Kids' Craft: The Invisible String

A wonderful story about the invisible string that connects loved ones. Whenever one thinks about another member of the family, the string gives a tug and you feel it.

Our battalion used this book at a recent Family Night event.  We wanted to have some meaningful activities for them to complete during the meeting and came up with a goody bag of things to do.  I'll post about that later, and use this post to talk about this adorable book that I now love. 

At the meeting, we had a large room that we divided in half (half for adults, half for kids).  All the kids were together in one corner of the room with volunteers there to help.  One of these (fabulous!) volunteers read this book aloud to them to start the activities. 

It's a sweet story; from the Amazon.com description:  Specifically written to address children's fear of being apart from the ones they love, The Invisible String delivers a particularly compelling message in today's uncertain times that though we may be separated from the ones we care for, whether through anger, or distance or even death, love is the unending connection that binds us all, and, by extension, ultimately binds every person on the planet to everyone else. Parents and children everywhere who are looking for reassurance and reaffirmation of the transcendent power of love, to bind, connect and comfort us through those inevitable times when life challenges us!



After reading the book, the kids all made an 'invisible string' bracelet.  Here are the items we used (found at our local Hobby Lobby store, but also available at other craft stores, jewelry stores, even Wal-Mart):

To make the bracelet, simply cut a length of cord for each child, add two heart beads -- one to represent the child's heart and the other to represent the Soldier's heart -- and tie the cord in a knot.  Trim any leftover cording afterwards.  One volunteer pre-cut the cord and placed one length of cord and two different-colored beads into a snack-size Ziploc before the meeting which made it very easy to quickly hand out supplies to all the kids.



My boys with their red and yellow 'Red Dragon' hearts.

This was a simple, inexpensive, and fun craft to do for a large group of kids (we had about 40 kids participating).  The kids really seemed to connect with this idea and were very proud of their bracelets.  Some of the kids did swap out the colors they had in their bag and it was cute to hear them talking about things like, "I want CAV colors, black and yellow" or "Red Dragon colors are red and yellow.  That's what I'm using."  Several kids also wanted to be sure they could have their dad's favorite color for 'his' bead.

Our goal is to have a meaningful activity for kids each time we meet ... I'll let you know how it goes!

*One safety tip if you want to try this: be sure parents know you've sent their children home with the bracelet.  The beads are small and could be a choking hazard if the child removes the bracelet and takes off the beads ... not likely, but still worth mentioning to parents.