Sunday club at St Andrews and St Alban-parish of Mottingham

On Sunday 5 May 2019 nine children attended Sunday Club in the Church Hall. The spring-time theme chosen was the parable of the Sower. After hearing and joining in with the telling of the well-known story, the children created their own gardens using sand for the path, stones, weeds and some good quality soil. They sowed the seed liberally around the gardens and added some Easter chicks to gobble up any stray seed!
Using some Christian Aid resources, supplied by Diane, we then looked at a photo of a baby and asked what a child would need to grow. Catherine acted as scribe for the suggestions including those of food, family, books and education. Diane explained that 260,000,000 children around the world cannot access education easily, and they have to overcome all sorts of problems to learn and develop into strong, well-rounded individuals who can fulfil their potential.

We then learnt a song to the tune of "Row, row your boat" which linked the themes of seeds requiring the right conditions for growth and the aims of Christian Aid to provide improved conditions to allow more children to flourish through education.
We suggested that a practical step towards helping children access school might be to buy small stationery items e.g. notebooks, pencils or rubbers, and arrange to have them sent to a place where they will be appreciated. We shall investigate the options available and let you know their destination. There is a box at the back of St Andrew's for these donations. Thank you. Alison & Sue

At Sunday Club on 4 November 2018 Sue and Alison introduced the theme of Remembrance. This addressed two current events: one was the focus of today's All Saints' Memorial Service, remembering departed loved ones; the other is next week's Remembrance Sunday.
We began by talking about happy and sad memories of our own and some children mentioned the death of a grandparent. We discussed why it is important to remember those we have loved, who have died, and then went on to talk about remembering those who were not members of our families, but still fought to keep us safe. We looked at the poppies on the wreath that will be laid by the Guides and Brownies at next week's service at the War Memorial. The children then made their own paper wreaths which looked very effective.

Together, we read the book 'Where the poppies now grow", by Hilary Robinson and beautifully illustrated by Martin Impey. This book really captured the children's imaginations and Sophia had memorised some recurring lines of the poem, encouraging the others to also join in.
We also recalled that in the Communion Service, the words of Jesus at the Last Supper were "Do this in remembrance of me". 
To finish, we made some glittery firework pictures as we chanted "Remember, remember the 5th of November..." a rather different act of remembrance! Alison Lawrie
 

On Epiphany Sunday, 6 January 2019 we naturally told the story of the wise men following the star to seek a baby king. We discussed aspects of 'Kingship' including how we would recognise a king and what we would do if we were king for a day. Anwers included:
"I would fill my palace with lots of dogs"
"I would travel to the countryside for some peace and quiet"
"I would sleep all day with a box of chocolates beside my bed"
"I would boss around the adults - parents, teachers etc.
After this interesting selection of ideas, we agreed that Jesus was a very special sort of king, who didn't need to be bossy, but did travel out into the countryside and served others with kindness and compassion.
Each child made a crown worthy of inclusion in the Tower of London's Crown Jewel collection, as you can see below! Alison Lawrie