Coloring

Discover the Power of Art Journals with Teens in Your Youth Ministry

Creating art journals with teens helps them make sense of their lives and relationships and encourages growth.

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As youth walk through the world, they face several difficult things to navigate, including heartbreak, sexual development, friendship, drug and alcohol use, family dynamics and decisions about the future.

Being a mentor for youth, you are in a unique position to help them make sense of it. And art, with all its applications, is a great way to do so.

Do you incorporate art journaling with teens in your ministry? We’d love to know how in the comments below!

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Just a Starting Point

There are countless ways to help teens process what’s going on in their lives. Art with teens is a helpful avenue of endless possibilities. We’ve put together a list of just five ideas in this blog series: art journaling, sculpture, painting, poetry, and photography.

We hope this series of blogs will inspire you. But, don’t be limited to these articles. No matter our age, we connect to our Creator as we live into our creativity. So, think up other ideas that will be helpful for your youth group.

Laying the Foundation for the Process

All of us, especially teens, develop through a process of trial and error. Art is the same way. We create through play, trying a thing and seeing what happens.

When journaling, there is no specific goal, except to listen internally. Each of your youth has a unique story and perspective. As you teach them to listen to the voice within, you facilitate their process of connection with God. So, assure them that there is no wrong or right way to journal.

When doing art with teens tell them to trust their intuition, because it is the wisdom guiding them in their process of discovery and growth. As youth learn to trust this, they uncover who God has created and is creating them to be.

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How to Create Art Journals

First, gather some basic supplies for your students to use:

Blank, unlined journals
Watercolors
Tissue paper
Pens
Colored pencils
Glue sticks

Second, invite them to create a background out of tissue paper, watercolor or colored pencil. They may use one page or the spread of two pages. Encourage them to cover the entire page with the medium they’ve chosen or a mix of media.

Third, encourage them to think of a topic they’d like to write on like their family, a current struggle/joy, or question for God.

Fourth, give them time to create their entry that revolves around that topic. Encourage the youth to use very few or no words at all.

Fifth, discuss together as a group what was challenging about the process, what they experienced and discovered, and how they feel having done it.

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Invitation to Continue

Once your time creating together is over, invite your youth to continue this process of creation. If it was particularly meaningful to them, give them opportunities to make it a regular practice.

You can send the art journals home with your students to use and invite them to bring them back periodically. Or keep them at the church to use when you do contemplative practices as a group.

Have you used art journals in your youth ministry? Don’t forget to tell us about it in the comments below!

Ways to Use Our Large Coloring Posters: Ten Creative Ideas

Adam Walker Cleaveland 5 Comments

Are you thinking about purchasing a set of our large coloring posters, but you’re not sure how to use them in your context? Are you looking for inspiring ways to use our large coloring posters? Well, whether you work in a church, hospital, retirement community, school or many other places, we got you covered! Over the past few years, we’ve been inspired by so many of our customers and the creative ways they have used our large coloring posters. We’d love to share with you ten creative ways that you can use them, but trust us when we say there are many more ways to use them. Just place your order and get creative!

Ways to Use Our Coloring Posters

Where to Use our Large Coloring Posters

While we have had families order our coloring posters and have a great time coloring them, because of their size, they are ideal for communities where many people can gather around the posters and color together. Below is just a short list of some of the places we’ve heard about our coloring posters used. Keep reading below to learn about some ways to use our large coloring posters.

Churches
Schools (both Christian schools and public schools, depending on the poster set)
College campus ministries (we’ve even seen photos of our coloring posters being set up in college faculty lounges)
Retirement communities and nursing homes
Hospitals
Off-campus ministry sites (people have taken them to local meal centers or shelters and colored with guests)
Mission trips (some have used our regular posters, but others have printed off our Spanish-language coloring posters for mission trips
Conferences
Vacation Bible Schools
Summer camps
Retreats
Family reunions

Ways to Use Our Large Coloring Posters

Below are just a few of the ways which we’ve heard about our customers using their large coloring posters. But people have also found other creative ways to use them, so let this list be just the jumping off point for you and your community and your imaginations!

All-ages education: Host an all-ages education hour during Advent, Lent, or during the summer. Gather folks together for coloring and conversation. Many of our coloring posters also come with Devotional Guides available that can help guide those conversations.

Advent/Lent: If you have a kickoff event for a special time during the church calendar year (i.e. an Advent Fair), grab a set of the posters for all to gather and color together.

Coloring with Multiple Generations: Have your children’s ministry or youth ministry take some posters to a nursing home to color with the residents.

Coffee Hour: Many have found the posters a great addition to their Fellowship/Coffee hours. Whether the children were working on them during Sunday School or worship, or you just pull them out for that time after worship, it’s a great opportunity for older adults to sit down at tables with children and youth for coloring and getting to know one another.

Intergenerational Dinners: Whether it’s during Advent or Lent, or perhaps your church regularly gathers together on Wednesdays for an intergenerational meal, put the posters out on the tables while people are waiting and pose some thoughtful questions that connect with whatever the theme or topic is for the evening.

Finished posters make great art to display

Children’s Ministry: Find ways to incorporate the posters into your Sunday morning programs for children (whether that’s during Sunday School or during another time).

During Worship: Dedicate a portion of your worship space to allow young people (and those who are young at heart) to color during worship. We’ve heard this is an excellent way to allow children to engage with worship in a fun and creative way.

Youth Ministry: Children aren’t the only ones who like to color. We’ve had hundreds of youth programs around the world use our coloring posters. Give your youth a ‘study break’ some week when it’s close to finals and allow them to color the posters.

College/campus ministries: We’ve also had many campus ministries use our coloring posters. And we’ve seen photos of our posters in some faculty lounges at colleges where professors have worked on a poster together!

Private/Parochial Schools: Some private Christian schools have purchased our posters and found ways to engage multiple classrooms in creating a collaborative art project. If you’re a public school, you could purchase a set of our Inspired Posters, which don’t have over theological or biblical themes.

Share with Us More Ways to Use Our Large Coloring Posters

We hope this has been helpful and maybe sparked some creative ideas for you. Have you used our large coloring posters in ways that we didn’t list here? Tell us more in the comments below.

Reading the Psalms with Kids and Why You’re Going to Want to Start

Alissa Ellett Leave a Comment

Reading the Psalms with kids offers a treasure trove of wonderful reflection and teaching. Maybe this is already something you’re already doing. And maybe you’ve never even considered it. Either way, we’re here to tell you why it’s awesome.

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Why Reading the Psalms with Kids Is Awesome

Reading the Psalms with kids exposes them to a wide range of human emotion. Those who penned the Psalms wrote from their hearts in all seasons of life. As a result, we read a wide range of emotional experience. Consequently, children learn to name their emotions, realize their emotions are normal and valuable and are encouraged to share them with God.

Reading the Psalms with kids teaches about prayer. Much of the book is what we might call a prayer journal to The Divine. This teaches children that praying to God is giving voice to our experiences and sharing them with God. It doesn’t have to be perfect or sound right, just honest.

Reading the Psalms with kids encourages theological creativity. The Psalms name and describe The Divine in several ways. For example, the authors offer names such as Maker, Shepherd, Strength, Savior, shield, mother, hiding place, exceeding joy, guide, and many more. Consequently, children can learn to think beyond the language often codified in faith education. For even more, check out this feminine reading of the Psalms.

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Reading the Psalms with kids teaches about trust. The Psalms tell of the authors’ deep struggles and joys. In effect, we read of the way in which our spiritual ancestors trusted God in the midst of uncertainty and hardship. So, children have the opportunity to see how they can trust God during all the seasons of their lives.

Reading the Psalms with kids describes God’s faithfulness. Some of us go back and read our journals to see how God has been with us. In the same way, the Psalms show us how God was present at all times of the authors’ lives. As a result, it’s possible for children to begin looking for God’s faithfulness in their own lives.

Reading the Psalms with kids relates concretely to life. As children study the Psalms, reading of the authors’ experiences, they may be reminded of experiences they’ve had. Consequently, conversations about their own lives are possible. This gives us an opportunity to speak into their lives.

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Experiencing the Psalms in Color

Reading the Psalms with kids contains a journey into the heart and has the potential to open and deepen conversations about their lives. Are you hoping to invite your children to an even deeper experience of the Psalms? We’ve got you covered! Check out our brand new Psalms Coloring Posters here. We’re pretty excited about them, and we think you will be, too!

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PSALMS COLORING POSTERS? Download an informational PDF to read later or share with friends and colleagues by clicking here.

We hope this has inspired you in reading the Psalms with your children. Don’t forget to share what you love about the Psalms and how you’re reading them with your kids in the comments below.