Ragmuffins and Rainsticks

I have been so busy lately, that I have neglected my blog (and by the looks of these pictures, my kids too. They look like little ragmuffins!). I just got a new calling to be the Nursery Coordinator. My job is not to teach, but to be in charge of the whole program and making sure that everything runs smoothly. When I met with the Primary President she told me that I am basically the Nursery President. We have 3 classes (about to make a 4th) with a total of 47 kids. I have 2 assistants that have been doing this for over a year and they are amazing. They both know everything and are extremely helpful.

In our first presidency meeting, the Primary President asked me to come up with a "Gathering Activity" for the kids for the first 10 minutes of class so that their transition from being with parents to coming to class will be more positive. One of the ideas mentioned was musical instruments for the kids to play with. I know we don't have a big budget for nursery, so I looked online and found some inexpensive instruments that I can make at home. The first instrument I chose to make is a Karate Kid style drum. I made them out of margarine tubs, dowel rods, string and beads, then I decorated them with electrical tape.

After working on them for hours, I finally finished and had to test them on my little guinea pigs and they absolutely LOVED them! We took them to church on Sunday and the other little kids enjoyed them, too. I think this instrument thing will be a hit. This week I have been working on making rainsticks out of mailing tubes, nails, beans and rice. I have been having so much fun with this that I am wondering if it is more for me or for the kids!

Thanks to my friend, Heidi, I will start on my egg shakers next. I had no idea where I was going to find plastic Easter eggs this time of year, but yesterday I was visiting with Heidi and she had a bunch of them and she gave them to me. Woo-Hoo!

This calling has been keeping me busy. We are 6 teachers short in nursery and there has been a lot of chaos for about a month before I got called because the person I replaced had already left. Even though it is kinda crazy right now, I think that it will all settle down soon and I will really enjoy my job. I have been able to do a lot of organizing already and that is right up my alley. This is the 3rd time that I have been called to nursery. I'm flattered that the Lord feels that I am worthy to serve his precious little innocent ones and I hope that I can help make their first church experiences to be good ones.