Razzamatazz Robots (30 Aug - 1 Sept)
Day One – God made the world
The Hailsham ‘Robot Laboratory’ was buzzing with excitement as children arrived and takn to their Creation Stations – Robopups, Autocats, Cyborgs, Droids, Megazords and Autobots. They were soon busy colouring robot game pieces and playing the Robot Rescue board game.
We gathered together for the Input Data session, ensuring all junior robots were limbered up and ready for action with our robot exercises. Then the RazzyJazzy Rhythm Robots helped us learn some songs with actions. Dawn then gave each team some playdough or Duplo bricks with a challenge to make an animal in two minutes. Each team did a great job at creating an animal! In our true story from the Bible (Genesis 1 & 2), Dawn helpfully told us how God made the world and everything in it, but he didn’t use playdough or bricks or anything else! He made it all just by speaking! God also made people in his image, to live in his amazing world and to be friends with him. It was very good and perfect.
The children thought more about this story in their small groups during the research and investigation time. They also recharged their batteries whilst enjoying their snacks. It was then invention time! The children got crafty as they made a Tree of Life complete with leaves, fruit, and the memory verse. When they had been completed, much fun was had during games time in the vicarage garden. The first game was Robot Drive. All the teams managed to collect all their pieces and successfully build a huge robot. We finished our fun time in the garden with a story game.
In our final time together, we downloaded data to review what we had learnt through the morning, heard some silly jokes, watched the ever-popular Watt Family drama as they began a robotic adventure, and finished by singing songs about our Creator God.
Day Two – People ruined it!
The early morning craft at the Creation Stations were spiral snakes and the children quickly got to work. The Input Data session began again with Robot exercises and some songs before we had our true story from the Bible from Genesis 3. Lyn showed us a beautiful scarf that she had been knitting…. but then she cut it in half! One simple act had ruined it! In our Bible story, we had heard how Eve disobeyed God by eating the fruit from the Tree of knowledge of good and evil. One simple act and sin came into God’s perfect world and spoilt everything – relationships with God, each other and creation were broken. God was sad and angry, Adam and Eve were banished from the garden and Satan who had appeared in the form of a snake, was cursed. Things looked very bad… but there was a hint of something better to come!
After some time in groups where we talked about this more and had a snack, it was Invention time and today the children would build their own junk model robots. Following this very creative time, fun was had playing Robber Robots where the children had to steal treasure from other teams and a Relay Robots Assault course where the children used a robotic hand (litter picker) to transport a ball along a series of obstacles before putting the ball into a container. The fun filled morning ended with more silly jokes, the Watt Family drama, and some very loud and enthusiastic singing with great actions!
Day Three – He rescued it!
Great fun was had decorating biscuits to make robot faces. Our true story from the Bible today was from Luke 2:1-7 and some verses from Colossians. Steve helped us to understand that although God’s perfect world was spoilt by sin, God had a plan – the best plan, an unstoppable plan – to rescue the world and his people. God put his master plan into action. God himself came into the world. Jesus, God’s Son, was born in Bethlehem. This baby born in poverty was God’s Forever King come to earth, so we might know God and be friends with him forever.
After recharging their batteries and the research time, the children set about building wooden robots with kits that John had kindly made. The robots looked amazing! The games brought more fun with a challenging memory verse treasure hunt and then time to play the Robot Rescue board game again.
The final Download Data all together time was filled with more daft jokes, great pictures drawn by the children, great singing and the climax of the Watt Family drama brought to us by the cadets. What a great time we had!
Memory Verse – Jesus said, I am the way. And I am the truth and the life. The only way to the Father is through me. John 14:6
