The Greatest Prize

Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Note to teachers: These notes were written with the original film starring Gene Wilder in mind, I prefer this one to the new film starring Johnny Depp. I know the new one is closer to the book but the old one is the one I saw when I was a kid and I like it better. The video scenes can be adapted to scenes similar in the new one although you will have difficulty with the last scene as it is different in the new film, I’m sure you’ll adapt it accordingly, you have my permission.

I am very sure that Roald Dahl did not intend to use his work as a moral lesson for Christian values what he did have though was a concern about how children were growing up in this modern society, how they behaved and how they were treated. Which is why he wrote so many children’s books, most of all though he wanted children to have fun, make sure you do your lesson with fun in the complete
forefront.



Memory Verse, Matthew 6:21 ‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’

Lesson 1—Golden Ticket
'Parable of the Sower’ Matthew 13:1-23

Objectives:
To help the children understand that there is no Greater
Prize than Jesus.
There are things in this world that will seem attractive
but will only stop us from getting the Greatest Prize

Charlie thinks he has lost his chance of getting a Golden Ticket but finds out there is still a chance so opens up the bar of chocolate he has bought, bought with money he found not money he earned. Even so, when he opens the chocolate bar and finds the golden ticket he throws the chocolate away, the thing he has just gorged himself with, the thing he spent most of this money on because what he has found is far greater in value than any chocolate bar. Everyone wants it and Charlie has to fight his way through the crowd to keep his treasure. Whilst running home he comes across a potential enemy who tries to persuade him to do something wrong with the promise of great wealth. What will Charlie do? What are you going to do with your Golden Ticket, Jesus has the greatest treasure for you but so many things will try to take it from you like the weeds, rocks and birds in the story or promise greater treasure things will try to make the treasure Jesus gives seem less valuable but hold onto that ticket. Hold onto the treasure, don’t let anything de-value or take away all that God has for you.

Object Lesson—Wrapped Parcel
It doesn’t really matter about what's in the parcel as you won’t be opening it. You may want to prepare for the last lesson (page 15) and have the parcel in it already to just use it.
Ask the children about what they think is inside.
Talk about how it feels at Christmas and Birthdays and the excitement of waiting to get the present, it’s almost better than getting the present itself. Jesus has many great and wonderful rewards for us if we follow Him, some we will get while alive on this Earth, some much greater after we meet Him in Heaven but even then the greatest prize is the friendship we have in Jesus.

Lesson 2—Greed
‘Jacob and Esau’ Genesis 25: 19-34

Objectives
It is a good thing to have dreams and desires.
Those dream must be what Jesus wants in our life.
If we let Jesus direct our lives and not our own greed
then we will always get what is best for us.

All the Golden Ticket winners are in the sweetie heaven of Willie Wonka every possible variation of sweet possible just for the taking edible flowers, huge lollipops even the grass is edible. Willie Wonka has only one rule, you can eat anything you like and as much as you like but don’t touch my chocolate river it’s not to be contaminated by human hand. It’s specially mixed by waterfall, no-one else does it that way, many have tried to find his secret but no-one can compare. But Augustus can’t help himself despite all the wonderful things around him of which he can have has as much as he liked he had to have the one thing he could not have, chocolate from the chocolate river and boy what chocolate. But, gets too greedy even more greedy than he was already and falls into the river and gets trapped into the pipe that leads to the fudge room. Greed only leads to being overweight and lazy, eating healthy and exercise gets us fit, sweets are nice but only in the right quantities. We all have dreams and desires, we see so many things that we would like and things that other people have and we want. We don’t always think about whether we need it or what might happen because we have it. We also become less appreciative of what we have compared to so many others in our world like the poor Umpa Lumpas in the film who had nothing until Willie Wonka gave them a home and a purpose. Trusting God does not mean you will always get what you want it means getting what we need, He will, like the Umpa Lumpas, give you a home, a place of protection, a purpose and a hope.

Object Lesson– Stuff your face
Have a big bag of sweets or crisps, explain you’ve had a really hard day and you think you deserve a treat. Eat the sweets greedily making it obvious that your not going to share them. You should get a reaction from the kids. Ask them how it feels when no one shares, its not nice and we should be ready to share whatever we have, even if it means we don’t get because we have so much to give if we live for Jesus. Make sure you have a second bag you can share with the kids.

Lesson 3—Obedience
‘Call of Samuel’ 1 Samuel 3

Objectives
God only wants the very best for you.
To get all we are entitled to we need to obey Jesus, even
when it seems silly or hard to do.

What a marvellous wonderful machine it creates the most marvellous wonderful sweet you could ever imagine, a miracle of the modern age. A piece of bubble gum that tastes like a three course dinner. Violet has to have it she grabs it out of Willie Wonka’s hand and despite him telling her not to do it, pop, it’s in her mouth quick as you like, Willie Wonka repeatedly tells her to stop but she won’t listen, Charlie asks his Granddad, “Why won’t she listen?” “Because she’s a nit wit Charlie.” She can taste it, first the tomato soup, she can feel it running down her throat, then the roast beef and potato, wow it tastes so good. Here it comes, the last course, its blue berry pie and it tastes so good but what’s happening to violet, violet is turning violet. She begins to blow up her belt expands and she’s turning blue. She looks like a giant blue berry, “can’t understand it,” says Willie Wonka, “that always happens at the end” Violet gets rolled away by the Umpa Lumpas to get de-juiced before she explodes. God’s plans for you are perfect, wonderful, and marvellous. Everything you could ever want everything you could ever need, everything is planned to the smallest detail but sometimes things seem to go wrong. We can ask God for so many things that we think we need but God knows what’s best. You see just because we can have it or do it doesn’t mean we should or it’s best for us. Sometimes, just like Violet, things aren’t ready for us yet. No, we need to be more like Samuel, he heard God call and whom did he go to he went to Eli, the man who looked after him. Eventually Eli realised what was happening and told Samuel it was God speaking not him. Are you like Samuel, ready to jump when those who look after you call, ready to obey? How quickly do you obey your parents, teachers how well do you listen? If you can’t obey them you won’t be able to obey God and disobedience ends up in disaster just like Violet.

Object Lesson—Do as I say
Ask for two volunteers, give one a big piece of play dough, they will also need a table. The second must stand with their back to them they then have to describe to the second person an object they have to make with the play dough without telling the first person what it is. Sometimes Jesus asks us to do things which we don’t really understand but as we obey things may become clearer in time. So, it’s important to keep on being obedient even when it becomes difficult.

Lesson 4—Selfish
‘Sheep and Goats’ Matthew 25:31-46

Objectives
There are always consequences for what you do
How do you want people to see you.
Are you going to be someone people want to be around or
someone people avoid.

Only Willie Wonka would have one in fact he’s got five. Geese that lay golden eggs, filled with golden chocolate but as you can imagine they aren’t ordinary geese. No they are quadruple size geese that lay Octuple size eggs. These geese are very sensitive though, very temperamental. The slightest upset and they lay bad eggs, the good eggs are polished shiny wrapped and shipped out to all over the world but bad eggs well they are sorted out by the eggducator it can tell whether it is a good egg or a bad egg. That’s when Verucca starts, she always wants everything and does her dad ever tell her no of course he doesn’t she always gets what she wants. “I want a golden goose, I want one of those golden geese and I want it now!” But Willie Wonka won’t let her have one no matter how much money her dad offers. So Verucca does what she does best, she has a strop, a tantrum, a hairy flaky but this doesn’t impress Willie Wonka in the slightest. Her tantrum ends when she stands on the educated eggducator demanding her goose and the eggducator decides she is a bad egg. Down she goes quickly followed by her dad, who is also a bad egg. We will all receive our just reward on that day when we meet Jesus, if we have been kind, generous, trustworthy and obedient then our reward will be great for all those who trust in God. If we are cruel, selfish, deceitful and disobedient our reward will be terrible; we will be separated from God. Our parents want what’s best for us and don’t always give us what we want for a variety of reasons. Stamping our feet, crying and making a lot of noise does not help you or your parents. Even if you do end up getting what you want, it just makes you even more selfish. Don’t be selfish then when you do get things you will appreciate them so much more. Your parents will be more generous when you are obedient not when you’re selfish.

Object Lesson—Eggy, Eggy
Have some boiled eggs, or if really daring raw eggs. Get two volunteers to stand five paces apart and toss the egg back and forward once taking one step backward each time until one of the eggs are dropped. This can be done as a competition with more than one couple. To get this done properly it takes team work only as both kids concentrates do the distances become greater. Working together achieves more than being selfish ever will.

Lesson 5—Idolising
‘Golden Calf’ Exodus 32: 1-21

Objectives
God comes first in everything
It’s OK to have interests and be passionate about things
but not above God.
Never let things become more important than going to
church, reading the Bible, and praying.

Next comes the latest in technology, Wonka Vision, it can transport any object across any distance. Just imagine it, you are just dying for a bar of Chocolate when suddenly there it is, a bar of chocolate in your TV not just a picture but actually there, all you need to do is just reach out and grab it. The only problem is the chocolate has too start of huge because when Wonka Vision transports it, it makes it smaller. Mike is so awed by this he spends his whole life watching TV he knows all the TV and film stars he never misses an episode of his favourite shows. Nothing is more important than TV. To be the first boy transported by television is just too hard to resist, to be the first real TV star. So, despite Willie Wonka’s warnings, Mike activates the Wonka Vision, which transports Mike across the room turning him into an inch high boy being taken by the Umpa Lumpas to the toffee-pulling machine in the hope he can be stretched back to his normal size. Sometimes we can get very interested in things, especially today with all the technology. TV’s, DVD’s, PC’s, games systems galore. All with heroes and villains people whom we love to be like and love to hate, people we idolise. Because we think they’re cool, tough, nice, strong, we spend lots of time playing and watching, perhaps too much time. How much time do we spend with friends, or our family, or just reading a book instead of in front of the goggle box. How much time do we spend with God talking with Him, going to church to spend time with our spiritual family, reading His book the Bible. It’s really easy to get obsessed with things, so much that they become more important than the things, which are truly important friends, family and God. Nothing should be more important than God; God should always be first in our lives.

Object Lesson—It’s Alive
You will need a Bible, a coat or a blanket. Have the Bible lying on the floor with the coat or blanket over it. At first ignore it completely gradually acknowledging it to be there. Prod it, poke it gently kick it with your foot and finally lift the cover to look at it without letting the children see what it is. Shout out ‘It’s Alive’ several times, ask the children to guess what it is. Then reveal the Bible and pick it up stating that the Bible is alive. The living word of God all ready to be put to use in our lives but we must do it, we must make it the most important thing, doing what God wants above what we want.

Lesson 6—Do the right thing
‘Lion’s Den’ Daniel 6

Objectives
Everyone has done something wrong (sin)
Jesus will forgive us if we say sorry and really mean it.
We must always try and do the right thing no matter how
hard it is to do it.

Now the tour is over and there is no one left except for Charlie but Willie Wonka seems to have changed from a very pleasant kind man to a busy and rude man. What about the prize, Charlie is the only one left, surely he is the winner but Willie Wonka bids him goodbye and closes his office door behind him. His granddad goes into the office to demand his prize but Willie Wonka says he is not the winner because he broke the rules so he loses. His granddad leaves very angry dragging Charlie behind threatening to get even but Charlie knows it’s the wrong thing to do and gives Willie Wonka the secret sweet that Willie Wonka gave him instead of giving it to other sweet makers who would pay any amount of money for his secret sweet but Charlie gives it back. Willie Wonka is obviously emotionally touched by this small deed of kindness and his mood changes. Charlie has indeed won because at the end of the day he did the right thing, he won more than he expected he won the whole chocolate factory. There is no doubt that we have all done something wrong the Bible tells us we have all sinned. But yet God promises us a great treasure, all we have to do is to recognise that we have done things wrong, say sorry to God and really mean it but then live the rest of your life the best you can doing what’s right for God. The Bible word for doing the right thing is ‘righteous’; God wants us to be righteous. He will help us do the right thing but we have to do it. This means refusing to do what’s wrong and demanding to do what’s right, being righteous.

Object Lesson—The Greatest Prize
Have a parcel wrapped up as a present, in the parcel have a Bible, a cuddly toy and a cross. Get the kids to try and guess what is in the parcel, once you have discussed this for a few minutes get one of the kids to come forward to open the parcel as they open it explain that the greatest prize in life is Jesus. The Bible represent the words that He spoke, words that tell us how to live our lives, the toy represents His love which is so great for us, the cross His sacrifice which He choose to give in order to be our friend. He paid the price of our wrongs so as we could be made right with God. If you feel generous give the prize away to the child who came forward.