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Puzzle Answers

ACROSS: 1 Cup. 3 Bust. 6 Model. 7 Era. 8 Upon. 10 Fete. 12 Eye. 13 House. 15 Damp. 16 Eat. DOWN: 1 Computer. 2 Pod. 3 Bell. 4 Scene. 5 Pavement. 9 Opera. 11 Shop. 14 Use.

SUPER SUM!: 11 x 5 – 6 ÷ 7 + 3 = 10. EGG TIMER CHALLENGE 1 Leopard. 2 Ordeal. 3 Adore. 4 Road. 5 Oar. 6 Roar. 7 Arrow. 8 Barrow. 9 Crowbar. CROSSWORD

1 There is a bird in the sky. 2 There is an extra cloud. 3 The word ‘dead’ has changed to ‘alive’ in the speech bubble. 4 The sign to Emmaus has changed to one mile. 5 There is an extra tree in the background. PATCH’S PROBLEM: Page 14. GIGGLE IN THE MIDDLE

Patch’s Pals Olive Forruthers KA! JAM SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

Love our comic? Check out Morning Praise with Kids Alive! on Salvationist Radio every Saturday and Monday at 7.30–8am and every Sunday at 9–9.30am.

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Hey there, readers! We hope you’ve enjoyed reading this issue of Kids Alive! If you would like to get your own copy of Kids Alive! delivered to your home every week, why not ask your parents or carers to take out a subscription* for you? Every week, Kids Alive! includes a cartoon Bible story, a competition, puzzles, jokes, comic strips and topical activities and articles for you to enjoy. Ask your parents or carers to go to sps-shop.com/kids-alive, call 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email subscriptions@satcol.org to set up a subscription.

*A subscription costs just £4.33 a month (or a one-off payment of £52). This subscription offer applies in the UK and Republic of Ireland, with 51 copies delivered over 12 months. Please note that different prices apply to Europe and international orders.

EDITOR Cara Mott

DEPUTY EDITOR AND KA! JAM CO-ORDINATOR Ibukun Baku

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Jacob Adams

GRAPHIC DESIGNER Philippa Elliott

PROOFREADER Chris Horne

Territorial Headquarters Switchboard – 0845 634 0101

Email kidsalive@salvationarmy.org.uk Post 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ

FOUNDERS Catherine and William Booth

INTERNATIONAL LEADERS General Lyndon Buckingham and Commissioner Bronwyn Buckingham TERRITORIAL LEADERS Commissioners Jenine and Paul Main

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Major Julian Watchorn Published weekly by The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory. The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity. The charity number in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 214779, in Scotland SC009359 and in the Republic of Ireland CHY6399. ISSN 1363-5662. 3 Helping-Hand Appeal and Ed’s

HELPING-HAND APPEAL 2026

ow much do you know about The Salvation Army? One fact about it that you definitely should know is that it publishes Kids Alive! You might also know that The Salvation Army is a church and a charity which does wonderful work all around the world.

Now that we’ve told you about The Salvation Army, let’s ask you another question – have you heard of the Helping-Hand Appeal? Every year, The Salvation Army runs the Helping-Hand Appeal to raise money for projects around the world. This is to encourage people to look beyond their own communities and help others.

This year, the focus is women and girls. The Salvation Army is working alongside women and girls in many countries so that they have equal access to rights and opportunities with boys, and the freedom to flourish! This is a really brilliant cause, so we’d love it if all our readers could support it by raising money.

There are so many ways that you could raise money. You could put on a quiz night at your church and then ask people there to donate spare change. Or you could sell some tasty cakes and give the money you raise to the Helping-Hand Appeal. You could organise a sponsored walk or put on a fashion show. There are so many different things you could do, so why not put on your thinking cap and come up with the best fundraising idea the world has ever seen?

To find out more about how you can raise money for the Helping-Hand Appeal 2026, check out salvationarmy.org.uk/international-development/helping-hand-appeal

The Helping-Hand Appeal raises money to help people around the world, because everyone deserves a happy life.

In a Bible book called Galatians, a man named Paul wrote a letter to a church to remind them that everyone is important to God. God doesn’t care what we look like or how much stuff we have. He doesn’t treat us differently because we’re boys or girls, and he doesn’t love us more depending on where we’re born. God loves us all equally, and that’s how he wants us to treat others too.

That includes showing kindness to people in our local communities, but also helping people around the world when we can. It’s especially important that we try to help when people are being treated badly – it’s the right thing to do and it’s also what God wants us to do. So let’s all do our bit to make the world a better place for everyone.

You’ll Never Walk Alone

Did you have a nice Easter weekend? Did you ienjoy celebrating that Jesus is alive? Easter might be over for this year, but this week’s Bible cartoon is all about what happened next.

Two friends were walking on a road and they were trying to understand all the events that had just happened. They were still confused, but then someone turns up, walks alongside them and answers their questions. The big surprise here is that those two friends had no idea that they were actually talking to Jesus! They only realised it was him when they were eating together later. Jesus had been walking with them the whole journey and they didn’t even notice!

Read the comment on the right about how Jesus is always with us

Spot the Difference

The friends in this week’s Bible cartoon struggled to notice that it was Jesus walking with them. Can you spot the five differences in the two images of them on the right?

When we’re getting on with our busy lives, rushing to school, clubs, church or parties, it can be easy to forget that Jesus is with us during all of it. You might not notice him when you’re working hard at school, when you’re playing with your friends or when you’re getting ready for bed, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not there. He is! And we can talk to him too, just like those friends on the road did. We can ask him questions and he can help us to understand things and feel better. Jesus is with us on all the ordinary days and extraordinary days of our lives. That thought puts a big smile on my face, and I hope it does for all of you too!

says Cara Mott

Bumper Bible Breakdown

Did you know the Bible isn’t one big book? It’s actually 66 books put together to tell one big story of God’s great love. Join us as we look at each Bible book and discover why God made the world, what went wrong and how in the end God saved the world through his son, Jesus.

John’s Visions

One of Jesus’ disciples, John, had an incredible vision. He saw Jesus, and Jesus had messages for seven different churches that John needed to share! Jesus knew that some of these churches weren’t following him well, while others were going through incredibly tricky times. No matter what the churches were going through, Jesus encouraged them to keep trusting in him. John then had amazing visions which gave a hint of what would happen in the future, including the end of the world! Just like Jesus used made-up stories to explain things to his disciples, John’s visions weren’t telling him exactly what would happen – they were using stories, symbols and pictures to give an idea. His visions even included a dragon! Throughout his visions, John saw that Christians would face incredibly hard times. However, at the end of the world, God would destroy all evil and his followers would get to live with him!

KA! JAM is the coolest Bible activity club around. As a member you’ll go on amazing adventures through the Bible learning about Jesus. Each activity sheet is filled with lots of great stuff about being a Christian. You’ll also receive our mini-mag, Chatterbox which is filled with jokes, games and much more. And to top it off, there are loads of awesome prizes to be won!

To join KA! JAM and complete the Bible activity courses online, go to salvationist.org.uk/kajam.

Or if you would like to receive the postal version, simply fill in the coupon below.

Name:

To join KA! JAM just fill in the application form and send it – along with two first-class stamps – to: KA! JAM, 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ. Applicants must be between 7 and 17 years old to join.

Date of birth:

Address:

Postcode:

Boy or girl: Do you attend a church, and if so, which one?

I, (signature)

apply for membership of Kids Alive! Jesus And Me. I understand that joining KA! JAM doesn’t mean I have joined The Salvation Army and that it is not a free subscription to Kids Alive!

PLEASE USE BLOCK CAPITALS.

When I Grow Up

What do you want to be when you grow up? To help you learn about a job that you might be interested in, we’ve asked a grown-up to tell us all about what they do for work. It’s time to meet a…

UK Engagement Coordinator

Patch’s Problem...? ? ? ? ? ? ?

HELLO, READERS, I’VE LOST A VERY IMPORTANT OBJECT SOMEWHERE IN THE ISSUE. WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO HELP ME FIND IT? I HAVE A CLUE OF WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE HERE.

I’m Hayley and I’m 37 years old. I love playing football, baking cakes and solving puzzles. I’m also the UK Engagement Coordinator for International Development UK. That’s a long job title, but it means I help people in the UK learn about the work that The Salvation Army does around the world to overcome poverty and injustice. My job is to help people understand some of the challenges communities face around the world, and how The Salvation Army is helping to make a difference. I do this by writing articles and emails, creating resources for churches, posting on social media and doing presentations. Sometimes I get to write the KA! World pages in Kids Alive! (check out pages 12 and 13) – I really enjoy this!

The best part of my job is that I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to countries such as Bangladesh, Kenya, the Philippines and Uganda to visit Salvation Army projects. On my travels, I’ve met Salvation Army members who show love in very practical ways, and people who, although they may not have much money or possessions, have an incredible amount of faith, kindness and love for others. If you’re interested in doing a job like mine, be curious about the world. Learn about fairness, justice and how your choices can impact other people and our planet. Also, work on storytelling –my job involves turning complex information into clear, creative stories that people want to read and hear.

How do old artists get around? Quite easel-y! Hoho,haha,hehe!

Why did the artist bring a pencil to bed? To draw the curtains! Where do cows hang their paintings? In an art moo-seum!

The answers to the clues in this puzzle are anagrams of the answer immediately above or below, plus or minus one letter. The first one is filled in to give you a start.

by Neil Locker

I failed my art exam using the wrong pencil... ...I guess it wasn’t 2B!

Who’s the king of the pencil case? The ruler!

What’s a pirate’s favourite hobby?

Arrrrrrt!

What do you call someone hanging out by the wall? Art!

across:

by Neil Locker

1 Drinking vessel or trophy. 3 Sculpture of a person’s head and shoulders. 6 A person who poses for a fashion magazine. 7 Historical period. 8 Fairy story opening, ‘Once _ _ _ _ a time’. 10 Outdoor garden party. 12 Organ of sight.

13 Dwelling or abode. 15 Slightly wet. 16 Have food.

down:

1 Laptop, for example. 2 Outer shell for peas.

3 Ringing device used as a school signal. 4 Division of an act of a play. 5 Roadside walkway. 9 Musical drama. 11 Retail outlet. 14 Employ or utilise.

Find the Helping-Hand Appeal-related words in the grid

Tiny Hercules Competition

Picture the world’s greatest superhero. OK, we know superheroes don’t exist – but what are you imagining right now? Are you picturing a hero who’s stronger than the toughest wrestlers, or smarter than the very best scientists? Perhaps you’re imagining someone who’s as tall as the Statue of Liberty!

In this week’s prize, which is a book called Tiny Hercules, it’s time to meet the world’s next best hero – but he’s probably nothing like the hero you were just imagining, because he’s only the size of a jam jar! Tiny Hercules has been sent to live in a peaceful town called Chutney-on-Toast, and he’s been given 12 tasks to complete. His first task is to defeat a lion. However, Tiny Hercules is so little that he mistakes an ordinary cat for a ferocious feline. Soon, Tiny Hercules finds himself racing across town after the cat and causing chaos everywhere he goes!

For the opportunity to win your own copy of Tiny Hercules, answer the question below and email your full name, age, address and answer to kidsalive@salvationarmy.org.uk. Remember to put ‘Tiny Hercules Competition’ in the subject box. Your entry needs to reach us by Friday 8 May when the winners will be chosen. You can also enter by filling in the details on the coupon below and posting it to: Tiny Hercules Competition, Kids Alive! 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ.

Name:

Address:

Look out for the next Tiny Hercules adventure, ‘Golden Cabbage Chaos’, out on 27 August

Which town has Tiny Hercules been sent to live in?

Postcode:

WORLD ART DAY COLOURING

Did you know that it’s World Art Day this Wednesday (15 April)? There are so many different styles of art, so what’s your favourite? You might love splashing some paint onto a canvas, using colouring pencils to draw a beautiful picture or even making a papier mâché statue! To celebrate all of the different ways that you can get creative, we’ve split the design below into four sections. Why not join in with World Art Day by decorating all of the sections, using a completely different style for each one? You could use crayons, felt-tip pens, chalk, fabric or anything else you can come up with! If you’d like to share your artwork with other readers, email your colouring to: kidsalive@salvationarmy.org.uk. Make sure you write ‘World Art Day Colouring’ in the subject box and give us your full name, age and address. Alternatively, you can post your colouring to: Your Space, Kids Alive! 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ. One last reminder, if you’re sending by post remember to fill in the details below so we know who you are. We send a gift to everyone whose colouring we publish, so don’t miss out!

Name: Age:

Address:

Postcode:

Living a healthy and active lifestyle, and caring for your physical, mental and spiritual well-being

Helping-Hand Appeal

If you’ve read page 3 then you’ll know all about the Helping-Hand Appeal, which is run by The Salvation Army. If you haven’t read it yet, flip back now and check it out before reading on! Are you ready? Let’s find out more!

Equally Loved by God

Our choices and opportunities should never be limited by our gender. We should all have the chance to reach our potential – to be who God created us to be, using our skills and gifts and living a full life.

Christians believe that all people are created in God’s image. Men and women are equally loved and valued by God. Sadly, women and girls face more challenges – they are more likely to live in poverty, be affected by climate change or be treated unfairly. Some also experience gender-based violence, which means being hurt or treated badly because of your gender.

Free From Harm

Everyone has the right to live safely and without harm. Yet one in three women will experience violence in their lifetimes. Many women and girls do not feel safe and are hurt or treated unfairly in their homes or communities. The Salvation Army works to change harmful attitudes, promote equality and find practical ways to keep women and girls safe, so everyone can live with respect, care and hope.

Jashore, Bangladesh

In the city of Jashore in Bangladesh, The Salvation Army has run a community centre for more than 30 years. The people who work there know the community well and care deeply about those who live nearby. Every day, the team walks around the area, sharing messages of kindness, generosity and love.

In Jashore, women and girls don’t always have the same opportunities as men and boys. Some girls are forced to leave school early, and some women struggle to find safe, well-paid jobs. That’s why The Salvation Army help women learn new skills and find jobs – so they can earn money and support themselves and their families.

The people at the community centre also run workshops in nearby villages to talk about important topics such as child marriage, human trafficking and gender equality.

Child marriage: when children under the age of 18 are forced to marry grown-ups. It can happen to both boys and girls, but often impacts girls more than boys.

Human trafficking: when people are tricked or forced into unsafe situations where they are exploited or harmed.

A Safe Place for Children

Gender equality: treating everyone fairly so all people have equal rights and opportunities, no matter what their gender.

Some children living near the community centre don’t go to school or have safe places to play. Instead, they may spend time on the streets, where they can get into trouble or are at risk of being hurt or trafficked.

To help, The Salvation Army runs a daily drop-in club for children. At the centre, children can study, play games, sing songs, learn dances and enjoy a cooked meal. It’s a safe place full of fun, friendship and care.

Whether at the drop-in club, near the community centre or in the villages, the team shares an important message with everyone they meet: Everyone is loved by God. Everyone matters. Everyone should be treated with kindness and respect.

Barna Says…

Barna is a children’s worker at the centre. She said, ‘This centre is changing children’s lives. Without the centre, the children can easily get into trouble. We are educating them and teaching them a good way to live. The most beautiful thing is when I see children who have been to the centre, who are grown up and are in a good place now. When I see that they are doing well, it brings joy to my heart.’

Raise money for the Helping-Hand Appeal this year –visit salvationist.org.uk/faith/giving-fundraising/helping-hand-appeal

Cool Colou ri ngs

This brilliant Bird Colouring was sent in by Mabelle, aged 8. We love the beautiful blue sky and white clouds. Great job, Mabelle!

Here’s another awesome Bird Colouring by Rosie, aged 8. This bird looks very happy singing its morning song! We love the colourful flowers –well done, Rosie!

Aimee-Leigh, aged 9, sent in this lovely Valentine’s Day Dot-to-Dot. She’s coloured it in so neatly, we think it’s superb!

Check out this colourful Valentine’s Day Dot-to-Dot by Sophie, aged 6. We think the rainbow theme makes this colouring extra special!

Here’s another Valentine’s Day Dot-toDot from Nina, aged 5. The red roses and heart are beautiful!

H a p p y

B i r t h d a y t o y o u !

To see your name and birthday printed in a future issue of KA! email your full name and date of birth to kidsalive@salvationarmy.org.uk

6 April

Georgia Eloise Marshall – age 5

13 April

Oriana Bojen-Giles – age 13

14 April

Nikita Cato – age 6

Mabelle and Rosie’s colourings are so bright and colourful, they remind me why spring is one of my favourite seasons!

G e t I n T o u c h !

The Kids Alive! team loves to hear from its readers. And guess what –other readers love reading your news! So why not get in touch?

You can email or post your own colourings, drawings and letters. Or you could ask your Sunday school, church or corps leaders to email us or write to us with any news about the fun stuff you’ve been doing at your church or corps. Email: kidsalive@salvationarmy.org.uk