David takes Saul's jug and spear craft

We're working our way through the book of Samuel in our elementary age Sunday School class. Today's craft, to go with the story about David sparing Saul's life, went well, so I wanted to share it. See earlier posts for Samuel's calling and Abigail.

"Stained glass" jug with spear

Here's what you need.

• Wax paper
  
• Crayons
  
• Cheese grater or manual pencil sharpener
  
• Small ziploc bags
  
• Black sharpie marker
  
• Coloring sheet with jug picture (I found a good one here, but I omitted the handle to make cutting easier)
  
• Coloring page with spear picture (I made one using this image.)
  
• Scissors
  
• Glue
  
• Iron
  
• Ironing board
  
• Newspaper
  

Do ahead:
Grate or sharpen crayons, saving shavings in individual bags, sorted by color. 3-5 bright colors should be plenty. With black marker, trace the jug on the right half of a piece of wax paper, making one for each child.
In class:
Cover tables with newspaper to prevent scatter. Give each child a piece of wax paper and have them sprinkle crayon shavings onto the jug drawing. Use sparingly, a little goes a long way. Fold wax paper in half, sandwiching shavings between the layers.
Heat iron to medium. Have kids bring their jug one at a time to the ironing board (also covered in newspaper) and place on surface. cover with another piece of newspaper and have an adult iron briefly. Crayons will melt and colors will spread, making a glazed-looking effect on the paper jug. Remove wax paper and let cool, then have the kids cut out their jug. They can then color and cut out their spear and glue it on.
This is adaptable for any story involving a pot or jar, such as Rebekah watering Isaac's camels or the woman at the well.

Sausage and white bean soup

A hearty bean soup for winter. I recently made this with the vegetable stock and the sausage cooked separately when taking a meal to a family of mixed vegetarian/omnivores.

• 1.5 pounds dried navy beans
  
• 1.5 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1.5 pounds smoked sausage
  
• 1 large onion, chopped
  
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
  
• 1.5 tablespoons minced garlic
  
• 12 cups vegetable or chicken stock
  
• 5 cups water
  
• 3 bay leaves
  
• 1 teaspoon thyme
  
• 1 tablespoon salt
  
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
  
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  

Soak beans overnight. Cook and slice sausage, set aside.  In bottom of soup pot, heat oil, then saute onion, celery and garlic.  Add beans, stock, water, salt and spices.  Bring to boil, cover partially, reduce heat and simmer 3 hours. Mash about half the beans with potato masher. Add sausage and heat through.  Top with shredded cheese, if desired and serve with bread.

Abigail and David craft

Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep already dressed, five seahs of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs and loaded them on donkeys.  I Samuel 25:18. I've discovered during all my years of teaching Sunday School that kids like almost any activity involving food. Today they had the chance to pack up their own donkey, Abigail style.  You need, for each child:

• 1 coloring book picture of a donkey (I found a great Abigail one here.)
  
• 1 piece of cardboard or posterboard, cut slightly larger than picture
  
• glue
  
• sandwich-size baggie with twist tie
  
• hole punch or scissors
  
• beef jerky (represents the sheep meat)
  
• puffed wheat cereal (I used plain, kids would probably like Honey Smacks style better)
  
• rolls or bagels
  
• raisins
  
• fig newtons
  
• crayons or markers
  
• masking tape
  

Trim the picture and glue it to posterboard. With hole punch or scissors, cut a small hole at the top of the donkey's back, where the saddlebag would go.

Cut bread, jerky and fig newtons into small pieces. Have the kids fill the baggie with an assortment of the foods, making a total volume about egg-sized. Close the bag with the twist tie, then stuff the end through the hole in the cardboard so that the food hangs where the donkey's saddlebag should be. Secure on the back with masking tape. Kids can color the picture, take it home and eat the bagged food later as a trail-mix style snack. I also roasted a couple of lamb shanks and took them in so the kids could taste real sheep meat, and served grape juice in a bota bag canteen ($6 at Wal-mart).

Samuel Called By God Craft

This was a craft my elementary-aged Sunday School class had fun with when we did the story of Samuel. All you need is foil, mini-marshmallows (we used multicolored) and a mini-gingerbread boy or other human-shaped cookies (we used Keebler elves).  On a piece of foil, line up the marshmallows in a rectangle pattern (we did 6 rows of 4; adjust depending on the size of your cookie.)  Place on cookie sheet and heat in a 350 degree oven for 2-3 minutes; watch carefully so they don't brown.  Marshmallows will puff up and stick together, creating a patchwork quilt-like effect.  Cool, and you have an edible "bed" for Samuel to sleep in and hear the voice of God. After they act out the story, they can eat the bed and cookie for a snack.

English Christmas Crackers

I've always wanted to try these, so I made some for my Cadette Girl Scout troop for our last meeting before Christmas break. I found them not hard to make at all; following the directions here, I assembled and filled five in less than an hour. The only supplies I bought online were the cracker snaps, which were reasonably priced and arrived promptly. I got cheap shiny paper and curling ribbon from the Dollar Tree and recycled toliet paper rolls for the tubes. My Scouts got their Cadet Challenge pin and a patch for our holiday service project, along with a mini-Sharpie marker, a Bonne Belle Lip Smacker, a traditional bad joke (I found lots online, most clean enough to use!) and some candy. I have extra supplies and some candy and Dollar Store trinkets for them to make their own to give to family and friends. I don't know yet how well the things actually "crack" but they certainly look festive. I could imagine throwing a big dinner party and having one at every place setting. If the Scouts have as much fun making them as I did, it will be a good meeting.

Squash Casserole

The same prep school dietician who supplied the wonderful Turkey Divan used this recipe for squash. For you, Pop-tart.

• 1 pound squash
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup grated cheese
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup chopped pimento
• salt and pepper to taste

Topping:

• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 stick melted butter

Cook, drain and mash squash, add rest of ingredients. Mix bread crumbs and butter for topping, sprinkle over all. Cook in casserole dish for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Lemon Poppyseed Slice and Bake Cookies

Slice and bake cookies are the way to go for cookie exchanges, when you want a lot, quickly. These are great.

• 1 cup white sugar
  
• 1 cup brown sugar
  
• 1 cup butter
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1 teaspoon lemon rind
  
• juice of one lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
  
• 2 teaspoon poppy seeds
  
• 3 1/2 cups flour
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  

Cream butter and sugar.  Mix in eggs, lemon juice, lemon rind and poppy seeds. Mix flour, soda and salt, add and mix until dough forms. Divide into three parts and roll into 15 inch logs on wax paper. Wrap and chill overnight.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Slice logs into 1/2 inch slices, place on cookie sheet at bake 10-12 minutes.