You guys are all so sweet thanks for your comments! Yes I have amazingly fast growing hair... haha... and if blogging makes my mom come back sooner then I wish I had thought of it sooner!!
I am teaching bible class at the moment for 5 year olds and choose the Fruits of the Spirit as my topic for the quarter. I was pretty excited about it and figured there would be plenty of curriculum out there. Unfortunately there was not, at least not at any of the places I went. I was actually told by a 'very experience teacher' that there was no way kids could understand the fruits until at LEAST high school and even then that was pushing it. I really felt bad for the guy I wanted to tell him that I am sorry he feels kids are stupid... but he probably wouldn't have taken that the right way. So I dragged Matt over to Joann’s to try and figure something out. At previous churches I have done paper murals and had them laminated. Then we tacked or taped them on walls but at this building the walls are painted concrete. I didn't want to hassle with trying to stick anything up figuring it would likely fall down within the three months of class. So I bought a bunch of the cheap solid cotton fabric and made a quilted wall hanging. It took about 2 full days to complete because I didn't have any plans to begin with (are we sensing a theme here?) I justwent piece by piece until it came together, the whole time I was having anxiety attacks because I only had 4 days notice I was teaching and I was sure it wasn't going to come together. All in all it turned out REALLY well it is about 5 feet tall and 3 and a half feet wide which is a little tall for the girls but the boys in the class all have fun reaching the top.
The apples are felt with Velcro on the back and the words are done with Tulip fabric paint. The kids get to put the fruits on the tree as we talk about how they can use each of them in their lives and by the way they TOTALLY get it and love to describe how to accomplish each one love-hugs and kisses, patience-when mom is talking to someone, gentleness-to a puppy that they really REALLY want or that pesky younger sibling (definitely the 2nd choice to show gentleness to) and so on. No it’s not super technicalbut they are 5.
There are also necklaces that we are putting together as we cover each fruit in class so that by the end it will hold all of their fruits then they will be able to take it home with them to wear it and be God's tree.
As for the hanging it can be reused much longer then laminated paper and I could even make new apples to teach something different for another class (like Adam and Eve or Zacheus...now wouldn't that be funny! Sorry I can’t think of a lot of lessons with trees in them that could/should be taught to kids… but there are some very interesting ones running through my head see if you can think of any of them!!!). This will definitely be coming home with me when I am done. If I ever get around to it I am going to recreate the Noah’s ark one (I had done this in paper before) the front of the ark opens up and there is a song and the kids (preschoolers) get to put the animals in their stalls and make animal noises. It is a lot of fun and gets some of their energy out.
