Explore and respond
Activities marked with an asterisk 
next to the activity title are in addition to the resources in the Ready to go sessions. Suggested timings for these activities are also shown. NB The inclusion of additional activities varies from week to week.
VERY YOUNG CHILDREN
Hide and seek
Play and think about being lost and being found
Play hide and seek: encourage the children to find different hiding places and celebrate when they are found or when they find someone. Ask them how it felt to be ‘lost’ and then ‘found’.
Make a card
Create a symbol of showing someone something of God’s love
Invite the children to decorate card heart shapes with bright colours and sparkles, to give to someone they love.
FOR CHILDREN
Finest robe craft E S
Make a symbol of the celebration when the son was found again
You will need: robe template, printed on card, one per child; coloured pens, decorative items, e.g. feathers, felt, sparkles.
- Discuss how we all get things wrong, but God is always ready to forgive us like the father in the story.
- Ask the children to design a beautiful robe like the one the father gave his son in the story. On the inside of the robe, ask everyone to write or draw things that they have done that they want to say sorry for.
- On the outside of the robe, encourage the children to decorate it with bright colours and beautiful things, as a reminder that God loves them and is always ready to forgive them when they make mistakes.
Sing
Preview song, then buy online and download.
0-5s
I Just Wanna Be A Sheep
5-11s
One Way Jesus, Hillsong Kids
Never Lost, Elevation Worship
The Lost Are Found, Hillsong Worship on Forever Reign
12+
What Love Looks Like (Single Version), Elle Limebear
The Prodigal Song, Cory Asbury on To Love A Fool
O Come to the Altar, Elevation Worship on Here As In Heaven; Chords
Find more suggestions on the Hymns, songs & music page.
Talk together and talk to God
Use these questions to discuss the Bible passage and then bring your thoughts together by praying to God.
Talk together
- How does it feel to be forgiven for a mistake?
- How do think the brothers felt at the end of the story?
- In what ways can we treat others as lovingly as the father treated his sons?
Talk to God: Painting prayers E S A
Illustrate the emotions of being lost and found
- One at a time, ask the children to come and paint big, dark streaks on to the white sheet. The aim is to make as ugly a picture as possible.
- Talk together about how the things we do wrong are like the dark paint, messing up the white space. Invite everyone to take a moment to pray and bring our mistakes to God and ask for forgiveness.
- Place the second white sheet over the first one, so that the horrible marks can no longer be seen. Then pray a simple prayer aloud to thank God for the forgiveness and love we are offered.
Missing things search E
A game to think about being lost
You will need: five small objects.
- Ask the children to stand facing a wall with their eyes closed while one child hides five objects around the room. Then invite the group to see how quickly they can find the lost objects. Repeat a couple of times to give different children a turn hiding the objects.
- Once you have finished playing the game, talk about the different ways people can get lost and how people can feel lost inside. Ask: What sort of emotions might you feel if you were lost inside?
Elaborate welcome! 10 mins W E A
Create a way to welcome someone
- Divide the group into pairs. Give them three minutes to come up with the best ways of greeting each other, e.g. through an elaborate handshake, or use sound to make a drumroll or fanfare. Encourage everyone to be creative.
- Ask the pairs to show each other their different greetings and teach them to everyone else. Suggest they could use these greetings when they see each other over the next few weeks, and encourage them to include everyone.
- Discuss how good it is to be welcomed – and in the same way God welcomes us, we should welcome others.
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
The younger brother 10 mins E S
A game that explores being lost
You will need: paper cups.
- Divide the group into teams. Ask each to build the biggest tower using cups.
- Discuss how the younger son got lost in trying to build a life for himself by living recklessly and selfishly, taking his money and using it all up quickly on things which don’t last.
- Ask each group to pull out a cup so their tower collapses. Discuss how, when we build things up for ourselves on things that don’t last, it can quickly go wrong.
The older brother 10 mins W E S
A discussion about other ways to be lost
You will need: pens and paper.
- Ask the group to write about a diary entry from the older brother’s perspective: ask half the group to write about when the younger brother had gone away, while the other half write about when he came home again.
- Ask everyone to share and discuss how the older brother was treated: Did he have a right to be angry? Did he do wrong? In what way was he lost?
The father 5 mins E S
Walk in prayer and ask for forgiveness
You will need: a sign which reads ‘Loving father’.
Play the track ‘What Love Looks Like (Single Version)’, Elle Limebear.- Ask everyone to stand beside the sign before walking to the other side of the room, thinking about the ways they distance themselves from God.
- Encourage them to pause and to ask God for forgiveness.
- Invite the group to walk back towards the ‘Loving father’ sign, and give thanks for God’s welcome.
Check-in: Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues
Feel the beat 10 mins E
A game about how we can get lost from God
- Ask half the group to create a simple clap rhythm. Ask them to do it while the other half of the group try to disrupt this by clapping out of time or in a different rhythm.
- Discuss how our lives work best when we are walking in rhythm with God. Ask: What mistakes can we make that cause us to lose the rhythm in our relationship with God?
- Now invite everyone to try clapping the same rhythm together, slowly, while reflecting on what disrupts our own rhythm in our relationship with God.