Underwater Adventure 13th & 14th April
Day One
Excited children were welcomed into a very fishy looking church building! We said goodbye to parents and settled the children into small groups where they decorated sea creatures, before meeting altogether and meeting Holiday Club leaders Lyn and David. Chris inroduced the (very quiet!) children to the Easter Explorers theme song and “In the 16th verse of chapter 3” and before long it was time hear the first Bible story
On day 1 we met Jonah, the reluctant prophet. When God said “go”, Jonah said “no”. But though Jonah tried to run away on a boat it was no use, God is in control of everything, even the seas and waves. We acted out what it was like in a storm, we met the sailors who showed Jonah up in seeking God, and saw God’s mercy, mercy that extends even to Jonah. As Jonah fell into the heart of the sea, God rescued Jonah through the miraculous provision of a large fish. God gives us a second chance. We heard the encouragement to imitate the sailors and seek God’s mercy.
Children went back to their small groups and enjoyed squash and biscuits while thinking a little more about the Bible story they had just heard…. then they tidied everything away, covered their tables and got crafty – making big fish (where you could see Jonah, swirly water and various sea creatures inside it’s belly!)
The children played ‘Fish & Flips’ – The teams each had 8 paper fish which they needed to flip into the pond using a card ‘flapper’. The first team to flip all 8 fish into the pond were the winners.
The second game was called ‘All the fish in the sea’. Sitting in a circle each child was given the name of a fish – cod, haddock, plaice, prawn. When Lyn called the name of that fish, all the children with that name had to get up and move around the circle. How they moved depended on the sea, which could be calm (walk), choppy (skip), rough (jump) or stormy (run). If the ‘tide turned’, the children had to change direction and if ‘the fishermen were coming’ they needed to get back to their place as soon as possible. It was a fishy chaos but great fun.
The children finished off the morning all together, singing songs “sing a song, sing a joyful song”, and telling super sea themed jokes before being whisked home for lunch.
Day Two
The chiildren returned for more fishy explotits and started off the morning by making surprisingly realistic jellyfish in their small groups (aided by their group leaders and cadets – young helpers from 11-17). Once everyone had arrived we gathered them all together to go over the memory verse and songs from Day One and learn a new song “in Ephesians 3 verse 18”. Then it was time to find out what happened to Jonah…
For todays craft the child made Easter Gardens – using greenery from a variety of graden… and a lot of imagination!
We meet Jonah, freshly spat out from the giant fish, back on dry land and ready to obey God by going to Nineveh to warn the people of God’s coming judgement because of their wickedness. The people listened and said sorry to God. He saw that the people’s hearts had changed and he forgave them. Jonah was angry. “It’s not fair!” He said, “They are terrible people! They deserve to be punished!” Jonah only cared for himself. God loves, God cares and shows mercy. God loves each one of us and he wants us to say sorry to him, to turn to him and trust in Jesus. That’s the best news ever!
Later we played some more fun underwater themed games including 1) “Fish Fish Shark”, an underwater version of “Duck Duck Goose” which went swimmingly 2) Swordfish jousting with foam noodles where you need to knock your opponent’s foil tray over to win and 3) a whale drawing challenge, we had a whale of a time!
All too soon it was time to gather together for more fishy jokes, a run through of the memory verse from the Bible (which involved all of the childen and adults!) and some VERY enthusiastic singing!
We look forward to seeing everyone again soon at
Cops & Robbers Summer Holiday Club
Wednesday 31st August – Friday 2nd September
