Disney’s latest release of the Jungle Book is now out, following on from this get your section into the jungle with these programme ideas:

Get Active: Run through the Jungle

This activity will get the children (and leaders) moving about and having a lot of fun. The children should follow a leader around your meeting space, through the ‘jungle’. The idea is that as the group moves around they run into animals along the way and need to get away or hide from them.

The leader should give appropriate commands, and the children carry out a suitable action (see suggestions below):

• jump over logs
• duck under branches
• swing through the jungle like Tarzan (children reach up for the jungle vines and calling ‘arrhhh, arh, arh’)
• high knees through quicksand
• run from the tiger
• tip toe past the snake
• talk to the monkeys (ooh, ooh, aah, aah), etc.

Get Active: Mowgli’s Limbo

You will need a piece of rope or string for your vine. Ask two children to hold one end of the ‘vine’ each and pull it tight at shoulder height. The rest of the children can then take it in turns to lean back and shuffle under the vine. Anyone who touches the vine (or the ground with their hands) is out. Carry on, lowering the rope each round, until you have a final winner.

Get Creative: Fork Lion

Equipment

• Yellow card/sugar paper
• Plastic fork
• Orange/yellow paint
• Black colouring pen/pencil
• Circular object (to draw around)
• Wiggly eyes (optional)

Instructions

1. Draw around the circular object to create the lions head.
2. Use the colouring pen/pencil to draw the eyes (stick on wiggly eyes if using), mouth and nose.
3. Using the fork and orange/yellow paint go around the outside of the head.

Decorate your meeting space

Decorating your meeting space will add to the atmosphere of your themed evening. You could add some plants or branches/leaves, twist green and yellow streamers together to look like vines and drape them from the walls or ceiling. Put pictures of animals, Jungle Book characters, paw prints or other related images up on the walls and make signs that say things such as “Zebra Crossing” or “Beware of Lions.”

Get Learning: The Animals of the Jungle

Ask the children to tell you the names of as many animals as possible that you might find in the jungle. You could link into the ‘Jungle Book’ here and find out if they know the names of some of the characters i.e. Baloo (bear), Bagheera (panther), Shere Khan (tiger), Kaa (snake), King Louie (orangutan).

You could then share some of these interesting facts about animals in the jungle:

Elephant – Spends 16 hours a day eating plant food & the tusks can be over 10ft (3m) in length.

Giraffe – Fur darkens when they grow older & their tongue can be 18 inches long.

Snake – Doesn’t have eyelids & smell with their tongue.

Orangutan – In the wild may live up to 45 years.

Get Creative: Disney’s Jungle Book Activities

A range of activities including printable maze, spot the difference and other activities.

Go to create.disney.co.uk/the-jungle-book

Get Active: Sleeping Lions

Or maybe not so active with this game. Linking to the famous line “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight” get the children to get in a space on the floor and stay as still as possible. Anyone that moves or makes a noise is out. Set a time limit if the game goes on too long.

Get Creative: Dress to Impress

Ask the children to come dressed as their favourite Jungle Book character, as if they are going on safari or as another animal. You could offer a prize for the best dressed on the night.

Get into the Bible: That’s What Friends Are For

Ask the children if they have ever seen the movie “Jungle Book?”. It tells the story of a boy, Mowgli, who lives in the jungle among the animals. He is trying to make his way back to the human village and along the way he meets many very interesting characters.

There’s mad King Louie of the Apes and a lovable, happy-go-lucky bear named Baloo. He even meets a group of vultures who pledge their friendship in a song called “That’s What Friends Are For” (you could download a clip or play the track for this song).

The words of the song go like this:

We’re your friends
We’re your friends
We’re your friends to the bitter end

When you’re alone
Who comes around
To pluck you up
When you are down

And when you’re outside, looking in
Who’s there to open the door?
That’s what friends are for!

Do you have a friend who is always there for you? One who makes you feel better when you’re feeling sad, one who is there to help, one who stands by you no matter what. We could all use a friend like that, couldn’t we? Jesus is that friend, someone we can always rely on and is always there for us.

Download and sing “I’m the King of the Jungle” from youtube.com/watch?v=DJwUvjVq9k4

Get Active: Lion, Lion, Zebra

This game is played like Duck, Duck, Goose. All the children should sit in a circle. A leader selects one of the children to walk around the outside of the circle and tap each child on the head (gently) and say “Lion”. This continues until the child touches someone and says “Zebra”. Then the child who was called Zebra jumps up and tries to tag the one who called them zebra before they can run all the way around the circle back to their space.