Turn your section into a world from your favourite books with these programme ideas:

1. Mr Men & Little Miss

This game is a variation on the Beans Game. Get your children to dance around your hall to music and when the music stops shout out a Mr Men or Little Miss name and they have to do a corresponding action. Last one to do the action, or if they do a wrong action is out. Keep going until you have a winner. You could even add a couple of your own characters and actions in.

Mr Tickle – Wriggle your body

Mr Bump – Sit down on your bottom

Mr Strong – Flex your muscles

Little Miss Star – Do a starjump

Little Miss Tiny – Crouch down into a tiny ball

Little Miss Bossy – Wag your finger

2. Where’s Wally?

‘Where’s Wally’ is a very well-known and well-loved children’s book. The book contains many pictures and you have to try and find Wally. Place some pictures of Wally around your meeting place and see how quickly the children find him in each of the pictures. You can easily find and print Where’s Wally images by searching on Google.

3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl penned the wonderful book ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ in 1964 and it’s been captivating children ever since. Why not read the story (or parts of it) to the children. Follow on by playing ’The Chocolate Game’, for which you will need some dressing up items (hat, scarf, gloves, sunglasses, etc), dice, plate, knife and fork and of course some chocolate. All the children should sit in a circle with all the items in the middle, the children one at a time roll the dice (use large foam dice if you have one). If they get a six they get a chance to get some chocolate, but before trying to cut and eat the chocolate they have to put on all the items (e.g. hat, scarf, gloves, etc) and must use the knife and fork. Once the next person gets a 6 they go into the middle and have a chance.

4. Bring the Books to Life

Ask the children to come along dressed up as their favourite book character to add to the spirit of the evening. Get the leaders involved too and create a real buzz in your Anchor Section.

5. Getting into the Bible: The Wordless Book

The WORDLESS BOOK is one of the most effective ways to present the Gospel to children! WORDLESS BOOKS can be purchased, but are very simple to make yourself. The WORDLESS BOOK makes the Truth of the Gospel very simple. As the name suggests, it has no words! It contains just five coloured pages of red, black, white and yellow and a green cover. What the colours are on is not the issue, it is the timeless message they contain that is so effective. You can find lots of examples on the internet by just searching for ‘Wordless Book’, so why not get inspiration and create your own to use with your group?

6. Get Learning: Paddington Bear

“What’s a Refugee?”

I wonder how many of our children are asking this question? Every day they overhear conversations, see images or catch snippets of news. Trying to explain the current global situation to young children is definitely not easy, but with the help of a little bear from an old favourite book it can be made a bit easier.

Paddington Bear loved marmalade sandwiches, but one of the special things about him is that he leaves his homeland to begin a new life in another country. He fled from ‘darkest Peru’ as a stowaway in a lifeboat taking with him only his hat, briefcase and marmalade. There was an earthquake, but when his Aunt Lucy could no longer look after him and moved him to a home for retired bears, Paddington sets sail for England.

So with few belongings, just like the current refugees, Paddington arrives in a new country after a long and perilous journey. Chat to your children about how he might have been feeling? Cold? Hungry? Scared? He must have been brave to make that long journey! Paddington shares a lot with the refugees.

In the story book Paddington is found by the Brown family at Paddington Station, and although they can’t understand his bear name or his bear language they decide to look after him. Sharing the story of Paddington with your children can help them understand compassion, like that of the Brown family in the story.