I am the living bread come down from heaven, says the Lord;
whoever eats this bread will live forever.
John 6:51
When preparing for this Sunday's children's liturgy, [Gillian] was uncertain as to whether or not we had done a lesson on Communion in the past, and didn't want to risk doing a repeat activity. It's always a bit embarassing when the kids point out that "We've done this already" or "I remember this from last year!" so I decided to go with the Gospel reading for inspiration instead.
Then taking the five loaves and the two fish,
and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing over them, broke them,
and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
They all ate and were satisfied.
and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing over them, broke them,
and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
They all ate and were satisfied.
When looking at resources for activities based on this Gospel reading, what I came across seemed too complex for the amount of time we have for our children's liturgy (about 25 minutes). My aim is always to do an activity that is fun and memorable, while still teaching the kids about a certain concept or reading. This week's activity may have missed the mark on the 'teaching' part. I think most of the teaching and understanding came across in my reading of the story while the kids worked on the activity.
Preparation
Not much to it this week. I found the craft's idea and template from this website. It's a very simple activity, I know. But, like I mentioned earlier in this post, I struggled to find a craft that fit our time constraints.
All you need to do for this activity is print the template for the fish. I ended up putting two templates onto a page so that each child could do at least two fish. You are welcome to use this template (below), but please give credit to the original (Pi'ikea Street, link above).
All you need to do for this activity is print the template for the fish. I ended up putting two templates onto a page so that each child could do at least two fish. You are welcome to use this template (below), but please give credit to the original (Pi'ikea Street, link above).
Before starting the activity, I asked the kids some questions like:
Does anyone know what the title of this Sunday is?... No one did.
Who knows the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand?... Most of them did.
How many fish and loavers were there to begin with? "Five fish and two loaves of bread," said one boy. "Or... maybe it's the other way around."
How many people are in your class? "24, 28, 25... no, 26," they shouted.
How many people do you think two fish and five loaves could feed? Do you think it could feed all of your classmates?
I found this was a good way to get the kids thinking about how many people 5000 actually is. It's not a number of people that we experience very often in one place, even as adults.
Does anyone know what the title of this Sunday is?... No one did.
Who knows the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand?... Most of them did.
How many fish and loavers were there to begin with? "Five fish and two loaves of bread," said one boy. "Or... maybe it's the other way around."
How many people are in your class? "24, 28, 25... no, 26," they shouted.
How many people do you think two fish and five loaves could feed? Do you think it could feed all of your classmates?
I found this was a good way to get the kids thinking about how many people 5000 actually is. It's not a number of people that we experience very often in one place, even as adults.
Supplies
- scissors
- template
- pencil crayons, markers, etc.
Instructions
Simply give each child a piece of paper with the fish template on it. They can colour it however they like, but I encouraged our kids to colour each half of their fish a different colour. That way, when they drop the finished product to see it twirl, it will show off a great colour display.
Help any of children cut out the fish if they need it. The part that most of the kids seemed to struggle with was cutting along the dotted lines of the tail. The most important thing is that they don't cut off the tail!
Once the fish is/are cut out, crease the nose of each fish, and then slot the two tail slits together. The kids can then hold the one half of the midsection of the fish, drop it from as high as they are able, and watch it twirl its way down :)
Help any of children cut out the fish if they need it. The part that most of the kids seemed to struggle with was cutting along the dotted lines of the tail. The most important thing is that they don't cut off the tail!
Once the fish is/are cut out, crease the nose of each fish, and then slot the two tail slits together. The kids can then hold the one half of the midsection of the fish, drop it from as high as they are able, and watch it twirl its way down :)
Reflections
I found that, the fatter the fish, the better it flew. If the hole between each side of the fish was too small, it didn't catch the air properly, and tended to flutter wildly to the ground, as opposed to twirl. This is what should happen:
To make the fish more aerodynamic, simply push the crease of the nose in towards the tail. It's pretty difficult to bend the fish out of shape, and even if you do you can always smooth out the folds.
SO, that's the flying fish activity. It wasn't a very 'deep thinking' activity, but, like I said at the beginning of this post, I read the Gospel story while the kids coloured, giving them the chance to do some listening and thinking.
As well, I printed out a supplementary activity in case some of the older kids finished quickly. (I like to have a back up activity, just in case :) This week I printed out a word search from sermons4kids. Only one or two kids finished the activity early (and wanted to do the word search), and they seemed to be stumped by it. I will admit that I haven't done the word search myself, so I can't determine exactly how difficult it is, but give it try and let me know in the comments if it is difficult (or if it's even worth using again).
As well, I printed out a supplementary activity in case some of the older kids finished quickly. (I like to have a back up activity, just in case :) This week I printed out a word search from sermons4kids. Only one or two kids finished the activity early (and wanted to do the word search), and they seemed to be stumped by it. I will admit that I haven't done the word search myself, so I can't determine exactly how difficult it is, but give it try and let me know in the comments if it is difficult (or if it's even worth using again).
Until next week,
Gillian
Gillian