Naaman
and Elisha - 2
Kings 5
Washable
Naaman
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| Naaman washes seven times in the river Jordan |
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| Busy colouring Naaman |
This week's simple craft is going to be mostly
appreciated by those who are keen on recycling and re-using useful things, that
many would just throw away. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm a hoarder, I
can't throw out things I know that could be used for something else at a later
stage. So, fellow hoarders and recyclers, you are going to like this craft.
This week at Toddler Praise we learnt about Naaman, who
is told to wash in the River Jordan. I wanted to make a washable Naaman but
this was a problem, waterproof materials that can be washed aren't cheap and
the other ideas I came across didn't really fit. How could I make a simple
toddler craft that was cheap to produce and allowed the children to wash Naaman
clean?
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| Red paint for skin disease |
Pinterest, as ever was a saviour, what can't be found on
that site. I put waterproof material into the search box and discovered the
most amazing way of making strong, waterproof material, made using only plastic
carrier bags. And this material can be used to make all sorts of things like bags
and purses, it's easily cut with scissors and sewn with a sewing machine, but
is strong. It was perfect for the leprous skin of Naaman. However, though the
material is easy to make, this craft does require quite a bit of preparation
but it is fun to do.
The
story
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| Doesn't matter what colour they are. |
Naaman was a great warrior, he was not from Israel but
Damascus in Syria, he was in the Army of King Aram, who were often at war with
Israel. Despite being a great warrior, Naaman had a problem, he had a horrid
skin disease that could not be cured. Naaman's wife had a servant girl who was from
Israel, the girl told the wife that there was a prophet in Israel called
Elisha, who could heal Naaman. Naaman asked King Aram if he could visit the
prophet, the King wrote a letter to the king of Israel asking him to heal
Naaman.
The king of Israel thought King Aram was trying to start
a war, he said, "How can I heal this warrior, I'm not God, he is just
trying to pick a quarrel with me." The king of Israel tore his robes at
the request. Elisha heard of this and said, "Why don't you send him to me,
I can heal him."
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| Wash away the skin disease |
Naaman went to see Elisha, Elisha's servant came out and
told Naaman to wash in the river Jordan seven times. Naaman was angry, he
expected better treatment from Elisha, who had not come out himself to tell
Naaman. He did not want to wash in the a dirty river, when there were so many
lovely rivers back in Syria that he prefered to wash in. Naaman's servant said to him, what harm could
it do, to do as the prophet had said. If Elisha had told him to do a great
heroic act, Naaman would have done so, why not do something so simple. Humbled,
Naaman dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, on the seventh time he came
out and was completely healed of his skin disease.
Naaman tired to give Elisha great wealth in payment but
Elisha was not interested, for he was only doing what God asked of him. Elisha
asked Naaman to only worship the true God from now on.
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| Materials at the ready |
Materials
required
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Plastic carrier bags (as plain as possible)
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Baking paper
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Iron
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Person template
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Biro/pen
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Sharp scissors
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Permanent markers (various colours)
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Red water based paint, palette and brush
·
Water
Preparations
before session
Making the waterproof material is very simple and only
takes a few minutes. Make sure the bags are clean and empty and as plain as
possible. Colour doesn't really matter.
1. Flatten
carrier bag and cut off the seam at the bottom and the handles. If there is a
picture or writing on the bag, turn them inside out.
2. Lay
four bags on top of each other (that makes 8 layers of plastic), as flattened
as possible.
3. Put
a layer on baking paper under the bags and another layer on top, to cover the
plastic completely.
4. Turn
the iron to the hottest setting and iron over the baking paper, take care not to
iron any plastic. The plastic bags will shrink and fuse together.
5. Turnover
and iron the other side.
6. Leave
to cool a moment before peeling off the baking paper.
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| Naaman drawn out on the plastic material |
When you have made enough, use a person template,
biro/pen and scissors to draw and the cut out as many Naaman's as required. If
you haven't got a person template, then check out my blog for Pentecost, posted
May 10th 2015, it gives instructions on how best to make a person template. The
surface of the plastic material is rough and uneven but so was Naaman skin, so
it is perfect. Don't worry if you haven't got white plastic bags, as you can
see some of ours were orange, colour doesn't really matter.
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| Colour in and add red paint for spots |
Instructions
1. Using
permanent markers, colour in Naaman.
2. Put
blobs of red paint on Naaman to make skin sores.
3. Wash
Naaman in water; a brush or fingers might be required to wash the paint off. We
used paper towels to finish the last bits off.
Naaman can be reused many times as he is waterproof. This
was a popular craft, the children really enjoyed washing away Naamans sore skin
disease and then went on to play with them later, and in some cases chew them.
We have more photo's of the craft on our Facebook page,
do check it out.
