HMS Disaster Boat

Well this is day two of how not to do things!! Todays boat, that may of worked or NOT made out of thick paper (frankly it could never have worked but we certainly tried to make it) Even Bear was not impressed, from this picture you can't even see the planed potential I will not bore you with how it "could" have worked. So it was aptly named HMS Disaster Boat! Of course we must remember the learning occurs in the doing and creating not the end product :)

Talking of end products look at yesterdays fish crayons, not too terrible just a shame about the tray.

Recycled crayons (fish)

Well I have seen simply lovely up-cycled crayons in a host of wonderful shapes created by melting old wax crayons in silicone moulds. Well I thought this would be easy and despite the mould I used saying FOR WATER ONLY and it being an ice cube tray and NOT reading any instructions (thinking I'd seen crayons on numerous blogs using cute little ice cube moulds, like the ones at counting coconuts), what an klutz I put the ice cube tray in the oven do not do this I repeat DO NOT PUT ICE CUBE TRAY IN OVEN!!! I succeed very well at melting the tray quicker than even the crayons and boy did it smell, well done me. It would seem I'm not the only one Crafty Rachel did the same but hers didn't melt instead were ruined by dye. So moral of story READ next time, melt crayons then pour into mould OR use a silicone muffin tray NOT ice-cube tray. Then I may end up with some lovely crayons like the ones made by kitty garden makes

:( Sad melted tray. Pictures are being taken today by three year old, I was told it was his job (hence blurriness, angles and colour sorry)
Pushing out without breaking. One positive tip, plunge into cold water prior to pushing out lessens breaking.

We did get some crayons! Just need more practice!!!

fish fabric art

Fabric makes the most wonderful expressive material, and particularly lends its self to sea scenes. This "picture" was created using some of the fish painted in the fish stick painting session. I have a host of photos along the same theme as this and will post tomorrow but right now can't find and need sleep.

Fish Stick painting

Couldn't resist the pun!! These fish made from paper pates with a triangle cut out and stapled to the opposite side make lovely fish. These ones were given an extra dimension by scratching on scales with twigs and sticks found in the garden (children's idea), they then painted little fish with the sticks, which proved to be a great motivator for reluctant pre writers.

A great how to can be found at Enchanted Learning

Funky Foam Fishing

From boats to fishing....

Funky foam makes most wonderful fish (if a little dead, floating on water), when accompanied by a tea strainer, mini fishing net or in this case a spoon? It provides a great fishing activity. I originally did this a responsive activity in pre-school sunday group where I wrote words on one side, with affirming words about what God thought of the, subsequently a memory verse. You could equally do the affirming words with any group of children, even allowing the children to each pass thier fish to a friend. This group of fish had various emotions drawn on to allow discussion about emotions, there are any number of possibilities (speech sounds, numbers, phonics, colours...) and plain simple free play too.

Row Row Row Your Boat

That classic children's song/rhyme Row Row Row Your Boat, has a few verses added by creative persons along the way no doubt but most people stick to merrily rowing and screaming at crocs. So I've collected them together (If you want it in pdf/ ppt. let me know and i'll mail it until I get my website sorted) including some lovely Christian verses that would most defiantly complement a few Bible stories (including Paul at Sea)

Paul at Sea

There are sooooo many Bible stories featuring boats! Here's one that isn't a "classic" children's Bible story, and certainly not one that has an abundance of ideas relating to it on the web.

Paul at sea snack: Boats made out of small slices of cake with half a bread stick with a rice paper triangle stuck on with melted chocolate pushed in the top to represent a sail.

I am a passionate believer in giving children the freedom to express themselves creatively and not stifling or constraining their creative and exploitive interests. I think this is particularly relevant in "christian responses" where creativity and exploration in many forms mould our understanding and indeed our application of Biblical messages,and even more so in childhood. This theory is well established through the theological model of Godly Play and catechesis of the Good Shepherd, but are probably not widely acknowledged beyond these circles. For those not following these models due possibly in many cases to the high levels of structure and "rules" which possibly put many people off and do not fully express the church, family or individuals character fully, I think there is a middle ground to be found. One that incorporates the nature and ethos of Godly play but expresses the character of the church, family or individuals exploring the Bible with children. The middle ground exists when one acknowledges the foundational theories of Godly play, that is (I believe) the freedom to respond to and explore theological/ biblical stories/ ideas within a safe and accepting environment in a personal and sometimes group dynamic, through the medium and depth one chooses to. Two publications which explore the ethos underpinning Godly play are Playful Orthodoxy and Church at Play and are well worth a read if you are interested in giving children the freedom to respond to and explore the Bible in a meaningful and respectful way.

With regard to my response to Godly Play I think you will realise that whilst I am not a stoic puritan on the programmes application I believe there is significant merit in the ethos and its use as a foundation for any programme that is biblically responsive. In particular relevance to craft I feel the more freedom we can allow children to have when responding to bible stories the better (that is not to say that on occasion a pre designed craft does not have relevance, but feel the question should always be (as with all childhood planning) why am I doing this?)

In response to Paul at Sea, free collages relating to God being with us all the time.


Paper plates used for snack to make snakes, in relation to Paul getting bitten by a snake once docked.