The Big Book of Animal Devotions

I picked up The Big Book of Animal Devotions last summer at the MOPS Convention.What a great book! It's coming in handy as Dan and I teach children's church at our church this month. Let's take a look at one of the 250 Daily Readings about God's Amazing Creation.

Recently, we did the porcupine. Each week, I give the kids a craft project to go with the animal. What else but tooth picks and a modeling compound would do the trick?

I always have a map and our DK Encyclopedia of Animals on hand to show off where our critter is from! That particular atlas is one of our favorites, the National Geographic World Atlas for Young Explorers.

R11 has been helping us out and as always she takes a project to the next level. I love how she darkened the ends of the quills.

I9's porcupine

Each reading comes with a Bible verse and focuses on a character trait. This lesson was about how to recognize what NOT to get into. I was so tempted to share a bit of Hank the Cowdog, the original where Hank gets in a tangle with a porcupine he swears is a raccoon. I can just hear Slim now, "Hank when are ya gonna learn about porcupines?" Classic stuff there....that little porcupine belongs to J6.

Another fine porcupine from class. Everyone loves to color with marker on model magic.

This has been a really good experience and I look forward to doing more with our kids at home. Instead of a craft for my oldest, I may choose a research project of some sort related to the animal. What I do know is that each week the kids are eager to find out which animal we'll be doing next!