introducing kids to flags and banners

[HelenaZF]

Small flags and streamers, sound-free tambourines, and floaty fabric pieces are all good things to have available for kids to pick up and move with. It is amazing to watch how having something in your hand that you can move expresively frees up kids (and adults!) from self-consciousness and awkwardness.



I would suggest that these items don't just "appear" some Sunday morning, though. There should be some instruction, which can be quite informal, explaining some of the meanings of colors and certain movements and some modeling of the appropriate ways to use the the worship extensions so that there is not just self-indulgent chaos in the back of the church or wherever the place is made for this movement expression. It would not be out of line to require that kids would have to go through this instruction time before being allowed to participate in a public setting.



In our church we have such things availabe, but also have times when kids are invited to get a flag or streamer and "follow the leader" in some worship movements. That helps give them some worship vocabulary in a group setting in a fun and effective way.