The heroes in this story are Elizabeth and Mary. This lesson is written for those of us who don’t necessarily have 4 or 5 weeks of Christmas story teaching time, often because other Christmas events and special services take our time.
I went to Elizabeth’s – Version of ‘I went to grandma’s and took with me…’ The first child completes the sentence with an item, then second child repeats phrase ‘I went to Elizabeth’s and took with me…’ the first child’s item and adds their own. Continues adding items to the list until someone forgets one or more of the items. End the game by saying Mary went to Elizabeth’s and took with her a tiny little baby growing in her tummy.
Keeping ‘Mum’ – In English the phrase ‘keeping mum’ means to not say, to keep the secret. In this game you need to try to describe a bible character without mentioning their name (make it harder – you can’t refer directly to them either) Eg Peter – those people who hung out with Jesus all the time, a crow making 3 lots of noise, Prisoners released by an Angel…
Exploring the tree – This game is a simple hunt but can be incorporated into the seasonal decorations of the room. Take small pieces of pink ribbon, pink Christmas decorations, or use this printout of the two individual characters printed on card and hung as decorations. The children have to discover the hidden objects according to a clue you give them – make this age appropriate for your group. At the end talk about how the bright lights of Christmas hold a much more everyday story of two women being mother.
Pass the Dummy / pacifier – take a standard plastic pacifier and pass it round the circle. you can use any part of your body to pass the pacifier apart from your hands or your mouth. this game is really silly and can get noisy. Thought mostly silliness this game does link into the idea of journeying with something, and the idea of motherhood.
Protection – This is a parachute game that involves keeping the balls on the parachute. Mary and Elizabeth were given the task of protecting their children as they grew. talk about how we protect things, start with one ball on the parachute and get the kids to make it roll around the circle, slowly add more balls on. How many balls can you protect from touching the floor?
Obstacle race – This story has both a journey from one place to another as well as a journey through time. Set up an obstacle race using whatever your location allows. For older kids give them something they need to carry/protect for the duration of their journey.
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