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3 Women’s Euro 2025 and Ed’s Bit
4–5 KA! JAM 6 Bumper Bible Breakdown 7 Kiddo 8–9 Giggle in the Middle 10 Nature Trail Collection Competition 11 Creative Corner 12–13 KA! World 14–15 Your Space 16 Patch’s Pals Naughty Norman
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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.
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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.
Have you ever started watching a film partway through, just as something absolutely awesome was taking place? If you start watching the UEFA Women’s European Championship 2025 today (5 July), then we imagine that’s exactly what it will be like. That’s because even though this fantastic football competition began on Wednesday, England and Wales will both be playing their first matches this evening!
The Women’s European Championship (also known as the Women’s Euro) takes place every four years, and sees the best national football teams battling it out on the pitch to take home the Women’s Euro trophy. At the last Women’s Euro, England came out on top – it was England’s first major footballing victory since 1966! So this year, England will be fighting to keep the trophy, and Wales will be trying their best to win the competition for the first time!
There are 16 teams taking part in the Women’s Euro 2025. They’ll be playing in eight different venues all around Switzerland. However, you don’t need to go to Switzerland to watch some of the very best football that’s on offer. This evening, Wales will be taking on the Netherlands and England will be playing against France. So why not watch both games at home with some of your friends and family? Then, on 13 July, we reckon you’ll also want to tune in to watch a very big game – England versus Wales!
You can watch Wales’s first game at 5pm (5 July) on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. England’s first game will be at 8pm (5 July) on ITV1, STV and ITVX.
I’m really excited to watch the Lionesses play during the Women’s Euro 2025. At the last Women’s Euro tournament in 2022 they were champions, so I’m hoping with plenty of lioness-like strength and courage they’ll make it two Euro trophies in a row! I think being a Christian means channelling our inner lion or lioness too! In Proverbs 28:1 it says, ‘Good people are as brave as a lion’ International Children’s Bible). We may not have fur or roar, but when we become Jesus’ friend and decide to do our best to live like him, we can feel brave and confident when faced with any challenges. That’s because we know that Jesus is always with us, giving us strength and courage.
As you watch the Lionesses play, remember that you can be as brave as a lion in everything that you do, because you can trust that Jesus is always on your side cheering you on!
Football
Stock
Photo
Read the comment on the right about how God wants to know you
Get Lost!
In this week’s Bible cartoon, Jesus tells a parable. Parables are stories that help people to learn more about God. This parable is all about … well, a sheep. I’ve got to be honest –I can’t baa-lieve we’re learning another story about a sheep! I feel like sheep have been popping up in our cartoons for weeks now, and they’re not even that interesting! Couldn’t we learn about penguins instead? This might sound mean, but I wish all of these sheep would just get lost!
‘Get lost’ isn’t a very nice thing to say, is it? When you tell someone to get lost, you’re saying that you don’t want to be around them – you’re telling them to go away. When I think about when I was younger, I sometimes wonder why God didn’t want me to get lost. I was constantly ignoring him or doing wrong things. I gave him so many brilliant reasons to not want to know me!
But isn’t that what’s so baa-eautiful about this parable? It shows us that God loves everyone, even when they’re so far away from him that it’s as if they’re lost! And not only does God love everyone, but he wants to know them. That includes you too! Just like a shepherd brings a lost sheep home in Jesus’ parable, Jesus wants to bring you into his family. God will never tell you to get lost, because he loves you. He just wants you to love him too!
says
Spot the Sheep
Three sheep have gone missing! Can you find one lost sheep in each of the pictures below?
Jacob Adams
Stories Jesus Told
The
Check out your Bible –Luke 15:1-7
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 Birth of Jesus
Last week, we learnt that Elizabeth gave birth to a baby called John. Elizabeth had a cousin called Mary, and she had a baby too! Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel and told that she was going to give birth to Jesus. Jesus was going to be the most important baby ever, because he would also be God! Jesus was going to make a way for all people to know God.
So Mary went to the town of Bethlehem with her husband, Joseph, and she gave birth to Jesus. Joseph was from King David’s family, which meant that a prophecy from the Bible had come true – a new, perfect king would come from David’s family!
Many people wanted to meet Jesus. He was visited by shepherds, and he met a man called Simeon and a prophetess called Anna. He was even visited by wise men! They all knew that Jesus was very special.
Join...
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.
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.
Unbelievable Animals
Forget cats and dogs – there are some animals that are so strange that it’s hard to believe that they actually exist! Over the next few weeks, we’ll discover some of the wackiest!
Colugos
Colugos look a bit like lemurs – if lemurs were absolutely bananas! They have giant eyes and sharp claws. But the thing that makes a colugo really strange is its patagium, which is a big patch of skin that stretches out across its entire body. This allows a colugo to glide through the air!
Thomas Edison was a genius inventor who was involved in the creation of the light bulb. However, not all of Thomas’s inventions caught on… Thomas experimented with making an entire house out of concrete. Actually, not just the house, but all of the furniture too. This included a concrete refrigerator and even a concrete piano!
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 definitely (and by definitely, we mean don’t really) need to know.
Although we think the Women’s Euro 2025 is going to have plenty of thrilling games of football, we’re sure some of you readers aren’t footy fans. However, we should all be thankful we weren’t at the football match between Stockport County and Doncaster Rovers on 30 March 1946, as that game went on for a record-breaking 3 hours and 23 minutes!
Why is grass so dangerous?
Because it’s full of blades!
Why do Belgians make terrible secret agents?
Because they can’t help but waffle on about their plans!
Why are footballers like babies? Because they’re always dribbling!
Why did the Lionesses lose the Euros? They were playing against cheetahs!
Ho ho, ha ha, he he! He he, he he!
Starting at row 1, use the letters from the row above to make a new word in each row until you arrive at the base of the pyramid with a six-letter word. Clue: Jupiter, for example.
L N E T
by Neil Locker
Answers on Page 2
2 3 4 5
To celebrate the Women’s Euro 2025, match each country to the image that represents their national nickname 1 The dragons the Eagles The lionesses the red flames The pearl owls
Hehe, he he!
Hoho,haha, he he!
I like watching the Euros when I’m at the hairdresser’s... ...the experience is the same, but the highlights are better!
What do the Lionesses say before they want to win a game?
‘Let us prey!’
Why is the Swiss defence like a block of cheese? It’s full of holes!
Why do footballers struggle to eat sandwiches? They think they can’t use their hands!
Why did England play Iceland in a Euros warm-up game? Asda were busy!
Crossword Clues
across:
Crossword Clues
1 Knight’s title. 3 Extinct bird. 6 Stampcollecting book. 7 Mixture of gases that we breathe. 8 Quick. 10 Wet weather. 12 Perceive with your eyes. 13 Row of bushes around a garden. 15 Rotate. 16 Word of agreement.
down:
1 Five-armed marine creature. 2 Polish with a cloth, for example. 3 American coin.
4 Theatrical play. 5 Daughter of a king. 9 Woolly farm animal. 11 Facial feature. 14 Period of 24 hours.
by Neil Locker
Find the countries playing at the Women’s Euro 2025 in the grid
Nature Trail Collection Competition
If a wilderness explorer wanted to take you on an adventure, would you have all the equipment that you’d need? You might have a good pair of shoes and a water bottle, but we imagine you’d be missing a few things!
To be honest, we’d be shocked if a wilderness explorer turned up at your door – but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have your own thrilling adventures outside! And if you’re going to be exploring, then there are some tools that you’ll probably want to have.
That’s where having your own Nature Trail collection definitely comes in handy! Winners of this competition will win three Nature Trail items. With the Magnifying Glass, you can get a close-up view of any beastie. Then you can record memories of any spectacular discoveries in your Nature Journal. Finally, with the 7-in-1 Whistle, you have everything you need to survive in the wilderness. That’s because this whistle also works as a light, a compass and so much more!
For your opportunity to win your own Nature Trail collection, answer the question below and email your full name, age, address and answer to kidsalive@salvationarmy.org.uk
Remember to put ‘Nature Trail Collection Competition’ in the subject box. Your entry needs to reach us by Friday 1 August when the winners will be chosen. You can also enter by filling in the details on the coupon below and posting it to: Nature Trail Collection Competition, Kids Alive! 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ.
Name:
Which of the following is an item in the Nature Trail collection?
Boot Magnifying glass Test tube
Address:
THANK YOU NHS Card
What do you know about the National Health Service (also known as the NHS)? You might know that the NHS is a medical service that looks after people who are poorly. You might even know that the NHS cares for more than one million people a day! However, did you know that today (5 July) is the NHS’s 77th birthday? To celebrate (and to say a great, big ‘thank you!’), why not make this card and give it to someone who works for the NHS, such as a nurse, doctor, receptionist or cleaner?
What You Need
The design on the right or a printout of the design on the right. A piece of A5 card (or cut a piece of A4 card in half). Scissors. Paints, pens, pencils or crayons for colouring in. Bright and colourful stuff to cut out and stick on to make a collage. Glue. A grown-up to help. Your imagination.
What To Do
1 Cut out the ‘Thank You NHS’ design and stick it onto a piece of A5 card or print it onto a piece of card and cut it out.
2 Use paints, pens, pencils or crayons to colour in and add to the design. Or cut out some bright and colourful shiny stuff and stick it on to make a collage.
3 Fold the card in half.
4 Write a message to someone you think is wonderful inside the card and give it to them.
A Kids Alive! Design Coloured by
Living a healthy and an active lifestyle and caring for your physical, mental and spiritual well-being.
Plastic Free July
Plastic is a material that’s made by people, and it can be formed into lots of different shapes. It’s been used to create some truly amazing things, such as helmets and tools to help clean drinking water. Plastic even made travelling in space possible!
Hello, I’m Dave!
No More Plastic!
However, despite some of its fab uses in the past, plastic really has become a problem. In fact, it’s become such an issue that around 100 million people from around the world will be taking part in Plastic Free July!
The aim of Plastic Free July is to try to get through the whole of July while using as few single-use plastic items as possible. Single-use plastic items are things that are often only used once before being thrown away! The four most common items are…
Plastic bags
Drink bottles Plastic straws
Takeaway cups for hot drinks
What’s So Bad About Plastic?
You might be wondering why plastic is so bad for the planet, and that’s a fair question. To find out the answer, we want to introduce you to someone…
This is Dave, a plastic bag from a supermarket. He now lives in the ocean! Well, he isn’t actually called Dave – and he isn’t anywhere near as friendly as he looks. Dave is just 3 years old, but because he’s made out of plastic, he could be around for another 397 years!
In that time, Dave will probably break down into lots of different pieces, which are known as microplastics. These microplastics will end up in drinking water, and even in the air. Microplastics are terrible for people and animals!
Too Much Plastic
Before Dave breaks down completely, he could also harm animals. He could hurt seals or turtles, or – if he washes up on land – he could even block the digestive systems of animals such as lions and elephants!
Dave is just an imaginary plastic bag, but there are plenty of real plastic bags in the ocean. In fact, around eight million tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean every year. If you’re struggling to picture that, it’s helpful to know that a male elephant weighs about six tonnes. So that means that the amount of plastic that ends up in the ocean in 2025 alone will weigh the same amount as 1,333,333 elephants!
Getting Started
If you’re now feeling inspired to fight plastic pollution this July, then…
Ask your parents or carers to use reusable shopping bags when they go shopping.
Use a reusable water bottle, rather than buying new ones.
Avoid using single-use plastic straws! Instead, use reusable straws, such as straws that are made of metal or bamboo.
Make sure that you’re recycling your rubbish correctly – at home, at school and even at church!
Inspire others. You could tell your friends at school about plastic pollution. Or you could talk to a schoolteacher or leader at your church about going plastic-free this July!
Avoid single-use plastic wrappers by making your own snacks to take to school! For a delicious recipe, check out bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/banana_muffins_51549
Take On the Challenge
You can sign up online to officially take on the Plastic Free July challenge. You can also say how long you’ll be taking the challenge on for. You might want to stop using single-use plastics for one day, the whole of July, or a whole year! You can find out more by visiting plasticfreejuly.org/take-the-challenge
Will you take part in the Plastic Free July challenge?
Cool Colourings
Yandiswa, aged 10, sent us this bee-utiful colouring to celebrate World Bee Day! We love the bees with their blue wings.
New Junior Soldiers
A junior soldier is a young member of The Salvation Army Sophie, Boston; Eli, Emily-Grace, Enya, Clacton-on-Sea.
H a p p y
Mary, aged 9, created this awesome colouring. We loved it and so did Patch!
This colouring is so good I’m going to put it up on my wall! It will help me remember that God made our beautiful world and he’ll always look after us. Fantastic work, Mary!
G e t I n T o u c h !
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
B i r t h d a y t o y o u ! 5 July
Bertie Hudd – age 9
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
Age? 7.
Favourite colour? Red.
Favourite food? Plain pasta.
Evie Kitty
Age? 7.
Favourite colour? Red and blue.
Favourite food? Christmas pasta.
Favourite sport? Basketball.
Favourite bit of Kids Alive!?
To colour in the pictures.
Favourite Bible story and why?
Jonah and the whale, because I like the way the whale ate Jonah.
Favourite TV programme? Goosebumps.
What do you want to be when you’re older? Police officer.
Pets? I don’t have any, but I’d like a dog.
Hobbies? Making things.
Tell us a joke. Why did the dog want to sit by the fire? Because they wanted to be a hot dog!
What special skill or talent do you have? Making stuff with Lego.
Tell us something interesting about yourself. I like boys’ toys.
Is there anything else you would like to tell us? I have three sisters and I am kind and share.
Favourite sport? Gymnastics.
Favourite bit of Kids Alive!? Winning stuff!
Favourite Bible story and why?
Noah’s ark, because the animals all get on the ark.
Favourite TV programme? Katie Morag
What do you want to be when you’re older? A tooth fairy!
Pets? A cat called Lola. Hobbies?
Tell us a joke. Why did the cow cross the road? Because there was a moo-vie!
What special skill or talent do you have? Running.
Tell us something interesting about yourself. I have a brother named Josh. Is there anything else you would like to tell us? I have lost two teeth.
