Esther Cycle

WorkshopCycles includes Esther as a cycle. This wouldn't fall into my top-50 Bible Stories of all times, but they've got a cycle ready to go, so we're using it!

Week 1 was the Art cycle, and kids made noisemakers out of empty water bottles. I wish I'd gotten a photo of some of the kids and their creations, but we'll just have to deal with this.
1) Start with an empty water bottle:

2) Add beans, rice, rocks or anything that will make a good shaking noise. Screw the lid on (put a bit of glue on it if you want to make it permanent).
3) Decorate! We chose to decorate them as people. I cut up a few old polo shirts and sewed them into covers with arms and legs, then the kids added decoration.
4) Add a head--you may use a styrofoam ball, or we used quick-dry clay
5) USE! As the Esther story is re-told, shake your noisemakers to drown out every time the name "Haman" is said.

Our other workshops for this cycle include:
-Computer activity
-Purim Drama
-Games (red light/green light, rock paper scissors, etc)
-Kitchen: making Hammentaschen for coffee hour

The Beatitudes Cycle

Harcourt Parish Recently completed our WorkshopCycle on the Beatitudes.

Our activities included: Making a Blessing Cup out of quick-dry clay, Computer and Movie workshops (always a hit), fun with the Doxology, and making Blessing Cookies for coffee hour (like fortune cookies, but with blessings inside).