Placemat Game Boards

I enjoy playing a variety of board games, but it can be quite expensive buying them all. So, a few years ago I made these board games myself. I had visions of teaching my children how to play, but having no time to make the boards, so I got ready early... I love how there are so many different strategies to learn in so many different games. What may appear simple, might turn out to be a little more complicated than you originally thought.

Nine Men's Morris

Alquerque

Brandub

You can find the rules for all these games and many others on the Masters Traditional Games website.

Out of these three, my favourite is Nine Men's Morris, but I had the most fun making the Brandub board.

Making your own board games is a great way to up-cycle old place mats. I chose ones with black or gold edging. You can buy plain MDF place mats from craft shops, but they are way more expensive than ones you can find in an op shop, and lack such imagination fueling features. For the Nine Men's Morris and Alquerque boards, I printed the board directly onto scrap-booking paper which I cut down to size to fit into my printer. The Brandub board has a scrap-booking paper background, but the squares are made from vinyl scraps. I used gold scrap-booking stickers to embellish the Alquerque board. Everything got stuck down with a couple of layers of Mod Podge. For the counters I used glass pebbles.

I am currently working on a not-really-quilted game board, so here's hoping it works out OK so I can share that with you too!

Tahlia surprised me the other day when we played a game of Carcassone with a friend. She did really well, and was able to participate (with a bit of help of course). So I'm looking forward to introducing her to these when the time comes.

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Which are your favourite board games to play?

Genesis 29 - Jacob's Wives Quiet Book Page

In Genesis chapter 29, Jacob has run away from his brother Esau and gone to his mother's family to find a wife. After agreeing to work seven years in exchange for the younger, more beautiful daughter Rachel, he is tricked into marrying the elder daughter Leah, and must work a further seven years to pay for Rachel. Leah bears Jacob four sons.

Memory Verse: When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?” Genesis 29:25.

Materials needed to create Jacob's Wives quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet. I used mid blue.
• felt scraps
• sewing thread to match each colour of felt
• sew on press studs
• material or lace for the veils
• two small blue beads and four small brown or black beads
• embroidered flowers, I got a fairly big bag full for $1 from Theo's Discount Craft in Melbourne
• hot glue gun and glue sticks
• the template

Use the template to cut out the pieces from felt in appropriate colours. I used purple for Leah because she was the mother of Judah, through whom the royal line of King David, and thus Jesus, descended. I gave her blonde hair and blue eyes, and gave Rachel brown hair and eyes for reasons outlined in the devotional section. I used the darker shades for Leah and Rachel and used lighter shades of the same colours for Bilhah and Zilpah in the next chapter, so you might want to keep that in mind if you are doing a double page spread like me. Jacob was allocated red clothes because that's what I had already given him in the previous chapter, Genesis 28 - Jacob's Ladder Quiet Book Page.

Next, lay out your pieces and position everything on the page so you know where you want everything and to make sure it fits on your page. Pin so you can peel back as many layers as possible to sew underneath. Make sure you leave enough room for the son's names labels if you are using them.

For details on how I made the son's names labels with press studs, please refer to my Genesis 30 - Jacob Increases Quiet Book Page. Only do this part if you are making a double page spread with these two chapters.

Sew each piece down in the order listed below, matching your threads to your chosen colours.

1. large hair sections for Leah and Rachel
2. torso/arm sections - remember to insert the girl's dresses underneath the arms and on top of the torsos before sewing
   
3. heads and feet
4. dresses and tunic
5. rest of the hair pieces

Cut two sections of material or lace for the veils and sew them on. Then add the beads for eyes. Finally, hot glue down your embroidered flowers over the spot where the girls hands meet.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Intermediate

Sewing Leah and Rachel's arms is the most difficult part of this page because they need to be sewn over the top of the dress before it has been sewn down yet, and you may get issues with lining them up properly. It wasn't as hard as I thought it might be though!

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 29 - this page tells the story of Jacob marrying Leah and Rachel
• Visual Discrimination - spot the difference between Leah and Rachel
• Peek-a-boo - lift the veils to see their faces
• Press Studs - learn to line them up, push them on and pull them off
• 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 29

Devotional

In this chapter, Jacob the deceiver - his name actually means that, gets deceived himself. He gets tricked into marrying the wrong woman... not a nice surprise I imagine. I had thought that he actually had to wait another seven years to marry his beloved Rachel, but it turns out he married her the next week, and had to pay her off for the next seven years.

For some reason, Jacob actually looks quite puzzled and cross standing next to Leah, but when you compare the shot of him standing with Rachel, he looks quite happy. I think it might be due to some body language caused by the one-shouldered tunic... What do you think?

Anyway, I drew their tunic and dresses with one shoulder because that is how they are depicted in ancient records. See the example below:

Image Source

Verse seventeen talks about Leah having weak eyes, but Rachel being both beautiful and having a hot body! There are two theories I have come across regarding Leah's weak eyes. The first says that she had blue eyes, which were considered weak and unattractive in that culture, where brown eyes were dominant. The other theory says that Leah's blue eyes were her only redeeming feature. She was perhaps blessed with a fertile, child rearing body... not a hot bod, and was not beautiful, and the only nice thing they could say about her was that she at least had nice eyes.

Interesting!

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Are the veils in this page captivating enough for your child?

Standard Attendance Cards

If anyone has any unused standard attendance cards and seals (stickers), please contact me! Scanned and printed onto felt, they would make awesome quiet books and would be reusable, unlike the paper version.

I have tried unsuccessfully to contact the owner of the files, and it seems they no longer exist. Standard Publishing have told me that they did not buy the files from the company now called Christian Standard Media from whom they bought a lot of their products. After contacting them, they told me almost the same thing, except that the company they bought from, RCL Benziger, no longer exists, and that the attendance cards essentially died two years ago.

If anyone still does own the files, I would love to buy them off you!!

This card was given to my Mum in her Bible class as a child. They are copyrighted to the sixties, so they have been around a long time. I remember them myself in my own Bible class and would love to be able to share them with Tahlia.

On the back is information about sixteen cards in the lot Jacob's Dream belongs to. I am not sure if there are any more or not, but here's to hoping! It seems to skip numbers in spots, so perhaps some were deleted along the way.

1801 - Jesus, Our Shepherd - to be used with 1801-S - Lambs seals
1804 - Fishing in Galilee - to be used with 1804-S - Fish seals
1809 - Bird Bath - to be used with 1809-S - Birds seals
1810 - Entering Church - to be used with 1810-S - Bibles seals
1812 - Match the Animals - to be used with 1812-S - Animals seals
1814 - The Harbor - to be used with 1814-S - Ships seals
1815 - Noah and Rainbow - to be used with 1815-S - Rainbow seals
1816 - David and Goliath - to be used with 1816-S - Soldiers seals
1831 - Jacob's Dream - to be used with 1831-S - Angel seals
1832 - Jesus and Bible Children - to be used with 1832-S - Sheep with Lamb seals
1833 - Daniel in the Lion's Den - to be used with 1833-S - Lions seals
1834 - Announcement to Shepherds - to be used with 1834-S - Silver Stars seals
1835 - Driving to Church - to be used with 1835-S - Automobile seals
1836 - Jesus and Children of the World - to be used with 1836-S - Children's Faces seals
1837 - Juniors Study the Bible - to be used with 1837-S - Open Bibles seals
1838 - Church in Community - to be used with 1838-S - Frame House seals

Even if the seals can't be sourced, the backgrounds would still be useful as a lot of the seals could be replaced with clip art or something similar.

Anyone else have fond memories of these?


Click on the image below to read my post on the Genesis 28 - Jacob's Ladder Quiet Book Page I made.

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Do you remember these attendance cards from your childhood?

Genesis 30 - Jacob Increases Quiet Book Page

In Genesis chapter 30, Jacob goes on to have all the rest of his children bar Benjamin. Interestingly, because Dinah is included in this list, the number still adds up to twelve, together with the four sons mentioned in the previous chapter. God also blesses Jacob with wealth through flocks of sheep and goats.

Memory Verse: Jacob said to him, “You know how I have worked for you and how your livestock has fared under my care. The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the Lord has blessed you wherever I have been. But now, when may I do something for my own household?” Genesis 30:29.

Materials needed to create the Jacob Increases quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet. I used black.
• felt scraps in two tones of purple and two tones of green, and some white, dark, spotted and striped felt for the sheep and goats
• sewing thread to match each colour of felt
• press studs
• ribbons
• a font template - I printed out the alphabet in capitals in a Word document using Cooper Black, size 120
• a sheep and goat template like this image from Shutterstock
• a lamb template from American Felt and Craft

Cut out your font templates, and cut them out of felt. Sew them down on the page, and write the rest of their names with a sewing machine (my sister's machine has a font setting) or embroidery machine, or hand embroider it. You could also print them onto iron on transfer paper and do it that way, but remember to flip the image first.

I also asked my sister to write out each of the children's names on her machine, and cut them out in 2cm strips. Lay them on top of the same colour of felt and sew them down. Sew one side of a press stud on the back of each, making sure not to go through to the top layer of felt. Sew the bottom halves of the press studs onto the page near the corresponding mother's name.

Melt the ends of some ribbons and sew them down for grass. I used a green ribbon with white spots, and a plain white ribbon with green ric rak over the top for a streaked effect to emphasize the spotted, speckled and streaked sheep and goats which were Jacob's wages during the six years he stayed on with Laban (following the fourteen years he worked for his wives).

Adjust the animal templates to the size needed for the page and in relation to each other. Cut out the templates as whole pieces. Cut them out of felt and sew them down onto the page as you would like them arranged. Cut out the sheep from pure white felt, but layer another spotted and striped felt on top which has had the legs and face cut out of it. Again, I used spotted and striped felt to accentuate the spotted, speckled, and streaked sheep and goats, and used a dark blue for the dark coloured lamb as stipulated for Jacob's wages.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Intermediate

The press studs are the slightly harder elements of this page. You could simplify it by using sticky dot velcro instead and hot gluing it on to make sure they don't come off easily. The sheep and goats are a bit fiddly due to the small size I made them. As this page should be used together with Genesis 29, it kind of doubles the work needed too...

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Genesis 30 - This page tells the story of the rest of Jacob's children's birth's (except Benjamin). It should be used in conjunction with the Genesis 29 - Jacob's Wives quiet book page because Jacob's first four children are born in this chapter. It also tells the story of Jacob's wages post the fourteen years he worked to acquire his wives - the speckled, spotted, and streaked sheep and goats, and the dark coloured lambs, and how God blessed him with such things.
• Colour matching - match the children with their mother
• Ordering - the older child can learn Jacob's children's birth order from memory
• Press Studs - learn to line them up, push them on and pull them off
• 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 30

Devotional

The similarity of Bilhah and Zilpah's names had me guessing that they were also sisters. Turns out that they most likely were, and may even have been the half-sisters of Leah and Rachel (through Laban's concubine). You can check out the Jewish folklore stories on the Jewish Women's Archive encyclopedia entry on Zilpah. As if there wasn't enough intrigue going on in this story already!

All the intrigue and goings on in the Bible really points out the fact to me that God can handle all of my problems. He has had plenty of experience.

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What do you learn from this Bible chapter?

Post Binding Quiet Book Closure

Normally you would put a closure on a book before you finish binding and doing your cover... But I couldn't decide whether/how I was going to do it and kept going anyway. They say necessity is the mother of invention, so here is my solution:

As I was pondering how I was going to make a closure for my finished book without making it look terrible with stitching showing all over it, I came across these display cuff-links.

They inspired this closure idea for when you have already bound your quiet book, but find that you really do need to be able to close it and don't want to waste your energy re-sewing the cover.

Materials Needed to create a Post Binding Quiet Book Closure:

• Two large buttons
• short piece of ribbon or elastic
• thread
• sewing machine with buttonhole function
• one tiny button if using a one step buttonhole function

If using a one step buttonhole function, first do a practice buttonhole for both your small and large buttons. That way you can work out the length and center your buttonholes along the edge you want to put the closure on. Make large buttonholes along every page edge except the last, where you will make a very small buttonhole. This will ensure that the buttons and ribbon cannot fall out and get lost. 

Remember to change buttons in the measurement end of your one step buttonhole foot at the appropriate times! Also, I found that the button would often pop out of the foot when I removed each page because they were fairly thick. Watch out for that, or your buttonholes will get progressively smaller.

Instructions for how to use a one step buttonhole function can be found towards the end of my Easy Peasy Lei Flower Quiet Book Page.

Use a seam-ripper to open up the buttonholes. I sewed the buttonhole on this counting page twice since I would be cutting through a ribbon on the page.

Thread the ribbon through the button that you want showing on the top.

Then thread both ends of the ribbon through all of the buttonholes. Turn the book over and thread on the second button.

Tie a knot in the ribbon, then do a double-knotted bow so it can't come undone.

Done!

Here is Tahlia keeping herself busy barricading the kitchen while I was book binding.

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Has this solved your problem of how to add a closure after you have already bound your quiet book? Comment below!

Puzzle Quiet Book Page Swap

I recently went in a quiet book swap with a group on Facebook.

We each made seven copies of our own page and sent them to the host. She sent us back one of our own pages, and six different pages made by the other participants. It is a great way to build a quiet book. You only have to think about one page layout so it saves on supplies and effort.

With not a lot of time before Christmas, this was meant to be a quick and easy basic swap.  The theme was puzzles, and the size of the pages was reduced to 8"x8", which makes it an ideal book for occupying the little ones while travelling.

This is the page I contributed:

It is a themed button maze - there are a couple of mobs of sheep in a bunch of paddocks. The gates can be opened and shut, and the sheep can be fed on a lush pasture of clover or a pile of hay, and you can bark at them while you do it all - whatever your imagination can muster.

I drew out where I wanted fences on a piece of paper so I could organize the paddock layout in my head. After sewing the buttons under a piece of tulle, I laid strips of rik rak down for the fences and sewed them down, leaving it open where the gates were to go. Cut the rik rak where the gates go and melt the ends with a match to stop it unraveling.

Done!


One of the other pages contributed was an entirely hand sewn Little Bo Peep - now that is dedication! One sheep is detatchable with velcro, and you can trace over the different paths to find which one leads home.

Our swap host made a cupcake puzzle and pocket. The pocket was made by laying two pieces of fabric over each other, turning the top edge of the top one down and adding a piece of velco to each respective side, then stitching around the three edges of the top layer of fabric - I loved the idea because it was really easy!

There were three tangram pages done in this swap. They were all made with an embroidery machine. This first one is of a rabbit. The theme went great with this bunny material I had, so I made a pocket for the pieces like the one made for the cupcake. Unfortunately I forgot to get a photo of this page with the pieces laid on it before it got given to it's new owner...

The next tangram puzzle was of a cute little house.

And the last tangram puzzle was of a horse. I love the colours chosen for this page. It came with it's own pocket built into the page by sewing down three edges of the horse tangram outline which had been embroidered onto felt.

My sister, whose Fairy Tale Quiet Book you have already seen, contributed this I-Spy page:

Again, layer two squares of fabric over the top of each other, right sides facing up. She cut an 'x' shaped opening in the middle of the top square of fabric and folded back the edges on them. Folding them back on themselves several times is a good idea to avoid them getting in the way when trying to find items. Then she inserted a smaller square of clear vinyl underneath, sewing around the inside edge, and zig zaging around the outer edges. She used her machine to do the 'Find 10 Things' lettering at the top. Next, she sewed the two squares of fabric together leaving a 1" gap around the edges to allow for binding, as well as a small opening so she could fill the space between them with ten small items and bean bag beans. She was going to use rice, but since we had to post the pages to the host and back, she decided bean bag beans would be a lighter and therefore cheaper option.

The ten items in our I-Spy page are a small plastic baby, a flower button, a Lego block, a wooden leaf picture, a wooden drum picture, a small wooden painted peg, a small glitter button, a wooden cat head picture, a wooden number '2', and a large google eye. In other versions, she has included small plastic bugs and animals. Small shells, gum-nuts, beads, paper clips, and any small, non-sharp household items would also work well.

Here's another of my 8"x8" material pages - the Easy Peasy Lei Flower Quiet Book Page.

Here's another of my 8"x8" material pages - The Easy Peasy Pocket Quiet Book Page for an 8x8 material quiet book.

Before the pages were made into a book, they made awesome quilts for Elsa.

Find a tutorial link and YouTube clips of how to bind the pages and book together on my page of Quiet Book Making Tips.

How I made a closure after binding my book! Post Binding Quiet Book Closure.

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Does joining a page swap tempt you? Comment below!

Easy Peasy Pocket Page 8"x8" Material Quiet Book

This page is so simple anyone can do it!

Materials needed to create the Easy Peasy Pocket Page for an 8"x8" material quiet book:

• an old shirt with a chest pocket, preferably one that has a closure
• a piece of paper to make an 8"x8" template

Make an 8"x8" template by marking 8" from the same edge at the top and bottom of a piece of paper. Line up your ruler and tear along it. Turn your paper onto the next edge to the left or right and do it again.

Place your template over a shirt pocket, lining it up so the pocket is in the center. Pin and cut it our. Don't worry if your piece has a small section of sleeve in one corner as this will get covered by binding when you sew the quiet book together. This is why your quiet book size can't be bigger than 8"x8", otherwise it might be difficult for you to find a shirt big enough. Although I guess you could add a border around the edge to make it wide enough to fit a bigger page size.

That's it!

I found a heap of old shirts at my local dump, where they give away clothes. It's also a great way to get interesting buttons and beads for free.

You can probably find a variety of pockets all with different closures, and make an entire book out of pockets recycled from old clothing.

Now, to fill them with fun activities....

• tetris shapes made from stiffened felt
• a prism to catch the sunlight like this idea by Anne from Left Brain Craft Brain
• a bead and fabric scrap dolly from the $2 shop
• toy cars
• a mirror
• toy skateboard
• coloured cellophane lolly wrappers to use as light filters to look through - don't get them wet though, or the colour will run and ruin your book
• Simple puzzles using iron on transfers by Amy from Serving pink lemonade, or just print and laminate them
• Printable lacing cards by Beck Clarke from busy Little Bugs
• dominoes
• a weaving rainbow by Mihaela from Best Toys for Toddlers
• foam finger puppets from a $2 shop
• a small slinky
• a button snake by Jackie from happy hooligans
• velcro cord ties from the harware section of a $2 shop to make a link chain with

The pocket on the left with pink edging came from one of my husband's old shirts that he wore a lot when we first met. It was my favourite, and I fixed it when it got a massive rip in the back and my husband kept wearing it! When he put it in the chuck out pile recently, I quickly saved it for this project.

Here's some more of my 8"x8" material pages:

The Easy Peasy Lei Flower Quiet Book Page.

Puzzle Quiet Book Page Swap.

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Does this page look easy enough for you? Comment below!

My Sister's Fairy Tale Book

This book was made by my sister for a friend's child.  She has some great ideas.  I hope you like it!

Front Cover:

The letter "O" pattern came from here. Happily, my sister's sewing machine does letters, so "upon a time" was written with that.


First and Second Page Spread:

The castle pieces are removable and rearrange-able.  The castle wall is a pocket.  She made her own Disney castle pattern, which she has generously allowed me to make available for you to download. She used one side of a gold zip to represent Tinkerbell. If she could have found a Tinkerbell trinket to add to the zipper head, that would have been awesome. It had to be one sided so that it would sew down around a curve easily. The cloud and moon page is a pocket to store the castle pieces.

Image Source

I have it in mind to modify the castle pattern and make a St Basil's type Russian/Eastern Orthodox Church for a Churches of the World Quiet Book. The problem is I can't think of many other ideas for the book... Please post any ideas you come up with below!


Third Page:

The Frog Prince's jewels are velcro-ed on, an idea she got from a page made for my neice, which I'll share with you later. His tongue has elastic sewn on the back so it can be stretched.  Although this version has been altered a little, you can buy the original frog pattern here.


Fourth Page:

Rapunzel's hair can be plaited and you can practice tying a bow with the ribbon.


Fifth Page:

Wardrobe for dress up princesses! Three outfits for a sewn down doll on the next page.


Sixth Page:

I think the dress up princesses look terrific, and the lace down the sides gives a boring page a luxury touch.


As you can see from the photos, the book has been bound with album rings and grommets.


Hope you enjoyed it!

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What do you enjoy most about this book?

Psalm 9 - David and Unnamed Goliath Quiet Book Page

Although he is not named, Psalm 9 was probably written to remember the victory over Goliath. Here is a David and Goliath quiet book page I made from a printable I found online. David's arm swings his sling, the stone sails through the air, and when it hits Goliath, he can fall over:

Memory Verse: "Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done." Psalm 9:10,11.

Materials needed to make the David and Unnamed Goliath Quiet Book Page:

• A4 felt background sheet, we used red.
• thick white felt big enough to iron the bushes scene on to
• white stiffened felt to iron David's arm, Goliath, and the stone on to
• three split pins
• white thread
• iron on transfer paper suitable for your printer
• the printable illustration by Carol Stevens at www.lds.org

Print out the image onto iron on transfer paper. If you want David and Goliath to appear on the same sides as they do in the illustration, make sure you flip the image first because it will get flipped back again when you iron it onto the transfer paper.

Cut out the David and bushes scene from the transfer paper. Try to use as many rounded edges as you can to minimize the chance of the transfer paper peeling off in the future. Iron it onto thick white felt, following the instructions of your transfer paper. You may not be able to use as high a setting on the iron as recommended if you are using acrylic felt as it might get burned. My image still stuck to the felt on a lower setting.

Cut out the David and bushes scene again, this time leaving a border of white felt. Fold the felt where the A, B, and C markings are, and cut two angled slits to make a small hole at each point.

Cut out David's arm, Goliath, and the stone as one section from the transfer paper and iron onto the stiffened felt following the instructions of your transfer paper. Again, use a lower setting so as not to burn the felt if it's acrylic.

Cut out David's arm, Goliath, and the stone from the stiffened felt but do not leave a border this time. Fold the stiffened felt where the A, B, and C markings are, and cut two angled slits to make a small hole at each point.

Line up the corresponding holes: A, B, and C. Make sure David's arm and Goliath are sitting on top of the bushes and the arm of the stone is behind the bushes. Insert a split pin in each hole and bend the splits at the back so they can't come out but allow the pieces to move fairly freely.

Sew the bushes scene onto the background sheet along the sides and bottom, ensuring you do not catch any of the pieces along the way.

Finished!

Difficulty Level = Easy

This page involves very little sewing, and if you wanted too, you could hot glue that small section.

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Psalm 9 - This page tells the story of Psalm 9, where David praises God for the victory given against Goliath, the unnamed Champion, and inadvertently, the victory He gives through the death of the son, Jesus, symbolized by the red felt background.
• Rotation - the circular movement of an object around a fixed point, like David's arm, the stone, and Goliath
• 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

Psalm 9

Devotional

As I already have a David and Goliath quiet book page for 1 Samuel 17, I thought I might be able to find a Psalm commemorating the victory to use this page for. It is so cute, I couldn't resist doing it whether I could find something or not. I was very surprised that Goliath is not really mentioned by name anywhere else but in 1 Samuel 17, where the story of David and Goliath takes place, although his sword, his brother and his sons are mentioned. As a side note, there is an apocryphal Psalm, Psalm 151, which mentions Goliath by name. Click here to read about it on Wikipedia.

Nevertheless, Jewish tradition and Christian scholars both assert Psalm 9 was written to remember the victory over Goliath. It was probably written later in David's life when he was king in Jerusalem since Jerusalem is mentioned and before David conquered it, it was a Jebusite city.

Read Psalm 9 and see which sections you can identify with the story. I noticed:

• verse 1 - I will tell of all your wonderful deeds... i.e. helping me kill Goliath
• verse 3 - David mentions his enemies falling, just as Goliath did
• verse 5 - God has destroyed the wicked and blotted out their name, and this psalm, although about the victory over Goliath, refuses to mention his name!
• verse 10 - those who know God's name will put their trust in Him, just like David did when he went out as a child to meet a giant without any armor, sword, or the backing of his people
• verse 11 - declare God's deeds among His people, just as David is doing in this Psalm
• verse 16 - the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands, as Goliath brought about his own death by setting himself up as a poster boy against God 
• verse 20 - asking God to help people realize that they are but men, Goliath may have been a giant and champion warrior, but he was still mortal

The title of Psalm 9 says it is to be sung to the tune "The Death of the Son". This phrase is interestingly explained in the book The Titles of the Psalms, published in 1904, and written by James William Thirtle.

I read on page 71 that it can also be translated to mean "death of a champion" ie Goliath, and that it was interpreted into Aramaic by Jewish scholars as the death of "a man who stood between the two" (ie army camps) when Aramaic became the common language.

When I read about the death of "a man who stood between the two" I knew Psalm 9 had a double meaning referring to Jesus - the man who stood between Heaven and Earth.

Read Psalm 9 again with this context in mind and see what you find. I noticed:

• verse 1 - I will tell of all your wonderful deeds... i.e. the death of the son, the man who stood between the two realms mediating for man before God.
• verse 10 - those who know your name, Jesus, trust in you
• verse 11- proclaim among the nations what He has done. How the son loved us so much that He was willing to die in our place and take the punishment for our sin.
• verse 13,14 - lift me up from the gates of death (resurrect me) that I may declare your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion {(New) Jerusalem} and rejoice in your salvation, salvation being the meaning of the name Jesus! Jesus is the only one who is able to give life to those deserving of death, and proved that it is possible by His resurrection.
• verse 16 - the wicked are ensnared by the works of their own hands, as we all would be except we accept the covering of God's grace, Jesus.

If you notice things I have missed, please share and comment below!

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What are your thoughts on this quiet book page?