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<>< <>< SSTN-Volume 1-Number 133<>< <><
December 15, 2000
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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:
1) Inexpensive costumes
2) Angel costumes
3) Easy shepherd & angel costumes
4) Super Easy Shepherd & Angel costumes
5) Bible outdoor games?
6) Theme For January
7) Mentally handicapped
Sunday school?
8) HELP!! age 3-5 Children's Church
9) Bible Olympic theme in January
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1) Inexpensive costumes
Hello! For years our angel costumes consisted of men's white dress shirts turned backwards and buttoned up in the back together with wings made from cardboard, painted white (or white cardboard or even bristle board) with gold garland around the edges. The halo on the angel's head was gold garland cut and taped to the size of the child's head. Shepherd's costumes were housecoats that tied at the waist with dark coloured ties holding towels on their head. We also had them carry a wooden stick as their staff. All items were donated by everyone in our congregation or the children brought their own from home (that way they were really comfortable wearing them too). I hope this helps. Good Luck. And Merry Christmas to all the readers! What a great resourse Sarah!! Keep up the good work!! Tuula from Kaministiquia
(Thank you, Tuula! Yours in Christ, Sarah-Your Moderator)
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Have A Family Game Night At Home Or Church!
You can purchase Christian games such as "Bibleopoly", "Bible Scattergories", "Bible Blurt", or "Veggie Tales", in The Bible Game Store! Enjoy!
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2) Angel costumes
I was in the same position and requested some ideas for angel costumes, God is so good i figured it out before the request was even posted in the newsletter. I bought twin white sheets $3.00 a piece and folded them in
half, cut a hole at the top by the measurement of there head, used rope garland in silver to trim the cut stapled it,
i am no seamstress, measured the children from neck down to top of foot and
trimmed bottom of used tape to fold up hem, measured wrist to wrist, cut extra off sides and taped it as
well, used same garland for belt with little knots at each end to finish it off.For wings used simple pattern both wings drawn connected for
support, cut two small slits on each wing near shoulders to run elastic straps through and stapled ends together and sealed with tape . To hide the straps from the back ,cut second pattern set of wings and stapled on top also helped with
support, no coat hangers was needed. Found some white garland and trimmed around the wings to give a feathery look. Same rope garland was used for halo, measured kids head , used wire garland
inter-twined with rope garland for support and fit. our play is going to be the 17th too. Working on back drops now, Thanks to Faith Scott for a wonderful play for our children church to
do. May God bless you this season, Thanks again to this wonderful newsletter, love your sister in Christ, Kim Cole Mebane, N.C.
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3) Easy shepherd & angel costumes:
Shepherd: Take a bolt of fabric- (I get mine for free from a local office furniture manufacturing company) cut long strips about six feet long by 3 feet wide, fold in half and cut a hold for their heads. Now just put over child's head and tie with a colorful scrap fabric sash at the waist. To make some look different add a drape over one shoulder of a large rectangle of fabric and secure inside fabric waist sash. Use checked dishtowels for the head coverings with stretchy headbands to hold them. Now for a child size staff, buy the plastic candy cane lawn ornaments at a $Dollar Store and wrap with brown packing tape!
Angel: use any white inexpensive fabric and do the same as above only wrap the waist with gold or silver tinsel roping. You can also start behind the child's neck with the roping and cross over the chest area and then behind their back, and then bring roping back to the front of their body and tie and let drape at the waist. For headbands make a
circle of the roping and place on the head. You can also add a cape like drape of fabric at the neck for a wing type effect. Very simple and very cute! Enjoy, Mary Goemaat
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Get 32 CHRISMON-KIDS pattern sheets FREE from now till Christmas 2000
when you purchase 3 Chrismon Snowflake Ornament books! Click on CHRISMON BOOKS from the home page of ChristianCrafters.Com. OFFER NOT VALID IN THE BOOKSTORE!!!
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4) Very Easy Shepherd & Angel costumes
We have 2 - 4 year old Sunday School. Each Sunday of Advent we retell the
Christmas story with very easy costumes. Shepherd wear a brown sash, tied
with a rope around their waist, and angels wear silver tinsel halo. This
lets us have numerous shepherds and angels each Sunday. Karen, Austin,TX
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5) Bible outdoor games?
Hello! Our church is going to have a camp in two weeks time and we're in need of ideas for Bible outdoor games. Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
God Bless, Ella-South East Asian Baptist Church, Singapore
--from ChristianCrafters.Com: Many of the free resources on the Bible games page will work outdoors as well! There are now over 30 games on the Bible games page! Enjoy! Sarah Keith-Your Moderator.
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Visit CREATIVE IMAGINATIONS--"The Fun-In-Education Site" at:
http://www.creativeimaginations.NET
Featuring 'Picture This'-Free Tangram puzzles and an educational
bookstore with puzzles, books and games for kids!
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6) Theme For January
>At my church, because the attendance goes down in January, we suspend our regular >church school program, and do a special theme for the 4 weeks of January. It was my
> We could have an opening & closing ceremony and give out medals, but how will I >match the olympic achievements of the athletes to those of the leaders in the Bible?
> Any thoughts to get my creative juices flowing would help and be much appreciated.
A lot of the major curriculum publishers have curriculum with an Olympic theme. One Way Street (www.onewaystreet.com) has one. There was a VBS with this theme also. We used one from Pentecostal Publishing House called "Winners." We made a small figure for each child (from tag board). Each was running and carrying a torch (pattern available in book). We made a "track" using 2 walls. Crumpled brown and green bulletin board paper and stapled it to the wall. The brown was the path, the green represented foliage along he path. We divided the path into segments (small triangle shaped pennants marked the miles). The children earned points (miles) and moved their figure accordingly. At the end of the race we had the path end at Heaven (gate, etc.) From the ceiling we hung a piece of
foam board covered with fiberfill. Standing on the foam board were Bible characters (I purchased these at a Bible book store - they were paper, 24" tall) which we attached to foam board (spray adhesive) and cut out. The message here was if you run your race the way the Bible instructs you will be a winner and Heaven is our goal and reward. We awarded trophies (We bought ours at a trophy shop-Oriental Trader has inexpensive ones if you need a lot of them) to those who made it to the finish, ribbons to everyone who participated. Some of the lessons were told by the Bible character in the first person. We actually made large Heaven's gates (that opened) near the front of the room. These had a PVC frame, & cardboard covered with shiny white paper. After the character told the story the two angel mascots (Alpha and Beta) stood near the gates. One had a large book & a crown, the other a trumpet. We had recorded trumpet sounds, and when the character stepped to the gates one angel would check the book to be sure his name was there, and then put the crown on his head. The other blew the trumpet and one of the gates would open, just enough for the character to slip inside. We built mansions (cardboard boxes covered with white paper and lots of glitter) and that is all the children ever saw of heaven. The character then changed clothes and slipped out the side. Have you done a search on Christiancrafters.com website for ideas? Also check out www.childrensministry.net-go to archives and do a search on Olympics. Hope this helps-Teresa
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7) Mentally handicapped Sunday school?
Hi my name is Kim and we teach a mentally handicapped sunday school class they
are adults they are not kids but they have a child's mind do you know anything i can type in to find stuff for the special class? I know they have to be something out there to look for.... Well anyway if you know something please contact me back at this email address we have already have our learner books we teach out of I just wanted to make some crafts with them or something like that... I just need a key word i can type in under search to find such stuff as this..... thanks so much....Kim
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8) 3-5 Children's Church-HELP!!
I have been put in charge of the 3-5 year olds for children's church. What type of set up works best. I'm used to working with teens and I'm at a loss of ideas. The set up here has been sunday school then into the sanctuary for praise and worship and then sent upstairs for an hour to an hour and a half. Previously the kids, all the kids! just ran wild with one teacher and teenager. Now they're separated by ages and pastoral want us to do something. I've been trying to establish order and am ready to implement a program just not sure what works best with the short attention spans. HELP!! God bless-Tami Gray
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9) Bible Olympic theme in January
- Why not ahead of time give out printed sheets of scripture passages for participants to study and memorize as they wish- Use some Psalms we all know, passages from
Genesis, etc. During the competition ask questions about the passages. eg.
-Where is this verse found?
-Finish this passage. . .
-Who wrote this book-
-Who was the author talking to?
-Ask questions about who was whose father etc.
Use bible trivia type questions too, although I would go heavier on the questions that allow people to become familiar with them in the study section in December so they all feel good about learning the answers and won't be intimidated competing
against someone with more general bible knowledge than them.
-Ask teams to write down the next verse following a passage you read, the team with the best word for word recall wins the point.
-Ask questions about the order things created on what day, etc.
This will format will allow for individual and team competitions- maybe start with teams then go to individuals the last two weeks- This would allow a project for families and individuals to practice and study over the Christmas break time.
Dinn Brothers has religious medals that you can order for approx. $1-2 dollars each I think, and there are also stickers with gold silver and bronze Olympic seals that are inexpensive. I have the address for the catalogue for medals if you want to order them.
You could also lighten the heavy question time by making one day game day. Use wacky obstacle courses or games on the biblical theme. Awarding team points to the winner of each game. Like a David a Goliath scramble, first person runs and takes a lunch to his brothers, then next five members pick up rocks, go back and tag next team member, until they have the five smooth stones, next member takes on and throws it at a cardboard Goliath, etc. first team done wins get the point. You can make all kinds of goofy games like this:
-creation scramble putting objects in order of creation. Use black felt, bowl of water, Christmas tree stars, plastic fish and birds etc.
-Have teams fill up measuring cups with water with small spoons- they are creating the oceans. Do the same with sand etc. Email me at mary@faithrc.com for more brainstorm game ideas or the name of the catalogue. Hope this helps! Mary Goemaat -Children's Director in Michigan.
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