Hey Kids,  Today is Advent Sunday.  The word Advent means coming.  It is about Jesus coming to be with us first as a baby long ago.  Through these four weeks leading up to Christmas we remember how God told his people he would send Jesus and how that happened.
But we also remember that he promised to come again and we prepare our hearts for that future time.

We have some craft activities for you to do at home and some your family can do together.
The theme for the first Sunday of Advent (today) is Hope.  There are a couple of sheets about hope.

Then there are sheets for the whole season of Advent:

• A special 'Colouring-in calendar' as you count down the days to Christmas.
  
• A Jesse Tree:  Do you remember we have just learnt about Ruth and Boaz?   Jesse was their grandson and the father of King David.  And many generations later from that family line came Jesus.  The Jesse tree helps you gain a big picture view of the Old Testament lead up to Jesus.
  
• A nativity scene you can make yourself for your own place.
  

Have fun!

Today we carry on with the story of Ruth.  Do you remember we have followed it for the previous two weeks?  If not, look back on this Blog and pick up the puppet shows which told parts 1 and 2.  This is a short version:

Now we have the third episode of the puppet show - and you can read the Bible story here:

Here are some activity sheets for you.

1. When you have watched the story or read it in Ruth Chapter 4, you can have a go at the Word search.
2. You can colour in the scene where Ruth and Boaz are working in the harvest field.
   
3. If you like codes - there is a coded word puzzle.
   
4. It turns out that Boaz and Ruth had an important great grandson and a very, very, very important later descendant.   (Who might that be?)  Get your Bible and see if you can fill in David's family tree.
5. 3D Art: This is a more challenging art project.  Have a look at the picture and see if you could make a card with 3D wheat as in the picture - then draw some of the people from the story on the page!

Today we carry on with the story of Ruth.  Do you remember we started it last week?  If not, look back on this Blog and pick up the puppet show which told the first part.  This is a short version:

A family (Elimelech and his wife Naomi and their sons) had left their homeland and gone to a neighbouring land to find food.  They were away for 10 years.  The sons grew up and married local girls.  Then the father died and both of his sons.  Naomi and her daughters-in-law were left as widows.
She decided to go back to her hometown which was Bethlehem.  One daughter-in-law called Ruth insisted on going with her to help her because she loved her and Naomi was getting old. 

Now we have the second episode of the puppet show - and you can read the Bible story here:

Below the video there is a download for an activity sheet with:

• for the word-smiths, a word search puzzle.
• for the craft-lovers, a picture you can cut out and colour.
• a colouring sheet showing Ruth collecting barley heads for food.
• There is a maze to solve,
• And a spot the difference puzzle.

And if you get stuck with the puzzles, here are the answers - but don't cheat!!!

Hey Kids, Ruth is a great book to use to learn about loyalty and faithfulness.  Ruth stays faithful to her mother-in-law, Naomi, and leaves her own community to join Naomi's.  Not only this, but she takes on a faithfulness to Naomi's God and becomes an ancestor of David- an amazingly important woman!

Craig and Wendy tell the story with puppets and then we have some activities for you:

• A calendar to help you read the whole little book over a month.  It is a good story with trouble, rescue a hero and a heroine and a happy ending.
  
• How about a colouring sheet?
• For the more wordy ones there is a word search, and
• the Braid Project is a craft to help pick up and explore the theme of the unity that comes from faithfulness to each other and to God.

Have fun.