[easyazon-image-link asin="B004G600A4" alt="Tangled" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/6194D-hiQtL._SL160_.jpg" align="left" width="113" height="160"]Tangled is about a young princess, Rapunzel, taken from her parents because of her magic hair.  The witch who takes her (known as ‘mother’ in the film) wants to stay young and live forever.  She has discovered she can do this by listening to Rapunzel singing whilst combing her extraordinarily long hair. Rapunzel is kept captive in a tall tower and has never been allowed into the real world.  One day a young man, Flynn, comes across the tower and finds the princess.  He agrees to help her escape and in the process, they fall in love.  The rest of the film revolves around the adventures and fun they have as they make their way to the village for the lantern festival.  The pair have to escape from all sorts of problems and eventually come face to face with the witch who has kept Rapunzel captive all these years.  The film has a happy ending however, as eventually the princess is reunited with her real parents and lives ‘happily ever after’ with Flynn.

Scene 10 from 1 hour 17 minutes until 1 hour 24 minutes (or until the end of the film if you have time) Approximately 7 minutes.

The scene I have chosen from this film shows two acts of self sacrifice by Rapunzel and Flynn, due to their deep love for each other.  This would be a great way to introduce the Easter story and the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross.   This film clip will help the children to understand the concept of ‘sacrifice’ and also to appreciate how much Jesus loved us, that he gave up his own life, so that we could be friends with God and have the opportunity of eternal life with him.

Towards the end of the film, whilst Flynn is trying to rescue Rapunzel, he is fatally stabbed by the witch.  Rapunzel knows that her hair can save him and so she requests that if the witch will allow her to save Flynn with her magic hair, then she will agree to stay with the witch for ever and let her use her hair to stay young.  This is the first sacrifice, ie that Rapunzel is willing to give up her chance of freedom and a ‘normal life’ so that her friend Flynn can live.   Flynn, however, has other ideas and decides to cut off Rapunzel’s hair so that the witch will no longer be able to use its power and will therefore die.  By doing this he gives up his one opportunity to be healed from the stab wound and for his life to be saved.  His love for Rapunzel is so great, that he cannot face the thought of her having to stay with the witch for the rest of her life.   The second sacrifice is therefore the fact that Flynn gives up his own life so that Rapunzel can be free from the witch.  (Younger children could find some parts of this film a clip a little scary and so I would aim to use it with your older children.)

An Introduction to Using Holiday Clubs

Over the last 12 years I have been involved in a variety of holiday clubs at our church, ranging from 3 weeks in a row to just a two hour special.

There is no real definition of a holiday club, they seem to mean different things to different people.  For me it has always been a time during the school holidays to run activities that we don’t normally provide.

There are lots of reasons and advantages to running a holiday club:

• It provides a safe place for the children to play during school holidays.
• Holiday clubs usually last longer than the normal mid-week clubs and so you have opportunity to do activities that you don’t normally have time to do.
• The children tend to be more relaxed during the holidays, than they are during term time and so there is often a very different atmosphere in the clubs and the children are more open to learning.
• It’s additional time to build strong relationships with the children, away from the normal term time club setting.
• They prevent a long period of time (eg the six week school holidays) from having no contact with the children (this is especially the case for us because our Sundays schools are mid-week and do not run in the school holidays).

In recent years we have run Easter and Christmas holiday clubs.  We have found that quite often, the lead up to these special days is so busy with parties and rehearsing plays, that we don’t get the quality time that we would like to be able to do some good teaching on these events.  Our solution has been to set aside one or two days in the holidays to focus on Easter and Christmas.

Our aim is to tell the Easter and Christmas stories in a fun and interesting way, using games, crafts, film clips, cooking, drama, etc.  At the end of the club, we would normally have a ‘quiet time’ allowing the children to reflect on what they have heard about those stories and what it means to them and their lives.

The challenge of course is trying to find new and interesting ways of actually ‘telling’ the story, so that it doesn’t just become that same old story each year.  Below are some ideas we have tried in the past.  Please remember our setting though: a large council estate, unchurched children, hardly any budget and a very very small team!  However…..lots of enthusiasm and creative ideas!

 A Christmas Holiday Club Idea -

Time Travel!

The main theme of the club was that the children would enter a world of time travel and that a ‘Dr Who type’ figure would take them back in time in his time machine to discover what really happened on that first Christmas.  Each character that appeared during the 3 hour club was given a script to enable them to act out the part they were playing.  I have not included the scripts, as it is quite easy to make up your own.  I have, however, given an outline/summary of what each character said.

The afternoon includes 5 journeys in the time travel machine and 5 places/scenes that the children visit where they will watch adults act out various scenes.  Intermingled with this are games and crafts.  The time machine is a decorated gazebo (see below) and most of the other scenes were done are done with 2 other gazebos, decorated differently each time.  There was just enough time to decorate the gazebo for each scene whilst the children were in the time machine.

We had several leaders/helpers who stayed with the children all the time and then some others who were solely responsible for scenery and sound effects.  Another set of adults did the acting.  (We borrowed quite a few family members for this event!)

I have put approximate times next to each part, however if I remember rightly things took a little longer than expected!

Props, Costumes and Materials Required:

• Nativity Costumes – Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Wise Men, an angel and Herod.
• Other Costumes – Santa, elves and a brightly coloured suit jacket for the ‘time traveller’.
• 3 gazebos.
• Fairy lights.
• Paper stars.
• Green sheets.
• Craft materials.
• House hold props, eg table cloth, cooking bowls, books, sofa/comfy chairs.
• Christmas presents, paper and tinsel.
• Manger and doll.
• CD player and sound effects.
• Computer for Time Travel Machine (home made out of cardboard boxes!).
• Torch.
• Refreshments (we decided to give the children a light tea at the end of the club as well as a drink and biscuit at the beginning).
• Christmas music.
• Shepherd head gear for each child or old tea towels.
• Pass the parcel and other resources for other games you choose to do.
• Large blankets or pieces of cloth for the palace scene.
• Ornaments, lamps, etc for the palace scene.
• Bales of straw (not essential!).
• Thank you cards for the prayer time at the end.

The Time Machine

The time machine was a gazebo, decorated with fairy lights.  A home-made ‘computer’ stood in the centre of the machine, made from cardboard boxes and silver paint spray!  A home-made pre-recorded CD with ‘time travel sound effects’  added to the atmosphere which was played every time the children entered the  gazebo.

Introduction (10 mins)

• Have ‘silly’ easy Christmassy games to play until all the children arrive, eg pin the nose on Rudolph.
• Welcome and introductions by ‘Mr Time Traveller’.
• Give the children a drink and biscuit.
• Explain the rules and the afternoon.

Time machine Journey 1 (5 mins)

• Go to time machine!
• Time traveller introduces the time machine, lets the children take turns in pressing buttons, etc.  He explains the mission for the day: to discover the real meaning of Christmas by travelling back in time.  Every place they visit will give them clues for working out what Christmas is all about.
• Lights go off (but fairy lights stay on) and sound effects are played as the time machine ‘travels’.
• Time traveller encourages a sense of excitement as they travel through time!
• Mary’s house is set up during this time in another area of the hall.

Scene 1 – Santa’s Grotto (15 mins)

• Children enter another room where a gazebo has been decorated to look like Santa’s grotto, with some presents wrapped, some half wrapped, paper, tinsel, etc and Christmas music playing, eg ‘Santa Clause is coming to town’.  Santa is in the grotto with his two elf helpers.
• Santa is explaining what he is doing, making preparations for Christmas, wrapping presents, etc.  His two elf helpers are assisting him.   Santa talks about how important his job is at Christmas and that Christmas is all about him really. Santa suggests they all play a game.
• Play pass the parcel (in 2 small groups).  Have funny forfeits for each child to do in each layer of the parcel.
• At the end of the game Santa tells the children he needs to get back to work and the children all return to the time machine.

Time machine Journey 2 (5 mins)

• During this time Santa’s grotto is taken down and the room becomes the field where the shepherds will be.
• The time traveller reminds the children what they have just seen.  Do they think Santa is right?  Is he what Christmas is all about?  He suggests that they need to travel back 2000 years to try and find some answers .
• Lights out, sound effects on, big dramatic build up by time traveller as they prepare to travel.
• Lights on, time traveller leads them to their next destination, not giving them any clues as to where they are.

Scene 2 – Mary’s House and biscuit making (20 mins)

• In another area of the hall, Mary’s house has been prepared.  This is simply a gazebo with a couple of sofas, a table with a cloth on, books, cooking bowls, etc. made to look like a home.  Mary is sat at a table, making biscuits, singing to herself!
• Mary welcomes the children as they quietly walk in and sit down near the house.  Mary explains that she is just baking some bread for Joseph, her fiance.  Suddenly and Angel enters her house.  The Angel gives Mary the good news that she is having a baby and that it is God’s son.  Mary reacts in the appropriate way.  Mary starts talking very quickly, in shock, repeating that she ‘just can’t believe it!’.  Gradually she accepts the news.  She continues with her bread making.
• Mary invites the children to make some Christmas shapes with the dough she has pre-prepared.
•  Tables and plastic chairs are ready for the children to sit at.  Use table cloths so they can quickly be removed when scene is over and tables pushed to the side.
• The children are each given a bag of ready-made short-bread mix and can then shape the dough into something ‘chistmasy’ (having previously washed their hands!).
• A leader then needs to put the biscuits in the oven, let them cool once they are ready and then bag them up with the child’s name on, ready for them to take home at the end of the session.
• The children then wash their hands and return to the time travelling machine.

Time machine Journey 3 (5 mins)

• The time traveller reminds the children what they have just seen.  How do the children think Mary felt?  Was she happy?  Who sent the angel?  What do you think she did next?  The time traveller tells the children they need to go and find out what happened next.  He tells the computer to take them to the place where Mary had a baby.  The computer answers (another leader with a microphone): “It’s not that simple.  Mary and  Joseph couldn’t find anywhere to stay when they got to Bethlehem and things didn’t quite work out the way they planned.  I need to take you somewhere else before you see where Jesus was born.”
• The time traveller tells the children that for their next stop they need to look the part, so they need to pretend to be shepherds and put on these outfits!  (Give each child a t-towel to put on their head and something to secure it with.)
• Lights out, sound effects on, big dramatic build up by time traveller as they prepare to travel.
• Lights on, time traveller leads them to their next destination, not giving them any clues as to where they are.

Scene 3 – The Angels announce the birth to the shepherds (10 mins)

• During this scene, Mary’s house is changed to a stable.
• The children are led to the area that has been made to look like  a field.  This was simply a gazebo with some green sheets on the floor, and stars stuck on the walls and ceiling of the gazebo.  The room is made as dark as possible without being scary.  We had a home-made CD with some ‘night time’ noises being played, such as owls hooting, etc.  3 adults are dressed as shepherds and are sat on the green sheets.
• The children enter and sit on the edge of the ‘field’.
• The shepherds are chatting to each other (about the sheep, etc).  Suddenly an angel appears (and if possible somebody shines a torch on him/her).  The angel gives his speech (fear not, etc).  The shepherds are shocked and stunned.  Eventually the shepherds stand up, say their scripts and leave the gazebo to find the stable, taking a couple of sheep with them as gifts.
• The children are then taken to an area of the hall (not being used) to do some art and craft activities, related to the story.

Art and Craft Activities (20 mins)

• We chose two art and craft activities for the children to do, one with a ‘star’ theme and one with an ‘angel’ theme.  However, there are hundreds of Christmas crafts available for you to chose from!  Speed and ease was important to us for this day and so the children had a choice of decorating a red foam star or making a peg angel.
• When the children had finished they went outside to do a fun run-about game (linked to Christmas) which also let them burn off some energy!
• During this time the shepherd scene is turned into the palace scene.

Time machine Journey 4 (5 mins)

• The children return to the time machine and the time traveller recaps what they saw in the field.  He asks the children where they think they should travel to next.  Do the children think Jesus had any more visitors?  He tells them that they are going to find out what else happened after Jesus was born.
• Lights out, sound effects on, big dramatic build up by time traveller as they prepare to travel.
• Lights on, time traveller leads them to their next destination, not giving them any clues as to where they are.

Scene 4 – The palace, Herod and the Wise Men (5 mins)

• The children enter the room where the gazebo has been decorated to look like a palace, with long pieces of material draped over chairs and hanging from the sides of the gazebo.  Posh ornaments, lamps, etc are dotted around.  Herod is lounging on a chair in the gazebo.
• Three wise men  are knocking on a door.  King Herod is telling his servants to answer it.  The wise men come in and explain who they are looking for.  King Herod listens, gives the answer and says goodbye to them.  Once the wise men have left, King Herod reveals his true feelings about this ‘new king’ that has been born.  He shouts and gets angry…….very dramatic.  The time traveller quickly realises they should get back to the time machine and ushers the children away.  Who knows what this king is capable of?

Arts and Craft Activity and Game (20 mins)

• Another craft we chose for the children to do was to decorate a photo frame (small and inexpensive ones that we picked up from IKEA) with stickers that looked like jewels.  This was to link in with the palace and the wise men scene.  Inside each frame we had put a picture of baby Jesus with the words (The Greatest Gift of All), which had been done on the computer in advance.
• Once the children had finished, we took them outside again for another quick run-about game.

Time machine Journey 5 (5 mins)

• The children are taken back to the time machine for the final time.  The time traveller brings the time travel to an end by saying the following:  “Wow what did you think of that?  Do you think the 3 wise men did what King Herod wanted them to?  Do you think it was difficult following a star?  Was this part of God’s plan?  These were really important men…………very different from the shepherds.  Was this God’s way of making sure that everyone, whatever their back ground, rich poor, famous, unheard of, found out about Jesus?  Well do you think we have seen everything?  Where haven’t we been to yet?  There’s somebody we still haven’t seen!  Jesus!  Let’s go to the stable, and see what it was like!”
• Lights out, sound effects on, big dramatic build up by time traveller as they prepare to travel.
• Lights on, time traveller leads them to their next destination.

Scene 5 – The Stable and Conclusion (20 mins)

• A gazebo is used for the stable, with simply 2 bales of straw in it and a manger.  Mary and Joseph are sat on the straw, admiring their baby boy.  Joseph’s occasionally telling the animals to keep back!  Maybe shooing the odd chicken away.   Suddenly they hear voices as three shepherds knock on the door, asking if they’ve got the right place, telling Joseph that the angels had told them to come. Joseph is a bit unsure but Mary assures him it is ok.  The shepherds go in and drop to their knees in worship.  They Offer a lamb as a gift. They Keep saying things like ‘it’s just like the angel said it would be’.
• Another knock at the door and the three wise men appear.  They too tell their story and present their gifts to baby Jesus.
• The time traveller addresses the children.  It may go something like this!:  “I think we’ve found the true meaning of Christmas! As much as fun as it was playing games with Santa and seeing all his presents. That’s not the true meaning of Christmas.  It’s here.  This baby, God’s son.  The shepherds have brought him a lamb.  The wise men have brought him gold, frankincense and myrrh.  We were not there when Jesus was born, but we too can give him a gift.  We can say thank you to God for sending his son into the world.  On the table you will see some thank you cards.  Would you like to decorate them and write a message to God to say thank you?  Then we are going to sing a Christmas carol together and you can bring your thank you cards and put them in the manger.  Then we will say a prayer together.”
• Sing carol (eg Away in a Manger) and have prayer time together.
• Time traveller then brings the holiday club to an end:      “Well guys, I think it’s time to get back to our own time…….2011.  We know what happened on that first Christmas.  It’s up to us to tell people all about it!  Santa is fun……..but Jesus is the real reason we celebrate Christmas.  Let’s go and get some food!

The End!

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