Activated Kids: Giving and Sharing by The Audio Key!

Building Character

Featuring: Giving and Sharing

In this issue: NOTE TO PARENTS

Snap’s Pond

If you give, you will receive

9 The Rich Fool A lesson on love and sharing

17 Scott the Puppy Love is the answer

ILLUSTRATIONS: Etienne Morel, Danielle Adair, Jacques Elan, Shae Portess COLOR: Doug Calder, Shae Portess, Sabine Rane DESIGN: Danielle Adair

Activated Kids is a series of magazines made especially for children. Activated Kids focuses on providing characterbuilding input wrapped in meaningful fun. It is our hope that the material provided in this series will help children to acquire important moral values and establish positive habits that they can draw on to make the right choices and overcome the difficulties they’ll confront in life. In this issue, we’ll focus on “giving and sharing”—virtues that are more often than not greatly lacking in today’s society. Through a variety of stories and activities, we hope to help children understand and appreciate these attributes, and motivate them to manifest them in their own lives. While the Activated Kids magazine is primarily directed towards children between the ages of five and eight, older or younger children may benefit from the content as well. You may even enjoy reading some of these heartwarming and character-building stories together with your whole family, as they put forth valuable principles for readers of all ages. May God bless you and your children, and may this and other future magazines in the Activated Kids series prove helpful to your family. Shannon Richards For your Activated family

SNAP’S POND O

nce upon a time there lived a crocodile named Snap. He was green and scaly, and had a long snout and lots of pointy, jagged teeth. He swam just below the surface of his pond, so that his big, beady eyes poked out of the water. He could see very well. He would look to the right, and then he would look to the left, and he would watch the whole pond as he swam around. “This pond is my home,” Snap said to himself. He didn’t want anyone else coming to play in his pond. He thought it was his very own.

By Jasmine St. Clair

Sometimes the flamingos would wade into the water on their long legs. “Can we come into the pond for a while? We’d like to play and drink some water here.” But Snap would go “snap”! “No! This is my pond, and I don’t want any flamingos in it.” Sometimes the big, round, hardshelled tortoises would come waddling up. “Hey, Snap! Do you mind if we go sit in the corner of the pond, where the shallow water is?” Snap snapped again, “No, I don’t want you cluttering up my pond! This is my special pond and only I can stay in it.”

Snap made the other animals feel sad. He would even snap at the beautiful birds that would stop for a drink of water from the pond. He would scare them and they would fly away. It wasn’t long before Snap began feeling lonely because nobody came around the pond anymore. Snap just swam by himself to one end of the pond, and then he would swim back. He had worked so hard at protecting his pond, but now he was very lonely. One day, he thought, I’m going to explore the area and see what else is around. He waddled across the turf. Soon he arrived at another pond. The pond was pretty small and the water was very murky, but it was full of animals! They were having so much fun. A great, round, chubby hippopotamus was rolling over and over in the mud. A couple of tortoises were playing catch, chasing each other up and down the side of the pond. A bunch of tall, beautiful pink flamingos were standing and splashing in the water. They would reach their beaks down and flick the water up in the air, and all the little droplets would fall down on them. And other beautiful, brightly colored birds fluttered around, interested to see what all the fun was about.

Snap hid himself in a bush just outside the pond and watched everybody playing. They seemed to be having such a good time. Snap was afraid they might see him and send him away, like he had sent them away, so he soon crawled out of his bush and went scurrying back to his own pond. Snap sat in his pond all by himself. He felt very sad as he remembered all the animals that had tried to come and play in his pond, and how he had sent them away. Now he was verysorry.

What can I do to get the animals to come and play in my pond? he thought. Then he had an idea. “I’m going to make this the best pond ever!” He got busy right away and started digging a mud hole on one side of the pond. He dug and dug in the soft ground until he had made a huge mud hole. Then opened his great jaws and grabbed a bunch of leaves that were lying along the ground, and he set them in a pile. There were many fruit trees surrounding his pond, so he grabbed some of the fruit that had fallen from the trees and set it all on the pile of leaves. At last everything was ready.

Snap went waddling back over to the other pond. As soon as he got there, he stuck his head out of the bushes and went “snap”! All the animals stopped what they were doing. They slowly looked around. For a moment they were worried, and thought, Oh no! What is Snap coming to tell us now? They thought he might have more nasty things to say to them.

But Snap was different now. “Hey, everybody! You can come and play in my big pond, if you’d like. I’m sorry that I was nasty to you. I made a nice mud hole, and I got some fruit and leaves so that everybody can have snack. If you want, you can come over and play there.”

The animals all looked at each other. “We’d like that!” they all chorused. The animals followed Snap back to his pond. Henry, the big hippo, went wob, wob, wob, wob as he wobbled over to the pond. “Wow! Look at this mud hole!” he exclaimed when he saw Snap’s pond. The hole was two or three times as big as the mud hole in their old pond. Henry dove into it. Slosh! He slipped and slid around in the mud, and had so much fun. The four graceful flamingos were delighted to join Snap’s lovely pond, as they’d always wanted to. And as for the tortoises, they had a great time chasing each other up and down the pond. Snap sat on the side of the pond, happy to see all his new friends having so much fun.

In the days that passed, more and more animals came by Snap’s pond. Word had spread that it was the best pond in the area. One day Snap noticed another animal slowly coming across the marsh towards his pond. His eyes lit up: It was a lady crocodile! “Hello, what’s your name?” she said, as she came near. “I’m Snap,” he replied. “I’m Flora. I heard that your pond is the place to be. Do you mind if I stay here for a bit?”

“I would love to have you stay!” Snap exclaimed. “We could be friends.” “Oh yes,” said Flora. “I think I will be very happy here. You seem like such a kind crocodile.” And so Snap and Flora lived happily together.

Snap was very happy that he had learned to share, because when he shared, he was blessed with friends in return.

Moral: When you share, it not only makes others happy but it also makes you happy. 6

Find the differences

Find the seven differences in these pictures and circle them.

let’s make a pond! You will need: a basin

water

several small stones or rocks

a couple of small leafy branches

some toys that can get wet

Ask your parents to help you with this activity! Instructions: Put the stones around the basin. Make sure you have enough stones or rocks to go all around the basin. Then, place the leafy branches around the rocks— you can hold the branches up by placing them in between or behind the rocks. Pour the water into the basin (there should be only a couple of centimeters of water in the basin), the water should not completely cover the rocks.

And there you have it—a pond! Now you can play with your toys in the pond and invite your friends to play with you too! Have fun! 8

The Rich Fool a lesson on love and sharing

By Simon Peter, adapted by Danielle Adair

“Mom,” David said sadly as he was getting ready for bed, “no one ever wants to play with me!”

“Oh my! And why is that, dear?” Mother said sympathetically. “Well, whenever I invite someone to play with me, they always choose the toys I want to play with. Then I don’t want to play with my friends anymore and they get all upset! But, it’s because they take all my favorite toys. I want to play with other kids, but I also want to play with all of my toys. Why should I have to share them?” Grandpa came into the room just in time to hear David’s dilemma. “Oh, look, Grandpa is here!” said Mother. “How about you read a story with Grandpa? I’m sure he knows a good story that can help to solve your problem!” “I think I do!” Grandpa said. “David, why don’t you bring me your story book, and I’ll read you a story before bed.” “Yes, please!” David said, as he went and found his book. Grandpa put his arm around David and began to read.  Once upon a time, there was a certain wealthy man whom we will 9

“What?” exclaimed Richman. “No! I can’t. I have to keep it all for myself!” The poor worker looked at the barns and then at Richman, “But … but, Master, your barns aren’t even big enough to store all this grain!” “Nonsense!” replied Richman. “It will all fit.” “Well,” said the worker again, “I’m sure you wouldn’t even notice it if you just gave us a few bags. We’ve worked so hard, and we’re very poor.” call Richman. He had a very big farm. One year, there was a great harvest and his workers gathered lots and lots of grain. Richman stood outside of his house and watched to make sure the workers were carefully putting all the sacks of grain safely in his barns. As he stood there, admiring the endless piles of grain sacks, one of Richman’s neighbors passed by and said, “That is a lot of grain you got this year!” “Yes!” Richman replied, “I have so much livestock and land to grow grain. How blessed I am! I am so rich!” As he was bragging about his great wealth, a poor worker approached him and asked, “Sir, you’ve had such a good harvest. Can you spare a few bags of grain for our families?”

“No! No! I can’t give away any of the grain. I need it all for myself.”

And with that, Richman walked off towards his house. Later that day, after the workers had finished putting all the sacks of grain they could possibly fit into the barns, Richman saw that there were still many more piles left that would not fit. “Oh my!” Richman said to himself, “The worker was right—all the grain doesn’t fit. The harvest was so great that I have no room in my barns to store it all! What shall I do?” Richman started to worry. “Oh no, I may have to give some of it away!” he gasped. But then he had an idea. “Aha! I know what I’ll do. I will build bigger barns! And in there I will store all my goods, and that way I won’t have to share them with anyone.” 

“Grandpa, what a selfish man!” said David. “His poor workers were very poor and he had so much grain that it didn’t even fit in his barns, but still he didn’t want to share.” “I know.” Grandpa agreed. “He was a very selfish man. But do you know what happened that night?” “No, Grandpa. What happened?” Grandpa continued reading. “That night God told Richman: ‘You fool! Tonight you will die, and then what are you going to do with all those things you have stored up?’ “And just as God had said, that night the selfish Richman died in his sleep and he had to leave all his riches behind.” “God took everything away from him because he was selfish and greedy,” said David. “Exactly!” Grandpa said. “Instead of sharing what he had with others, he decided to build bigger barns to hold more for himself. It wasn’t bad that he was rich and had all those barns. Do you know what he was doing wrong?” “Yes!” said David. “It was that he didn’t want to share. The poor workers just wanted a little, but Richman didn’t want to give them anything. He wanted it all for himself.” “That’s right!” said Grandpa. “God couldn’t bless him because he wasn’t sharing. Richman could have been passing out food to the poor from those barns, but he didn’t.” “Grandpa, I’ve got lots of toys.” said David. “But no one wants to play with me.” “You are rich in toys, David. Maybe God gave you so many so that you can share them! Remember,

‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ And you can never lose by giving!” Just then Mother appeared at the door. “I think it’s time to go to bed!” she said with a smile.

“Good night, David!” Grandpa said, giving David a big bear hug. “Good night, Grandpa! And thank you for reading me that story,” said David. Mother tucked David into bed, said a prayer and gave him a goodnight kiss. And soon David was fast asleep. The following day, David saw Tommy passing by his house on his bicycle. “Hey, Tommy!” David called out. “Do you want to come and play with me?” Tommy looked surprised. “Sure!” He answered happily. David opened the garden gate and showed Tommy to his toy box. “Look, I just got a new set of cars. Why don’t you pick the ones you would like to play with and then we can build roads and play with the cars together?” Really? I can choose first which cars to play with?” Tommy was looking at David with wide eyes. “Yes, go ahead!” David said, with a big smile as he showed Tommy the new car set. “Well…” said Tommy, “I would like to play with the police car and the fire truck,” he said sheepishly. “Okay!” answered David, even though those were some of his favorites too. “I’ll play with the ambulance and the tow truck. Now let’s start building some roads with these blocks!” David had a big smile on his face as he and Tommy began placing the 11

blocks in place. He was having so much fun playing with a friend and sharing, instead of playing all by himself. The two boys played happily together that afternoon. When it was starting to get dark, Mother came out to announce that Tommy’s mother had called for Tommy to go home for dinner. “I’ll help you put the toys away before I go,” said Tommy. “Thank you!” David answered, and then added, “Tomorrow afternoon you can come and we can play again.” “Really? That’d be awesome!” exclaimed Tommy. “Thank you, David. You’re such a good friend. I had a really good time. Tomorrow I’ll bring my LEGO and cars too, and that way we’ll have more cars to play with, and we can even start to build a city for the cars to drive around in.” “That’s a great idea,” said David. “You’re a great friend too, Tommy. See you tomorrow!”

Tommy got on his bicycle and pedaled away to his house.  At dinner time, David told his parents, “You know, today I understood what Grandpa meant last night when he said that you never lose by giving. I never wanted to share my toys with anyone, because I thought that to have fun I needed them all to be able to play. But today I realized that when I shared them, I made my friend happy, and I had lots of fun as well, even if I didn’t play with all of the cars!” “I am very proud of you, son, for learning that valuable lesson and deciding to share with others,” said Father. “Your grandpa is right—you never lose by giving!”

3 1

maze fun David would like to share his toy cars with Tommy. Go through the maze and under the arches to find out which cars David shared with Tommy.

H D

T N V

K O

I P

S H

B F

Find the hidden message

To find the hidden message, match the pictures to the main picture and write the letter into the corresponding box at the bottom. See sample.

hidden pictures Color each shape that has a black dot inside, to discover the hidden pictures.

picture search

Draw a line from the circle that matches with an image from one of the two pictures. See the example.

By Simon Peter, adapted by Danielle Adair

Scott the Puppy “Where are Jane and Brian?” Mother wondered aloud as she walked into the children’s playroom. It was so quiet, and though she could hear the soft gurgles of little Amy as she was playing, there was no sign of the older children anywhere. Mother smiled as she looked at cute little Amy playing with her doll. Then she heard a slight rustle that seemed to be coming from behind the sofa. Ah, that’s where they’re hiding! she thought to herself as she quietly approached the sofa. Peering over, she spotted Jane and Brian playing with their LEGO airport, and announced, “Boo! I found you!” “Shhhhh, Mom!” Brian urged her in a hushed tone. “Why are you guys playing behind the sofa?” she asked.

partly destroyed LEGO airport that she and Brian had worked so hard at building. “You see, Mom? That’s why we’re hiding here!” said Brian in a frustrated tone. Tears were running down Jane’s cheeks as she broke out into sobs. “Amy is always breaking our toys and knocking down anything we build,” she sobbed. “Oh my! I am so sorry, I didn’t realize that’s why you were hiding. I was only trying to surprise you both,” Mother said apologetically. “Now we can’t play anymore! We can’t do anything when Amy is around!” stated Brian. “She needs to learn to not tear things down, and to mind her own business!” a very irritated Jane added. “Well,” said Mother calmly, “I don’t think Amy means to knock down your toys on purpose. Maybe it’s just

“We’re hiding from… Oh no!” It was too late. Amy was already crawling in their direction. “Amy, wait! No, don’t…!” Brian cried out, but before Mother could grab her, Amy had toppled the airport tower. Jane looked hopelessly at the now 17

that she’s a bit clumsy as she’s still so young. Maybe you can teach her to not throw your toys down, and show her how to play with the toys and be creative instead of destructive. Why don’t you give it a try?” Brian looked at Amy, who was chewing away at one of his blocks. “Okay, Amy, look here! Look at what we’re going to make. Come and help me!” he said as he pulled out the wooden blocks from the toy box, and slowly began placing them one on top of the other. “You see, Amy, we can build, not tear down,” said Brian, reaching for the last of the blocks. “GACK,” said Amy, as the last of the blocks was put in place—and before Brian could say done, with a swift move of her arm Amy had knocked the tower down and sent the blocks flying all over the place. “Hmmm, I think Amy is just like Scott the puppy,” said Mother. “Scott the puppy?” Brian and Jane asked in chorus. “Oh,” said Mother, “I don’t think I’ve told you that story.” “There was once a puppy named Scott, a really cute little golden puppy who was quite a rascal and was always getting into all kinds of trouble. “ Jane and Brian both looked at Amy. “Yeah, sounds like someone I know!” said Jane, kindly stroking Amy’s cheek.  Scott the puppy belonged to a pretty girl named Jan, and 18

Jan had a best friend, Sally. Sally would come over every afternoon to play at Jan’s house with Jan’s big dollhouse. They would play for hours—that is, until Scott the puppy would show up. Scott had been given to Jan as a present for her birthday. Before Scott came along, Jan and Sally had never had a problem when playing with their dolls. But now, when Scott was around, it seemed that instead of playing it was like they were on a rescue mission to save the dollies, and the dollhouse, from Scott. He would bite on the dollies’ dresses and hair, and knock down the dollhouse and all the pieces in it.

It seemed that every time they had everything in the dollhouse all set up nicely, Scott would come and knock it all over. It was very frustrating! One day, Jan and Sally were playing with the dollhouse, and just had everything set up the way they liked it and were having lots of fun, when all of a sudden, Scott came and jumped on the dollhouse and knocked it all down! Again! Down went the roof, and with it all the little doll chairs and beds, and

everything else inside! Even one of Jan’s favorite porcelain dollies was cracked! Jan was sad at the loss of her favorite doll, and Sally was very upset. “Oh, Scott,” Sally said, “you naughty little puppy! You knocked over the dollhouse again, and you even broke one of the dollies this time!” Scott was very sorry, because he saw how sad Jan was. He sat there looking sadly at all the mess he had caused. “You know, Sally,” Jan said. “I don’t think Scott really means to be naughty. He just sees us having so much fun with the dollhouse, and he wants to be with us. He wants to play too, but he doesn’t know how because he’s just a little puppy.” “I guess you’re right. He’s such a playful little puppy, and he can’t help but make a mess.” Sally picked up Scott. “You little rascal,” she said as she cuddled him. “I have an idea!” said Sally. “How about if instead of playing with our dollies, we play outside in the garden, and that way Scott can play too? We can have fun with him, and he won’t be lonely and he won’t break any of our toys.” “That’s a great idea!” exclaimed Jan. And off they went to play outside with Scott the puppy!  “You see,” said Mother, “Scott just wanted Jan and Sally to give him some attention and have fun with him too.”

“Mom, I think that’s just it!” said Brian rather pensively. “Amy is like Scott the puppy! She sees us having so much fun with our toys and wants to play with us, but since she’s still small she doesn’t know how to not knock the toys down.” “She just wants our attention!” said Jane excitedly.

“Maybe if we play with her more, and show her how to play with the toys, she’ll start learning,” said Brian. “Yes, and that way I’ll have someone to play dollies with!” said Jane, stroking Amy’s golden curls. “I am so proud of you two!” said Mother with a big smile on her face. “And now, I am going to teach you a special ‘grownup trick’ that may keep Amy from knocking down your toys.” Jane and Brian looked at Mom intently. “When Amy comes rushing towards you, wanting to knock down your toys, give her another toy that she can play with instead. Get her interested in something else.” “Hey, that’s a great trick!” said Brian.  Later that day, when Amy had woken up from her nap… “Psst!” said Mom quietly, trying to get Brian and Jane’s attention. “Amy woke up. How about we try that little trick and see how it works?” “Oh yes,” said Jane and Brian. “Okay, I’ll bring Amy in,” said Mother. Mother brought Amy into the playroom, and the very moment she saw Brian and Jane, she started fast in their direction and towards their grand LEGO setup now in progress. But before she could knock it all down… “Amy!” called Jane and Brian together, as they stood in front of the LEGO set. Amy looked up to see them both holding her favorite tea set. “Amy, how about we 19

play tea-time?” Jane asked. Amy’s attention shifted from the LEGO set to the tea set that Jane and Brian were holding. Brian and Jane handed her the tea cups and plates and they all began setting up the tea table. Soon they were all immersed in their tea party. Mother came in a little while later with clothes from her giveaway box, and Brian, Jane, and Amy added a dress-up party to their fun tea party. Mother watched them with a big smile. She looked up and thanked Jesus for the wonderful kids He had given her. Then, she felt a nudge on her leg, and looked down to see Amy holding up an empty tea pot and an old hat with a flower that was missing more than a few of its petals. “Ga-ga!” was

all that Amy said as she held it all up higher. Brian and Jane looked at Mother with a contented grin as Mother put on the hat, took the tea pot, and lifted Amy in her arms. “Would anyone care for more tea?” she said, walking towards the tea table, as they all continued enjoying their game. Nothing was messed up, and nobody was frustrated.

There would be other times when Brian and Jane could play with more delicate things if Amy wasn’t around, but now they knew they could have fun when she was there too.

Moral: When you share what you have an d take turns, you’ll have much more fun w he n playing with othe r kids. 20

find the puppies How many puppies can you find in this picture? Write the answer in the box.

CREATE your own puzzle

You will need: A sheet of paper, a sheet of cardboard, crayons or colors, glue, and scissors.

Trace the picture on the white sheet of paper and color the picture. After youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve colored the picture, glue it onto the sheet of cardboard and cut out the puzzle pieces. Now you can make the puzzle!

ANSWERS TO THE ACTIVITY PAGES find the differenceS find the puppies

4 i

find the hidden message F

y o

y R

o u C

w e

mystery pictures

maze FUN hidden pictures

It comes back to you Do you know what’s the greatest gift you could ever give to someone? It’s love! Love is the greatest gift in the universe, and when you give love you receive love in return. You never lose when you give love. Here are a few ideas of ways in which you can give love, and in return you will receive love. Try them! When you give and share with those around you—your family, your brothers and sisters, and your friends—then you will be happier too!

 Next time you see your mommy

or daddy, give them a big hug and tell them how thankful you are for how well they care for you.  Next time you are playing with your friends or brothers and sisters, let them be the first to choose what toy they want to play with and then tell them how much you enjoy playing with them.  If someone wants to borrow something of yours, lend it to them happily, and see how you brighten up their day!  Invite someone whom you don’t normally play with, to play with you. You may find that a little act of love is just what it takes to become good friends. There are many more ways you can be more sharing and giving. See how many you can think of, and then do them!