In Parshat Matot, we learn that the tribes of Reuven and Gad owned large flocks of sheep. They requested permission from Moshe to settle on the east bank of the Jordan River so that they would have more land for grazing. Initially, Moshe is angered by this request but they assure him that they would first help settle the Land of Israel before they returned east.
This is a great opportunity to recycle some basic items that you already have in the house – qtips, cotton balls, and toilet paper rolls – to make adorable wooly sheep! Each child can make a whole bunch of them so that you have a large flock of sheep like the 2 ½ tribes!
Materials needed:
Cotton balls
Toilet paper roll
Glue
Black felt
Googly eyes
Plastic shot glass
Q-tips
Instructions:
1. Glue cotton balls all over toilet paper roll.
2. Glue black felt to cover the plastic shot glass.
3. Glue the eyes onto the glass and glue the glass onto the cotton balls.
4. Fold q-tips in half and glue to the bottom of the toilet paper roll.
This craft can be found on ChallahCrumbs.com, a wonderful resources for Jewish projects and crafts. The craft is by Emily Shapiro Katz, an experienced and creative community Jewish educator. She lives in Beer Sheva in Kehilat Beerot and works for Go South with Nefesh B'Nefesh. Go Emily blogs about her Parsha Projects at parshaprojects.blogspot.com/.