Christmas Balloon Bust

December 4, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials:
Red and green balloons and 4 pins.

Activity
Find Open area able to accommodate the entire group sitting in chairs. You may choose to sit them on the floor instead.Station four teams stationed inside a square area. Once a person finds a spot he/she likes, he/she must sit in the chair and is not allowed to leave the seat. Outside the square on each side is a Santa sitting in a chair holding a reindeer antler (pin). There is one Santa for each of the four teams. The objective is to knock balloons toward your team’s North Pole where your Santa will bust them with a reindeer antler (pin.) Red balloons worth 20 points. Green worth 10. When you run out of balloons, tally the scores and declare a winner.

Christmas Collection
Games and Activities helping youth discover the Reason for the Season.Get more than 200 creative ideas for planning a Youth Christmas celebration or Christmas Party party. You can immediately download my best Christmas Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Christmas activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!
=> Tell me more about the Christmas Collection

Game Ideas

Candy Cane Tug

December 4, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Miniature size candy canes.

Activity
Played in the manner of breaking the wishbone of a turkey, the objective is to connect the two candy canes at the curved end and pull. The first candy cane to break is eliminated. Continue challenges until only a couple winners remain. You can also do this with regular size candy canes or even have them place it in the mouth for the challenge.

Read about the significance of the Candy Cane to the Birth of Christ in the “Legend of the Candy Cane”

Game Ideas

Candy Cane Relay

December 4, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Miniature size candy canes and toothpicks for each participant.
Divide the participants into two teams. Give each team five small candy canes. On signal, the team members pass their canes to the end of the line (one at a time) and back again using toothpicks stuck in their mouths.

Variations
Using candy canes in their mouth as hooks they must pass candy canes or other items.

Read about the significance of the Candy Cane to the Birth of Christ in the “Legend of the Candy Cane”

Teaching Illustrations

Christmas According to Gabriel

December 4, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

“He motioned toward me, and I responded, kneeling again before Him. Handing me the necklace, He explained, ‘This vial will contain the essence of Myself; a Seed to be placed in the womb of a young girl. Her name is Mary. She lives among my chosen people. The fruit of the Seed is the Son of God. Take it to her.’

‘But how will I know her?’ I asked.

‘Don’t worry. You will.’

I could not comprehend God’s plan, but my understanding was not essential. My obedience was. I lowered my head, and He draped the chain around my neck. Amazingly, the vial was no longer empty. It glowed with
Light.

‘Jesus. Tell her to call My Son Jesus.’ … .

On a wave of worship I flew, this time alone. I circled through the clouds and over the ground. Below me was the city where Mary was born. The Father was right; I knew her in an instant. Her heart had no shadow. Her soul was as pure as any I’ve seen.

I made the final descent. ‘Mary.’ I kept my voice low so as not to startle her.

She turned but saw nothing. Then I realized I was invisible to her. I waved my wings before my body and incarnated. She covered her face at the Light and shrank into the protection of the doorway.

‘Don’t be afraid.’ I urged.

The minute I spoke, she looked up toward the sky. Again I was amazed.

I praised My Father for His wisdom. Her heart is so flawless, so willing. ‘Greetings. God be with you.’

Her eyes widened, and she turned as if to run. ‘Mary, you have nothing to fear. You have found favor with God ….

‘Yes, I see it all now; I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say.’

As she spoke, a Light appeared in her womb. I glanced at the vial. It was empty.” [The Angel Gabriel]

Source: Max Lucado “Cosmic Christmas”

Food for Thought

Blessings

December 3, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Today I stood at my window and cursed the pouring rain,
Today a desperate farmer prayed for his fields of grain
My weekend plans are ruined, it almost makes me cry
While the farmer lifts his arms and blesses the clouded sky.

The alarm went off on Monday and I cursed my work routine,
Next door a laid off mechanic feels the empty pockets of his jeans.
I can’t wait for my vacation, some time to take for me,
He doesn’t know tonight how he’ll feed his family.

I cursed my leaky roof and the grass I need to mow,
A homeless man downtown checks for change in the telephone.
I need a new car, mine is getting really old,
He huddles in a doorway, seeking shelter from the cold.

With blessings I’m surrounded, the rain, a job, a home,
Though my eyes are often blinded by the things I think I own.

Game Ideas

Candy Cane Pick-Up-Sticks

December 3, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Candy canes, wrapped or unwrapped, stacked into a pile. You can use some candy canes of a different color and give them a higher point value. Traditionally, there are Blue Sticks – 50 Points, Green Sticks – 40 Points, Red Sticks – 25 Points, Yellow Sticks – 10 Points. Change this according to the frequency of colors and rarity for your candy canes.

Activity
Played like traditional pick-up-sticks, the objective is to remove one candy cane from the pile without disturbing the remaining candy canes. Use a small stick such as a kebab skewer or chopstick as a tool in picking up the candy canes. The first player picks up candy canes, one at a time, until he causes any other candy cane to move besides the one he is attempting to pick up. The other team then gets its chance to do the same.

Read about the significance of the Candy Cane to the Birth of Christ in the “Legend of the Candy Cane”

Christmas Collection

Games and Activities helping youth discover the Reason for the Season.Get more than 200 creative ideas for planning a Youth Christmas celebration or Christmas Party party. You can immediately download my best Christmas Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Christmas activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!
=> Tell me more about the Christmas Collection

Game Ideas

Candy Cane Horseshoes

December 3, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Candy canes and a stick. Be sure the candy canes are wrapped in plastic as they are almost guaranteed to break into a number of small pieces during game play. For indoor games you can either drive a nail into a flat piece of wood or turn a table or stool over and use one of the legs as the post.

Activity
In the manner of playing horseshoes, the objective is to take turns to toss the candy cane at an upright stick. Place a stick vertically somewhere in the ground. Then participants take turns throwing candy canes (underhand) at it. A game is divided into rounds and each round constitutes the pitching of two candy canes by each contestant. In each round, the one with the highest score goes first.The objective of the game is to get your candy cane closest.

Scoring
A candy cane must be within six (6) inches of the stake to score. A candy cane that first strikes the ground outside the target area or rebounds from behind the stake cannot be scored, nor can any candy cane thrown from an invalid position. A “ringer” (3 points) is a candy cane that encircles the stake so that a straight edge could touch the two prongs without touching the stake. The closest cane from each pair scores 1 point. A leaning shoe has no value over one touching the stake. The points are scored according to the position of the shoes at the round’s end, that is, after the contestants have each thrown two candy canes. This means it is possible for the second player to knock the opponents candy canes either away or closer to the stake.

Read about the significance of the Candy Cane to the Birth of Christ in the “Legend of the Candy Cane”

Christmas Collection

Game Ideas

Candy Cane Hockey

December 3, 2005 kensapp 1 Comment

Materials
Miniature size candy canes, candy goal markers, and a candy hocky puck.

Activity
Make a goal at each end of a table using markers attached to the table… These markers can be a piece of candy or even candy canes stuck to the table with some blue tack adhesive. Make the goal posts about 4 inches apart. Use a jelly bean for a hockey puck. (It moves but doesn’t roll off the table to easily) Using the candy canes as hockey sticks try to shoot the jelly bean through the net of the opponent. The opponent is allowed to block the shots, but only with the candy canes. If at any time a body part touches the bean or your opponent, it’s an instant disqualification. The first to a set number of points wins. You can also determine the winner by who has the most points after a predetermined amount of time.

Read about the significance of the Candy Cane to the Birth of Christ in the “Legend of the Candy Cane”

Christmas Collection

Game Ideas

Candy Cane Connection

December 3, 2005 kensapp

Materials
Miniature size candy canes broken in half.

Activity
Use this game to break your group up into pairs as a mixer. Mix up the halves of the candy canes and hand them out to participants. When everyone has arrived, have participants try to find the other half of their candy canes!

Read about the significance of the Candy Cane to the Birth of Christ in the “Legend of the Candy Cane”

Christmas Collection

Music

We Are the Reason

December 3, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

As little children we would dream of Christmas morn
and all the gifts and toys we knew we’d find.
But we never realized a Baby born one blessed night
Gave us the greatest gift of our lives…
WE are the reason that He gave His life;
We are the reason that He suffered and died.
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live.

As the years went by we learned more about gifts–
The giving of ourselves and what that means.
On a dark and cloudy day a Man hung crying in the rain,
Because of love–because of love.
WE are the reason that He gave His life;
We are the reason that He suffered and died.
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live.

I’ve finally found a reason for living;
It’s in giving every part of my heart to Him.
In all that I do, every word that I say
I’ll be giving my all just for Him…for Him…
WE are the reason that He gave His life;
We are the reason that He suffered and died.
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live…
He is my reason to live!

Words and Music by David Meece

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