St. Mungo's Penicuik Parish Church

Inclement weather called for a change of plan for Messy Church on Sunday 26 August. Relocating to the church hall, the children enjoyed a range of 'sporting' activities, without getting wet. Sheila Anderson led the story time, which was followed by a BBQ.

Signing Sing Along kept us thinking

The afternoon was filled with fun, with a purpose which Sheila Anderson would explain further at Story Time.

The fun activities included 'Splat the Rat' trying to 'splat' our pretend rat as it appeared from the bottom of the drain tube, determining our skill in hand to eye coordination.

Bean Bag in the bucket was another test of hand and eye coordination. This time trying to reach out to the farthest, and highest scoring bucket. Looked easier than it turned out to be.

Bean Can tumble, was a test of who could knock over as many cans in a set time. It seemed to take longer to set the cans up in a pyramid than it did to knock them all over!

Rope Hoops on pegs continued the theme as we tried to place as many hoops on the pegs.

Rocket to the moon let the imagination explore making a rocket from card tubes, straws and decorations, before launching it into the skies.

Sparkling biscuits was our activity to make something to eat. Lots of colourful and tasty flavours that made our biscuits even more enjoyable to eat.

Magnetic Darts, using magnetic tipped darts made it safe and fun trying to hit the bullseye on the dart board.

Rock, Paper, Scissors is a great game and we split into two teams for this one. Each team stood at the end of a trail of hoola hoops. One member from each end jumped through the hoops on the way to the other end, at the same time. When they met the challenge was made. We all know the way it goes. Scissors cut Paper, Rock blunts Scissors, Paper wraps Rock. The looser retires, and the winner continued jumping until met by the next team member coming the other way. Reaching the other end of the trail was a winning point.

At Story Time Sheila Anderson produced a puppet donkey from her bag. We heard how the donkey appears quite a few times in the bible. David Hogg tried his hand at speaking to the

donkey too. The children scratched their heads, but soon identified Christmas, when Mary arrived at the stable on a donkey, and Palm Sunday when Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on a donkey. Do you know of other occasions in the bible where a donkey is part of the story? We finished with a song and a dance.

Meantime the BBQ was being prepared and a table was filled with good things to eat, hamburgers, sausage with plenty of salads and sauces to spice it all up. Soft drinks helped to wash it all down.

Sheila gathered us in a big circle after the meal to say grace, thanking God for all the good things he provides for us to eat.

Messy Church will be back again on Sunday 30 September