FOOD WASTE FEAST Children s activity

Transcription

1 FOOD WASTE FEAST Children s activity 1

2 YOU LL NEED Printed copies for each child of The baskets sheet and have printed and cut up the same number of copies of the Facts sheet 12 containers (could be baskets, pots, envelopes) Glue sticks and coloured pencils, and maybe some scissors to trim down the pieces that will stick on the baskets. BEFORE THE EVENT STARTS Distribute the different facts into each of the containers, so that each container has a set of all the same facts. Hide the containers around the church (or venue). Set up a table with glue sticks, pencils etc. Optional some fish-shaped crackers or sweets to represent the fish and little bits of flat bread or other small biscuits/crackers to represent the loaves. Enough for each child to have two fish and five loaves. 2 Photo: Rhiannon Horton/Tearfund

3 AT THE EVENT You could either gather the children after they have eaten their main course but while the adults are still eating and discussing, or have the children sitting at a table together where they can eat at the same time as listening and chatting about the story. When children are gathered, tell them the story of the feeding of the 5,000. If you think they may know it already, ask them some questions to prompt them to tell you about it. BREAD AND FISH FOR ALL After this, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (some call it Tiberias). A huge crowd followed him, attracted by the miracles they had seen him do among the sick. When he got to the other side, he climbed a hill and sat down, surrounded by his disciples. It was nearly time for the Feast of Passover, kept annually by the Jews. When Jesus looked out and saw that a large crowd had arrived, he said to Philip, Where can we buy bread to feed these people? He said this to stretch Philip s faith. He already knew what he was going to do. Philip answered, Two hundred silver pieces wouldn t be enough to buy bread for each person to get a piece. One of the disciples, it was Andrew, brother to Simon Peter, said, There s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that s a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this. Jesus said, Make the people sit down. There was a nice carpet of green grass in this place. They sat down, about five thousand of them. Then Jesus took the bread and, having given thanks, gave it to those who 3

4 were seated. He did the same with the fish. All ate as much as they wanted. When the people had eaten their fill, he said to his disciples, Gather the leftovers so nothing is wasted. They went to work and filled twelve large baskets with leftovers from the five barley loaves. (John 6:1-13, The Message) DRAW OUT THE MEANING OF THE STORY Get the children to think for a minute what it would be like to have been there when Jesus fed the 5,000 and, in particular, to be the child who shared their packed lunch. Give them an idea of what 5,000 people would look like by using local examples eg everyone in our village, 100 x our church, or 10 x your school, all fed from only five loaves and two fish! Ask questions Why did Jesus feed the people? What does that tell us about God? Were you surprised that there were 12 baskets left over? And that Jesus was bothered to give instructions about the leftovers? What does that tell us about God? LEFTOVERS TREASURE HUNT Now we re going to have a bit of fun collecting up the leftovers in our baskets. Give each child a Baskets sheet and get them to write their name on it. You ll need a table with glue sticks & colouring pencils on it that the children can access. Explain that hidden around the church are baskets which contain leftovers facts about either food waste or 4

5 the Bible story (alternatively, you could use envelopes/tubs or other containers for the pieces that children will collect). Each container should hold enough copies of one kind of fact for every child in the church to collect one. You might want to pair children up for this activity. This is the sheet you ll need to have printed off and cut up beforehand one sheet per child or pair of children. Each child should collect 12 different facts to stick onto their 12 baskets. At some point the adults will stop talking to watch the film and listen to the leader give the main talk. Encourage the children to stop collecting at this point and listen too, you might want to gather them as a group to sit and listen (they could be adding some colour to their baskets sheet at this point). After the talk, people will be eating dessert and continuing their discussions, so the children can finish collecting and sticking then. PLENARY Either as a group or as individual children bring you their completed sheets, chat to them about whether they understood the facts (make this age-appropriate) and whether there is anything they could do in their household to reduce food waste. You could make a list of suggestions from the children (on a large sheet of paper) on how people could reduce their food waste. If you want to give the children a reminder of the story or a reward for successfully collecting all the facts, you could have some fish-shaped crackers or sweets to represent the fish and little bits of flat bread or some other small biscuits/crackers to represent the loaves for the children to eat once they have finished. Give each child two fish and five loaves. (Don t forget to check for allergies). EXTRA ACTIVITIES There are plenty of Feeding the 5,000 related colouring sheets, wordsearches etc on the internet if you want some extra individual activities. 5