Tower of Babel kids' Game.

This little game is so much fun, I want to do it myself right now! You'll need spaghetti and Jelly babies. One Jelly baby per strand of spaghetti. That's all.

Game: The Tower of Babel
Genesis 11
Share this story with the children: God had told people to spread over the whole earth, but they decided they had a better idea, to all stay in one place. So God confused their languages so they had to split up and go and do what he’d asked them to do in the first place! The point being that even if we are daft enough to go against God and choose our own ways instead, it will work out rather pointless in the end!
• 11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar[b] and settled there.
• 3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
• 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
• 8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel[c]—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
This fun game is a great opportunity to share with the children what happened at the Tower of Babel.

Working alone or in groups, give each team to same quantity of Spaghetti and Jelly Babies. The object of the game is to build the tallest tower possible in the allotted time, pushing the ends of the spaghetti into the candy to join it together.

You could have winners for style and design as well as height!

*TOP TIP* if you’re struggling to get off the ground, try making the structures entirely of triangles, and you should have more success.

Once the children have all attempted the first tower and seen how the winning design works, have a speed trial. Give the children a meagre one minute event, and see who can build the biggest.

The Minister's Cat game rules

Sharing with your children is going to be a piece of cake today!  I'm not going to have you dancing, cutting, painting, mixing, baking or glueing!

Here's a classic game you may well know by another name, but we call it The Minister's Cat.

All you need is you and a child, or children.  The game is simple. Working through the alphabet, you take turns describing the personality traits of the wonderfully exotic 'Minister's Cat', in any way you choose, inventing as you go along.

The tricky part comes as you move through the alphabet; on each turn you have to remember and say the previous adjectives.

For example, player one may say:
'The Minister's Cat was annoying.'

Player two would then say:
'The Minister's Cat was annoying and brave.'

Player three may say:
'The Minister's Cat was annoying, brave and captivating.'

And so on!

If you are playing with more than one person, players drop out when they fail to remember the sequence correctly.  A two player game is simply lost by the person who forgets first!  It's a lot of fun, and can get very challenging.

Why not take this as an opportunity to talk with your kids about positive and negative behaviours, personality traits and choices?  Why not play two different kinds of cat, a real rotter and one which displays the characteristics of a good Christian?

Fun kids activity about making straight paths

Proverbs 10:9: Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.

Anyone familiar with the show will know that Mr Bon-Hovis gets himself into all manner of difficulties walking the crooked path! Here's a great fun activity for today that your kids will love, and offers a great opportunity to discuss how walking the crooked path is difficult and pointless, and you will get caught out eventually!

So, find the longest and narrowest part of your home or building, and using masking tape, set up strips going accross from one wall to the other, all at different heights and angles.

You're going to have a little game of chase using the classic 'dodge the lasers' movie theme.

The child will be trying to escape from the truth (played by you) but isn't allowed to take down any of the tape.

At first, you can move very slowly, so the child has a chance of getting the through, but then put the tape back up and try again and again, with you (truth) moving faster until there's no way the child can escape without getting tangled in the web!

Write on the tape things like lies, stealing, anger, deceit, meanness, so they all represent behaviour we'd like to avoid.

Such fun SUCH FUN! Why not send us pictures of your webs?

Let your light shine kids craft

HAPPY TUESDAY EVERYBODY!

It's a beautiful morning, God loves you, the kingdom of heaven is among us, so let your light shine!

Matthew 5:16
New International Version (NIV)
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Now, I imagine we've all made one of these at some point haven't we? These little lanterns are so quick and easy, and present the perfect opportunity to share with your children about what it means to let your light shine! 

Doing good things which people can see glorifies God, it's like making the light of God which is inside you visible to others!

Take a strip of paper about 15cms x 30 cms, and decorate or pattern it your own way.

Fold it in half long-ways. Then, cut slits along the folded edge, about 2cms apart along the whole length of the paper.

Unfold the paper, and join the two ends together with glue or staples. The original fold should give the lamp its shape, if not then tweak the original folds to pull them out some more.

Glue or staple another strip of paper to the top to make a handle.

Put a child's torch inside to make a lovely night light!

Of course, be careful not not put light sources inside which might over-heat, and certainly not candles.

If you make one, send it in so we can see!

How to make a kids kite that actually flies.

IS IT JUST ME?

I've loved flying toys since I was very small. In fact, one of the Arty Crafty Time slots on the show covers how to make the perfect paper plane!

Often I find myself feeling so sorry for kids coming out of school or nursery with 'kites" they've made which never actually stood any chance of getting airborne! How often have you seen it? The poor little tackers belting around the playground full of hope, string in hand, as the sorry little 'kite" skittles and flaps along on the ground behind them. My heart really goes out to them!

So today, let's cover a few simple rules to ensure you can make easy kites which actually stand a chance of lifting, even though it's only the length of a bendy straw!

It should be fairly easy to work from the simple diagram.

1: Using bendy straws will mean you can create the ESSENTIAL boat shape, which will give the kite balance in the wind.

2: Notice that the tissue will be facing you, when the kite is in the air the straws will be hidden BEHIND the tissue.

3: Use thin light cotton, not string!

4: A tail is essential, cut a 30 or 40 cm tail from the same tissue you used for the kite.

5: As per the diagram, the lead cotton length will need to be a little shorter than the rear length.

6: Use a thin, light craft tissue.

7: Keep the tissue as wrinkle free as possible, if you are very crafty cut a tiny thin dart or sliver along the rear spar to gather in excess loose tissue, and glue closed.

It really should be as simple as that. The most important things are the concave shape, the lightness of the tissue, the cotton thread, the tail on the kite and the point at which the main line joins the front and rear thread. You may need to attempt a few different lengths to get it right.

Using felt pens, follow the cross of the drinking straws to make a Christian cross motif on the kite! Talk to your children about being bold in sharing the love of Jesus and talking about him. Talk about how celebrating Jesus openly is like flying a kite all the time with his cross stamped on it!

Send us in your pics of your kite!

Making cupcakes with kids

It's Saturday!

Now then everybody, if you're not going to make cakes with your kids today, are you ever going to?

In our experience there are few things you can do which children will enjoy more than baking cakes with you, licking the bowl and then enjoying the gorgeous chocolatey goodness.

So today, make some cupcakes with your children. How is that Christian you might ask? Well it couldn't be more simple, make a batch of 12 and call them apostle cakes! Take the opportunity to talk with your children about what it must have been like to be one of the apostles, and how following Jesus is similar today to the way it was when he walked the earth.

Talk about what it must have been like to be Jesus' close friend, and share with them about how we are his close friend today!

Easy!

Here's an easy recipe which assumes you're not a baker! And Jovis Bon-Hovis and the Creation Crew are all about keeping it simple...

For 12 nice big cupcakes try this:
2 medium eggs,
4 ounces butter
4 ounces sugar
4 ounces self raising flour.
1 teaspoon baking powder (optional)

How simple is that? Cream together the butter and sugar, and whisk the eggs so they contain bubbles. This will help them rise. Add the eggs carefully to the mix, folding in to keep the air.

Sieve the flower in to add more light airiness, and mix in. Add a little baking powder for extra lightness.

Divide your mix between 12 casings and bake on 160 degrees for about 20 mins.

For extra added yum-ability, remove the core in one piece, fill with scrummy chocolate spread, split the core in two and replace in a 'butterfly' shape.

Quick, easy and delicious apostle cakes that anyone can manage!

Send in your pics and share with us how it went!

Christian kids crafts and activities

In case you missed it last time, Jovis Bon-Hovis has started his own facebook page!

Why not connect right now? The page is aimed at parents, carers, leaders and teachers who are raising kids in the Christian faith. It's a great place to get together,share ideas and build a community of like-minded people.

Every day Jovis Bon-Hovis will be sharing a fun and quick activity, game, study or song to take the pressure off you and your time, enabling you to do what you do best, give your time ad your love to the kids that need it.

Follow Jovis Bon-Hovis today, and share the love of the Lord with your kids every day!

get on board the glory train with Jovis Bon-Hovis and the Creation Crew!  All the things we share are aimed at busy people who don't want to spend the time trawling the net for something fun and godly to share with their kids every day.  Jovis has done it for you.  All the studies, songs, activities and games are quick, easy and fun and require little or no preparation.

Bring the love of the Lord Jesus into the lives of children in your care every day in a way they will remember and enjoy.

Follow Jovis Bon-Hovis on facebook TODAY!

Christian kids' crafts

The first instalment of Christian activities for kids has been posted on the new Jovis Bon-Hovis facebook page today!

Be sure to visit http://www.facebook.com/jovis.bonhovis and follow for daily fun stuff to share with your kids!

Beautiful new Christian Worship Music song.

Well here's something rather lovely, I'm delighted with this.  I don't think I've heard anything quite like this before.  Christian worship music can be a bit samey, so I make the point of trying to go for a unique style.  It sounds obvious, but in any business there are do's and don't's.

There are ways to make a Christian worship song, and on a very basic level there are formulas you could follow 1234 and bang you have a worship song. I didn't want to do that.  What I do is make music I want to listen to.  If I like it, then the chances are somebody else will too.  Hope it blesses you!  Don't forget to subscribe!

Christian Kids TV Jovis Bon-Hovis on facebook!

Great news to all the fans of Jovis Bon-Hovis and the Creation Crew, you can now connect with us on facebook!

The Jovis Bon-Hovis facebook page will be used to support adults who are leading, teaching or raising children in the Christian faith with ideas, games, crafts and activities for daily use, making it easy for you to introduce fun and gospel truth into the lives of young children with a sense of joy and fun!

Come and be among the very first to get on board the Glory Train with Jovis Bon Hovis and the Creation Crew!