Sunday School Craft - Elisha and Naamon the Leper

For this craft you will need: cardstock paper, regular paper, crayons, cups (clear if possible), tissue paper (optional), scissors, plastic knives or Popsicle sticks, glue, and tape.

Here is my Naaman craft:

A side note about these crafts: I'm trying to work with what we already have on hand at the church, so. . .for instance, I couldn't find any popsicle sticks, so I taped all my little Naamans onto plastic knives ahead of time. Hopefully, the little kids not beat each other with them. . .

Although the little creatures who "make" these crafts cannot read, I still think it's important to include key verses from the stories so that parents/caretakers can read them or look them up later. You never know, these crafts may get tossed into a corner to be found years later when the before toddler can now read. It may change his or her life. You never know. . .But God's Word never returns void, right?

The verse around the cup is 2 Kings 5:14— ^"So Naaman went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young child, and he was healed!"

Here are my templates:

I printed all my little Naamans onto cardstock (there are seven on each page), cut them out, and taped them to plastic knives (I did this ahead of time, because the kids in these classes are really young, but if you kids are older, they can do this part). Then, I printed the verses out on regular paper, cut those out and taped them to each cup. Then, I cut a slit into the bottom of each cup. To make my examples, I colored my Naamans, and then I glued different colored pieces of tissue paper to the inside of the cups (the Jordan River was dirty, right? That was Naaman's main complaint.). Then, all you have to do is stick your knife handle down through the slit of the cup. Dunk your Naaman seven times, and then flip him over to show him clean!

The End!

Make Your Own Best Face Wash Ever!

Ingredients:

1. Witch Hazel

2. Dr. Bronner's (peppermint)

3. Activated Charcoal powder (optional)

Witch Hazel is a super great toner. Way easier on your skin than the stearyl alcohol in most face wash. Dr. Bronner's is super effective, gentle, sudsy, and organic. Plus, the peppermint one helps open your pores. Charcoal is a very effective purifier, but if that confuses you, skip it.

I put a little Bronner's and a tiny scoop of charcoal in a bottle and filled the rest with witch hazel. You can play around with ingredients and amounts. I like being able to tailor ingredients to my personal needs.

For dry skin: Skip the charcoal and add a little olive oil or castor oil.

For oily skin: Add a tiny bit of lavender infused vodka or more charcoal.

I saw huge improvements to my problem skin after one day of using it, but I've now used it for two weeks with no change in effectiveness. Usually my skin builds up a tolerance after a couple of days. It helps to wash with warm water followed with a cold water rinse to open and close pores.

Learn from my mistake: 

If you would like to put this concoction in a foaming bottle, skip the charcoal. It clogs it. (Front of picture = good. Back of picture = bad.)

The End!

Make Bug-Repelling Laundry Detergent!

Let's make our own laundry detergent and stick it to the man!

**UPDATE**(for an even faster and easier recipe, scroll to the bottom!)

Things that you already have:

1. Baking Soda

2. Bar Soap

3. 1/2 cup measure

4. Plastic Bottles/Containers (enough to hold 6 quarts).

5. Cheese grate

Things you might not have (but should):

1. Stainless steel stock pot (at least 12 quarts) with a lid.

2. Essential (or Skin So Soft) oil of your choice.

3. Box of Borax 

Directions:

Step 1: Grate 1/2 cup of bar soap.

Step 2: Pour 1 quart of hot tap water into your pot and heat on stove.

Step 3: Pour in the bar soap shavings and stir till they dissolve.

Step 4: Remove pot from heat.

Step 5: Pour 5 more quarts of hot tap water into the pot.

Step 6: Pour in 1/2 cup of Baking Soda and 1/2 cup of Borax.

Step 7: Drop in several drops of oil and stir.

(I used 2 capfuls of Skin So Soft to keep bugs from biting me!!!)

Step 8: Let it stand overnight.

The End.

It took about 10 minutes total (not counting the night part).

Costs of Things and Where To Buy Them:

1. Baking Soda - $0.50 - Aldi or Dollar General

2. Bar Soap - . . .I HOPE you already have this. . .

3. 1/2 cup measure - Free - Stolen from your mom's house.

4. Plastic containers - Free - If you use old detergent bottles.

(Mine, in the picture below, are from Dollar Tree.)

5. 12-quart Stock Pot - $9.00 - Walmart.com 

(Probably cheaper at Big Lots)

6. (Optional) Essential Oil - Varies in price 

(You don't need anything over $10.00. . .

no matter what the person at Whole Foods told you.)

7. (Optional) Skin So Soft - $16 (I got mine on sale for $10)

- Your neighborhood Avon Lady

8. Borax - $4.00 - Dollar General

Total Price: $13.50 - $41.50 for literally tens of gallons of detergent!

Me, I already had everything but the Borax, so I'm out $4.00!

Feel free to play around with the measurements. My concoction is a bit potent compared to others' online, but that's 'cause I wanted to use the cap from an old bottle of detergent to measure.
**NOTE: The liquid turns almost Jello-like after a few hours, but a simple shake before pouring alleviates this problem.**


**UPDATE** The above recipe is super easy and only takes about 10 to 15 minutes to make, but letting it stand overnight is kind of a pain. Since posting this blog, I've figured out an even simpler, faster, more immediate recipe! Double this recipe to make 6 quarts of detergent in under 5 minutes!

To make 3 quarts of detergent:
1. Pour 1/4c of borax, 1/4c of baking soda, and 1/4c of table salt into a 3 quart container.
2. Pour hot tap water over the mixture leaving a little space at the top.
3. Stir until the powders dissolve.
4. Stir in 1/4c of Dr. Bronner's castile soap ($12 for 32oz. at Food Lion) and scented oil.
(Don't shake!)

Whenever you are ready to use it, simply tip it upside down and back upright to get all the sediment to disperse and then pour the same amount into your washer as before. Don't shake it, because that wastes the lather. This mixture is far more liquid than the other mixture.

**Another note: Neither of these recipes give a very lasting fragrance to laundry, so don't waste too much scented oil. Also, you will get better results if you pour your laundry soap into the washer, turn the washer on, wait for the water to rise a bit, and then add your clothes.