The heroes in this story are Elizabeth and Mary. This lesson is written for those of us who don’t necessarily have 4 or 5 weeks of Christmas story teaching time, often because other Christmas events and special services take our time.
 

I went to Elizabeth’s – Version of ‘I went to grandma’s and took with me…’ The first child completes the sentence with an item, then second child repeats phrase ‘I went to Elizabeth’s and took with me…’ the first child’s item and adds their own. Continues adding items to the list until someone forgets one or more of the items. End the game by saying Mary went to Elizabeth’s and took with her a tiny little baby growing in her tummy.
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The hero in this story is Philip, often mistaken as the apostle and more likely to be a one of the deacons commissioned with Stephen. Philip’s story is only half the message for it’s the reaction of the Ethiopian and the Isaiah text that makes this story remarkable.
 

Chariot races – Divide the children into 2 or more small groups and give each group a strong blanket or large pieces of cardboard. get the smallest member of the group to be the driver and sit on the blanket or board and the bigger members of the group to be horses. The horses must firmly grasp the edge of the chariot with one hand and run. Clear as large a space as possible (preferably around the edge of your working area) and have a chariot race.
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The hero in this story is Abigail, a lesson known bible character who stops the future king David from acting out of anger and attacking a household who would not give help. Abigail’s strength is conflict resolution and mediation.
 
ppdsToday’s game come from a pdf of Co-operative games in the primary school made by PPDS. for the full booklet click on the image.
 

 

Frogs and lily pads – Divide the children into groups of three and give each group three vinyl spots or hula-hoops. In each group there must be one ‘frog’ and two ‘tadpoles’. The objective is to get the frog from one side of the hall to the other, however the frog can only step on the spots or cross and the spots can only be moved by the tadpoles. Teacher can act as the ‘Pond Police’ making sure that no frog steps off the lily pads. (link into the servant taking food, and the idea that sometimes we need someone to help us move forward)
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The hero in this story is Jairus, he is part of the ‘friends of Jesus’ series as his story directly involves him. Please note this lesson is not about his daughter’s perspective, though the narrative includes her.
 

Staking them up – this is a simple illustration, give the children blocks or lego and ask them to build a tower that reaches the ceiling, say they have a time limit and then shout go. some children will work together others will try the endeavour by themselves. When they are part way start a 10 second countdown. The task should be impossible, just like the task of raising someone from the dead.
 

Believable – split the youngsters into small groups and give them 1 minute to list all the things they believe in – start them off by saying I believe the sun will rise tomorrow…
 
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The hero in this story is Anna, she is part of the ‘friends of Jesus’ series as her story directly involves him. Please note this lesson is not about Simeon, though the narratives are similar – Anna is focused on to give a better gender balance to the hero’s

 

observations tray – This is an oldie but really suits the idea of Anna looking for baby jesus. place a random selection of items on a tray, give the children a 30 seconds to memorise what’s there. remove the tray and return it minus one object – what’s missing?
 

Baby bingo – Print the accompanying PDF sheets and make sure each child has a bingo card. Call out descriptives of a baby for them to stamp off – eg eye colour, clothing style, hair length. Play a line and then a full card.
 
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The hero in this story is Stephen, he is part of the ‘founders’ series as he gave to the early church. Please note this lesson is not about the deacons, that is a separate character.

 

Target practice – take a few cups, boxes and other containers and make a target range. attach scores to the different containers and give the children soft ammo to trow into the various targets. you can spit your children into teams or just play that the highest score wins. Refer back to the game later discussing how the stones thrown at Stephen would have had a human target.
 

Bit it – sometimes the gifts we get, and the jobs we have are unpleasant. In the same way you play pass the parcel sit the children in a circle. Pass round a piece of fruit and when the music stops the child must take a bite (check for allergies first), slowly add more fruit and vegetables to the circle. Try and use harder fruit and veg, add ‘not so lovely’ on the last round, the children can decide to bite or not!
Nicer- Apple, carrot, bell pepper, cucumber, radish, runner bean,
Not so lovely – potato, banana with skin, & onion.

 
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The hero in this story is Hannah, she is part of the ‘leaders of God’s people’ series as she built God’s family. Please note this lesson is not about Samuel, but Hannah. Samuel is a separate character.

 

Tangled Links – Get the children to stand in a tight circle and pass a ball of string from person to person, holding onto the string as it passes through their hands. Once everyone has a bit of the string get the children to untangle themselves.
 

Hand Relay – Sit with your palms faced up and your left hand under the right hand of your neighbour. Get the first person to say “in my family I have…” and then lifting your right hand tap your neighbours right hand and they mention someone in their family, and pass the tap on.
 
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The hero in this story is Martha, she is the one who changes because of her encounter with Jesus.

 

More important – Print this handout, split up the pictures into 8 individual cards. either make multiple copies or group your children into 8 groups. Give one card to each child or set of children. Ask the child to identify the picture and to think what it may represent. Have each child present their card, describe the pictures and say which is more important and why.
 

Activity Alternative – if you have decided to make biscuit boxes with the children as their craft, why not start the session being creative. Tell the children you are too busy to teach them because you didn’t get the biscuits decorated. Ask the children to help you finish the biscuits then the lesson can start. Don’t worry if the children don’t believe this is not part of the lesson, leave them wondering why.

 
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