After the opening hymn and some introductory remarks … "the children will go out to the cottages …" (extract from St Peter’s weekly leaflet).

Here we have two groups of children arranged according to age. Each group has its own room, and we are fortunate to have a team of leaders who share the organisation and enable the Sunday activities to take place.

To ensure continuity and coordination, we use a programme called ‘Living Stones’ devised by Susan Sayers. We share her view that the children are as much a part of the Church as adults, and that there is great value in sharing the same theme each Sunday. To this end, our programme follows the weekly readings of the Revised Common Lectionary. Each week’s activities are closely linked to the theme developed by adult worship, although, of course, we plan carefully to suit the needs and understanding of the children.

Two books are provided for our age-range: ‘Pebbles’ for the younger group and ‘Rocks’ for the older children. Each Sunday we are given references for the Bible readings and Activity Sheets are provided which may be copied. There are suggestions for activities, games, prayers and teaching methods, which can be supplemented or varied as the leader thinks fit.

We think our ‘Living Stones’ programme provides a good basic foundation for us to build on, and of course we develop it with other resources and ideas.

The children take an active part during our time together. We play games devised to help understanding various concepts; we read from the Bible; say prayers; take part in drama activities; listen to stories; and enjoy various craft activities and group discussions. All these have their place in what we do. It is quite a challenge to do all we should like before a bell calls us to hurry back to join everyone back in Church for ‘The Peace’.