Sensory Bible Stories

  We talked in this story about our favourite foods, homemade pizza might be mine! I often feel a burden to pray for the children around me. I think all of us who spend time alongside children and young people in schools, churches, and out in the community experience this. For children with additional needs especially there seems to be an endless supply of issues to worry about on their behalf, their development, their health, their family, their happiness, their access to education indeed their access to anywhere. I’ve often felt an overwhelming sense of concern for the families and children whom I encounter. Occasionally it has presented itself as a sense of real despair or fear. When I remember these words from Philippians I know I can and I should bring all these worries to God, Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard ...

There are so many occasions where the sensory story we’ve run on a particular week feels coincidently relevant to my life or to something happening in the wider world. The story of John the Baptist might be my favourite example of this. We ran this story in September 2020 on the first week which we were able to meet after over six months of churches been closed due to covid-19 restrictions. Our mainstream children’s and youth ministries were both studying Mark that term so I searched that gospel for something which might lend itself to being turned into a sensory story. John the Baptist with his honey and locust-based snacks, his itchy clothes and straggly hair and his connection to water seemed to fit the bill. I was so excited to be able to come back to church in person and to be able to share Bible stories with the children and young people in our group once again. We were aware of how difficult the preceding months had been for those with additional needs and their families and i...

This wasn't a Christmas story but it did feature some gift-wrapped goodies! Welcome to Sensory Bible Stories. My name is Helen, I live in North London where I lead a small group at my church ( St James Muswell Hill ) which supports children and young people with additional needs to access Bible teaching. When I first started leading this group in 2018 I found it very difficult to source teaching materials for the children who were coming along each week. Children with very limited expressive and receptive language who were unable to access academic activities or engage in more abstract thinking. We enjoyed their company and they seemed to enjoy ours but we wanted to offer something more, an experience of the gospel which was accessible to them. Although I found lots of practical advice and encouragement from various organisations (see ‘useful links’ list), my many hours of googling ‘sensory bible stories’ and similar terms produced little fruit. Lots of otherwise great resources ...

  Welcome to Sensory Bible Stories! My  name is Helen and I live in North London. I’ve  been working with children, teenagers and young adults with autism and learning disabilities for 10+ years, I’ve been listening to and learning about the story of the gospel for 30+ years! I’ve been challenged in the last few years to find ways  to share the wonderful good news of the gospel with children and young people with additional needs. I run a small group at my church in ( St James Muswell Hill )  for children and young people with additional needs who have taught me so much about how to experience the gospel in a tangible way. Anecdotally it seems that children with additional needs, particularly those with a diagnosis of a learning disability and/or autism, are under-represented in the Church in the UK. It's difficult to find statistics to back this up (if anyone has any please let me know) but to give some context there are approximately 351,000 children livi...