Explore the nature and characteristics of love and kindness as defined in the Bible in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, through a simple art activity, accessible to all. Afterwards it can be turned into a display for the whole family to see and read very day!

Using watercolour paper and solid block watercolours, the children painted freely to cover as much of the white space as they could. We made the paper wet first using a sponge, so that the colours would be absorbed and blend together beautifully. Then I cut them into heart shapes, which older children could do independently.

Then we read together the passage in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, between verses 4 and 7:

Love is patient and kind. It does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. [ESV]

I wrote one of each of the 8 key definitions of love onto each heart shape. Then we talked about what those words meant and gave examples of them in everyday life, which for very young children meant talking a lot about showing kindness, patience and tolerance towards siblings during play!

Depending on the ages and stages of kids, they could give their own examples of ways to demonstrate each quality of love, and reflect on how it makes them feel when the opposite is shown towards them.