Bible Alive! Tuesday - Cereal Box Dinosaur Puzzle Mix-up

To pass some of our time stuck inside, on the rainy long week-end, I drew dinosaurs, attempting to follow step-by-step, drawing instructions from DragoArt.com (not the prettiest of sites, but they have very good beginning drawing instructions). And yes, I know the triceratops' legs are too long - an artist I am not.


But, that was not the point of the exercise, anyway. I drew the pictures on the back of cereal box cardboard, for the younger children to color, before I turned them into puzzles.

I did this by trimming the cardboard pictures all to the same size, along with a piece of paper. I drew the puzzle pieces out on the paper, and then laid it on top of each puzzle, on the printed side of the cardboard, and traced over it with a ballpoint pen.


That left an etching of the puzzle shapes on each piece of cardboard, to cut out, into four separate puzzles, all with matching shaped pieces, more or less.

I gave the children a few pieces from each puzzle, mixed together, and asked if they could sort them out, and figure out the pictures from them. It was impossible.

Even with all the pieces, it was very difficult to sort them out, and get them put together, too many pieces were identical, or very close.

But, when I gave them the paper pattern, flipped over, they could pretty easily find where their pieces fit.


It was still possible to make mistakes, but it was much easier to see, and correct them.


It occurred to me, as the children were working, that it was a lot like science, and the Bible. When scientists try to piece together scientific evidence, it can be extremely difficult to sort the pieces out, and find where they fit. Mistakes are easy to make.

But, when they use the map of the Bible to lay the pieces on, while it's still possible to make mistakes, it becomes easier to piece the picture together.

The Bible is not a science book, and like our blank paper map, it doesn't show us the scientific picture. But, when we use it as a guide to put the pieces on, the picture becomes clear.


For more Bible themed projects and ideas, be sure to check out the Bible Alive! Tuesday link-ups hosted weekly by the Fantastic Five.

It's great to be a homeschooler.