Explore and respond
Activities marked with an asterisk 
next to the activity title are in addition to the resources in the Ready to go sessions. Suggested timings for these activities are also shown. NB The inclusion of additional activities varies from week to week.
VERY YOUNG CHILDREN
Relay race
Play and explore signs of good news
Divide the children into teams and have a relay race, passing on a ‘thumbs up’ to the next person in each team.
Make a heart
Create and share a sign of good news
Make salt dough hearts (see recipe below) which can be left to dry, and then shared with other members of the congregation as a sign of good news that they can use to decorate their Christmas trees.
Play dough recipe
(see also gluten-free play dough recipe)
Ingredients: 150g plain flour, 75g salt, 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, a few drops of food colouring, 300ml water in a jug.
Method: Sieve the flour, salt and cream of tartar together into a saucepan. Add the oil and food colouring to the water and add this slowly to the dry ingredients, stirring over a low heat. Mix until it forms a mass. Take the resulting play dough out of the saucepan and knead for a couple of minutes. This will keep in an airtight container for a week.
FOR CHILDREN
Hot seat W E A
Find out how someone lives as a sign of good news
You will need: pens and paper.
- Invite one of the young people or young adults to talk to the children about being a Christian in their everyday lives.
- Help the children to decide on one question each they would like to ask about how they can be a sign of good news, i.e. how they show God’s love to others in work/school. Encourage the children to write down their question, and then, one at a time, to ask it.
Good news timetable E A
Think about how we can be good news to others
You will need: paper, pens, stickers.
- Encourage the children to think about being a sign of good news in their everyday lives. Help them to think about the way they treat others, the things they do and the words they say.
- Ask them to draw a timetable of their normal week, marking out each day and writing in where they will be and what they will be doing.
- Provide different coloured pens or stickers and ask the children to mark four different points during the week where they could be a sign of good news. Challenge them to take these home and be God’s good news this week.
Sing
Preview song, then buy online and download.
We can do good, Fischy Music
Find more suggestions on the Hymns, songs & music page.
Talk together and talk to God
Use these questions to discuss the Bible passage and then bring your thoughts together by praying to God.
Talk together
- Can you think of a time when someone told you to change the way you behave? How did that feel?
- How do you think the people felt when John answered their questions?
- How can you make the things you do a sign of the good news?
Talk to God: What should I do? E S A
Pray about taking the good news everywhere
You will need: signs that read 'school', 'home', 'church', 'park', 'sports', 'afterschool clubs'.
- Place the signs around the room and say that you are all going to walk round the room, stopping in each place to pray.
- Walk to each sign in turn. Stop and pray: ‘When I am at XXX, help me to be a sign of the good news. What should I do?’ Pause for a moment, allowing the children to pray quietly.
Advent collection 10 mins E A
A practical way of being good news
You will need: boxes or bags, glue, stickers, other craft items, information on local charities.
- Encourage the group to think about how they can be good news at this time of year. Talk together about the different needs in your community, e.g. food banks, charity shops or local initiatives.
- After you have chosen one of these to support, ask the question, ‘What should we do?’, to decide how best to support the charity.
- Provide everyone with paper bags or boxes and craft items to decorate them with. Invite everyone to take the box or bag home to collect in, and then bring it back in the coming weeks so all the items collected can be donated together.
FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Show me a sign 10 mins W E
Look at how signs convey meaning
You will need: printed signs.
- Print out around 12 signs, e.g. road signs and other instruction or warnings.
- Work as a group to see how many everyone can recognise or guess at. Ask: How many of these have they seen in use? Could any meaning be made clearer?
Collage of coats 10 mins E S A
Count the cost of giving
You will need: magazines/newspapers, scissors, glue, paper, pens.
- John tells people who have two coats to give one away. In that time, coats were valued and most people only had one. Invite the young people to look through the newspapers and magazines to look for pictures of items they would like to have or that they already have and value.
Play the track, ‘Love God Love People’, Danny Gokey feat. Michael W. Smith on Haven’t Seen It Yet, during this activity.
- Encourage the young people to make a collage from these images, adding words about what other things they could give away as a sign of the good news, i.e. not material things.
What does God say? 5 mins E S
Experience listening as a form of prayer
- Invite the young people to spend some time praying quietly with the emphasis on listening to God.
Play the track, ‘Good News’, Mandisa on Out Of The Dark (Deluxe Edition), as they do this.
- Ask them to reflect in the light of what has been explored today, whether God is saying something to them about the way they value possessions or money.
Check-in: Connecting faith with everyday, real-life issues
Good advertisement 10 mins W
Think about the character of John the Baptist
You will need: pens and paper.
- Ask: If John the Baptist was running a campaign about getting ready for Jesus, what slogans might he use to encourage people to change their everyday lives to be ready to meet Jesus?
- Invite everyone to come up with their own slogan as a response to the question, ‘What should we do?’, e.g. repent and be honest.