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.
When I Grow Up 6 Giggle Round the Middle 7–10 The Easter Story 11 Giggle Round the Middle 12-13 KA! World 14 KickerBall Competition 15 Colouring Corner 16 Patch’s Pals Eric the Electric Eel
Go to salvationist.org.uk/radio to get your morning started with half an hour of music, prayer, a thought and lots of giggles
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EDITOR Cara Mott
DEPUTY EDITOR AND KA! JAM CO-ORDINATOR Ibukun Baku
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 It’s Time to Grow and Ed’s Bit 4 Morning Praise with Kids Alive!
a cartoon Bible story, a competition, puzzles, jokes, comic strips and topical activities and articles for you to enjoy.
Did you know that plants need special conditions to grow? A dazzling daisy won’t burst out of the soil if the ground’s frosty. And a perfect primrose won’t sprout in your garden if it hasn’t been sunny! For lots of plants to grow, they need things such as water, warmth and sunlight.
Now that it’s finally spring, the days are longer, the air is warmer and the soil is moist. So seeds will grow roots and green shoots, which will spring (pardon the pun) out of the ground towards the Sun! Spring really is the perfect time for plants to grow.
However, it’s not just plants that should be growing this spring – we should all be growing too! We should be growing to become more like Jesus! No human that’s ever lived has been as loving or kind as Jesus – there’s never been a better friend, or even better person, than him!
So how do we grow to be more like Jesus? To do this, there are things we need – just like plants need water, warmth and sunlight. We need to spend time talking to God and learning about him. Plus, we need to be in his family. Then God can work in us to make us more loving, gentle, peaceful and joyful (as well as so many other things) every single day!
As you’re reading this very exciting Kids Alive! Spring Special, remember that spring isn’t just the perfect time for plants to grow – it’s a great time for you to grow too!
To find out more about how Jesus showed us how much he loves us, check out our Easter cartoon on pages 7 to 10
If you’ve read the top half of this page, you’ll know that we’re encouraging all of you to think about how you can grow to be more like Jesus.
Have you ever heard of the fruit of the Spirit? They’re nine character qualities that are listed in the Bible, and these things help us to live like Jesus. They’re love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When we show these qualities to others around us, they can see Jesus in us and it can help them to grow too. That might look like putting others first to show love, being friendly to show kindness, keeping promises to show faithfulness or controlling our tempers to show self-control. So this spring, think about how you can make a difference in the lives of those around you and show them how amazing it is to be a friend of Jesus.
Check out salvationist.org.uk/radio to find out more!
Join...
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Do you love listening to worship songs and praising Jesus? Do you love the jokes in Giggle in the Middle? Would you like to put that together in one brilliant bundle? If you said ‘Yes!’ to all our questions, then you’ll be excited to know you can do exactly that with our radio programme – Morning Praise with Kids Alive! This programme is for kids just like you and you can listen to it on Salvationist Radio every Saturday at 7.30–8am, Sunday at 9–9.30am and Monday at 7.30–8am. There’s half an hour of music, prayer, a thought and lots of giggles –the perfect way to start your day!
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.
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:
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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…
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.
Youth Worker
Hey! My name is Calum, I’m 24 years old and I’m a youth and student outreach worker for The Salvation Army (who publish Kids Alive!). That’s a long title, but what it actually means is that I get to hang out and have great chats with some amazing young people – normally with pizza involved! No two days of my job are the same. On one day I’ll be planning a fun games night and on another day I’ll be sitting in a café chatting with young people. Recently we had a huge games night with a balloon obstacle course, a spaghetti and marshmallow tower challenge and a football match using a giant exercise ball! Even though each day looks different, my job is all about getting to know young people and helping them to learn more about Jesus. The best part about my job is the conversations I get to have with young people. Sometimes we’ll talk about our favourite films or songs and other times we’ll chat about bigger things, such as friendships, school, exams and how Jesus is part of it all! If you’re interested in being a youth worker, my top three tips would be to listen to others, stay curious and try to have fun!
Calum
Hehe,hehe!
How can you make the sky prettier? With a rainbow!
How do you know when rabbits are in a good mood?
They’re very hoppy!
How do bees brush their hair? With honeycombs!
What did the tree say about spring?
‘What a re-leaf!’
What did the big flower say to the little one?
‘You’re really growing, bud!’
Ho ho, ha ha, he he! He he, he he!
on Page 2
Why can’t a rabbit’s nose be 12 inches long? Because then it would be a foot!
Wordfit Wordfit
Fit the five given words into the grid correctly to reveal a new word in the darker purple column. Some letters have been inserted to help you. Clue: Sweet substance to put on your Shrove Tuesday pancakes.
K B S L B
by Neil Locker
BY STEVE ENGLISH
by Neil Locker
Living a healthy and active lifestyle, and caring for your physical, mental and spiritual
Warm weather, fantastic flowers and beautiful bunnies – there are so many excellent reasons to celebrate spring. So grab your felt-tip pens, paints, scissors and glue sticks (as well as far more items than we have the space to list here), because it’s time for some spring-themed crafty activities!
Pasta Butterflies
Since spring is one of the best seasons to see butterflies, let’s create a craft that’s jampacked with them! Take pieces of farfalle pasta (yes, that’s a real shape) and paint them in whatever colours you’d like. Then stick them onto your piece of paper, so that the pieces of pasta look like butterflies!
With the help of a grown-up, cut some of the pasta you haven’t painted yet in half, and then paint it green. Stick these pieces in a row across the bottom of your sheet of paper. It will now look like the butterflies are fluttering over a garden.
Finally, use the marker pen (a black one would be best) to create antennae above each of the butterfly wings. While you’re waiting for your
You’ll Need
Toilet paper roll, green paint, paintbrush, coloured card (green is a must-have), scissors, glue, pom-poms.
Toilet Paper Roll Flowers
If you take a look outside, you might discover that lots of stunning flowers are beginning to emerge from the ground. With this craft, you can create your own flowers which are just as magnificent.
You’ll need to start by painting an empty toilet paper roll green. While you’re waiting for the paint to dry, you can cut out leaves from a sheet of (no surprises here) green card. You can then glue these leaves to the front of the roll.
With another sheet of coloured card, you can cut out the shape of a flower. You’ll then need to glue a tiny pom-pom into the middle of your flower. Finally, cut a slit on both sides of the top of your roll and slide the flower into the slits! Now you’ll have your own gorgeous flower to display in your home.
Grass grows amazingly well during spring, so let’s use it to create a ridiculously funny (and ridiculously cool) craft – a head made of soil, with grass for hair!
Put three tablespoons full of grass seeds at the bottom of the old tights. Then add enough soil to cover the seeds and to make a ball shape at the bottom of the tights. You can then tie the bottom of the tights so that you’ve created a ball of soil – you might need a grown up to help with this step. You could also cut off the rest of the tights that you’re not using.
Put the head you’ve created into a plant pot (or an old yoghurt pot). Add water to the pot and pour some water onto the head. Then put the head somewhere sunny and keep it watered. After about 12 days, your head will have grown some spiky green hair!
Your Turn
In the middle of the ball, pinch some of the soil to create a nose and then twist it. Put a rubber band over the nose to hold it in place. Glue a pair of googly eyes just above the nose. You could also add any other decorations you can come up with, such as a mouth made from felt!
Once you’ve given these crafty activities a go, make sure you send photos of your finished creations to kidsalive@salvationarmy.org.uk. We’d love to see what you’ve come up with, and we’ll even print some of our favourites in Kids Alive!
Get crafty this spring!
find that you don’t need to leave your home wearing a hat and gloves to stop yourself from getting too chilly! In fact, some days might be so warm that you’ll want to spend ages playing outside. You might even start to wear shorts again! If you’re looking for something to play with outside, then you won’t want to miss out on this week’s prize! The KickerBall is an amazing football unlike any other you’ll ever play with. That’s because the KickerBall has special panels which allow air to flow through it in spectacular ways. This means that anyone can use this ball to do brilliant trick shots that only a professional footballer could normally do – you can curve, bend and swerve it! As the outdoors get warmer and warmer, there’s no better time to get a KickerBall than right now! For the opportunity to win your own KickerBall, answer the question below and email your full name, age, address and answer to kidsalive@salvationarmy.org.uk. Remember to put ‘KickerBall Competition’ in the subject box. Your entry needs to reach us by Friday 1 May when the winners will be chosen. You can also enter by filling in the details on the coupon below and posting it to: KickerBall Competition, Kids Alive! 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ.
What kind of ball is the KickerBall?
Football Golf ball Rugby ball
Name:
Address:
HAPPY EASTER COLOURING
What is Easter all about? You might think that it’s all about how many Easter eggs you can find hidden around your home. Or you might believe it’s about ridiculously cute bunnies and delicious hot cross buns. However, this week’s special four-page cartoon shows us that Easter is about so much more than any of that. It’s about remembering that Jesus died for us and it’s about celebrating that he came back to life! So why not get excited for Easter by adding a splash of colour to the design below? If you’d like to share your artwork with other readers, email your colouring to: kidsalive@salvationarmy.org.uk. Make sure you write ‘Happy Easter 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:
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Postcode:
WHY NOT SWIM OUT INTO THE OPEN SEA FOR A CHANGE?
I’VE NOTICED THAT YOU ONLY EVER SWIM IN THE RIVER, ERIC.
THAT’S HARD TO BELIEVE. WHAT SEA CREATURES WOULD THEY BE?
I DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY’RE CALLED, BUT I WAS TOLD THE SEA IS FULL OF ENEMIES!
I WOULD, PATCH, BUT SOMEONE SAID THERE ARE SEA CREATURES THERE WHO DON’T LIKE ME.
