Websites

Thought I would share a few of my favourite websites which I use from time to time.

http://www.sermons4kids.com Great ideas for devotions, some wordsearches and colouring pictures too.

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk Great puzzles on festivals and themes.

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/free-puzzlemaker/?CFID=29773868&CFTOKEN=71945765 Create your own puzzles and copy and paste into word documents.

http://www.makinglearningfun.com Dot to Dot puzzles and other fun stuff – ideal for Anchors!

Have fun!

Turbo – Snails

Here are some ideas for a theme night or activity day around the theme of Turbo.

1. Start with the film. I paid £7 in Tesco and it is in HMV at £6.99.
2. There are two obvious themes in the film: the ordinary snail becoming special (Jesus from an ordinary background becoming the Messiah) and also the idea of needing and helping out your friends. have a look here for more details or ideas http://www.turbomovie.com
3. Painting – the clean way of painting on a sunny day – All each child needs is a cup of water and a brush. Issue each child with a canvas (a paving stone each), it’s perfect as when they go wrong they can just start again! When the canvas is full just move on. This activity always draws an audience of puzzled onlookers but the children love it! Here are some of the works of art from our Anchors!

4. Here is an activity booklet – print it out as an A5 booklet – there are word searches, colouring and puzzles in the booklet. Ideal for Anchors and Juniors.Turbo
5. Paper Snails – From a piece of A4 copier card you will need two strips about 4cm wide each and then two much smaller strips. Curl one strip to make the shell and fold the other strip to make the body. Secure using staples or glue. Staples are obviously a whole lot quicker. (if it’s for Anchors it is best if an adult uses the stapler). Then secure it all together and add the two small strips which are curled to make antennae. Some carefully placed bluets or a paperclip will allow the snail to balance and stand up!
We then used these snails and a straw to blow the snails. The children had lots of fun with this racing the snails across the hall.
6. Fimo Snails – Perfect for Juniors. Take out that box of Fimo, yes I know it is expensive but you only need a tiny bit for each snail and it lasts ages. When your snail is made bake it in the oven on a baking sheet for 30 minutes at Gas Mark 2 or 120 degrees.
7. Icing snails – buy the ready to roll, ready coloured icing and make snails – perfect for the younger children and much easier than Fimo to handle, and they get to eat it afterwards. Asda has packs of ready coloured icing at only £1 at the moment. You can then put these onto a biscuit! Use Tesco Value rich tea biscuits and this is a dairy, egg and nut free food based craft!
8. This topic lends itself perfectly to relay races with winners for the fast and the slowest and the most snail like!

Mug Cake

This is a really easy recipe, which is perfect for a badge class or feeding the youngsters on an activity day. One mug cake will feed two, but usually they want to make their own. Add custard or syrup for the perfect pud! These don’t keep well so eat quickly.

Microwave Mug Cake

Have fun making these cakes, which are great for dairy and egg allergies as they contain neither, they are simple and quick too!

Discussion

Here is a PowerPoint bedrooms based on the following article and images http://news.distractify.com/culture/childrens-bedrooms-across-the-world/?v=1 This is ideal for Company/Seniors and Amicus.

The discussion is based around the idea that it is shocking how differently children start their lives in this world. All of them deserve a chance, but some will never get one due to the harsh environments they’re raised in. Those of us who were fortunate in our youth should help everyone have the same opportunities we did when we grew up. 

The 16 image slides of the PowerPoint could be easily edited to show specific themes and the following themes may come out or be highlighted: guns, geisha, weapons, poverty, religion, war.

Let me know how this discussion goes!

Numbers Quiz

Here is a quick quiz based on numbers in the bible, perfect for a quiz, devotions or use in a family or children’s service. The answers could be discussed, written on paper or on a mini whiteboard. This is ideal to be completed by a mixed age group in little teams. The 10 quiz questions come first in the PowerPoint, then there are the 10 slides with the question and the answer.
numbers quiz

Have fun!

Easter

Here are some Easter things for you to use.

Wordsearch Easter Wordsearch

Puzzle Sheet Easter

Here is an idea I found online. I prepared a sheet to go with this to save you time. Cross Makes a great Easter devotional. Have a look at this website for the original: http://almostunschoolers.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/magic-fold-and-cut-cross.html

Here are some Easter facts. facts

Finally a great discussion point for older members in this optical illusion! calvary

Enjoy!

Caged Sweets

A great craft but rather difficult, so for company and seniors! Juniors need a lot of help for this to look good.

Step 1, place sweets into a ballon or water bomb. We used mini versions of the classics and the easiest to get into to balloons were Fruit Pastilles and Rolo’s.

Step 2, blow up the balloon (only small or it will take forever to cover). We aimed for the size of a softball! Then knot the balloon.

Step 3, miss PVA glue with water at a ratio of about 4:1.

Step 4, cut lengths of wool, about the length of your arm

Step 5, dip the wool in the PVA mix, wring out the excess so that it is only lightly covered in glue and wrap around the balloon. Different colours leave a pretty pattern. Make sure the gaps are large enough so that your sweets won’t drop out.

Step 6, hang up your covered balloon to dry. Ideally leave this a week. Not only will it dry but your balloon will ‘shrink’ away from the wool. We added name tags at this stage too

Step 7, very carefully, with a pair of scissors, cut open the balloon. You have to go through the gaps and need to be careful and patient. Once the balloon is cut away you are left with a fab hanging decoration, perfect for Easter, Christmas or Mother’s Day.

>

Different Perspectives

This is a devotions for older members. I am using it with those aged 17-18. It is about finding your own way to God. How we look at things with different perspectives. Equally it talks about being proud of who you are and making up your own mind.

There is pdf file which explains things devotions
A PowerPoint of optical illusions optical illusions
A word document containing 6 copies of the Jesus Optical illusion optical illusion jesus

The illusions PowerPoint answers are below

1. Inuit or Indian
2. The word liar or a mans face
3. A rabbit or duck
4. A seal or a horse
5. A woman or a man playing a saxophone
6. The word Good or Evil
7. An old woman or a young woman
8. A cat or a mouse
9. The word me or you
10. Two faces or a candlestick

Enjoy!

Easter Sports Quiz

Here is an Easter themed sports quiz for Company, Seniors and Amicus. Each of the sports personalities has an Easter Bunny look to complicate the quiz.

The pdf quiz has the quiz sheets, followed by the answers and a sheet to fill in the name of the ‘star’ and also their related sport. The PowerPoint version, below, has been set up to run looped with automatic timings (8 seconds per slide) if you would rather use this version (remember ESC gets you out of the loop once started).

quiz presentation

Hope your older members enjoy some Easter fun!

One Body, Many Parts

We are looking at the theme of teamwork at the moment, so this week we are looking at 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. We are talking about the roles in teams and bands and how everyone is important and part of the same team. We can’t all be goal scorers some of have to take on the other equally important roles.

Here is a wordsearch with a hidden message. 1corinthians If you need the answer the hidden message is from the Message (version of the Bible) and is:

You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you’re still one body.

We are having a go at relay games and team activities in Anchors and Juniors too. Instead of a craft this week we are going to do some music making and shared pictures – all doing a bit of the same thing. Here’s hoping we can all cooperate!