Genesis 15 - Abraham can you count the stars? Quiet Book Page

In Genesis chapter 15, God promises Abraham that his decedents will be like the stars in number - uncountable!  I tried to make the stars on this quiet book page uncountable too.

Memory verse: "He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:5,6.

Materials needed to create the Abraham can you count the stars? quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet in a dark colour. I used black.
• star die-cut felt sheet in blue - available from Spotlight stores or Arbee online.
• multi-coloured star buttons in mixed colours - as many as you can get your hands on
• sewing thread
• a star template - I used this star template from smallpersonalbiz.com

Choose a few star sizes and shapes from the template. Make sure to include the six-pointed star of David, because both David and our Messiah, Jesus, were Abraham's descendents. Cut them out of the star die-cut felt and arrange them on the page. Sew them down.

Arrange the star buttons on the page. I used pins through the holes in the buttons to anchor them where I wanted them. Sew them on. I set my sewing machine to a stitch length of zero and put it on the zig zag setting. Then I adjusted the stitch width until it was the right size to fit my buttons. I found it much quicker to sew them on like this rather than by hand, which would have taken ages. For newer sewing machines, you can buy a button foot especially for this purpose.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Easy

This page is rather easy, and although it may seem fairly non-interactive, it is! 

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 15 - This page is supposed to illustrate the difficulty in counting the stars, just as God wanted to assure Abraham that it would be that difficult to count his promised future offspring. Also, believing God is counted as righteousness!
• Counting - Younger children can count the star buttons. The die-cut stars make the page more difficult as the child grows. And because some of the die-cut stars get cut in half when cutting the felt into star shapes, it makes it really hard to count the number of stars accurately. Also, many of them are hidden behind the star buttons. 
• Star shapes - stars shapes can have different numbers of points
• Colours and star colours - make sure you use different coloured star buttons for this learning area. Stars are also classified by colour, which is related to their temperature. Find a chart and some other star classification activities for the older child here on hmxearthscience.com.
• Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
• Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination

Read the Chapter

Genesis 15

Devotional

The covenant ceremony described in this chapter that takes place between God and Abraham was a very common ceremony used in the middle east back then to "cut" a covenant. Both parties were supposed to walk in the blood between the animals.  However, God did not ask Abraham to walk, and instead walked twice Himself. If you can't guess, this is a foreshadow of the cross and how Jesus would pay the price in His own blood for our side of the covenant that we couldn't keep.  For an excellent and brief explanation, read my fellow bloggers post Walking the Bloodpath by Marty Solomon from Covered In His Dust.

Also in this chapter, God predicts that Abraham's decedents would be so-journers and slaves for four hundred years in a foreign county (Egypt) after which time, they would be given the land God promised to Abraham. Genesis 15 helps set the scene for the next book in the Bible, Exodus.

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Which star represents you?

Genesis Teaser

Here is a teaser of the title page for the Genesis quiet book...

It was my aim to get the whole book done this last year.  Having to move house has ensured this goal has failed, but, I did put the time my sewing machine was not set up to good use, and started this blog.  So I guess it was to your advantage, as you might not get to see any of it otherwise!!

Ironically, Genesis is a good place to start!

Read more about my Bible Quiet Book Project here.

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How long do you think it will take me to finish Genesis?

Blue Hair Theory

Yes, this angel ornament from our upcoming wall Christmas tree has blue hair. And not because it is a fanciful creature with fanciful features.

I have a blue hair theory, and here is how it goes:

Natural selection seems counter-productive to the process of macro-evolution. How could the narrowing of an existing gene pool lead to an increase in species? Natural selection seems much more fitting to subsequent micro-evolution of a dying world that was originally designed with a large number of perfect creatures, who then struggle in a less than perfect environment.

So, before The Flood wiped out a huge amount of the existing gene pool, it is certainly possible that features that previously existed are no longer present.  Why not blue hair? Or purple or green hair?

I told my husband my theory a number of years ago, and a few weeks later he came home from work telling me he heard on the radio that small numbers of blue pigments had been discovered in the overall black appearing hair of some Asian people. Surely before the flood, these pigments could have been more concentrated in some, and thus express as naturally occurring blue hair.

I couldn't find a reference to the study, but if anyone can, please comment below with a link.  I did find a technical manual for a hair dye brand that said (at the bottom of page four) that all hair is made up of red, yellow and blue pigments. However, most things I read said blue is not a naturally occurring pigment in human hair. Which makes me wonder about animal hair...

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What crazy characteristics can you think of that perhaps mankind has lost and were not carried on by Noah's family after The Flood? Please comment below, I'd love to hear about them!

Menorah felt board play set for Hanukkah

Since it is Hanukkah right now, I decided to make a felt board play set and share with my readers how to do it. So here it is: how to make a menorah felt board play set for Hanukkah!

Menorah Felt Board Play Set

Felt sticks to itself, so you can make movable pictures for kids to play with and rearrange repeatedly. Normally I double my felt to make it strong, but not for this project as I didn't want it to be too heavy and fall off the felt board.

Hanukkah celebrates a miracle which occurred during the time in between the writing of the old and new testaments.

Basically, the temple had been defiled by the Greeks who were ruling over the Jews at the time. They were being massacred and reading the scriptures was outlawed. The Jews ran a successful revolt, and rededicated the temple to God even though they only had enough undefiled olive oil to last one day in the temple seven-branched candlestick. It was never supposed to go out, and one day's supply of oil miraculously lasted eight days - enough time to secure an ongoing supply. To read a more detailed story click here.

So, why are there nine candles on the Hanukkah menorah when the oil only lasted eight days? I believe the taller candle called the Shamash, or servant, represents Jesus, see Isaiah 53:11 and John 8:12.  It is used to light all the others. Of course this is not the meaning attributed to it by Judaism. Click here for their explanation.

John records that Jesus went to the temple at the time of Hanukkah, John 10:22-23. Since it celebrates being set free from earthly oppressors, the Pharisees used it as another opportunity to chide Jesus about whether He was really the Messiah... and He responded that they didn't recognise Him because they didn't know His voice. As this is the only place where the Good Shepherd is mentioned, I cannot leave that out and will not be focusing on Hanukkah in that chapter of the Bible quiet book project.  I think :)

The candles are lit from right to left in the same way that Hebrew is read from right to left. Ascension Ministries have a heap of good ideas on how to celebrate Hanukkah in a New Testament way!

Find a free template of the Hanukkah menorah felt board play set I made here!

Check out my post on How to Make a Felt Board.

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Does this look fun to you?

Hello and Welcome to the Bible Quiet Book Project

Hello,


My name is Carissa D, and I am mummy to one gorgeous girl Tahlia.  We have a faith and felt obsession, and we'd like to share our creations with you!

When I was in preschool, I made a booklet to take home to my parents at the end of the year.  One section was a page of questions we were asked and the teachers filled in our answers.  My response to "I'm happiest when..." was "when I'm making things."  And its still true today!

What better way to share my faith with my daughter than to make a Bible quiet book?

If its not obvious from my blog title, I am a little obsessive; so if I'm going to make an interactive felt Bible, I'm going to do it properly.  Why stop with just the common stories?  Every children's Bible has the story of Noah's Ark, David and Goliath, and Queen Esther...  Much can be learned from the not-so-common ones, and I'm sure I can find a way to make them interesting and appropriate.  If you have an idea, please post a comment!

There are 1189 chapters in the Bible, and I hope to make one quiet book page per chapter.  This project will probably last the next twenty or so years of my life, but it will be time well spent.

Benefits for you:
Ideas and free templates to inspire your own quiet book creations!
Devotionals in a way you may have never experienced before.
A couple of my friends have said they find listening to me tell the stories of my quiet books very relaxing, so perhaps reading my blog will be that for you too...

Benefits for Tahlia:
Learning Bible stories in a fun way.
Practicing her fine motor and analytical skills.
Bible verse memorization.
Learning her way around the Bible.
I hope Tahlia will love playing with her quiet book for many years to come, but as she grows older, I plan on teaching her how to sew and create her own pages, as well as adding her own posts to our blog.

Benefits for me:
Many of the above.
I find designing and sewing the quiet book pages a great method of stress management.
Bible study - I am learning an amazing amount whilst doing research for each page.
I hope this blog will be a great way for me to share my thoughts on spiritual things with an audience that is interactive!  Feel free to post some comments.



God Bless and Happy Quietbooking!



Nothing is more practical than 
finding God, that is, than 
Falling in Love 
in a quite absolute, final way. 
What you are in love with, 
what seizes your imagination, 
will affect everything. 
It will decide 
what will get you out of bed in the morning, 
what you do with your evenings, 
how you spend your weekends, 
what you read, whom you know, 
what breaks your heart, 
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. 
Fall in love, stay in love, 
and it will decide everything.

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What are you in love with?