Noah's Ark - Quarterly activity (by Mary-Ann Anderson, Murray, UT)

"Noah's Ark" Quarterly activity
(by Mary-Ann Anderson, Murray, UT)

Program for the day:

Warming up time
Visit from Noah
Bead The Animals
Don't Eat The Animals
Match the Animals
Stuff the Ark
Refreshments

Warming up Time: (i.e. waiting for children to arrive) Two different Noah's Ark word search puzzles and a Noah's Ark picture to color were available in the Nursery room, where we all met at first. After 10 minutes we all headed for the (somewhat) darkened stage.

Visit from Noah:

You will need this:

a volunteer to play the part of Noah
a tape with thunder and rain sound effects
a tape player
darkened stage.

Brother Terry Lee dressed as Noah told his story, while the children sat on the stage floor and listened. The only sound effects were of thunder and pouring rain, recorded unto a tape, which was played during his story at the appropriate time.

After his story, Noah gave an opportunity to ask questions.

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While there, we divided the children in 3 equal groups and told them where they needed to go next.

The first group went to the Primary room with the sign "Bead the Animals" on the door.
The second group went to the same Primary room (which had been divided in 3 sections with the room dividers) with the sign "Don't Eat The Animals".
The third group went to the door with "Match The Animals".

After about 15 minutes we rotated the groups.

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"Bead The Animals":

You will need this:

Pony beads in different colors. I had bought a bucket with about 2,800 colored beads, 1 bag with (360) glittered beads, 1 bag with (360) clear colored beads. (Need about 50-60 per gecko.)
2 yards of beading string per child, the ends stiffened (dipped in glue) to prevent unraveling of the string ends
pattern of gecko
small plastic bags to put unfinished geckos in masking tape and pen to mark the plastic bags with name bowls to divide some of the beads in, easier to access scissors to cut excess string
long table, no chairs

Here beaded geckos (lizards?) were made of (Pony) beads.

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"Don't Eat The Animals"(i.e. "Don't Eat Pete")

You will need this:

"Don't Eat the Animals" game board (made this one myself)
Animal game pieces (made myself)
18 small candies per child playing (we bought 3 lb. of gummy bears)
long table, no chairs.

Place one candy (gummy bear) on each of the 18 animal squares on the game board.

One child is sent out of the room. (Make sure they can't see or hear what is going on inside the room!)

The others draw one of the animal cards. The child returns and starts taking one candy at the time off the game board randomly. When it picks the candy that is on the animal square that had been chosen, the children call out, Don't Eat The Animals" and the child's turn is over. Play this until everyone had a turn.

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"Match the Animals" concentration game:

You will need this:

48 animal pictures (= 24 pairs), glued unto cardboard paw prints
tape, to tape animal paw prints face down unto the walls of the room

The children sat down, facing the long wall, covered with the animal pairs. We hang them upside down, face down, tape along the top of the paw only. A child was chosen to come forward and flip one card over, which the leader held into place while another card somewhere else along the wall was flipped over. If it happened to be a match, they were taken off the wall. Just play it like a regular concentration game, except hang them all over the room to make it a little different. This took at least 15 minutes per rotating group!

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"Stuff the Ark" Relay Game:

You will need this:

2 drawn, colored and cut Arks, made out of board
2 Rubbermaid containers to place behind the Arks (tape the Arks onto those)
1 very large plastic container, filled with the stuffed animals that were brought by the attending Primary children and leaders (was requested on the invitation).
masking tape to outline two planks on the gym floor, leading up to the Arks.

The children were divided into 2 teams and placed behind a line, in front of a plank. The container with stuffed animals was placed about 6 feet away from the starting line, between the two planks. Each child was to run on the plank, to the large container, pick a stuffed animal, run the rest of the plank to the Ark and put the animal in the container behind the Ark, then run back and touch the next in line who could then start running and do the same. They had to stay inside the plank "outlines"! Keep playing until all animals have been placed into the Arks. Count which team have put the most animals in their Ark and declare them the winners.

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"Musical Animals", i.e. Musical Chairs:

You will need this:

30 animal pictures, printed, colored, cut out and each glued on a cardstock paw outline, placed face up in a large circle on the gym floor and taped down well.
30 strips of paper with one of the animal names on it in bag
wide clear tape
tape with music they can walk to
cassette player

Have each child stand on one animal paw print, play the music and let them start walking, stepping on a paw as they go. When the music stops, draw a piece of paper and read the name of the animal. The child standing on the corresponding picture paw leaves the circle and the paw is removed. The music starts again etc. When it stops, the child that had to leave the circle the last time, gets to pick the slip of paper. Play till only one is left.

Refreshments:

You will need this:

Rainbow sherbet (we had 2 gallon, but only needed a little more than 1 gallon)
3 different kinds of Keebler Animal cookies (chocolate chip, sprinkles and frosted)
plastic bowls
plastic spoons
napkins
ice cream scoop

Everyone seemed to like the sherbet, even the children! The cookies were good too!

This Activity Day was attended by a total of 24 Primary children, 10 adults (music leaders, teachers etc.) and 2 Young Women who graciously volunteered to demonstrate how to make the beaded geckos!

The feedback from children and leaders was overwhelmingly positive. The children didn't get a chance to be bored or wander off and because of the rotating groups stayed contained. This activity required a lot of preparation beforehand, but the activity itself went very well without any incidents. Also, don't forget to bring your camera and take some pictures!

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These are Mary-Ann’s own comments to “The Noah's Ark Activity Day”:

Comments to "Bead The Animals":Fifteen minutes is not nearly enough for this station! Also, make sure there is almost 1 adult per 1 or 2 children that could help them. Maybe next time it would be better to bead a snake, which is a less complicated pattern and probably a lot less time consuming. I ended up taking the unfinished geckos home, where I finished them in the same color pattern the kids had started. Brought them to church the next morning where they were handed out after Primary was over. The children loved these beaded animals!

Comments to "Match the Animals":Very fun game!. Even the very youngest ones (3 years) could play and loved to participate because of the stuffed animals. Took about 5-7 minutes.

Comments to "Musical Animals":Because we were running out of time, we had to skip this activity!