This is one bug everyone will be excited to get and pass along!
The winter crazies always seem to hit just after the Christmas/New Years winter break…you know, where your kiddos can NOT stop teasing and/or fighting. By mid January, I am going nuts! Last year we attempted a Love Mail Box where we wrote nice notes to people in the family and delivered them at the end of the day. This year I am trying something different and I knew I needed to implement it sooner than February 1st. I have learned that nothing makes you appreciate or love others more than when you are serving them, so one afternoon with my kiddos we made a Love Bug and it has changed the atmosphere and the fighting/contention in our house overnight. I am so excited it is working!
This is super easy to put together and did not cost us a penny. You probably have everything you need in your scrap box or “to be donated” pile. We did not even use a sewing machine and I hate to admit it, stole the stuffing from an unused pillow to make it! I also tried to involve the kiddos in making it as much as possible so this would have some ownership in the creation of our Love Bug
How To Make the Love Bug
What You Need:
- Fabric
- Marker or pen
- Paper
- Scissors
- Stuffing
- Needle
- Thread
- Pins (optional)
Directions:
Step 1: Choose the material and create your pattern on a piece of paper. We decided on a heart. Since we are out of pins we just traced the pattern 2x onto the fabric with a permanent marker and then the kiddos cut it out.
Step 2: Cut out the pattern. I toyed with the idea of actually making it into a heart shaped bug with legs, but decided to keep it simple.
Step 3: Face the side of the fabric you would like on the outside towards each other and sew together leaving a 2 inch gap that you will sew later.
Step 4: Turn the fabric inside out and stuff it with the stuffing of choice.
Step 5: When it is done being stuffed, sew up the last 2 inches and you are done!
How To Use the Love Bug
That night at Family Night, I read a story about service and how it makes us feel good. Then I explained how the Love Bug worked.
“If you found it on your bed, that meant someone had done something nice for you (you may not know exactly what or who) and it was your job to get “rid” of the Bug as fast as you could by doing something nice for someone else in the family. Once you completed your service, you should put the Love Bug on their bed so they know they have been Bitten!”
Our experience: We then ended our Family Night with a treat and started talking. I noticed my 6 year old daughter was gone and could hear someone bouncing around upstairs. She came down acting sneaky, disappeared and came back downstairs happily bouncing around. A few minutes later I went up to my room to get something and discovered my husband and I had been Bitten! “Someone” had made my bed and put the Love Bug on it and you can only imagine the spreading of Bites from there! I love how quickly they wanted to put it into action and they are so excited to be the first one to Spread the Love Bites in the morning.
[…] of service is another way to grow and share your love. We have been practicing sharing our “Love Bug” (kind of like a Service Bug) in our house and you can always tell which child has just […]