Activities for children in church
Bless you!
Do you know the reason we bless someone after they’ve sneezed? Explore some new facts and learn
what the Bible teaches about blessings. And after that, get set to take on a thankfulness challenge in
your church, throughout the days of Lent.
You will need:
• B
less You! presentation, available from
christianaid.org.uk/childrens-resources
• Paper and pens for the prayer activity
Presentation
Show slide 1
Ask the congregation what they normally say after
someone sneezes (you could even demonstrate a
fake sneeze or two if you wanted some audience
participation!). Find out if people tend to say ‘bless
you’ or if they don’t say anything at all. Does anyone
say something different?
It’s not just in the UK that people say something
after someone sneezes, but the responses tend to
change depending on which country you are in.
People do say ‘bless you’ in many countries, but in
Europe the response is often: ‘To your good health’.
In Japanese it’s ‘Take care of yourself’ and in Spain
the response changes for the first, second and third
sneezes – which must make it difficult to have a
conversation if someone has a cold!
Ask the congregation if anyone knows why we
originally said ‘bless you’ after someone sneezed.
Explain that there are a few possible reasons. The
earliest and most common assumption relates to
Gregory I who became Pope in AD590, just as an
outbreak of the plague – a serious illness – was
reaching Rome. At the time, sneezing was thought
to be an early symptom of the plague, so Pope
Gregory ordered unending prayer over the city, and
so ‘God bless you’ was said after a sneeze, in an
effort to stop the plague.
There are some other traditions too. In the past,
some people believed that a person’s soul left their
body when they sneezed, or that a sneeze meant
their body could be invaded by evil spirits. In these
cases, ‘God bless you’ was said to protect against
evil. Additionally, some people thought that your
heart stopped beating during a sneeze, so the
phrase was used to encourage the heart to keep
beating!
Show slide 2
Although none of these reasons are thought
true today, we still use ‘bless you’ as a way of
being polite. Ask the younger members of the
congregation if they know what it means to
‘bless’ someone or what the word ‘blessing’
means. It might sound like an old church word,
but its meaning is very simple: ‘God’s favour and
protection’. Sometimes, you might hear people
in church talking about being ‘blessed’ or having
many ‘blessings’. This is just a way of saying that
they believe God has given them something special
or good because he is generous and loving. So a
blessing is like a present – but it’s not always a new
toy or gadget! It might be a blessing to have a good
friend, or an answer to a prayer.
Ask for five volunteers to come to the front and hold
up the different parts of the Bible verse Ephesians
1:3 (or just use the presentation if you prefer).
Encourage everyone in your church to read it
aloud together.
Activities for children in church
‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms
with every spiritual blessing in Christ.’
In this letter from the apostle Paul, he is using the
word ‘blessing’ to mean that God generously gave
the gift of Jesus, which means that we can have a
relationship with God. Paul thinks that this is the
biggest blessing, or gift, that God has given!
Show slide 3
The period between Pancake (Shrove) Tuesday and
Easter Sunday is called Lent. It is a time when many
people give up something as an act to remember
Jesus fasting in the desert for 40 days and nights.
However, other people take up a good habit or
action, or spend time reflecting on their blessings.
Christian Aid is a charity that helps people all over
the world who are living in poverty. During Lent,
Christian Aid is encouraging people to count their
blessings. The Count Your Blessings resource can
be used every day between Shrove Tuesday and
Easter Sunday. It provides actions to take that will
help us to think about the gifts that God has given
us. There are also stories about people all over the
world that Christian Aid is helping.
Show slide 4
Brighton is 11 years old and lives in Zimbabwe.
Christian Aid has been working with his mum
and dad to help them grow crops in a community
garden. In Zimbabwe, the weather is unpredictable
and rain doesn’t always come when it’s expected.
But with Christian Aid’s help, Brighton and his
parents are learning the best ways to get things to
grow despite the weather problems.
Show slide 5
Brighton and his family go to church and they
believe that God has blessed them with their
garden. Brighton’s mum says: ‘Going to church
brings us closer to God. When God intervenes, it
strengthens us and it means that God cares for us.’
By using Count your Blessings, you can donate
some money to help people like Brighton and his
family. After giving thanks for what God has given
us, we can use our money to give back to God and
bless others too.
Finish the talk by encouraging the congregation to
reflect on the following message that Brighton’s
mum Zuzeni sent for supporters of Christian Aid.
Perhaps you could pray for Zuzeni and Brighton in
Zimbabwe or take action together to think about
ways to raise money for communities like theirs.
Zuzeni’s message: ‘May God bless their hands, so
they give more to those that are in need.’
Encourage the congregation to think about how
they have been blessed by others, and also how
they can bless others. Spend some time together
reflecting, before finishing.
Extra activities
You will need:
•A3 card with template on it, downloadable
from christianaid.org.uk/childrens-resources
• blank paper in white and green
• paints
• tissues
•ingredients for tasty treats such as
chocolate crispy buns!
Count your blessings together
Order our children’s poster by emailing
[email protected] – make sure you write
‘Children’s Count your Blessings poster’ in the
title of your email, and provide your name, address
and quantity needed. Every time you meet up,
encourage the children to talk about the actions
they’ve taken.
Blessing prayers
Give every child a sheet of paper and encourage
them to write the word BLESSING down the side of
their page. Together, write prayers of thankfulness
using the letters as prompts for each line.
Activities for children in church
Thankful tree
Draw or paint a tree, with branches, on a big piece
of paper. Then, using green paper to create leaves,
encourage children to write prayers of thankfulness
on the tree. You could make this a regular part of
your children’s group and watch the tree grow. Or,
encourage all of your church community to join in
and write their prayers too.
‘Bless you’ tissue boxes (Download from
christianaid.org.uk/childrens-resources)
Ensure that every child has an A3 piece of card with
the template on it. Encourage them to decorate the
different sides of the box with Bible verses, prayers
or pictures of blessings. Then, cut out the boxes and
stick them together. Give everyone some tissues to
put inside their box and encourage them to think of
the things they’ve been blessed with when they use
them at home.
Bless others
Organise an event where children are in charge of
creating ‘blessings’ for their family. You could make
treats together (such as chocolate crispy buns) and
give them out at coffee morning, or create a piece
of artwork to put inside a picture frame for a family
member. The gift doesn’t have to be extravagant,
but remind children to think of the things that they
can give generously to their family and friends.
Thanks mum!
Before Mothering Sunday, encourage children to
think about the women in their lives that they’re
thankful for. Encourage them to think of the
blessing of having people who look after them
– in their family, or at school or church. (You may
need to be sensitive if there are children who
could find the idea of family unsettling.) Encourage
children to make cards of thankfulness for their
mums, or for individuals who have acted as
mothers to them.
You could make this an activity of thankfulness for
those women in your church community who guide
and look after the congregation. Make cards for
them and encourage everyone to write a message
to say thank you.
UK registered charity no. 1105851 Company no. 5171525 Scot charity no. SC039150 NI charity no. XR94639 Company no. NI059154
ROI registered charity no. 20014162/CHY6998 Company no. 426928. The Christian Aid name and logo are trademarks of Christian Aid.
Christian Aid is a key member of ACT Alliance. © Christian Aid February 2015 J3597
Activities for children in church
‘Bless you’
tissue box
Use this template on A3 card
UK registered charity no. 1105851 Company no. 5171525 Scot charity no. SC039150 NI charity no. XR94639 Company no. NI059154 ROI registered charity no. 20014162/CHY6998
Company no. 426928. The Christian Aid name and logo are trademarks of Christian Aid. Christian Aid is a key member of ACT Alliance. © Christian Aid February 2015 J3597