In the UK, 4pm on Christmas Eve is a great time to hold a "Crib Service" in a church. 

Everyone is feeling Christmassy, parents are home from work, the great day is nearly here, but families are running out of things to do with their kids. A Crib Service gives families with small children something to go out to and enjoy for an hour or so before bed time (haha) - and it gives churches a lovely way of engaging with families and helping them to think about Jesus our Saviour and what lies behind all the celebrations.

Here's an idea for a simple way of having a Crib service. It should last about 40 minutes or so, and is aimed at 0-5s and their families and friends.

Here's what you'll need:

Listening to children singing at Christmas services, it sometimes sounds like they're just performing a song that adults want to hear.

They're performing: that is, they're doing a beautiful job, but it's a performance which we'll clap, it's not them enjoying celebrating Jesus' birth in song.

It's a song the adults want to hear: lovely children all dressed beautifully singing sweetly... But what kind of music do they enjoy themselves? What kind of music do the kids sing round the house?

Words from the Good News Translation, © American Bible Society

Adapted by Clare Heath-Whyte

With songs from maynardsgroovytunes.co.uk

Introduction

This is a simple Nativity Play, designed to be the central part of an All-Age event, such as a "Family Carol Service". Surround it with some Carols, some prayers, and a short Bible talk about the Good News of Jesus, and you've got your service! It's tried and tested, and takes only a couple of rehearsals to set up. Hope you can use it!

Summary

The Bible events are narrated and acted out in 4 scenes, with children coming together to sing songs between each scene. The play is fairly simple, with most speaking done by one or more Narrators, who should be older children or young people who can cope with the amount of speaking. Younger children can take the other parts, which have only small (and memorable) amounts of speaking.

The information on this site is also in this pdf file available from Maynard's Groovy Bible Tunes: Simple Nativity Play PDF

Here are four aspects of Easter that we can sing about, with some ideas for songs:

The Fulfilment of God's Plan

A class / session for a Childrens' Club, ages 3-6 (UK Foundation + KS1)
Memory Verse: John 14v16
Aim: to share the story of Pentecost, and explain the Holy Spirit's role in helping people to hear about Jesus 

We did this at our "HotShots PLUS" club, and it went down really well...

Jump to: Teaching Slot, Craft, Games

At various times during the year, Christians like to zoom in on special events in Jesus' life, and important celebrations in the church's life.

Of course, Christmas and Easter are the biggest and best festivals, celebrating Jesus' birth, and then his amazing death and resurrection for us. Another favourite is Harvest, when we say "Thank you!" to God for his wonderful provision of food.

At these times, its great to have special songs for children to sing in church, or in their Sunday schools and clubs, midweek clubs and school assemblies. We all need songs for kids that are based on the Bible and take it seriously, while still being great fun to sing and memorable. We need songs that can be part of a church's worship together, as well as being enjoyable to sing in the car on the way home. That's what we've got here - not so many you'll be confused, but just enough great songs to help you out.

All the songs are available in a variety of forms  - Sheet Music in PDF format, as MP3 downloads (both full tracks and backing tracks), and on good-old audio CDs.

It’s a celebration of our Dads, but what makes a good Dad? The best Dad has to be someone who trusts in Jesus, loves him and lives that out, and helps his children to know the Lord Jesus.

So he’s going to encourage them to:

• know and trust our Lord Jesus Christ: sing “So this is how God shows us his love”
• hear God’s word and put it into practice: sing “On the Rock”
• help others to know and love Jesus: sing “Go, let’s go, round the Mediterranean”
• eagerly expect Jesus’ return: sing “Are you ready for him?”