The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Character-Building

Note to teachers: This guide is meant to help your children explore “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” while articulating moral themes in the story. Although “The
Chronicles of Narnia” may be read as nothing more than a really good tale of adventure,forgiveness, heroic leadership, and self-sacrifice, it is clear that C.S. Lewis allowed his own experience to colour his writing, as all great writers do. These activities will work best if the children are familiar with the story of “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.”

C.S. Lewis wrote that he had envisioned an imaginary land where animals talk
and engage in heroic action. Only later did he begin to think about what it might
be like if ethical concepts were applied to this imaginary land.

Memory Verse, John 14:6
‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father
but by me.’



Lesson 1: Mr. Tumnus Makes a Choice
’Peter’s Denial’ - Mark 14: 27-31, 66 –72

Objectives:

To convey that doing the right thing is not always easy and may have unpleasant consequences.

To help develop moral decision-making skills.

To explore the idea of sacrifice as a moral value.

Lucy is an 8 year old girl who enters a magical land and meets Mr. Tumnus, a faun.
He invites her back to his house. After sharing tea and sandwiches with her, he
plays a tune for her that makes her sleepy. He is in the service of the White Witch
and has been told to hand over to her any human children that he meets. As you
know by now, Mr. Tumnus doesn’t turn Lucy over to the Witch. He realizes that he
can’t go through with it. He opens his heart to her, tells her everything, and she
forgives him. And they become very good friends. Mr. Tumnus had to make a
decision. He had to decide if he could do something he knew was wrong because he
was afraid that if he didn’t do it, he would get hurt. The Witch had bullied him (and
many other Narnians) into agreeing to do things that they didn’t really want to do.
Peter had a choice to make and at first made the wrong one just like Mr. Tumnus but he turned it around and did the right thing in the end. If Mr. Tumnus came to you while Lucy was dozing in his parlour and asked you what to do, what would you tell him? Have you ever had to make a choice to do the right thing even though you were afraid that you might get in trouble? What was your decision?

Object Lesson ; HEAD FOR THE WARDROBE!
Materials needed: Pictures of Lamppost cut outs, wardrobe shapes, and a white table cloth or sheet. Cut out enough wardrobe shapes and distribute one to each child.
Ask the children to write their names on one wardrobe door. Separate the group
into four or more teams (depending on the number of children you have). Each
team should go to an opposite corner (or area) of the room. The doors and the lamp
post cut-outs should be scattered onto the “snowy” sheet in the centre of the room.
At the signal, “Head for the wardrobe!” the first child from each team races to the
snowy land to find a lamppost. Once found, they return it to their teams. The next
child then runs out and tries to find a wardrobe door that belongs to someone in his
or her group (but not his or her own); races back to his or her team; and the next
child takes a turn. Continue until all the wardrobes for the teams have been found.
It’s important in life to help one another not just to help yourself, even if it’s means doing something difficult. Even if it means you missing out.

Lesson 2: Edmund’s Temptation
‘Judas Betrayal’ - Mark 14: 43 -51

Objectives:

To introduce the idea of conscience.

To explore the concept that one small mistake often can lead to many more serious errors.

Edmund, an English school boy, found himself transported to a land called Narnia,
a land populated by animals who talk and where it’s always winter. He met a tall
woman dressed like a queen, who seemed to him proud, cold, and stern. He did
not like the way she looked at him and he was afraid of her. But later she began to
speak more kindly and she offered him something to drink and his favourite
sweet, which she produced by magic.


If you were Edmund, would you take the sweet?

When you meet someone and a voice inside tells you not to trust them, what might that mean?

Edmund took it and thought it was the best he had ever tasted. He soon found
himself wanting more sweets very badly, but she refused to give him more. Later,
she let him go and told him she would reward him with more candy if he brought
his brother and sisters to meet her. Judas was also betrayed by people who meant him
and Jesus harm but his inability to see these people for who they were, bad people, and the temptation of 30 pieces of silver. It was all too much and, like Edmund, he made the wrong decision. When we, like Edmund, make the wrong decision, we only need to ask for forgiveness and rectify our mistake by doing what is right.

Object Lesson; Chubby Bunnies
A bag of marshmallows, a bucket and two volunteers. They each take turn putting
one marshmallow at a time no chewing, or swallowing allowed. The child with the
most marshmallows in their mouth wins. (Explain to the children they can spit out the
marshmallows at any time into the bucket especially if they feel sick or are about to choke.) On Edmund’s first trip to Narnia, he found himself in an awkward situation. A stranger he didn’t trust started talking to him. He was being very cautious toward her until she offered him something he liked a lot. Then he made a bad choice – he took what she offered. It didn’t seem like such a bad thing to do, although no one should ever take food from a stranger. But it led him to make more bad choices until he found himself making really bad choices – that left him enslaved and in danger of being killed.

Lesson 3: Choices and Consequences
‘Withered Fig Tree’ Mark 11:12 —33

Objectives:

The student will analyze actions of the characters and make decisions regarding the moral values of those actions.

The student will connect choices and the results that these choices lead to.

Introduce the activity by discussing the story of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, paying attention to the moral dimension of the story – that four young people just like themselves entered Narnia and, with the help of others, turned a very bad situation into a very good one. Like the fig tree Jesus expects us to produce fruit, that means being Loving, Faithful, Kind, Self-controlled, Generous, Peaceful, Gentle, Joyful,Patient. Jesus wants us to be productive and have purpose in our lives.

Talk about the DESTRUCTIVE and CONSTRUCTIVE CHOICES made by TUMNUS, LUCY, EDMUND, PETER, THE BEAVERS and record them on a flip chart.

Object Lesson
As a large group, encourage the children to look for examples. (They may find it
difficult to find destructive choices that Lucy, Peter, Susan, or the Beavers made, so encourage them to look for subtle actions. For instance, Peter was clearly irritated with Edmund, and that may have contributed to Edmund going over to the White Witch, also Mrs. Beaver delayed the group starting out which could have imperilled them.) In most cases, the characters became aware of their choices and corrected them. How might our choices affect our life in the long term?

Lesson 4: The Ultimate Sacrifice
‘Crucifixion’ Mark 15

Objectives:

To explore the place of sacrifice in life, especially the willingness to sacrifice for others.

To examine the children’s life and her/his willingness to make sacrifices for
others.

Lead a discussion on the place that sacrifice plays in the story. Point out how
sombre Aslan seems after striking his deal with the White Witch. Aslan’s sacrifice
of his life is, of course, a greater sacrifice than any other. Like Jesus, he gave his all in order to set the captives free, in order to pay the price for those who betrayed him, to give back to his people what was rightly theirs and had been taken away from them unfairly. Whereas the others willingly accepted danger and possible
harm, he knew clearly that he would be killed. The Lion, The Witch and The
Wardrobe can be seen as a story about the forces of freedom, respect, and loving
kindness winning out over slavery, disregard for the rights of others, selfishness
and hatred. The children and their animal friends who ultimately triumph over the
White Witch do so because they are willing to sacrifice to help others.
TUMNUS won His freedom, his independence, THE BEAVERS Their home and possessions
PETER, SUSAN, LUCY, EDMUND Their safety (they could have returned through the wardrobe)ASLAN His life, and his people. What are you willing to sacrifice?

Object Lesson; Aslan Freeze Tag
Materials needed: Sheets of sticker dots (available at office supply stores)
Help bring the stone statues back to life! Designate one player to be the White
Witch, and one player to be Aslan. The player who is Aslan should lie on the
ground, pretending to be dead. Start by asking the White Witch to place each team
member wherever desired within his or her kingdom, and then apply a sticker dot
to their backs, turning them into statues. At the “Go!” command, Aslan wakes up.
Aslan may then bring statues back to life by tagging them and removing their dots.
Once a player has been tagged by Aslan, he or she must try to avoid being tagged
once again by the White Witch. The game is over when all players has been
effectively rescued by Aslan. Jesus set us free from all sorts of things when He
died for us, this world is full of things that would bind us, tie us down. Jesus sets
us free.

Lesson 5; Lawgivers
‘The Greatest Commandment’ – Mark 12 :28—34

Objectives:

To introduce the idea that we all have a destiny to be heroes,

To be role models for each other.

To help children gain an awareness of laws and their place in life.

To protect the less fortunate .

Imagine that you have stumbled accidentally into a whole different world, a world
full of wondrous sights and amazing inhabitants. And soon you learn that YOU
are chosen to be a king or queen of that land, and the inhabitants have been
waiting for you to come and take your place on their throne. In The Lion, The Witch
and The Wardrobe, four young people found themselves magically transported to
the Land of Narnia, an amazing place full of excitement and danger. They soon
discovered that a powerful witch was trying to kill them, that a great and righteous
leader was eager to help them, and that they were the long-awaited Kings and
Queens of Narnia. In fact, four thrones were waiting for them in a tall castle on the
edge of the shining sea. As a follower of Jesus you become a king and queen, not of
Narnia but of the Kingdom of God. Like any other Kingdom there are laws and the greatest of these is ‘Love’.

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind.
2. Love your neighbour as you love yourself.

Object Lesson
Lead a discussion on what a good and wise king or queen might be like,
How would you feel if you suddenly found that you were absolute ruler of a
magical, far-off land? What laws would you make?
Using a flipchart list the new laws of the kingdom the children make up and shout
to you.

Lesson 6: Kings and Queens
‘The Request of James and John’ - Mark 10:35—45

Objectives:

To introduce the idea that we all, in Jesus, are royalty.

To rescue and save each other.

To help children gain an awareness of responsibility.

To protect others and create a just society.

Explain that being king or queen is not about having your way or gratifying every
whim, and that rulers who acted like that were hated by their subjects and
sometimes overthrown. Lead a discussion on what was spoken about last week
about what a good and wise king or queen might be like. James and John thought
they would like to be in charge, being in charge isn’t all its cracked up to be. Being in charge brings responsibility, a good ruler first thinks about others before themselves, a good ruler knows how to serve as well as being served.

Object Lesson; “Tea for the Royal Family”
Ask a child to volunteer being king for the rest of the evening, sit them on a throne
and instruct them they are king/queen and whatever they say will happen. Follow
their requests, within reason. Explain that being king or queen is not about having
your way or gratifying every whim, and that rulers who acted like that were hated
by their subjects and sometimes overthrown. Provide frosted cupcakes,
blackcurrant juice. Offer a variety of yummies and encourage the children to serve
each other.