The Wedding at Cana

Aren't they the cutest couple?

We started out the story by introducing the bride and groom, then their guests Jesus and Mary. Next we had a couple of servants pass around trays of (empty) "wine glasses" (little plastic pudding cups I'd picked up somewhere on the cheap), that people pretended to drink from. Then Mary came to Jesus with her plea for help. Once again I rewrote Scripture…for "my time has not yet come," I had Jesus saying, mom, this isn't my day to shine; everyone's attention should be on the bride and groom today, not on me! But then, of course, He gives in and thinks of a way to help out in secret. I made these six "stone water jars" out of wrapping paper on tagboard. Then the servants "filled them with water" by using this little cardboard pump. Yeah, I don't think they did it that way either, but it was a fun visual!

Next they ladled some out and brought it to our steward, who pronounced it good. He didn't know where it came from, though, only Jesus and the servants did. The story ended with Jesus "sshh-ing" the servants, & then we pronounced the wedding party over and everyone had to file past the bride and groom offering their congratulations.

For game time, we said they probably didn't have a pump, and running back and forth from a well to fill those big jars would have been a lot of work. So we organized a "bucket brigade" relay; each team had to scoop water out of a large pail with a plastic cup & pass it on down the line to be poured via funnel into a 5-liter jug. Each team had 3 cups to keep the action going; full cups going one direction and empty cups the other. It ended in a tie, and a wet floor, of course. (Laying the newspapers down first was a good idea.)

For our craft we made these pretty silver "wedding bells," which you can't see very well--they are three-dimensional.

I was afraid they were going to be too simple, but it turned out all of the kids had some trouble tying knots & bows in the flimsy yarn. So, simple or not, they were finished up with a true feeling of accomplishment.