Just before Lockdown 3.0 begun Yare Valley Churches had started up ‘ActiveKids’ a children’s provision to run alongside church services.
Initially, it was set up so primary school-aged children had a fun and interactive way to explore the bible through lots of different active games, something a little different that would really appeal to children, especially those with bundles of energy!
‘ActiveKids’ had been running successfully for a few weeks before it was decided to move the provision online. Starting the online videos around six weeks ago they have been working their way through the book of Luke, with virtual games of hide and seek, obstacle courses, and adventure trails happening all over the parish.
The videos have provided a fun and interactive way of looking at different bible stories, still with the various active games to take part in and try at home, as well as weekly challenges to take part in. The videos don’t contain any specific date references either so any Church, with primary school-aged children, can use this resource as part of their kids work.
Tom Woods, Sports Minister said “We’ve really enjoyed making the ‘ActiveKids’ videos and we’ve had wonderful feedback from people of all ages who have accessed the resource. Whilst we can’t meet in person, creating a sense of togetherness within our Church has been really important to us, and producing these videos has played a big part in all generations staying connected with what we’re up to. We’ve tried to be as creative as possible and make them accessible to everyone. Whether someone just wants to watch the videos, interact with the games as they’re played or go away from the video wanting to complete the weekly challenges, there’s a varied approach which hopefully makes it stand out from different online content they might be accessing from school or elsewhere”
Yare Valley Churches have been sharing the videos on their Facebook page, their YouTube channel, as well through their e-notices, from this they’ve seen young people interacting with the videos, but also have found lots of the older generation have been really excited to see what’s been happening first hand, as they would usually be at church services as it happened. Feedback has been really positive with one person commenting:
“An effective, modern communication vehicle that hits the right spot every week”
With another getting in contact to say:
“It’s fantastic”
If you’d like to find out more about ‘ActiveKids Online’ please email Tom Woods, the sports minister at Yare Valley Churches.
