My Job is More Fun Than Your Job

As most everyone knows by now, I left the world of public education after 17 years of teaching to become the Children's Minister at Living Stones Church. I am having a blast as the Children's
Minister. Sure there are some things about the job that aren't so fun.... like having 12 volunteers call you on the Sunday they are scheduled telling you they can't come because their hamster has a hangnail (A slight exaggeration...I have the best volunteers in the entire church and if they call me on a Sunday it is usually a VERY GOOD reason.)

Here is why my job is so fun:

This is what I did in my office yesterday. You may be saying...what is this crazy mess? It is pasta that I colored. How many of you can say that you dyed pasta in your office yesterday! :-) I am working on curriculum supplies for the next month in Kids Kanyon and an activity in the curriculum for our preschoolers called for colored pasta. I typically don't LOVE putting all the curriculum supplies together or creating things (a job for which I will be recruiting volunteers in the near future.) So I am not sure why I enjoyed doing this so much, but I had a great time. I am not usually a fan of crafts involving macaroni, but I am excited about this one. I know the kids and the volunteers that get to use this pasta are going to love it as well. Want to find out what it is used for? You will just have to stay tuned or volunteer in the Explorers class on November 6th to find out.

Anyway, I thought this was fun project that I may try to do with Anna in the near future. If you are interested in doing it yourself, here are the directions (which are totally stolen from Orange's First Look Curriculum)

SUPPLIES NEEDED: Pasta (I used Ziti, but any kind would work depending upon what you wanted to do with it), Food Coloring, Isopropyl Alcohol, Galloon Ziploc Bags, Newspaper.

1. Fill the Ziploc Bag 1/3 full with the pasta.
2. Add 5-10 drops of food coloring. You can add more or less depending upon how dark you want the color to be
3. Add 1 Capful of Isopropyl Alcohol (which means you probably shouldn't eat the pasta once it is colored. :-)
4. Zip the bag and shake until all pasta is colored.
5. Spread colored pasta on newspaper to dry.
6. Once dry, store in Ziploc container.

The pasta could be used or all sorts of craft projects or educational purposes (sorting, counting, color recognition, etc.)

Can anyone top the fun factor in their job? Happy Coloring!!