Since holidays and celebrations are naturally exciting events for kids, special events on the church calendar are easy connection points between even young children and the church year. My goal in planning our celebrations is to engage children without resorting to passive entertainment.
Here are a few of my goals for our Pentecost Celebration this year:
Celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit- God with us!
Celebrate the Church’s Birthday- God gave us a community!
Learn the story of God’s miraculous gift from Acts 2
Respond to God’s good gifts with worship & prayer
Story: We’ll read the story from Acts 2:1-12 and talk about how God used a miracle to spread the Good News all over the world. God didn’t just make the disciples a little stronger- God came with them in the form of the Holy Spirit! God didn’t leave them, God came with them! Check the lesson page at www.worshipwithchildren.com for updated details on how we’ll tell the story and reflect on the good news.
Decorations: Red, orange, and yellow streamers, table cloths, and balloons to represent the Spirit coming like a fire, plus these cardstock globe cut-outs to represent how the Holy Spirit enabled the church to spread all over the world.
Snacks: It’s not a celebration without feast food! I’m planning on making strawberry muffins (chopped strawberries look like little red flames!) with a birthday candle on each one as a reminder that Pentecost is the birthday of the church!
Craft: Pentecost begin’s our congregation’s time of focusing on serving our city and our world. To integrate the kids into this, our older elementary class will be coloring a large map poster, writing the Great Commission on it, and inviting our congregation to join them by writing their own prayers on it in Sharpie.
Party Favor: I’ve ordered bubble wands like those handed out at weddings, and I plan to attach red streamers and the Scripture reference to the wand. Bubbles allow us to see the direction of the wind. Sometimes the Bible compares the Holy Spirit to the wind- you can’t see it, but you can hear and feel it!
What are your plans for celebrating Pentecost with children?