EK Lutheran Parish ~ Kids!

NOTE: Weekly Christian Education for Children ("The ZOO")
is closed for the summer season but will be available again in the fall!
This program usually runs on Monday afternoons.

Let's Talk About Spiders

While most of us don't want anything to do with spiders, they are an interesting example of how "God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." (1 Corinthians 1:27), because no one fully understands the way they perform.

Did you ever watch one spinning its web? "My," you think, "where does all that silk thread come from?" Actually, it comes from glands near its back. The strong elastic material is forced through nozzle-like tips as the spider moves. Most spiders have several spinnerets, each with a different opening, so they can produce the kind of thread needed. For instance, when it needs one for lifting itself up and down, it uses a spinneret that makes a coarse, strong thread. When making its web, an entirely different type of thread is required, so it uses other spinnerets. It also produces cottony material for holding and hiding its eggs. All spiders can make three or four different kinds of thread, and some can make as many as seven kinds, all finer than a human hair!

How did the spider ever learn to use the right spinneret at the right time? How did it learn to use two of them working at the same time when it wants an extra-strong thread? When did it get enough courage to trust itself to drop into space with just a thread holding it and know it could crawl back up it again? How can it produce a sticky thread that it can travel over, yet that will trap everything else?

Many times the webs are spun in the dark, where the spider cannot see what it is doing, but its beautifully-shaped webs are perfectly formed.

The spider, lurking at one side of its web, waits for vibrations to tell it that something is caught. If the vibrations are very light, it ignores them. But a medium-sized vibration means food, so it quickly travels across the web to kill and eat the victim. However, if the shaking is great, it means something too big to handle is out there, and it will hurry to cut it loose before it ruins the web. How does the spider know how to interpret these signals?

The answer to all these questions is: No spider ever "learned" how to make a web or where to place it. When the Lord created them, He gave them their remarkable skills. These are often referred to as instincts, which enable them to take care of these things without thinking.

"Our God is an awesome God...."

Bill Zimmerman writes, "I am an author whose books are used in many school
programs to encourage children to express themselves through writing. I
have just launched a website where students can create their own comic
strips. The site offers fun animal and human characters with different
moods, thought and talk balloons to fill in with words, and story prompts.
It's a wonderful resource to spur children and adults to write, read and
communicate their ideas and to practice English. It is also being used as a
tool by educational therapists who work with deaf and autistic people to
help them understand concepts and communicate." An interesting (secular)
idea - check it out:
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/

Lutheran Hour Ministries has an exciting new way for you to entertain your children and grandchildren during the holiday season and beyond! Check out LHM's new children's Web site, www.jcplayzone.com.

JCPlayZone.com engages children through interactive games, crafts, recipes, and other activities in a safe, Christian environment. Games, activities, and coloring pages will change often to encourage children to return and check out what's new. JCPlayZone is a great home page for your family's computer so that when your children sign on to the Internet, it is the first Web site they see. Click here to find out how. Created especially for children ages 2 through 6, JCPlayZone will rapidly become one of your child's favorites!

A companion Web site for parents, "JC ParentZone" provides parents access to relevant information on helpful parenting articles and answers to their spiritual questions from a spiritual question. The articles and spiritual questions will be updated regularly.