"How Stories Began" material-making

So, this was a super fun evening.

Here are a few of the materials I've been working on for the Wonder and Awe Source story, "How Stories are Made." The lesson plans call for a scroll, a stone tablet made of clay, and a picture of cave paintings. But, this being Arkansas, rocks of all kinds are plentiful. So, I found a tablet-shaped stone and a cave wall-shaped rock and got to painting. The stone tablet was too wee for me to do real writing on, but the scroll, which is made from a small strip of white fabric glued around two thin dowel pieces, has the real Paleo-Hebrew alphabet written on it. (The alphabet ends at the 5th line, and after that I just copied random letters.) And the cave painting designs come from real cave paintings.

My kids, 5 and 8, grabbed these up along with the peg people shepherds that go with them (painted, but not yet sealed) and the tissue-paper LED light fire (which is just so cool, and was inspired by this type, but smaller).

See, this is why I love this work so much. I spent an evening researching cool topics, painting, crafting, and playing, I get paid a little bit for it, and my boys are totally into it.