The Crippled Lamb

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This special book is one you want in your Christmas library, no matter the ages of your children or whether you even have children. The message of this story is profound.

How often do you think you aren’t good enough, pretty enough, smart enough or talented enough? How often do you feel worthless? This beautiful story will convince you that you have a purpose in God’s plan. No matter who you are, your social status, your bank account, or your abilities, God will use you if you let him.

God always has special blessings in store for the very people who feel the most overlooked and left behind.

 

 

The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado

In this timeless bestseller, readers experience the tender love God has for those who feel alone and different. Joshua was a lamb with a crippled leg who felt left out because he couldn’t run and play like the other lambs. But God had a very special plan for Joshua’s life, as He does for all who feel alone.

Because Joshua couldn’t go with the rest of the sheep, he was the first to welcome Christ into the world, and he was able to use his special gift, warm wool, to warm and comfort the tiny newborn baby.

 

Literature Activity: Paper-Cup Joshua Lambs

Supplies:

• Paper cups
• Black Sharpie
• White cotton balls
• White felt (or even just white cardstock)
• Glue gun and hot glue
• Googly eyes are fun if you have some on hand. Otherwise, just draw the eyes with sharpie.

Instructions:

1. Color 4 black ‘legs’ on each cup, evenly spaced around the cup. We used plastic cups because it was all I had on hand, but I think the black sharpie would have shown up better on a paper cup, and it would have been easier for the kids to cut. 

   

   

2. Cut the extra material from between the legs, leaving the rest of the cup intact, as a surface on which to glue the cotton balls.

   

   

3. Draw your head onto the felt, cut it out and draw on the face. Remember the ears!
4. Hot glue cotton balls all over the bottom and sides of the cup, right to the legs.
5. Glue the face you made onto your lamb.

 

 

Literature Activity: Joshua Lamb Treat

These adorable little lambs only take a few minutes to make. It’s a little hard to make them look perfect and stand up, but it doesn’t matter if they aren’t perfect. Your kiddos will just talk about their little lambs being lame, like Joshua.

One of my kiddos even made his lamb intentionally lame, with splayed out legs.

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbsp. butter
• 16 oz bag mini marshmallows
• 6 cups popped popcorn
• pretzel sticks
• a few extra large marshmallows for the heads and ears

 

Instructions:

1. Melt the butter in a medium pan on medium heat.
2. Add Mini Marshmallows, stir until they are completely melted. 

   

   

3. Turn off the heat.
4. Add the popped popcorn and mix until the popcorn is completely coated with the Marshmallow Mixture.
5. Form the popcorn mixture into balls with buttered hands. 

   

   

6. Cut a large marshmallow in half to make lamb heads. Cut one half in half again (fourths) to make the ears. Attach the ears to the head with a toothpick. They might stick on their own, but ours fell off when jostled, so we used the toothpicks to join them. 

   

   

7. Use another toothpick to stick the heads to the popcorn balls. Push pretzel-stick legs into the popcorn ball where legs should go. Draw your face on with a food-safe marker.

   

   

 

 

Your children will love their little lambs — both the edible and the non-edible. My kids decided that they are going to place their lambs on our Christmas tree, as ornaments, to remind them of Joshua’s story all through the Christmas season.

 

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Thank you for joining us today as we read ‘The Crippled Lamb’! I hope you enjoyed our storytime.

Check out my other fun storytime selections, each with educational activities and yummy snacks.

 

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