Christmas StoryTime - The Crippled Lamb

The Crippled Lamb
by Max Lucado with Jenna, Andrea, & Sara Lucado
Illustrated by Liz Bonham
Best for ages 4 - 9

Josh the lamb has one leg that doesn't work very well and so he can't walk to the other valley with the other sheep. Instead he shares the stable with his best friend, Abigail the cow. Abigail always tells Josh that God has a special place for him and on the most wondrous night of nights Joshua finds out just what that special place is.
This book is extra special because Max Lucado coauthored it with his daughters. The illustrations of this book are so rich that it is a lovely laptime story for younger preschoolers. Even if you can't read all of the text to your youngest child they can understand the content by looking at the pictures. For a preschool story circle I would recommend age 4 and above .

Laptime Activities:

1. Talk Abouts: Abigail was Joshua's best friend; who is your best friend? If you could go on an adventure with Abigail and Joshua where would like to go? What kind of stories do you think that Abigail told Joshua?
2. Bundle up and take a walk at night. Look at the stars. Pretend to be the shepherds who saw the Angels proclaiming the birth of Christ.
3. Write a story with your own children.

Story Circle Activities:

1. Play follow the shepherd. Choose a child to be the shepherd or let the teacher lead. The rest of the children can be the sheep. The shepherd will lead the sheep around the room in a follow the leader fashion: skipping, jumping, hopping on one foot, etc. You can end the game with the shepherd leading the sheep to the stable.
2. Cotton ball sheep. You will need: glue, paper cups, cotton balls, pipe cleaners, eyes (google eyes are fun but black paper circles work just fine.). Wrap the pipe cleaners around the paper cups - two pipe cleaners per cup for four feet- and twist leaving enough room on the end to bend for the feet. Put small puddles of glue on paper plates. Dip the cotton balls in the glue and stick on the cup, be careful not to let the cotton ball soak up too much glue. Cover the cup with cotton until you have a fluffy sheep. Glue the eyes on last. Don't forget to name your sheep.