This week's story was about Zacchaeus, who was different and wasn't liked by many people but that didn't matter to Jesus. He saw Zaccaeus in the tree and asked him to come down so Jesus could go to Zacchaeus' house! When we meet people who are different from us, we should be welcoming just like Jesus.
Activity: Looking at sand! Use your magnifying glass to take a look at sand. From far away, it looks all the same but when we look closer, we can see that sand is lots of different things! Sand looks even cooler under a microscope
Age-up Activity: Read, listen or watch something from a different perspective. Circle Round is a podcast telling folklore from lots of different cultures. Netflix just released Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices where celebrities read children's books by Black authors. If you have a favorite book we should add to the list, make sure to tell us when we meet up on Sunday!
Older kid books: *Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things by Lenore Look; *I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai; *Jefferson's Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley; Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick; the "My Name Is..." series is a good way to learn about many historical people; Juana & Lucas by Juana Medina
Picture books about diversity: *All are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold; A Family Is A Family Is A Family, by Sara O'Leary; Lailah's Lunchbox: A Ramadan Story by Reem Faruqi; Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun by Maria Dismondy; Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae; The Girl Who Thought in Pictures by Julia Finley Mosca; Mango, Abuela and Me by Meg Medina; *Hair Love by Matthew A. Cherry; *The Day You Begin, by Jacqueline Woodson; *Little Leaders: Bold Black Women In History, by Vashti Harrison; Between Us And Abuela: A Family Story from the Border by Mitali Perkins; Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester
Craft: Climbing Zacchaeus!
Extra Supplies: 1 more rubberband (sorry), 2 paperclips, marker, empty cereal/crack box or other cardboard, coloring utensils, scissors, glue
Note - I learned a couple of things while making this craft. If you have a child under the age of 5, I would recommend putting together the popsicle stick and string part while your child colors.
Step 1: Color the Zacchaeus print-out at the bottom of your week 4 letter. Then cut it out.
Step 2: Grab an empty cereal or cracker box and open flat. Trace around the cutout but give extra length at the end of the tabs with the hands. I would recommend an inch to help Zacchaeus climb later, the pictured tabs aren't enough to let him slide down. Glue Zacchaeus onto the cardboard cutout.
Step 4: Flip the cutout so the drawing is facing down. Put a dab of glue at the end of each arm tab. Carefully bend back without creasing so just the hands are visible on the front, and press the tab to the back of the arm. Use the paperclips to keep held together while the glue dries.
Pictured above: steps 5-7, except the last two pictures don't show the correct order of steps, follow the directions but make sure it looks more like the last photo before adding the final rubberband
Step 5: Grab the string, popsicle stick and rubber bands. Tie a long string to one end of the popsicle stick: we wrapped the string around the stick twice before tying. Take the short piece of string and tie around center of popsicle stick, making the knot at the top of the stick. Then make a knot tying the two ends together to create a hanging loop.
Step 6: Wrap one rubberband around the very end of the popsicle stick to keep the string from falling off. Use the next rubberband to wrap half around one side of the hanging loop, and then half of it around the opposite side to keep it in place.
Step 7: Tie the second long string to the end of the popsicle stick, wrapping 2 times around before tying. Wrap the last rubberband around the end of the stick to prevent the string from falling off.
Step 8: Now get the Zacchaeus cut-out, slip the string through the loops we made by gluing the tabs to the back of the arms.
Step 9: If needed, wrap a little piece of tape tightly around the end of the string to help with the next step. Thread one string through one bead and make a double knot at the end to prevent the bead from falling off. Repeat on the other string.
Step 10: Hang up the climbing toy and alternate pulling the ends of the string to watch Zacchaeus climb! Let the string go slack to watch him come back down!
Snack Idea: Hummus "sand" and Broccoli "trees" with pretzel stick "ladders"