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EDITOR Cara Mott
DEPUTY EDITOR AND KA! JAM CO-ORDINATOR Ibukun Baku
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.
atching a person do something that they’re brilliant at can be mind-blowingly entertaining! When a superb singer hits the highest note you’ve ever heard, it might bring you to tears. When a dazzling dancer manages to make a back!ip look as easy as buttering a slice of toast, it might take your breath away. If you like watching talented people doing what they do best, then you’ll love Britain’s Got Talent! Britain’s Got Talent is a talent show that’s been running since 2007. Some of the most skilled singers, dancers, magicians and comedians will be taking to the stage to put on some incredible acts. Plus, there’ll be some people showing off skills you didn’t even know existed! All of these incredibly talented people will be competing to win a spot in this year’s Royal Variety Performance, which is a special show put on for the royal family. So if they want to impress King Charles III, they’ll have to give it their all. Although a panel of judges, led by Simon Cowell, will decide who gets through the auditions, it will be the viewers at home who get to pick the overall winner! So if you’d like to watch some very entertaining acts and have your say on who the best of the bunch is, then make sure you check out Britain’s Got Talent!
The new series of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ starts tonight (22 February) at 7pm on ITV1, ITVX and STV
The thought of stepping on to the Britain’s Got Talent stage makes me feel sick! Even thinking about all those people who’d be watching me perform gives me the most horrible butterfiesin-your-tummy feeling. Does anything make you feel like that?
I’ve learnt over the years that sometimes we all have to do things that are outside our comfort zone. (Our comfort zone includes activities or situations that we feel happy and comfortable with.) It can be scary to do things that make us feel uncomfortable, but it’s good to push ourselves a little sometimes.
Thankfully, having Jesus as my friend means that I always have someone to help me have confdence in myself. When faced with scary situations, I try to remember my favourite Bible verse – ‘Christ gives me the strength to face anything’ (Philippians 4:13, Contemporary English Version). If you have Jesus by your side, then you can face anything too!
Think About Jesus!
When I was younger, I climbed a mountain called Snowdon. I was tremendously tired by the time I reached the summit. In fact, I was so focused on how tired I felt that I didn’t even take in the view. My cousin had to remind me to actually look at the view from the top of the mountain. I was blown away by what I could see – the beautiful Welsh countryside stretching out into the distance!
I think this week’s Bible cartoon shows that Peter, James and John – three of Jesus’ disciples – needed a bit of a nudge to remember how amazing Jesus was. They’d seen Jesus feed massive crowds and heal the sick. They’d even heard about how he was going to die. However, they still couldn’t quite see Jesus as he was, or understand why he’d come to live on Earth.
So when the three disciples saw Jesus, Elijah and Moses together on the mountain, that was probably a bit of a wake-up call! Suddenly they could see how powerful Jesus was. They could see that he was God! Just like I needed a reminder from my cousin at the top of Snowdon, the disciples needed a reminder of how brilliant Jesus was.
Is this week’s cartoon a wake-up call for you? We can be so distracted by what’s going on in our lives that we forget to think about Jesus! However, I hope that this week’s cartoon has helped you to remember Jesus – to remember him for who he is, and for what he’s done for all of us!
says Jacob Adams
Mountain Climb
Jesus is taking Peter, James and John to the top of a mountain. There are three different routes up the mountain, but only one actually leads to the top. Help the disciples to pick the right one!
Read the comment to the left about remembering that Jesus is God
Answer on Page 2 A B C
A Dazzling Sight Seeing God’s World
Check out your Bible –Mark 9:2–10
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.
The Lord Is There
At the end of last week’s Bumper Bible Breakdown, Ezekiel discovered that Jerusalem had been invaded again and that the Temple had been destroyed. The people of Judah had been taken into exile! However, God had a fantastic message of hope for Ezekiel! One day, the people of Judah would return to Jerusalem. God would send someone who would lead the people to follow him. This person would be known as a ‘good shepherd’ and would come from David’s family. God was talking about Jesus!
Not only would God send Jesus, but he would also destroy all of the evil in the world. Then, in the future, God would create a new city for the people who follow him to live in. This would be a spectacular city and God would live there. In fact, the name of the city would be ‘The Lord Is There’!
Join...
Mes ! age of Hope!
The Lord Is There
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 !ll in the application form and send it – along with two KA! JAM, 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ. Applicants must be between 7 and 17 years old to join.
Name:
Address:
Date of birth:
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.
There are 195 countries in the world. We’re going to explore 26 of them, using the alphabet to decide where to go to next!
H for Honduras
Honduras is a country in Central America. This country has lots of mountains, so most people live in the central highlands. Honduras used to be the home of the Maya people, and it was discovered by Christopher Columbus in the 16th century! Since Spain ruled Honduras for a long time, the of!cial language of Honduras is Spanish.
If we were to ask you to think of an animal that can swim, we reckon you’d picture something like a dolphin, shark or whale. However, there are plenty of other animals that love swimming too! The Kharai camel is also known as the swimming camel, because of its ability to swim in the sea. It can swim for up to two miles!
Problem...
Hello, readers, i’M PATCH AND I’VE GOT A PROBLEM I THINK YOU MAY BE ABLE TO HELP ME WITH. i’VE LOST A VERY IMPORTANT OBJECT SOMEWHERE IN THIS ISSUE. WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO HELP ME FIND IT? i HAVE A CLUE OF WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE HERE.
You might know the date that Valentine’s Day is on or the name of the current king of the United Kingdom. However, there are also plenty of strange facts we reckon you haven’t got stored in your noggin! So here are a couple of random facts that you de!nitely (and by de!nitely, we mean don’t really) need to know.
In the time that it takes you to !nish reading this sentence, you probably will have blinked! That’s because humans blink about 14 to 17 times in just one minute. So that means that in just one day, you might blink around 16,000 times! That’s if you go to bed at a good time and sleep for eight hours. Otherwise you’ll be blinking even more than that!
He he, he he!
Ho ho, ha ha, he he!
BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT WORDSEARCH
Find the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’-related words in the grid
PUPPETEERS DANCERS
MAGICIANS ANIMAL ACTS GOLDEN BUZZER CHOIRS AUDIENCE MUSICIANS
ACROBATS JUDGES VOTES
SINGERS DANGER ACTS
What do you call a funny chicken?
A comedi-hen!
Did you hear about the angry magician? He pulled his hare out!
What TV programme did the unicyclist enter?
Britain’s Got Balance!
What did the cow sing on Britain’s Got Talent?
‘I like to mooooove it, moooove it!’
Why was the acrobat always so happy?
Because they knew how to stay balanced in life!
What did the pirate do on Britain’s Got Talent? He played the guit-arrr!
We were both born in Newcastle upon Tyne. We first met aged 13 as actors on the set of Byker Grove. We performed as pop artists under the name PJ and Duncan.
We’ve hosted many TV programmes including Saturday Night Takeaway and I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
We won Best TV Presenter at the UK’s National Television Awards for 23 years in a row.
Can you guess who we are?
What dance do tin openers do? The can-can!
across:
1 Lower limb. 3 Mislaid. 6 Imitate.
Crossword Clues
Crossword Clues
7 Organ of hearing. 8 Red gemstone. 10 Country in South America.
12 Metal container for food, for example. 13 Fruit from an orchard. 15 Piece of metal money. 16 Oxygen, for example.
down:
1 Humorous short poem. 2 Room for exercising. 3 Something fastened with a key. 4 Root vegetable or a person from Stockholm. 5 Garment covering someone’s legs. 9 Type of drum. 11 Sunrise. 14 Farm animal.
by Neil Locker
The answers to the clues are made up using all the letters from the list of words below. The three highlighted letters have already been placed in the grid to help you. Solve the clues and use up all the remaining letters. 1 2 3 2 3
across:
1 Fireside tool.
2 David’s weapon against Goliath.
3 Choose by ballot. down:
1 Adhesive.
2 Item of cutlery.
3 Correct.
KNOT SLIP FLING THREE aCE
by Neil Locker
Even before the !rst powered aeroplane took people all over the world were fascinated by the thought of ying! In fact, kids were making paper aeroplanes in the 1860s. That’s around 40 years before the Wright brothers’ plane, the Wright Flyer, launched into the sky! Now, with this week’s prize, you can make your very own plane – and it will probably be better than any paper aeroplane you’ve ever seen before!
The Build Your Own Plane Launcher kit comes with 47 pieces, which you can slot together to create an amazing plane, as well as a plane launcher! All you need to do is follow some detailed instructions, press out the pre-cut parts and attach a few elastic bands. Then you’ll be ready to y your plane. You can create up to 10 different cardboard planes, so you’ll have to !gure out which one can y the furthest!
For your opportunity to win a Build Your Own Plane Launcher kit, answer the question below and email your full name, age, address and answer to kidsalive@salvationarmy.org.uk. Remember to put ‘Build Your Own Competition’ in the subject box. Your entry needs to reach us by Friday 21 March when the winners will be chosen. You can also enter by !lling in the details on the coupon below and posting it to: Build Your Own Competition, Kids Alive! 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ.
Name:
Address:
PLANETS COLOURING
Besides Earth, there are seven other planets in our solar system – Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Normally it would be very hard (or even impossible) to see these planets from Earth, but this Friday (28 February) we’ll hopefully be able to spot all seven planets in the night sky! To celebrate this brilliant opportunity to see seven planets all at once, add 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 ‘Planet 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 !ll 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 an active lifestyle and caring for your physical, mental and spiritual well-being.
Sport-acular Weekend!
If we could only use one word to sum up this weekend, we wouldn’t pick an ordinary one. We’d make up our own word instead – sport-acular! That’s because there are two major sporting events that are taking place in the United Kingdom, and we think that they’re going to be spectacular!
Two Championships
The 2025 Lloyds Bank British National Track Championships (that’s a long name) started yesterday (21 February). This event will see some of the best cyclists in the UK giving it their all as they race around a velodrome in Manchester!
At the same time, the UK’s best track and !eld athletes will be taking part in the Microplus UK Athletics Indoor Championships Birmingham (that’s a long name too)! These athletes are competing to join the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team for an international competition in March.
Get Inspired!
Unless you’re able to get tickets to go to see these events live, you won’t be able to watch them. However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be inspired by them. Sporting events are packed full of athletes who discovered a love for their sport just by trying something new!
Amazing Athletes
One of the most famous athletes of all time, Usain Bolt, grew up in a small town in Jamaica. He liked playing cricket and football, but he only discovered his love for sprinting by giving it a try at school.
If you’re a fan of Chelsea Women, then you’ll de!nitely know about Lucy Bronze! Lucy got into football by playing it as a kid with her brother and his friends. Then she joined a football team called Alnwick Town, where she was the best player!
Can you imagine taking part in the next Olympic Games, even though you’re a kid?
Tom Daley took part in the 2008 Olympic Games when he was 14. That’s because he discovered a passion for diving when he was just seven years old!
Your Turn!
Usain, Lucy and Tom all discovered that they loved taking part in a sport because they took a risk – they gave something new a go! The same is true for plenty of the athletes taking part in competitions this weekend, and it can be true for you too.
Brilliant Benefits
One of the key bene!ts of playing a sport is that it’s good for your physical and mental health. According to the NHS, kids are supposed to have 60 minutes of physical activity every day. So getting involved in a sport can help you to get all of the exercise that you need! There are plenty of other bene!ts too, such as…
Sporty Ideas
If you already have a sport that you enjoy, why not set some time aside for it next week? Or if you’re looking for something new to try, you could…
Create your own athletics competition in the park with a few friends! You could jump over some coats and pretend that they’re hurdles or put on your own race!
Play boccia. Boccia is a game in which you need to throw or roll a ball as close to a target as possible. This is a particularly great game to play if you’re a person who uses a wheelchair, because you don’t need to stand up to take part!
Have a game of volleyball! If you have a net near you that you could use, then that’s great. However, just trying to keep the ball from hitting the ground can be really fun too, even if you don’t have a net.
For more ideas of sports that you could try, head to nhs.uk/healthier-families/activities/sports-and-activities/
Get active this weekend!
Cool Colourings
Age 6
by Amy, Age 11
Did you enjoy watching The Masked Singer? We thought it was great, but these Masked Singer costume designs sent in by our readers are even better!
Age 6
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
22 February Charlie Pryor – age 11
24 February Josephine Still – age 8
25 February Ariana Reed – age 13
Maddie,
Wiggly Worm by Logan, Age 4 Unicorn
Apple by Amara, Age 6
Ella,
New Junior Soldier
A junior soldier is a young member of The Salvation Army Nichola, Reading Lower Earley.
If you’d like to star in our reader pro!le section we’d love to hear from you! Get a grown-up to send us an email using the address in the pink box below. Then we’ll send you the forms to complete.
Isabelle
Age? 10.
Favourite colour? Green.
Favourite food? Tuna pasta.
Favourite sport? Rounders.
Favourite bit of Kids Alive! Giggle in the Middle – the crossword.
Favourite Bible story and why? I like the creation story, because that’s when people were made.
Favourite TV programme? The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants.
What do you want to be when you’re older? When I’m older I’d like to do a job working in the church, because I love God. Pets? None.
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
Post: Kids Alive! 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ G e t I n T o u c h !
Hobbies? Tap dancing, swimming, playing my cornet and knitting.
Tell us a joke. Knock, knock! Who’s there? Little old lady! Little old lady who? Wow, I didn’t know you could yodel! What special skill or talent do you have? I love practising gymnastics. I can do the splits, a front walk over, handstand, cartwheel, handstand into bridge and a back kick over.
Tell us something interesting about yourself. I was born premature at 28 weeks, weighing just 1kg (2lb and 4oz). Is there anything else you would like to tell us? I’m a chatterbox!
