Levis craft

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I've been in charge of our chuches Little Lambs class of 4 and 5 year-olds for about five weeks. Todays class began when one of the children found a package of paper lunch bags. He opened the drawer below to reveal a package of cotton fuzz, then proceeded to stuff some fuzz into a bag.

My reactive thought of "Hey, put those back" was transformed, possibly miraculously, to "Hey, my first craft!"

Not knowing why the bags were there or whose they were, I imagined there was no better use than stuffing them with cotton. Neither could I come up with a reason to delay the craft to a later, more traditional craft making point in the hour.

So I instructed everyone to grab a fist full of cotton fuzz and a paper bag. I offered to write their name on it and help them draw anything they wanted. My ladybugs were pretty weak but I could draw a mean T-rex and catfish. They colored the bags. There was glue involved, if for no other reason than to fulfill the Biblical gluey mess in Sunday school mandates.

The children then held their custom bags of cotton as we talked and prayed and read a portion of Genesis chapter 18 about Abraham and Sarah. I immediately quizzed them.

"Who was Sarah? Why do you think she kept saying, 'I didn't laugh...I didn't laugh?"

Then we went outside with our bags for a Neature Walk through the real cathedral. Because nature is neat and, y'know, God created.

We talked about seasons and weather. We saw birds and talked about God providing food for them. Each child picked a small purple lilly, snagged a short stem of blooming ornamental pear tree, collected a pine cone or two, and snapped off a small piece of the bushes that line the church.

No Little Lamb is bound by our useless distinctions between weed and flower. Dandelions were a precious commodity, rare today. I saw Levi literally leap to capture a random piece of tanbark as if it were a $100 bill being blown by the wind.

"Whatcha' got there Levi?"

"It's a piece of wood that I thought was pretty."

"Oh ! Nice find."

He proudly plopped the item into his bag. It was the greatest single piece of tanbark my eyes had ever seen.

We went back inside to sort and applaud the mornings treasures. We discussed some of them until Kevin lightly tossed out the word snack. Kevin, oblivious to clocks, knowing not the minute or the hour, perfectly identified snack time. So we had a snack, and that just about wrapped things up.

I was tempted to make my own bag to help remember some of the treasures I came across that morning. But instead I thought to write them out, put them in this here craft.

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