Creativity

We picked up a book at the church children's library this past Sunday.  It is a great book that uses "junk" for the illustrations, and retells the story of Jonah and the Fish.  This book piqued Trevor's creativity, and over the last three days we have been making replicas based on this book.  Trevor can be very literal so we've been using this craft as a way for him to see that making a copy does not have to be exact :)  He told me this morning "I love making things with you."  Melt my heart!

Love this book, the illustrations and the wording!

Many know the story of Jonah and the Whale, but some might not know the ending of the story.  Jonah was disobedient and didn't want to go to Ninevah because he really didn't like the people of Ninevah.  Jonah was actually mad at God that God wanted the people to repent and be redeemed.  Even after the people listened to Jonah's prophecy, repented and were saved, Jonah was still mad.  I love the last page of this book which ties in to the title of the book.  "Jonah learned a very big lesson, much to his displeasure...the people who he thought were trash were really God' great treasure."   What a great lesson for all of us!

The first item Trevor constructed was of the great fish.  On one page in the book, it shows the contents of the fish's stomach.  So Trevor went to work making the items that were in the fish's tummy.  He used construction paper, drew many of the items and then I helped him cut them out.

The fish that swallowed Jonah,
and inspired Trevor's first creation.

Jonah praying in the belly of the fish;

items included candy bar, tape cassette, camera,

crackers, gold fish, etc....

Trevor's replica.  We didn't have metal spatulas for the
fins, so we thought aluminum foil was a good substitute.
Trevor's Jonah character can even come in and out!

Yesterday Trevor wanted to make the boat that Jonah escaped on to try and avoid God.  We didn't have popsicle sticks so we made a quick trip to Michael's.  Once home, we decided to use Mac-n-cheese boxes for the body of the boat.   I cut one end of the boxes to a point to replicate the stern.  Trevor used some leftover Valentine candy for the windows and a lifesaver for decorations.

The boat in the book

Getting the boat built

Boat almost finished!

Jonah thrown overboard and a  view of the side of the boat.

This morning, Trevor wanted to add more characters so we made the sailors, and the cart they pushed when loading the boat.  I think our sailors are pretty cute!

Sailors and cart

Our Jonah craft completed with book in background
that was the inspiration.

I love that books inspire Trevor to be creative.  We had fun working on this, and I'm sure it is a memory we will have forever.