“Why did Naomi want Ruth to leave? Ruth stayed because she loved Naomi. Right, Mommy?” The story of Ruth and Naomi illustrates the ties of love. Your toddler understands that love can get you through difficult places. Crafts engage her in the story and help her remember it. She loves crafts because she has something to show off when the lesson is done.
“Look at my picture, Mommy. Can we send it to Grandma?” Paper crafts are simple, quickly constructed and easily shared with family and friends. You might give him a picture of Ruth and Naomi to color, sprinkling sesame seeds in glue on the paper to represent the grain that Ruth harvested in Boaz’s field. He could glue links of paper chain together to represents the connections of love and family. Alternatively, you could give him pictures from the story that he can color and then put together into a picture book he can review later.
She can act out the story using puppets. She could construct puppets using paper characters she decorates and then glues onto craft sticks or she can make puppets using sections of cardboard roles with paper clothes. Alternatively, you can give her fabric or scrapbook paper scraps she can use to create clothes for felt dolls so she can act out the story on a flannel- or felt-board.
Ruth gathers grain in Boaz’s field to feed her and Naomi. He could pull together stalks of millet, grass or wheat together into sheaves you can tie together so he remembers that God provided for Ruth and Naomi. He could beat out the grain and have you parch it so he can eat it at a meal. Alternatively, he can take strips of bread dough and wind them together to resemble sheaves of barley or wheat. You can bake the twisted bread and have him retell the story at dinner.
A mizpah is a covenant between people, like the one Ruth pledged to Naomi in Ruth 1:16-17. Your toddler can make a clay lozenge and press two hearts in the center of the lozenge to remind her of your covenant to love and care for her. You can let her stamp hearts on a cardboard circle and then cut or tear the mizpah apart so you each have half of the covenant. Alternatively, she could form a circle of bread dough and mark the circle with two hearts you could then bake and share together at a meal.
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