With my thanks for all the work you do with children and families especially at Christmas
blessings
Barbara Meardon
Adviser for Work with Children and
Families for Salisbury Diocese
barbara.meardon@salisbury.anglican.org
Wrap four Christmas presents
and hide/place them round the church/school hall:
A beautiful candle
A Flying dove cut out of
card or a model
A balloon blown up
Lots of fair trade
chocolate hearts
I started by talking about the giving and receiving
of presents at Christmas then explained that God’s great gift to us at
Christmas is Jesus and the gifts that he brings to us . . . Explain
that there are four parcels hidden in the church/hall.
I sent children off to search for the first parcel, perhaps point them in the right direction. The
first parcel is found and unwrapped. Inside is a beautiful candle. Ask a
child to light it from the Christmas or Advent candle -
I wonder what this candle reminds us about Jesus – that Jesus brings light to the world.
Set the candle on a small table.
I then sent the children off to search for the second parcel, pointing them in the right direction. It was found and unwrapped and inside they found the flying dove
decoration. I held it up for all to see and asked:
I wonder what
the dove is a symbol for? – The Holy
Spirit, peace – Jesus brings peace to the world.
I set it on the table but you could hang it
on the tree if there is one.
I sent the children off to search for the third
parcel, pointing them in the right direction. The third parcel is very big. The children found it and unwrapped it carefully. Inside was a blown up
balloon that popped out as they unwrapped it.
I
wonder when we have balloons? – we are celebrating Jesus’ birthday - Happy Birthday Jesus! The
balloon is filled with air – it took energy to blow it up – Jesus brings us life.
I finally sent the children off to search for the
fourth parcel, pointing them in the right direction. The fourth parcel was
found and unwrapped. Inside were red foil-covered chocolate hearts (if
possible use fair trade and provide enough for everyone in the church) –
I
wonder what gift that Jesus gives us all is represented by the hearts? Jesus brings us love.
I finished by getting the children to give out the chocolate hearts - a
gift from Jesus – but you could invite them up to the from or the altar to
receive them.
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ReplyDeleteI used this with my in school kids clubs just before Christmas.
ReplyDeleteFor each parcel we played hunt the parcel, sending two children out while two others hid a parcel, then we all joined in with shouting "hotter" and "colder."
I couldn't find fair trade hearts so I used heart shaped lebkuchen biscuits from Tesco.
The activity worked very well and created a lot of excitement!