Reputation is a powerful thing, and this lesson is all about urging our children to have a positive reputation, a welcoming spirit, and be examples of love.
Love notes – This is a treasure hunt game where you hide envelopes. the children need to find the envelopes, read the note inside, and then deliver the note to the person they think most needs to hear the words. They can either do this immediately or by writing the persons name on the outside of the envelope for later delivery.
Legacy footprints – for this game you need a large sheet roll of paper, a marker and some music. The idea of this game is to get the children to walk along the paper doing a dance. The first person steps on the paper and where his foot falls a footprint is drawn, they then dance along to the end. the second person must start on the first persons footprints, and mark their second step, the third person replicates the first and second steps and marks a third. Continue until the whole page is filled with footprints and everyone is doing the same silly dance – footprints can go in any direction.
Dwarf names – Print a picture of the seven dwarfs from snow white. Ask the children to identify them. Briefly mention that their name described them. Print out a list of positive attributes (example) and ask the children to find their dwarf name from the list.
Crazy welcome – This is an adaptation of the ‘when I went to grandma’s game’. Sit the children in a circle and start with the phrase, “to make me welcome Gaius gave me…”If you don’t know the game then the answers are accumulative, you must complete the statement with an item, the next person lists your item and theirs, the third person lists your item, the second persons item, and a new one of their own etc.
Joined tag – This version of tag is best played with a large group, when a person is tagged they must join hands with the person who is ‘it’ and then run together. eventually everyone is linked together in either a chain or a web. If you end up with a chain you can then play a game of Chinese whispers. This game links nicely to the back story of Gaius and how news of his love spread through people to the ears of John.
