Gift= HOPE

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This Magi craft is probably about as simple as they get, take your characters for a walk and journey across tables, floor, walls and anywhere else you may walk them in search of a king!

Print the 1 page PDF file onto regular paper and mount onto card, or print onto thin card.

Cut round your chosen character and remove the finger holes. I’d recommend a hole punch to help you get started! This can be done with any of the JWL heroes, just print the character so it’s about 10 cm high and cut out the holes for your fingers!

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This Magi craft uses the iconic idea of the star and the journey. It’s a craft ideal for the slightly older groups as it needs pretty accurate cutting and careful assembly, though it is really quite simple to do. This is a craft best printed in colour because the details are relatively small – the finished piece is 15cm (6 inches) wide.

Print the 3 page PDF file onto regular paper or thin card and cut round the shapes – remember to remove the inside of the frame piece. You will also need a glue stick.

Start by folding all the grey glue tabs. Where the tab touches an inside point of the star you need to cut into it so the tab is separated into 2 pieces.

Next fold the the outside strip along the black lines. you may find it useful to score and fold. Then combine into one long piece by gluing 2 of the big grey tabs together – leave the last one for later!

Start gluing by attaching the frame to the outside strip, you can do this on the inside or outside, – to make it clear I’ve done this on the outside and left the black lines showing too, but it would be neater if you worked the other way round.

Now we need to glue each layer of the image, start at the front and work backwards. Remember to leave a space between layers and try and keep as straight as possible.

The finished picture should resemble this one!

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The Magi, also known as the wise men or even the kings have such a great back story. By calling them Magi we distinguish them as different from the other learned men and kings of scripture. A Magus (plural Magi) is literally a Persian priest, a priest whose knowledge came from magic and stargazing. They were holy men whose lives search for divinity. The great hope they hold is that even when you are looking in the wrong places God can reach you. These games focus more on the search and less on Herod and his part played in the narrative.
 

I see God in that – Lay the following objects on the floor, also print or write out the statements. The children then need to match the object to the statement. End by saying that sometimes God can be found in unusual places. Alternatively, while this is a bit of a gag game, getting the youngsters to make up their own reasons is a great way to stretch older children.

Bottle of water – He washes our sins away
Egg box – Jesus chose 12 disciples we don’t have to do things alone
Pushpins – Jesus was held on the cross
Hairbrush – God loves us so much he knows how many hairs are on our head
Sunglasses – When Moses saw God his face shone
Fan – The Holy spirit comes like the wind
Circle – God’s love is eternal, it will never end
Key – Becoming a Christian is like giving God the key to your heart
Feel free to add your own!
 

Bright hands – Dim the lights in the room. Have a leader stand in as high a position as possible and using a bright flash light shine a circle of light on the floor. Tell the children they must follow the light trying to keep one hand always lit. As the leader moves the light the children need to run to re-illuminate their hand!
 

Parachute Terrain – This is a really simple parachute game for the younger children. Have the youngsters gather round the edge of the parachute and think about the long journey. Use objects on the the flat parachute to illustrate. Then talk about the land he would have passed, flat land and hilly land. Have the children suggest what to use for hills, other balls, feet, or lifting the sides of the parachute. Continue from hills to mountains, from gentle breezes to story seas.
 

Find the light – take a glow-stick and hide it in a room, turn off bight lights and let the children find it. As a minute game it works well, but if you want a longer version then use two sets and give each child a glow stick and ask them to find it’s matching pair. The darker the spot it is hidden in the easier it is to find. Talk to the children about how sometimes it’s when things are dark that we see the light of God most clearly.
 

Obstacle course – A traditional game of setting up whatever you have available and getting the children to follow the course laid out. While it may take a bit of setting up this is a favorite with many groups.
 

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Each hero set contains a high quality graphic of the character, a take home bible card and a colouring page.
I’ve included extras here with the single characters.

The images are displayed small here, click on the image you wish to have, then save the image that loads.
(Please note : these images have no watermark but are not copyright free, they are only intended for classroom use.)

English – scroll down for extras

German

Extra’s – separate graphics (English only)
 

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Today’s heroes are the Magi, who were very wise.

Imagine spending your whole life hoping to find something amazing. Hope is a very powerful emotion, it stops people from giving up and encourages people to change dreams into reality… I wonder what you hope for? (If suitable pause for a moment here and discuss hope, or just ponder before continuing)

Today’s heroes spent their lives looking and hoping for something amazing, spectacular and awesome. The problem was that they didn’t know where to look.

They didn’t know abut God like we do, there were no Jews where they lived, and Christians didn’t exist yet. They lived a long long way away from the holy lands. But, they were intelligent men, they studied the world around them and found knowledge in God’s creation. Perhaps they mapped the land or traveled the sea, perhaps they learnt about the different tribes and cities around them. We do know they studies how the stars moved. They hoped that if they studied hard they would learn the secrets of the universe.

For years and years they found great things in God’s wonderful world, but they still they looked. Then one night as they looked up to the sky everything changed. There was a star so huge everybody stopped talking and just starred. How could the sky have a star so big and bright?

The next day all they could talk about was the star. Everybody agreed that the star must mean something. It must be a sign of something great. Everybody stayed up that night to see the star again, and when they did they realized the star had moved. Night after night the star moved, and day after day the Magi sat and talked about what it could mean. Eventually they decided that it must be a sign, pointing them towards a great event, the birth of a great king.

Perhaps they were wrong, but they hoped they were right. The more they thought about it the more they decided they should do something. If such an amazing king was to be born they should go see him, take him gifts, and kneel before him. They didn’t know how far the star would travel, and even if there would be a king at the end of the journey.

Still, they packed some bags and left. Their hope kept them going and the star guided them. Eventually they came to the land of the Jews, they tried to visit the palace but the star did not stop there. The advisers in the palace told them a prophecy, a great king would be born in a small town called Bethlehem. And that’s exactly where it did stop. Bethlehem didn’t seem very impressive, but the Magi started to ask people if any babies had been born.

The town was full of stories about a small boy who had been born, the babies first bed had been a feeding trough, and his first visitors a bunch of smelly shepherds with a crazy story about the sky filling with singing angels. It didn’t sound like the child was the normal kind of king, but he was definitely something amazing, special and spectacular.

When the Magi found the young Jesus they knelt down before him and gave him their gifts.
Precious gold, the gift of royalty.
Sweet smelling frankincense that was used in worship.
and Myrrh for keeping bad smells away.
Their hopes had been fulfilled and they worshiped Jesus.

Today’s heroes are the Magi because they show us the gift of a Hope
 

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This is the second part of the JWL little nativity scene. It comes with the disclaimer that while it’s not robust enough to store from one year to the next it is rather darling, and it’s based on the more traditional viewpoint hence the camels and three male magi.

The first part with characters are here, the angels come from this craft. Print the PDF page onto regular paper and cut round the characters. You will also need a sheet of acetate, a stapler and a glue stick.

Take the sheet of acetate and cut into 2 pieces length-ways. One half will be used for the walls the other half will be used for the characters. The characters stand up using a rectangle of acetate rolled into a tube and stapled.

Try and put the staple where it won’t be seen and attach the paper to the acetate using a glue stick. If you can’t access acetate then use paper or card for supports.

Arrange your characters wherever you wish, replace the shepherd and sheep or leave them in, you may want to cut the base of one angel to prop it on the roof as shown.

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