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Resource produced by Sarah Brown, Children’s Advisor, Diocese of Derby

birthday designed by Lucas Salinger, aged 10, from Potten End C of E Primary School in Hertfordshire. You may use this design freely. Download at http://www.churchcare.co.uk/images/HMQ90/HMQ90LogoDownload.png

The Queen’s 90th birthday is on 21st April and will be celebrated with:

Four days of celebrations in Windsor 12-15 May A service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral on

Friday 10th June The traditional Trooping the Colour Ceremony – the

Queen’s birthday parade on Saturday 11th June in Horse Guards Parade

A massive street party for 10 000people in the mall on Sunday 12th June. Local versions of this lunch will be held throughout the country.

This resource is a flexible collection of themes and ideas which could be used with children of different ages.It is based around five themes ( TRADITION, CARE, SACRIFICE, LIVING FAITH and CELEBRATION) which relate both to an aspect of our Queen’s life and service and also to a Bible event or teaching theme. For each theme there is an opportunity for children to think and consider the ways in which the Queen demonstrates this area and also to link what she does with the history of our country or events from the past.Then, they will be able to learn about a story or event in the Bible based on the theme. This leads naturally into an opportunity to create part of the liturgy for a service which celebrates the Queen’s birthday.Finally, there will be suggestions for craft and Messy activities to link with each of the themes.Feel free to follow just one of the themes, or just one of the resource types, or your own random selection to fit your own particular needs.

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THEME QUEEN’S ROLE

BIBLICAL LINK

SERVICE/LITURGY ACTIVITY

MESSY CHURCH/ CRAFT

TRADITION Attending the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day

Celebrating the Lord’s SupperLuke 22:14-231 Corinthians 11:23-26

Collect for this celebration

Create your own Crown Jewels to remind everyone of an important event.

CARE Patron of many charities

The Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37

Intercessions for those who are sick, elderly or suffering.

!I promise I will care” boxes.

SACRIFICE Maundy Money

Last Supper Jesus washes feetJohn 13: 1-17

Confession activity Design a coin for someone who cares

LIVING FAITH

Christmas Message

NicodemusJohn 3:1-5, 16, 19-21

Credal prayer or statement

Cross design

CELEBRATION

Great picnic A Song of Praise (Ps 150)

Writing a psalm of praise based on Ps 150

Bunting for your own celebration

Resource produced by Sarah Brown, Children’s Advisor, Diocese of Derby

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1.Attending the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day

2.Patron of many charities

3.Maundy Money

4.The Christmas Message

5.The Great picnic in the Mall

Resource produced by Sarah Brown, Children’s Advisor, Diocese of Derby

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TRADITIONAttending the Cenotaph on Remembrance Day

Resource produced by Sarah Brown, Children’s Advisor, Diocese of Derby

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To talk or think about….

1.A tradition is something that you do regularly, perhaps every year. Usually you do it because you don’t want people to forget something that happened.

2.What event is the tradition at the Cenotaph commemorating? Why do you think it is important that people don’t forget?

3. What is the Queen doing? She’s an elderly lady yet she never has any help. Why do you think this might be?

4.As she bows her head, what might she be thinking about?

5.There are many soldiers taking part in the ceremony. Do you think they enjoy taking part, or is it a sad day?

6.Do you know why poppies are used on this day? After the Queen has laid her wreath lots of other people surround the Cenotaph with poppies. If you were someone from another country and you visited this place the next day, what sort of things might you think?

Resource produced by Sarah Brown, Children’s Advisor, Diocese of Derby

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CAREA PATRON OF CHARITIES

An important part of the work of The Queen and the Royal Family is to support and encourage public and voluntary service. 

One of the ways in which they do this is through involvement with charities and other organisations. These range from well-known charities such as the British Red Cross to new, smaller charities like the Reedham Children's Trust, to regiments in the Armed Forces.

Resource produced by Sarah Brown, Children’s Advisor, Diocese of Derby

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About 3,000 organisations list a member of the Royal Family as patron or president. The Queen has over 600 patronages and The Duke of Edinburgh over 700.

To talk or think about…

1.The pictures show 5 organisations or charities that the Queen is Patron of. Can you work out what all 5 are? What clues did you use?

2.One thing a Patron could do is visit the people who run the charity and talk to them about how everything is going. Do you think that this is a helpful thing to do? Why?

3.The Queen is photographed with people from each charity. What would you do with it if you had a photo of you and the Queen?

4.How much do you think that the Queen enjoys this work? Are there any clues in the pictures?

5.Not just the Queen but lots of the Royal Family support charities in this way. Why do you think they do this?

Resource produced by Sarah Brown, Children’s Advisor, Diocese of Derby

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6.In what ways is the charity helped by the Queen’s link with them?

Maundy Money(Maundy Thursday is the day

before Good Friday when Jesus died. On this day Jesus and his

disciples shared the last Supper. Jesus washed his disciples’ feet.)

Resource produced by Sarah Brown, Children’s Advisor, Diocese of Derby

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Distributing Maundy MoneyThe same number of elderly men and women as the age of the Queen are each given two purses. One has silver Maundy money (shown here) to the value of her age (so this year it will be 90p) in Maundy Money. They are also given a red purse which has £5.50 of ordinary money in it

1.This tradition was started by King Charles II because he didn’t want to wash any smelly feet!Do you think this was a good decision or would it have been better to have carried on the tradition that Jesus started of washing feet? Why do you think this?

2.The money is put on old gold plate and the Yeomen (in red) carry them above their heads. Why do you think they do that?

3.In the picture where the Queen is writing you can see bunches of flowers. They are all beautifully scented and the arrangement is called a “nosegay”. Before Charles II these were very important! Why do you think this was?

4.If you received Maundy Money would you keep it or sell/spend it? Why?

Resource produced by Sarah Brown, Children’s Advisor, Diocese of Derby

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The Christmas Message

Every Christmas Day at 3pm the Queen gives a special Christmas message to all of her subjects all over the world.

The 89-year-old monarch acknowledged "the world has had to confront moments of darkness this year" but said "the Gospel of John contains a verse of great hope... 'Light shines in the darkness, and the

darkness has not overcome it.'"

Resource produced by Sarah Brown, Children’s Advisor, Diocese of Derby

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A realm is a country where the Queen is Head of State. The blue countries on the map are current realms, the red were realms but are no longer. The Queen’s message is broadcast to all the countries in blue.

The Christmas Message

1, Have you ever listened to/watched the Queen’s Christmas Speech? What did you think of it?

2. Most years the Queen talks about something to do with her Christian faith, or perhaps quotes some verses from the Bible. Why do you think she does this?

3. The Queen’s Grandfather, King George V started this tradition by reading the speech on the radio. The Queen’s father continued this, but he had a problem! He stuttered, especially when he was nervous. What problems might this cause?

4. The broadcasts were really important during the Second World War. What might you feel if the king read these words?"A new year is at hand. We cannot tell what it will bring. If it brings peace, how thankful we shall all be. If it brings us continued struggle we shall remain undaunted."

5. Very rarely the Queen refers to something not so good. For instance in 1992 she said it had been an “annus horribilus” (Latin for a horrible year)

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In her 1992 "annus horribilus" speech, the Queen, expressed her sorrow at a year which saw the break-up of two family marriages, one divorce and the fire at Windsor Castle.

Was she right to talk about things which had made her sad, or should she stick to Good News?

THE MALL GREAT PICNICThere will be 10 000 people at the Mall Party. 9000 tickets are for the charities that the Queen is patron of. 1000 go into a ballot.Each person who attends pays £150 each.

Of course you could organise your own party with food and decorations.

Resource produced by Sarah Brown, Children’s Advisor, Diocese of Derby

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THE GREAT PARTY ON THE MALL

1. Have you ever been to a street party with your neighbours sitting outside in the road? What was good about it? Was there anything about that didn’t work so well?

2. What do you think about the way the tickets are being allocated? Is £150 a fair price do you think? If you don’t think it is, how would you have made it more fair?

3. The people who are going to the Mall party have a hamper each with food in it. If you were allowed to choose the food for everyone, what would you put in the hamper? Would you include one with vegetarian food, or food from different cultures? List or draw what you would include. Don’t forget drinks!

4. In our country there is something that can spoil our plans for an outside party right at the last minute – the weather! What plans for a rainy day would you make if you were in charge of the Mall Party?

5. Do you think the Queen will enjoy this event? What about her husband, Prince Philip who is 94 years old?

Resource produced by Sarah Brown, Children’s Advisor, Diocese of Derby

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What do you think Prince William and Kate might be worried about with their two young children?

6. If you had a free ticket, would you go?

Resource produced by Sarah Brown, Children’s Advisor, Diocese of Derby