Ladybird, Ladybird – Fly away home

Well, week 4 and so far (miraculously) we haven't missed a week. It's the final week of Round 1, with each member of the family having a turn of 'Super Family Bible Night'. I would like to say it's be a huge success but in reality it's gone ok, it has been quite difficult to think of interesting ways to help each family member interact with the Bible. The most difficult part is keeping a 5yo and 7yo intrigued and wanting to listen, interact, and not being distracted by everything and anything.
So, thus begins my week of 'Super family Bible Night', truthfully I hadn't given it too much thought until the morning, but then I found this great craft idea and little insight about Ladybirds. Now I know what you may be thinking... what do Ladybirds have to do with the Bible – well apart from being created by God, not very much but they are helpful little insects (more of that Later). My kids love being outdoors and particularly love animals (including ladybirds). Toby's had a cocoon in his bug catchers for about 4months, waiting for the butterfly to come out. He checks it quite often, I keep trying to tell him that I don't think the butterfly is going to come out but he's determined to wait, and confidently tells me that "it's making its wings bigger and needs more time". Just how do you convince a 7yo that the butterfly is dead?

So back to the Ladybird, an interesting fact I found out this week that Ladybirds aren't just cute. Even though they are tiny, they are really very useful because they eat garden pests like aphids that damage plants (especially all my new spring growth). A ladybird can eat 50 aphids a day and they don't even realise how helpful they are being. So considering how helpful these ladybirds are, and how God too asks us to love and help each other – what would be a good story to match? The Good Samaritan – now I know that some theologians have stated that there is more of a salvation message in this parable than helping each other message (which I can definitely see in the passage) but for the sake of my 5yo and 7yo we're going with the "helping one another" idea.

So we all sat round the table and I read Luke 10:25-37, asking questions along the way about 'Was that a nice thing to do?' 'Who is your neighbour?' I was surprised by their accurate answers. Then at the end we talked about times we had seen people be helpful and times where people had walked straight passed. That Jesus calls us to look out for people (whether we like them or not) and he asks us to love and help each other. This created a nice segway to my Ladybird craft where I explained just how helpful Ladybirds are in our gardens and that we were going to make our very own Ladybird. We spend the next 30minutes cutting, pasting and sticking our Ladybirds together. I wrote on the back of their Ladybirds "Luke 10:27 Love your neighbour as much as you love yourself" and they have stuck them on their bedroom door as a reminder. (craft details below)

So how did it go? LONGGGGG... took over 1hour tonight and that is way to long; the little munchkins weren't in bed till 8.30pm (and I'm paying for that today as I'm trying to write this blog). They've both been sent to their rooms for some "quiet time" – separately!!

The idea was good just the time factor was the issue. Even earlier today they were playing with their Ladybirds and remembering and reciting what it means to love and help one another (if only they'd remember that nowL ) My advice is if you do this activity that you cut out the Ladybirds beforehand to save a lot of time and make sure you've got googly eyes and pipecleaners.

 

Luke 10: 25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?"  26 Jesus replied, "What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?"  27 The man answered, "`You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And, `Love your neighbor as yourself.'"s
  28 "Right!" Jesus told him. "Do this and you will live!"  29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30 Jesus replied with a story: "A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.  31 "By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by.32 A Temple assistants walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.  33 "Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,s telling him, `Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I'll pay you the next time I'm here.'  36 "Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?" Jesus asked.  37 The man replied, "The one who showed him mercy."
  Then Jesus said, "Yes, now go and do the same."

 Ladybird Craft (I used 2 different sized bowls to make the pattern)

Ladybugs with Movable Wings Craft for Kids
from http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/ladybugcrafts.html

What you will need: Black and red poster board, oval movable eyes, something for the nose and mouth, two paper fasteners (the shorter ones), pipe cleaners and pompoms for the antennae, and glue.


What to do:
1. Draw the outline of the pattern on black poster board and cut out.
2. Cut the head off the pattern and trace onto red poster board.
3. Cut the red circle in half to form the wings.
Cut out small circles from the black poster board and glue to the wings.
4. Position the wings on the body and poke holes through the wings and body in the place indicated on the pattern with something sharp.
4. Poke paper fasteners through the holes so that  the wings will move up and down.
Glue on mouth, eyes, nose and antennae.


 
For more ideas and resources on Bible Engagement or to buy Kylie's 'Milk to Meat' book go to  www.milktomeat.com.au