Sunday, September 29, 2013

"ich + du = wir?" Week 2

In der 2.te Woche von "ich + du = wir?", haben wir uns eine weitere Fragen gestellt, wie wir mit anderen Menschen umgehen: Wer ist mein Nächster? Dazu hörten wir das Gleichnis vom Barmherziger Samariter. In our second week together of "Me + You = We?", we asked ourselves the question: Who is my neighbor? And we heard the Parable of the Good Samaritan. 

Ein Mann ging von Jerusalem hinunter nach Jericho und wurde von Räubern überfallen . . .  
A man went from Jerusalem to Jericho, and along the way he was attacked by robbers . . . 


Sie kennen wahrscheinlich den Rest der Geschichte. Der Verletzte liegt am Rand der Strasse und wird von 2 Landsleuten übersehen. Dann kommt ein Samariter, eigentlich ein Feind von seinem Volk, und besorgt Medizin, Kleidung und Unterkunft für den Verletzten. 
Most likely, you know the rest of the story. The wounded man is overlooked by two of his fellow countrymen who pass him along the way. Then, a Samaritan comes along, a foreigner  from a hated country, and tends to the man's wounds, even bringing him on his own donkey to an inn where he can get recover. 



Am Ende der Geschichte haben wir alle Figuren zusammen gelegt und fragten uns bei jedem, "Wer ist der Nächste von dem hier?" Bei dem Verletzten ist die Frage ziemlich einfach, aber bei den anderen ist sie nicht so leicht zu beantworten. At the end of the story, we placed all the figures in a row and started asking, "Who is this person's neighbor?" With the wounded man, the question is easy to answer, but when you get to the priest and robbers, it is not so easy to answer. 

Wir haben uns auch gefragt, warum der Priester und Levit gar nicht geholfen haben? Vielleicht wussten sie nicht, was sie tun sollten. Vielleicht hatten sie zu doll Angst oder Eile. Warum hat der Samariter geholfen? "Weil er wusste, was das Wichtigste ist," sagte ein Kind. We also asked ourselves, when the priest and Levite didn't stop to help. Maybe they didn't know what to do? Maybe they were afraid or in a hurry? Why did the Samaritan help? "Because he knew what was most important," answered one child. 

Was, wenn es ein Kind wäre, das den Verletzten gefunden hätte? Die Kinder einigten sich, dass es schnell einen Erwachsenen geholt hätte, dem mithelfen konnte. Ich hätte noch fragen sollen, was wenn es keinen Erwachsenen finden könnte? Aber die Energie vom Ergründungsgespräch war dann schon fast weg und die Kinder wollten in die Kreativphase gehen. What if it had been a child, who found the wounded man? Die children were in agreement that the child would have quickly found an adult to come and help. At this point, I should have asked what if the child couldn't find an adult? But the Wondering was winding down and the kids were restless to move on to something else. 

In unserer Kreativphase hatten wir die gleichen Angeboten von letzter Woche:
For Response Time we had the same stations as last week:

1) Friedensbaum gestalten / Make a Peace Tree
    

Hier haben die Kinder ihre Kollagen fertig gemacht. Wie schön waren die Ergebnisse! The children finished their collages that they started last week. The results were beautiful!






2) Wollebilder auf Jutestoff / Wool and Burlap pictures



3) Gebetsecke / Prayer corner

4) Legoecke / Lego Corner

5) Freies Spiel mit dem Geschichtsmaterial / Unstructured play with the story materials

Wir haben unsere Zeit mit dem kleinen Fest beendet. Dazu haben wir besprochen, was wir nächste Woche beim Besuch zu einem Kinderclub in einem anderen Stadtteil machen. Die Kinder haben dann Ideen ausgetauscht, was wir dorthin als Essen mitbringen könnten und was wir gemeinsam mit den Kindern Vorort spielen könnten. We ended our time with a small feast, during which we discussed our visit the following week to a children's club in a different district of Berlin. We brainstormed ideas of what we could bring to eat and what games we could play together. 


Dieser Besuch soll eine Art praktische Übung von unserem Thema sein. Wie sind die Kinder in einem anderen Stadtteil? Sind sie ähnlich wie wir? Sind sie anders? Können wir etwas Gemeinsames finden? Das werden wir herausfinden! This visit will be the "practical exercise" to the "theory" that we have been discussing the last two weeks. What are the kids in the other district like? Are they similar to us? Are they different? We'll find out!


Sie müssen auf die nächste spannende Folge warten!
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!


Wenn Sie noch von der 1.Woche lesen möchte, schauen Sie hier
If you missed our first week of "Me + You = We?", look here.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Saturday Shout Outs

Hi everyone, Here are my "Saturday Shout Outs" - things that have inspired me this week. Hope you enjoy them as well.

Generation to Generation by Troy at Playfull.
Troy reviews a book that talks about how practicing an "non-anxious presence" or "playful disposition" in times of stress can bring peace and stability to relationships. 

A Liturgy in our Home 
by Emily at Watkins Every Flavor Beans.
Emily shares some thoughts with us about her family settling into an "autumn" liturgy. 

Mary Cassatt tries a Japanese woodblock print style 
by Barbara at It's About Time.
Barbara is an art historian who shares lovely works of art that don't make many of the popular art collection books. (I thought that I knew a lot about art history until I started reading her blogs!) This article features some lesser known works by Mary Cassatt, one of my all-time favorite artists from the Impressionist period, whose main theme was women and children.

If you have read something this week that inspired you, please leave a link in the comments, so that we can read along, too!


Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Art Project: Wet-Felted Acorns + Autumn Link-Up

I am somewhat in love with acorn caps. I use them for everything: game pieces (like Bingo), art projects, the nature table, etc. On Saturday, my daughter went to the playground and gathered acorn caps until our pockets could hold no more. And then, after dinner we spontaneously decided to wet felt some acorns.




This is definitely not a new idea - I first saw it on The Magic Onions and most recently at Textile Love - but it sure is fun to try! 

To make these acorns, you need: wool roving, a bowl of warm soapy water, an underlay and towel, glue and acorn caps.  

To begin, you pinch off a small, wispy amount of wool roving. Then, you gently wrap it into a ball with your finger. (My daughter actually taught me the technique for this project this time, since she became a pro at wet-felting little balls at her Nature Kindergarten. I made the mistake of pulling the wool fibers apart and ended up with a mess, until my daughter showed me how to gently wrap it.) 



Then, you immerse the wool ball into the warm, soapy water, and squeeze out as much soap afterwards, taking care not to wring the wool or pull it apart. The final step in the wet felting process is to shape it to fit the acorn cap.  Such a soothing, relaxing activity!




After the wool has dried overnight, then you glue the caps to the wool balls. 



My daughter also made a knitting basket for her Playmobil figures.


My son also made a few acorns, but then played a game of "Cathedral" with Dad.




Sunday, September 22, 2013

A Special Day

Today my ten-year-old son was baptized. He began talking to us about wanting to be baptized over a year ago. He had seen several baptisms already, but he began to talk more concretely about it after hearing the Godly Play baptism story a couple of times. 

When we were sure that he was ready, we planned to have the baptism at a lake in Berlin, not knowing for what the weather would do in late September. It had been raining in torrents earlier in the week, but today turned out to be a perfect autumn day. My son's special day began with some worship songs that he picked out for the service. 



 Then, he gave a short interview to let us know 
why he wanted to be baptized. 


And then it was into the water with Dad (who is a pastor)!


Just as they got ready, the sun came out and shone right on them.





Trying to light the baptismal candle - not an easy task in the wind!


With his baptismal candle.


Being prayed for by his godparents, religion teacher, 
and children's church teacher.


A bunch of ducks starting quacking during the prayer, so they evidently wanted to join in the prayer as well!


And afterwards there was a celebration!  With a special cake . . . 


and lots of friends! 



Sketchy Sunday

Well, I'm finally getting back to joining the Artsy Ants for Sketchy Sunday again! I actually did a lot of sketching over the summer, but it's been hard to carve out time for it since we got back to Berlin in August. Now that my workload is moving at a more manageable pace, I am trying once again to fulfill my New Year's resolution to sketch regularly.: )

Here is my sketch for "bike":


and  for "beach":


and this week's theme is "herbs":


Hope the new week starts well for you!



Saturday, September 21, 2013

Saturday Shout Outs!

I had a lot of fun this summer highlighting other people's blogs in a series called "Inspiring Blogs", so I've decided to continue this practice in "Saturday Shout Outs!" I'm going to share links with blog posts that have inspired me this week and I hope they will inspire you as well!


Why Children need Ignatian Spirituality 
by Tim and Susan Muldoon at Patheos Blogs.
This is a well-written essay on using the imagination to cultivate faith in children. I love this quote: "With Ignatius, we believe that God deals directly with each creature. We cannot make them followers of Christ; only the Holy Spirit can.  . . .  Our hope is that in cultivating an imagination of God as the direction of everything loving, everything good, and everything hopeful, we will encourage them, when they are ready, to listen to his voice, summoning them to the goodness for which he has created them." 

This is a simple and lovely idea for helping children learn and respond to Scripture. Since my spiritual style is not word-based (read here if you want to know what I mean by spiritual styles), I am not the greatest at coming up with viable ways to help children memorize or learn scripture. Therefore, I'm really thankful for Lacy's ideas and thoughts on this!

Kneeling tables for work time by Rosemary at Three Great Days.
This is a practical tip from a Godly Play trainer in Virginia. If you are having knee problems or just can't get down on the floor anymore with the kids, this piece offers an alternative that is still in accord with the spirit of Godly Play. 

On the Way to Something New by Playfull Theology.
Musings on the Creation story by a fellow Godly Player in Ireland.

I Don't Know by Carolyn at Worshiping with Children.
If you read Carolyn's blog, it's obvious that she has years of experience working with children. This is a great piece on helping children be okay with the unknowns in life.

by Andrea at "What DID we do all day?"
Andrea is always happy to pass on helpful information and this on-line resource is a treasure chest!

Did you read something this week that was meaningful to you? If so, please leave the link in the comments so that we can check it out, too!


Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Baptismal Candle / Taufkerze

Our son is getting baptized on Sunday, so my latest late night project has been making his baptismal candle. Although I have been working on it for some time, he had no idea and asked me at the dinner table tonight if I could please make him a candle "just like the ones in our Advent Club"? Unser Sohn lässt sich am Sonntag taufen. Deshalb ist mein letztes Kunstprojekt seine Taufkerze gewesen. Obwohl ich schon eine Weile dran bin, wusste er dies nicht und fragte heute Abend, ob ich ihm eine Taufkerze machen würde, "sowie die Kerzen bei der AdventsAG".


After coming up with a design and trying it out with tracing paper, I used the technique here, but cut the Stockmar decorative wax sheets with an exacto knife for more precision. Nachdem ich ein Design überlegte, habe ich  die Stockmar Wachsfolien mit einem Cutter geschneidet.

Now I just have to hide it until Sunday. Shhhh . . . don't tell him! Jetzt muss ich sie bis Sonntag in der Wohnung verstecken. Pst! Sagt ihm bitte nicht!