| Wooly Lamb | |
|---|---|
| Little Lamb |
Listen to a book about lambs.
Adventsource offers a book just for Little Lambs on this subject - LAMBS ARE BABY SHEEP
The Bible App for kids is a free online graphically illustrated book that can be read or listened to on your tablet, phone or other device. (app store “Bible children youversion”) This is an EXCELLENT resource with well done graphics and is very interactive.
The Story of the Nativity - “The First Christmas Gift” includes lambs in the story.
CCM.com - Another good story that you can use is The Good Shepherd
The Little Lamb by Phoebe Dunn is a full-color photographed story about a girl caring for a lamb.
StoryJumper.com has this cute story about a Lion and a Lamb
Say three things you learned about lambs.
If the book that you read to the children is more a story and not informational, you will need to find some fun ways to talk about what lambs are!
Some methods: Have a color poster/large picture of a sheep and lamb. Do a touching, listening, talking time where you ask the children to notice things about lambs. Ex. lambs are smaller than sheep. Lambs are fluffy white. Lambs are babies. Lambs drink their momma’s milk. Lambs don’t hatch from eggs. Jesus talks about lambs in the Bible (great opening for a Bible story about 'The Good Shepherd' - John 10:1-18
Other facts that children might like to learn:
- Baby sheep are called lambs.
- Most lambs are born in Spring
- Lambs are most often born as twins. Even though some ewes have single lambs or triplets, twins are the most common.
- Lambs will drink their mother's milk until they are around four months old. They begin nibbling on grass, grain and hay starting at two weeks of age. Lambs can be bottle fed if they are orphaned or their mother had several at one time and cannot feed them all.
- Lambs are born with long tails.
- The lamb is shorn (hair cut off - it doesn't hurt the lamb!) for the first time when they are between seven and nine months of age. Lamb's wool is of premium quality and may be in high demand for spinning into yarn. This yarn can then be used to make scarves, hats, sweaters and other garments.
- Up to 20 percent of newborn lambs can die soon after birth unless they are given improved conditions.
Play a game about lambs.
Some ideas for lamb games and crafts
Here are a few good ideas:
Sing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” including a verse about a lamb. And on his farm he had a lamb, had a lamb, had a lamb... baa baa here and a baaa baaa there
Bring in some sheep’s wool (fleece) to touch and feel. Grow some grass from seed (lambs’ favorite food) in small dishes. Frolic to music like little lambs in the pasture. Call out a number and then the kids can “Baa” that many times.
The Shepherd Says (take-off from The Captain Says) The leader is the "shepherd" and calls out commands to the "sheep". If the sheep do not follow the directions, they can be chased and tagged by the "wolf". Examples of commands are: "follow me" (follow the leader), "green pastures" (sheep scatter to "eat"), "still waters" (sheep line up to "drink" at river), wolf howl (sheep huddle together).
Another idea:
Shepherd Says (take-off from Simon Says) The children are lambs and all stand in a row. The shepherd (leader) gives commands like “Shepherd says stand on one leg” or "shepherd says stick out your tongue," and everyone follows the command. The shepherd keeps giving simple commands. The shepherd sometimes doesn’t use the phrase “shepherd says” which means the children should NOT do that action. If the shepherd doesn’t say “shepherd says” but the child still does the action, than the child comes and stands next to the shepherd. The last two lambs following directions win. Discussion can go to John 10:1-18 where Jesus is our shepherd. We shouldn’t listen to other shepherds (temptation/the Devil) but should only listen to what our Good Shepherd, Jesus says.
Make a lamb craft.
A site of Christian Lamb crafts
Lamb Pencil Holder: Cut out shapes for the front, back, and face for a lamb. Color face of lamb black if desired, adding eyes, mouth, nose. Attach to an empty can. Decorate with cotton balls pulled looser. A fun, easy and useful craft.
Fluffy Tin Can Lamb: Go to Kaboose to see a picture
What you'll need:
- Empty tin vegetable can, washed and dried
- Liquitex Basics Gesso
- Large paint brush
- 45-50 cotton balls (couple of handfuls)
- One-half of a sheet of black felt
- Two medium wiggle eyes
- Small black pom pom
- Eight-inch piece of colored ribbon
- White craft glue (Tacky Glue)
How to make it:
- First, parents may need to use a piece of sandpaper or an Emory board to file off any sharp edge around the opening of the can. Many cans come with flip-top lids now and these are ideal as there are no sharp edges.
- Paint the outside of the can with one coat of Gesso. This will help the glue stick to the can as well as provide a white background in case your little ones leave any gaps between cotton balls. Allow to dry.
- Glue cotton balls onto the can, start at the bottom and work your way around the can. Then move up a layer and go all the way around again. Repeat this process until can is completely covered.
- From the black felt, cut out two ears (the shape of a capital letter D without the middle cut out) and two hooves. The hooves are just two small squares, round the edges of one end and cut a small triangle at the bottom for the toe.
- Glue ears and feet in place.
- Glue on wiggle eyes.
- Glue on pom pom for nose.
- Tie a piece of ribbon into a bow. Trim the ends and glue below the nose.
Easy Hand Lamb:
Trace the child’s hand on black construction paper. Add eye dots (tiny wiggly eyes or white paint with a black dot in the middle) to the THUMB. The other four fingers are the feet. Add white cotton, fluffy white seeds, or other white fuzzy to the “palm” portion of the hand cut-out
