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SSTN # 51 - June 6, 2005


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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:


The LORD Is My Shepherd ... VBS - Bible Club

1) Mother's Day Poem
2) Father / daughter banquet
3) At risk children
4) Father / Daughter banquet
5) Fully Rely On God Lesson

--> Armor of God Summer Series

6) At risk children
7) Pentecost
8) Pentecost
9) Fire station theme?
10) Trinity explanation

-->  Fruit of the Spirit - Summer Series

11) Church Picnic
12) Church Picnic
13) Disciplining van / car passengers
14) Trinity explanation
15) Trinity Sunday


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The LORD Is My Shepherd ... VBS - Bible Club

This complimentary five day VBS series can also be used in
10-12 one hour class sessions. A great resource for summer Bible clubs!
Learn more in the VBS / Bible Club section at:

http://www.christiancrafters.com/sermons.html 


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1) Mother's Day Poem

Dear Sadie,
I know it's to late now but for next year, or anytime for mom. We have
done this a few times and it works really well and the mothers love it. We
took ink and printed the childs hand on one side of interesting paper,
with the childs name and the date, and on the otherside had this poem on
it.
Sometimes you are discouraged because I am so small
And always leave my fingerprints on furniture and wall...
for the rest of the poem email: LllChatterBoxlll@aol.com
Amanda


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2) Father / daughter banquet

My daughter and husband just attended one. From an eight-year old's
perspective her favorite part was dressing up and getting her picture
taken (much like prom pictures) and then making a picture frame for it. If
you'd like further details on what the banquet provided and promoted, feel
free to email me at mrl0353@yahoo.com

Lacey
 

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3) At risk children

How about"Instant Puppet Skits Big Hairy Issues Kids Face"by Larry
Shallenberger, and I think published by Group Publishing?
Lauren Surprenant

--from SSTN: you can find these books by typing the titles into our
bookstore search box: http://www.christiancrafters.com/bookstore.html 

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4) Father /Daughter banquet
 
We did this event as a father/daughter dance.  The dads (or significant
adult) and their special girls got all dressed up in their fancy clothes,
could purchase carnation corsages and we took pictures of the couples with
a lovely backdrop.  You can take digital pictures and offer to mail them
(how to get names/addresses if its an outreach) or do Polaroid (but they
cost about $1.00 per photo.  we hired a DJ who really knows how to work
with the kids.  They had slow dances and activities and everybody had a
blast!

Lauren Surprenant


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5) Fully Rely On God Lesson

> I am looking for some object lessons that go with The F.R.O.G. theme

This is a really neat balancing frog pattern:

http://www.raft.net/ideas/Gravity%20Defying%20Frog.pdf

I like to use it with the theme that if you fully rely on God, you have
balance in your life.  Plus the kids really love making and playing with
the frogs.  We use green craft foam for the frogs.  We also use colored
foam punched out with a paper punch for spots to decorate the frogs and
then wiggle eyes for the eyes.  We don't mess with the pivot points, the
frog balances on fingers, noses and any other place the kids try without
it.  When you are trying the paper clips on different parts of the frog,
you can talk about what portions of their life or behavior that they need
to put extra time in with to achieve perfect balance with God.

Have fun,
Amy


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--> Armor of God Summer Series

Learn more on the following page:

http://www.christiancrafters.com/game_armor.html 


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6) At risk children
 
Check out http://www.kidskeepsafe.com/ It is excellent material.


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7) Pentecost

Hi Paula,

The first thing that came to my mind is light and flame.  Teens love
candles and I'll bet they'd like to decorate small glass votive holders.
You could use permanent markers or colored tissue paper pieces (glued on
the outside, maybe bottom half) or a combination.  When they finish
decorating them they can put in the tea lights or votives and you could
have them sit in a large circle.  Have a mirror in the middle of the
circle and put their votives on it.  Turn off the lights, light their
candles for the prayer service, reflecting on their gifts.  You could
also add spices/herbs in the bottom of the glass for fragrant offering.
Have fun!

Kim in CA


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8) Pentecost

Greetings!
your word "reflecting" brings to mind using freebie or old cd disks to
make mirrors ( have them all over my classroom as we are reflecting the
love of Christ)  maybe you could make mirrors with them, the back can be
covered with fabric or airdry clay - you form it let it dry and glue it
back on.  My kids like them as they don't break if they fall to the floor.
God Bless
lauried

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9) Fire station theme?

I am looking for ideas for sunday school room decorations.  My curriculum
theme is a fire station.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.      
Thanks, Amanda


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10) Trinity explanation

You can use this example.  Take an apple and use the peeling by itself,
the core by itself and the part we eat by itself and explain that it is
three parts but all apple.
Nancy Kitts
NancyK803@aol.com


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-->  Fruit of the Spirit - Summer Series

Learn more on the following page:

http://www.christiancrafters.com/lesson_spirit_fruit.html 



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11) Church Picnic
 
have a "summer splash" day. have water guns, water
balloons, plastic kiddie pools for the young ones, slip n slide, dunking
booth; play teams "laser tag/paintball" with food coloring in the water
guns/balloons, have a "bob" for something in a kiddie pool game, a
watermelon seed spitting contest ( sounds gross but it really is fun ), a
relay game with buckets/containers of water/spoon full of water, an
obstacle course w/ pool inflatable toys as obstacles, have a "who has the
most freckles" "who is the most soaked" "who is the dryest" "who is the
most sunburned" "who has the funniest tan lines (around the eyes from
sunglasses)" etc contest, have a freeze out game-see who can have the most
pieces of ice put down the back of their shirt for the longest time, have
a "fear factor" like game w/ using your teeth only to retrieve stuff from
an icy bucket/pool of water, make snow cones as dessert...      
 
Hope these ideas help!!   


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12) Church Picnic

>Every year our church has a summer picnic in a local park. The picnic is
>geared to the kids with games, a pinata, face painting, balloon
>animals, etc.  It seems that we do the same thing every year


Cathy,
I am responding to your request for summer picnic ideas.  I hope you can
find something you can use!
Our church does a picnic/carnival theme for our vbs every year.
We have various games, but we mix up based on our themes..ring tosses
(one year it was "ring a dolphin" for a tropical theme..,pin the tail on
the ____ (whatever the theme is for that year), sack races, volleyball,
horseshoes (plastic for little ones, metal for adults & youth), pop a
balloon races (sorted out by age group you take balloons that range from
completely blown up to barely blown up.. each team races from a
container holding the balloons to a designated spot to sit on them to
try to break them.. they then race back & the next person in line goes
until everyone on the team has popped a balloon or all balloons
designated per team have been popped), water balloon battles have moved
to those "soaker balls" (less mess to clean up afterward!).. bobbing for
apples, stick horse races, knocking "milk bottles" over, duck pond,
fishing pond.
With my youth group I have used obstacle courses, "Orange pass" (2 teams
race to pass an orange w/o using their hands-neck to neck), 3 legged
races, and trust walks (you blindfold one person & have another lead
them around in an unfamiliar area.. oh and the person who can "see"
can't touch the blindfolded person..they have to tell them which way to
go to stay safe!)
I have also participated in a game where you have (older kids/youth &
adults).. form a square
w/ 4 buckets.. .on person each sits on a bucket (must be lined up so
that when each person lays back, they will be lying across another
person's lap... once everyone is lying across another person's lap you
remove the buckets & each person has to hold themselves up in position..
after all buckets are removed you have a human "chair".. but make sure
you put the 1st bucket back under the person you 1st pulled the bucket
out from under.. to be fair :) )
I hope this was helpful!
~A Friend


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13) Disciplining van / car passengers

NO you are not unreasonable. I know of a VERY large church that has bus
rules. If the kids don't follow the rules they are grounded from the bus.
In almost all cases the kids and parents come to the church and ask for
the child to be given another chance.  Kids want and need limits and
guidelines. Unfortunately to many people are afraid to put them in place.
 
Teresa


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14) Trinity explanation

Does anyone have any ideas for crafts of activitys about the
trinity?
 
a. There are many ways of explaining the trinity to children, but the one
I like the best is very visual, and involves the use of food colouring.
 
If you ask at a cake shop, they should be able to tell you where to obtain
food colouring in powder form. This comes in a variety of colours.
 
Stick small pieces of double-sided sticky tape to the inside bottoms of
three glasses. Choose three suitable colours, and place a little on each
tape. These food colourings are very concentrated, so only  very small
amounts are required, and are consequently unlikely to be noticed by the
children. However, you will probably need to determine by trial and error
the best way to do this preparation.
 
Show a jar of clear water. State "There is one God, represented by the
water in this jar, who is made up of three different Persons - Father, Son
and Holy Spirit." As you are talking, pour some water into your three
glasses to produce the three different colours.
 
Depending on your group, you could then go on to discuss the different
aspects of the three Persons of the trinity in more detail.
 
A similar illustration could be used if you are teaching about the "water
into wine."
 
b. Here is a two-part illusion to illustrate your teaching on the Trinity.
 
Produce three ropes of equal length (about 80 cm. is ideal). State that
these represent the three Persons of the Godhead - Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. "The first thing to notice is that the ropes are of equal length,
reminding us that the three Persons are all equal."
 
State that you are now going to bring the bottoms of the ropes up to the
top, and tie them into three loops. Holding the ropes near their tops
together in one hand, one at a time bring the bottom of each rope up to
the top, and tie it to the top of a different rope. (To ensure that I
don't make a mistake at this point, I mark beforehand a spot with a pen on
the top and bottom of the middle rope. I then tie the bottom of the
outside rope with the top of the first, followed in turn by the other two
ropes, ensuring that I don't tie the "spot" ends together).
 
"It appears that I now have three loops, but that is not really true." 
Release the ropes to show that you now have one large loop tied in three
places - reminding your class that there is one God comprising three
Persons.
 
Now for the "fun" part of your illusion. Put your rope away in your bag,
but immediately bring out a similar looking rope. This second rope (which
your class should think is still your first three-part loop) is actually
one long piece of rope - of total length just less than that of your three
original ropes combined (i.e. about 220 cm) - tied to form a loop, and
with two small lengths of rope tied around two small loops in your longer
rope  at the appropriate places to give the appearance of knots.
 
Tell the class that they are probably thinking that this loop is three
pieces of rope tied together, but that actually it is now just one long
piece of rope. Untie the (genuine) knot to demonstrate. The class will not
look two impressed, because the other two "knots" are still there. State
that these are only two small lengths of rope, and that you can easily
remove them. Pull the two ends of your rope (or get two volunteers to do
it), and the small ropes will "pop" off, leaving only one long piece of
rope!
 
You may ask "won't the children realise that you have swapped the ropes?"
Well, in my experience, they never have.
 
For a full list of my object lessons and illusions, give me an email.
 
Maurice Sweetsur
mnmsweetsur@xtra.co.nz


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15) Trinity Sunday

We have done quite a lot of food things to help explain Trinity Sunday -
Eggs (shell, white, yoke), pies (bottom, filling, topping) Neopolitan ice
cream, pretzels. Food is always a good way to bring a group together. Hope
this helps.

Sabrina in Nashville


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