Turn your section bear crazy with these programme ideas:

1. Suitcase relay

You need 2 lightweight suitcases with handles/ wheels. Each team facing a chair placed 3 metres away on which are items you might take on holiday (Sun glasses, towel, sun tan cream etc). You will need as many items as members of the team. The first player runs to the chair pulling or carrying the suitcase, places an item from the chair inside (unzipping and zipping) and runs back to the team and the second player. The relay continues until all of the items are collected and the winners are the first team with all items ready to catch the train.

2. Bring your Bear

Action Medical Research’s ‘Bring your Bear’ is a simple and fun event that everyone can take part in. It’s all about getting the children to bring along their favourite bear. Action Medical Research funds medical research to beat the diseases that devastate the lives of so many of our children. You could have a teddy bears picnic and/or ask each of their children to tell the group a little bit about their bear. There are lots of online resources on Action Medical Research’s website to help you run your Paddington theme night. You could also help support the work of Action Medical Research by doing some fundraising.

Check out action.org.uk/events/bring-your-bear

3. Paddington Bear Paper Plate

Equipment

• Paper plates
• Brown paint/Colouring Pens
• Fork
• Red paper or card
• Black paper
• Black marker pen

Instructions

With a paper plate, paint the plate brown (scoring the paint whilst wet gives the impression of fur). Draw a hat on to red paper/card and cut out (you may need to do this in preparation). Add facial features with the marker or with pieces of black paper/glue. You can add elastic and eye holes to make it into a mask.

4. Guess the number of bears in a jar

Beforehand fill a marmalade jar with jelly bears. Get the children to each guess how many bears are in the jar, whoever guesses most accurately wins the jar and its contents.

5. Getting into the Bible

Ask the children if any of them have ever been lost. How did it happen and what did it feel like? How must Paddington have felt when he was all alone on the station platform? The only story of Jesus as a boy is when he got lost or at least his parents thought he was lost.

Read Luke 2 v41-52

Although his parents were worried and thought him lost, Jesus knew he was in his Father’s House and he felt safe and secure. Pray for situations when the children might feel lost and afraid, that Jesus might comfort them.

6. Pin the label on Paddington

Draw a big picture of Paddington, and prepare a ‘Please look after this bear’ label. Then blindfold each child one at a time and have them fix the label on his duffle coat. Nearest to the top button wins.

7. All Aboard

Mr Brown found Paddington at the Railway station. Label the four corners of your meeting place as railway stations. You can add local ones as well as using ‘Paddington’ Station. On the word ‘Go’ or as the music plays the children move freely round the hall. When the music stops or on the shout ‘Stop’ the children have to go to a railway station. A leader, who is not looking shouts out the name of a station where the train has not stopped. The children waiting at that station are out and the game continues. The winner is the last person left in, you can make it more difficult by not allowing more than 2 people at any one station.