking in opposites as a way of helping young people share. In essence this means answering a question the opposite of what you really think.

Get your family member to tell you in one or two sentences what they really think and feel about:

• Tests
• Eating vegetables
• Good friends 

Story:

With your family read Mark 9.38-41

(for a way of explaining/talking about this reading with children look at http://www.sermons4kids.com/against_us_or_for_us.htm

Questions for Discussion:

• Why did John want to stop the person casting out demons?
• What did Jesus have to say about this?
• What does “Whoever is not against us is for us” mean? 

Prayer and Celebration

Pray a Colour

Giving thanks to God is one of the most basic and important forms of prayer. It reminds us that all we have is a gift from God. Choose a colour and invite your family to give thanks to God for everything they can think of that is that colour. Take turns around the table until you can think of nothing else.

Family Time

Photograph Night

Get a new roll of film and take your family on an adventure. Make a list of photos they must take at particular places and go out and get them. Eg. photo with a policeman, a funny photo, a photo with at least two animals.

(This material is based on and draws from earlier Faithful Families emails by Stephen Harrison & Richard Browning: An Unless Ideas Production.) Unless otherwise noted all material on this blog is copyright Stephen Harrison and Richard Browning

Faithful Families Resources September 16 2012

Weekly Inspiration

Appreciate every moment with your children.   Don't wish their childhood away.

One hundred years from now it will not matter what kind of car you drove, or what kind of house you lived in, or how many books you wrote, or what your clothes looked like.

But the world may be a little better because you were important in the life of a child.

Anon

Family Closeness

Game:

Spoons

For this game you will need a deck of cards and one less spoon than the number of people at the table. The spoons should be placed in the centre of the table. Deal four cards to each of the players and put the remaining cards in a pile. Everyone can look at their cards. The goal is to get four of a kind. Once someone gets four of a kind they take a spoon. Once someone sees someone else taking a spoon they can take a spoon too. The last person who is left without a spoon loses the game.

The first person to play picks up one card from the pile and looks at it without letting others see. They have the option of keeping the card or passing it to the person on the left. If they decide to keep the card they must pass on another card that is already in their hand to the person on the left.

The person to the left takes the discarded card, looks at it and decides whether to keep the card or to pass it on. A card is passed around until it comes back to the person who first discarded it, at which point they put it on the bottom of the pile and take a new one.

This continues until someone has four of a kind and makes a grab for a spoon.

Sharing

Questions for stimulating discussion in your family. 

• Ask your parents about a difficult decision they had to make.
• What made it difficult? How did they decide what to do? Was it the right choice?
• What is a difficult decision you have had to make?

Story

With your family read Mark 9.33-37

(for a way of explaining/talking about this reading with children look at http://www.sermons4kids.com/who_is_greatest.htm

Questions for Discussion:

• What were the disciples arguing about?
• How did Jesus respond to them?
• What do you think it means to be “ last of all”? 

Prayer and Celebration

Passing of the Cross

Use a small wooden cross or even a metal one on a chain. In a circle the cross is taken up. Who ever holds the cross is the person who prays.  This prayer begins with one person who either says a prayer out loud or silently says or imagines a prayer. The cross is passed when the person who holds it is finished.  Each person takes their turn. 

Prompts may be given by the someone as the cross is passed.

 Eg. See…a friend in need, a hurt that needs healing…etc.

Pray one sentence…prompt:  thank you God for

Family Time

Fast Progressive Dinner

As a fun different meal idea take your family on a fast food progressive dinner. Start at one fast food place for entrée…maybe fries, move to another for main course and then on to another for dessert. To make it even more unusual don't decide where you will go..put the names of all the fast food places you know into a hat and draw them out as you go along.

(This material is based on and draws from earlier Faithful Families emails by Stephen Harrison & Richard Browning: An Unless Ideas Production.) Unless otherwise noted all material on this blog is copyright Stephen Harrison and Richard Browning

Faithful Families Resources September 9 2012

Weekly Inspiration

A mother understands what a child does not say.

~ Anon 

Family Closeness

Game:

Body Spelling and Drawing

A really simple little game. Family members must spell out words with different parts of their body (head, elbow, tongue) while other family members guess what word they are writing.  As an alternate, try drawing simple pictures like a cat, house, sun etc.

Sharing:

Questions for stimulating discussion in your family. 

• What do you think love looks like?
• What are some ways to show people you love them?
• Is it ever hard to love people? Why?

Story

With your family read Mark 8.27-38

(for a way of explaining/talking about this reading with children look at http://www.sermons4kids.com/who-am-i.html

Questions for Discussion:

• Who do you say Jesus is? Does it matter who we think Jesus is?
• Why was Peter upset with what Jesus was saying about his death?
• What might it mean to “take up your cross”? 

Prayer and Celebration

Praying in Sign Language

This week get your family to learn the Lord’s Prayer in sign language.  Not only is it great to learn how to pray another way, but moving is one of the key ways that many people learn. Prayer comes not just from our mind, heart and mouth, but also from our physical bodies. Go to this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHZiPWxpEvM to learn the Lord’s Prayer in sign language.

Service

Recycle in your community for charity.

There are many charities that take old goods and recycle them to make money or to help others. For example

http://youcanschools.org.au/primaryschool/ : recycles mobile phones

http://www.onesight.org/aus-nz/ : recycles glasses

Type in recycle for charity and see what comes up in your local area. Get together with a group of people and encourage the people in your school, church or club to donate items.

Family Time

Skit Night

Get together with your children and put on a play or skit for each other. IT could be made up on the spot or based on one of the children’s favourite books. Have fun, dress up and film the action so you can watch it later on.

(This material is based on and draws from earlier Faithful Families emails by Stephen Harrison & Richard Browning: An Unless Ideas Production.) Unless otherwise noted all material on this blog is copyright Stephen Harrison and Richard Browning

Faithful Families Resources September 2 2012

Weekly Inspiration

The top ten things children want their parents to do for them.

• Come into my bedroom at night, tuck me in and sing me a song. Also tell me stories about when you were little.
• Give me hugs and kisses and sit and talk with me privately.
• Spend quality time just with me, not with my brothers and sisters around.
• Give me nutritious food so I can grow up healthy.
• At dinner talk about what we could do together on the weekend.
• At night talk to me about about anything; love, school, family etc.
• Let me play outside a lot.
• Cuddle under a blanket and watch our favorite TV show together.
• Discipline me. It makes me feel like you care.
• Leave special messages in my desk or lunch bag.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/the-top-10-things-children-really-want-their-parents-to-do-with-them.html

Family Closeness

Game:

Linking Words

This is a word association game. The first person says any word they like, for example, 'tree'. The next person repeats the first word and adds another word which connects with the first. Using the example of 'tree' they might say: 'house'. The next person repeats the previous word (house) and adds another word link maybe  'home', and so on.  Keep it quick by only allowing a few second for each word link.

Sharing:

Questions for stimulating discussion in your family.

You've been exiled to a deserted island for a year. In addition to the

essentials, you may take

• one piece of music
• one book (which is not the Bible)
• one luxury item you can carry with you i.e. not a boat to leave the island!

What would you take and why?

Story

With your family read Mark 7.31-37

(for a way of explaining/talking about this reading with children look at http://www.sermons4kids.com/he_does_all_things_well.htm

Questions for Discussion:

• What was wrong with the man Jesus healed?
• Why do you think Jesus took him aside to heal him?
• Why do you think Jesus told the man not to tell anyone?

Prayer and Celebration

Hand stack

One person places their hand in the middle of the table, then have everyone else in the family place one hand on top to create a “stack” of hands. The person whose hand is at the base of the stack goes first, praying a single sentence prayer as they pull out their hand out and place it on top of the “hand stack.” Then, the next person, whose hand is now on the bottom, prays as they pull their hand out and place it on top of the stack. When you sense it is time to stop, the adult (whose hand is on the bottom) raises up the pile of hands. That’s the signal for everyone to say “Amen!”.

http://www.focusonthefamily.ca/parenting/school-age/fun-ways-to-pray-with-your-children

Family Time

Family Photo Night

Take some time to go through some old family albums whether they are prints or on the computer. Talk about what was happening in the photo, especially if children are to young to remember. Look at photos of previous generations of the family and tell children about who those people were and what they did.