01. Crab Hat

Equipment

• 4 clothes pegs
• Paper bowl
• Polystyrene balls or wiggle eyes
• Red/Black Card
• Paint or Colouring Pens
• Glue/Tape
• Scissors
• Elastic cord

Preparation

Depending on time allowed and ability of children, paint the paper bowls and clothes pegs ready for the children to assemble. You could also save time and make this craft easier by purchasing red paper bowls/clothes pegs.

Instructions

1. Paint/colour the paper bowl and clothes pegs red.

2. Cut out 8 legs from red card, approx. 1cm by 10cm and glue on to the hat, once glued on fold in middle.

3. Glue or tape the clothes pegs together and put on to the front of the hat.

4. Glue on the eyes, and then glue on a mouth cut from black cardstock (or simply draw on).

5. Complete the crab hat by punching a hole in each side and attaching the elastic.

6. Take a picture of the children wearing their crab hats and share with @bbgazette on Twitter or email gazette@boys-brigade.org.uk

.02 Crab Walk Relay Race

Mark out two lines about 5 metres apart and split the children into teams, and then split each team down with half on one line and half on the other. Starting behind the lines at each end, on the word ‘Go’ the first member of each team (on one side) must ‘crab walk’ (moving with your hands and feet on the floor with your belly up) to the opposing line before tagging the next player. The next player then crab walks back to the start line, tags a teammate, and so on until one team’s last player has crossed the line and won the game.

.03 Octopus Tag Game

Ask for a volunteer to be the “Octopus,” and have this player stand in the middle of the “ocean” (i.e. in the middle of your meeting space). The rest of the players are the “fish” and should stand against one side of your meeting space. To start the game, the “Octopus” yells, “Swim, fish!” and all of the “fish” must then try to run across the “ocean” to the other side. If the “Octopus” tags a “fish,” the “fish” becomes a “Tentacle” during the next round. The “Tentacles” and the “Octopus” must hold hands and run together to catch “fish”. Play continues until there is just one “fish” to catch, and the last “fish” caught is the winner and is the “Octopus” for the next game.

.04 Getting into the Bible: Jonah and the Whale

Tell the story of Jonah and the Whale.

Read Jonah 1-2

Watch animated ‘Jonah and the Whale’ video at bit.ly/1WZb7pB.

Get the children talking about the story by asking them a few questions.

What did God send to save Jonah from the storm? (A big fish)

What did Jonah do inside the big fish? (Pray)

What do you like to pray about? (see how the children respond)

Do you think Jonah was sorry for disobeying God? (Yes)

When we say sorry to God, what does he do? (Forgives us).

Explain that Jonah did not follow God’s instructions, Jonah thought he knew better than God. But God created each one of us and we should always be willing to listen and obey God. God watched over Jonah in the stormy sea and sent the big fish to save him. He was inside the big fish for three days and three nights and he thought about what he had done wrong. Like Jonah we should also remember to pray to God – to say sorry, to ask for help and to say thank you.

Let’s pray…

Dear God,

Thank you for making us and loving us,thank you for watching over and helping us,thank you for forgiving us when we dothings that are wrong,thank you that you are always there for us.

Amen.

.05 Fish Game

Get the children into a circle and sitting on the floor. Give them each a name of a fish – cod, salmon, plaice (you could add more depending on the size of the group). The leader then walks around the outside of the circle and begins to tell a story, “I went fishing one day and I caught some (name of fish)” those fish get up and follow the leader as they walk around the circle, they continue to tell the story “and I caught some (name of fish)” and those fish join the group walking around the circle. The story continues “and the sea started to get a little bit rougher (start to get faster, jogging), and even rougher (even faster, running)”, for the final part of the story the leader says “tide turns” which means that everybody going around the circle turns around and runs the other way, with finally “Sharks about” meaning everybody should continue running in the same direction and as quickly as possible get back to their place, where they started (for this reason do not call all types of fish). You then restart the game, calling different types of fish, different orders, different lengths of time and you can of course add in your own actions.