TOOLBOX OF FAITH
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
SESSION 4: FLEXIBILITY (DUCT TAPE)
BY KATE TWEEDIE COVEY
© Copyright 2008 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 11/8/2014 7:14:14 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
SESSION OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
The bend in the road is not the end of the road, unless you refuse to take the turn. — Anonymous
The duct tape symbolizes flexibility. This session provides opportunities for participants to reflect on the value and qualities of developing an open mind and a flexible faith. A theme of discussion is the Unitarian Universalist expectation of change and flexibility in one's understandings and beliefs. Allow time for participants to consider what it means to live with changeable answers. As leaders, you will want to emphasize the importance of being informed and flexible decision-makers.
GOALS
This session will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
SESSION-AT-A-GLANCE
ACTIVITY | MINUTES |
Welcoming and Entering | |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Story — Answer Mountain | 10 |
Activity 2: Active Flexibility Games | 10 |
Activity 3: Duct Tape Lunch Bag | 15 |
Activity 4: Kore Chant | 10 |
Activity 5: Council Circle | 10 |
Faith in Action: Ideas | |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Take a moment and let your body and mind settle. If you are comfortable doing so, spend a few moments in peaceful meditation. In preparation for this session on flexibility, you may wish to reflect on how you personally answer the council questions about times when you have and have not been able to be flexible in your beliefs and in your life.
As an adult leader, your opinion may have more influence than those of participants. Therefore, your personal disclosure should not become part of the discussion unless participants ask you a question directly. In that case, be sure to preface your opinion by setting the context that each of us, adults and children, has differing opinions, and yours is one among many. Then guide the conversation away from your own opinion and allow participants to reflect on their own thoughts.
SESSION PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
This section is intended for the time before the beginning of a session when participants arrive individually over a period of time (that is, "straggle in").
Welcome participants. Invite them to start tearing or cutting strips of duct tape, twelve inches long, in preparation for making a duct tape lunch bag. A standard size paper lunch bag requires eleven strips of duct tape approximately twelve inches long to cover it. Tell the children to lightly adhere a corner of each strip to the edge of a table or a chair for use later.
Now or later in the session, add a frame of duct tape around the Tools of Our Faith poster to represent today's quality of faith: flexibility.
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants will become familiar with the flexible qualities of duct tape, and explore duct tape, as a metaphor for being flexible in our faith.
Invite the children to gather in a circle, in your Council Circle space. Light the chalice.
Indicate where the opening words are posted for any children who are unfamiliar with them. Lead the group in reciting:
We are Unitarian Universalists
with minds that think,
hearts that love,
and hands that are ready to serve.
Hold up the duct tape. Tell the children it is the Tool of the Day.
Pass around the tool. As children pass it, invite them to share their prior experiences seeing or using duct tape.
Lead a discussion to introduce duct tape as a symbol of the value of being flexible and open-minded in our faith. You might ask, "What do you think makes this a Unitarian Universalist tool?" Allow participants to share ideas. Affirm that there is no one answer.
Say, in your own words:
The duct tape represents flexibility and open-mindedness. Unitarian Universalism is a faith that will grow and adapt with you as your life changes. This is a key part of deepening our religious understanding.
One of our Principles affirms that Unitarian Universalism values acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations. What you believe at age 8 might be different than what you believe at age 16, age 30, and age 80. We accept change as part of life.
Unitarian Universalism comes from a flexible, living tradition that includes direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and openness to the forces which create and uphold life. That renewal and openness means flexibility when needed.
You may invite a participant to add a piece of duct tape to the Toolbox of Our Faith poster, or do this later in the session.
Collect the tool. Extinguish the chalice.
ACTIVITY 1: STORY — ANSWER MOUNTAIN (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
What would it be like if nothing changed? The story, "Answer Mountain," helps participants imagine life without choices and flexibility.
Read the story aloud, or, if you prefer, tell it dramatically using "The Answer Is . . ." signs as props.
After the story, invite participants to briefly share their reflections and initial thoughts. Tell them you will discuss the story in more depth in Council Circle.
ACTIVITY 2: ACTIVE FLEXIBILITY GAMES (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Elbow Tag
In this game, participants have to adapt to quickly changing circumstances and/or be flexible. Elbow Tag requires at least six participants and a fairly large open space.
Divide the group into pairs. Have partners link elbows and stand in a very large circle, leaving at least ten feet between each pair. Now choose one of the pairs and designate one partner as "It" and the other as the one being pursued. If Xander can tag Elena, she becomes "It." However, if Elena wants to escape (and take a rest from running), she simply runs toward one of the standing couples and links elbows with one of the pair to make a threesome.
In this game, two is company but three is a crowd: When Elena latches on, the one member of the pair whose arm she did not take must break away at top speed. This player instantly becomes new prey for "It" (Xander), until he/she dashes to yet another pair for safety. The confusing transitions can provide a break for weary runners and give even a slow-moving "It" a chance to catch Elena.
Outright Lie
Who can be most imaginative? Part of being flexible is imaging other ways of being or other points of view.
Pass a small object around the circle and make up incredible stories about it. Example: "This necklace was buried in my grandmother's yard in a sealed envelope from an anonymous admirer." Vote on the best story and elect the best liar in the group.
Flex Test
Everyone's body is flexible in different ways. Sometimes, we can make our bodies more flexible by stretching and practicing a particular movement.
Invite participants to share ways that their bodies are flexible. Who can do splits? Who can bend their thumb so it touches their wrist? Who can do any yoga poses? Invite participants to suggest other large or small ways to demonstrate flexibility. (Touch index fingers behind your back, twist arms together, make a fist, roll tongue into different shapes, expand and contract nostrils, cross eyes, flex and point toes, etc.)
Including All Participants
Elbow Tag. You may find this game too difficult to adapt so that a movement-challenged child can be meaningfully included.
Flex Test. Make sure you know some ways a movement-challenged participant can flex a part of his/her face or body, and invite him/her to demonstrate.
ACTIVITY 3: DUCT TAPE LUNCH BAG (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As they make their own reusable lunch bags with duct tape, participants gain a hands-on experience with flexibility.
Distribute a lunch bag to each participant and provide a variety of colors of duct tape and several pair of scissors at worktables. Invite participants to lay duct tape horizontally, vertically or diagonally to cover the paper bag with tape. The leader resource, Duct Tape Lunch Bag, gives step-by-step instructions. You may also wish to tell participants:
ACTIVITY 4: KORE CHANT (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Embody the feeling of flexibility through music.
Gather the group in a circle. Introduce the chant, which is used by contemporary earth-based worship groups. Say or sing the first couplet of each stanza, and invite participants to repeat the couplet with you. Then, lead the next verse.
ACTIVITY 5: COUNCIL CIRCLE (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Each session closes with a Council Circle. The goal of the Council Circle is to share our stories, listen to each other, and grow in faith together. Listening to each other is a religious act. The Council Circle includes three rituals: Reflection, Sharing of Joys and Concerns, and a Closing.
Reflection
Gather the group in the Council Circle. Light the chalice.
Offer words spoken routinely in your congregational worship, or these:
We are Unitarian Universalists
with minds that think,
hearts that love,
and hands that are ready to serve.
Invite participants to reflect on times they were flexible or changing and times they were rigid, as they pass the Tool of the Day as a talking stick. Offer the following questions:
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
After discussion has closed, invite participants to share important things in their lives. What they share may or may not be related to the session topic and discussion.
Invite participants to light a council candle from the chalice flame as they share. If there are not enough candles, it is OK to snuff out and re-light a candle. Save the candle of a different color for last. When all who want to share joys and concerns have done so, light this candle with the words, "For all the joys and concerns that remain unspoken."
If you are using a glass bowl, water, and stones instead of council candles, invite participants to drop a stone into the bowl when they share. End the sharing by adding one last stone for unspoken joys and concerns.
Closing
Extinguish the council candles. You may extinguish the chalice now, or after your closing ritual.
Close with an element (meditation, benediction, song) commonly used in your congregational worship, or use one or more of the suggestions below. Base your choice(s) on the needs and energy level of your group. With your co-leaders, you may elect to use the same ritual to close every session.
Extinguish the chalice now, or at the conclusion of your closing ritual.
A. Lead the group in singing "Meditation on Breathing," Hymn 1009 in Singing the Journey: A Hymnbook Supplement to Singing the Living Tradition. Hear the simple tune online (at www.uua.org/publications/singingjourney/52328.shtml).
B. Have the group read in unison Reading 452 by Marjorie Montgomery in Singing the Living Tradition:
Life is a gift for which we are grateful.
We gather in community to celebrate
the glories
and mysteries
of this great gift.
C. Sing or say the words to "From You I Receive," Hymn 402 in Singing the Living Tradition. Teach the group the accompanying movements.
From you I receive | Scoop the air by reaching toward other participants, then bringing air toward yourself at chest level, that is, receiving it. |
To you I give | Opposite from above — scoop the air at chest level and push it outward to "give" to other participants. |
Together we share | All grasp hands. |
By this we live | Make fist of strength with each hand and stack one hand on top of the other at belly button level. |
D. Go around the circle — using the Tool of the Day as a talking stick again, if you like — and invite each participant to say one thing they will do this week that relates to flexibility. A higher-energy version of the above could involve the group repeating back, chant-style, the statement of each participant, and adding, "Go out into the world and be flexible!"
E. Sing a familiar song. Suggestions: "Thula Klizeo," Hymn 1056 in Singing the Journey; "I Know This Rose Will Open," Hymn 396 in Singing the Living Tradition; or "Rejoice in Love," Hymn 380 in Singing the Living Tradition.
F. Use this team spirit chant, "Pump It Up!"
Leader: Pump, pump, pump it up!
Group: Pump, pump, pump it up!
Leader: Pump that UU spirit up!
Group: Pump that UU spirit up!
Instead of "Pump it up!" you may use "Fire it up!" or "Keep it up!"
Pass the Tool of the Day around the circle and invite participants, one at a time, to voice a way they plan to use the quality of faith that was explored today. Guide them to say:
With my UU [quality of faith, e.g., flexibility], I will . . .
Lead the group in responding to each participant's contribution:
Group: "Go, UU, go!"
If you have not yet done so, invite a participant to add a piece of duct tape to the Toolbox of Our Faith poster.
If the chalice is still lit, extinguish it now.
Distribute Taking It Home handouts.
Thank and dismiss participants.
FAITH IN ACTION: IDEAS
Description of Activity
Change within Our Congregation
Invite a guest from your congregational leadership to talk about how your congregation has changed over time. Examples might include differences among the ministers who have served the congregation over the years, changes in the order of service, relocation to a new meeting space, demographic changes in the membership or evolution in the way the congregation celebrates particular holidays and events.
"Used to Think" Chapel
Engage participants in preparing a chapel service for younger children based on the exploration of things children (and adults) "used to think," in Edith F. Hunter's book, Conversations with Children (Boston: Beacon Press, 1961).
Hunter poses the question, "Did you ever think something when you were younger and then, when you got to be older, find out it wasn't that way at all?" She continues:
For example, when I was in the first grade, I used to think that children in the third grade were practically grown-ups, but then when I got to be in the third grade, I didn't feel grown-up at all. But then I thought sixth graders were really old.
Hunter gathered many "used to thinks" from children, including:
Hunter also notes that over the course of human history, adults have had many "used to thinks," too. She includes:
As the group plans to introduce this topic to a younger group, give them opportunities to explore these questions for themselves. You might ask children to share some of their own "used-to-thinks." Then, you might challenge them to consider some of the things they think now, in terms of whether they will still think the same things are true a year from now, or five years from now, or when they are grown. Remind children that there will always be more things to find out.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Reflect on these questions and discuss them with your co-leaders:
TAKING IT HOME
The bend in the road is not the end of the road, unless you refuse to take the turn. — Anonymous
IN TODAY'S SESSION . . .
Duct tape was explored as a symbol for flexibility, a tool we find in our Unitarian Universalist faith. The children manipulated duct tape to discover how its flexibility makes it a useful tool. The group explored the Unitarian Universalist expectation of change and flexibility in one's understanding and beliefs. We reflected on the value of developing an open mind, a flexible faith, and an ability to live with changeable answers. We emphasized the importance of being informed and flexible decision-makers.
We learn about flexibility to illustrate that:
EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Talk about . . .
As a family, share examples of times when flexibility has appeared or has been needed in each of your lives. Talk about how flexibility can be a tool of one's faith. You may like to use these questions:
Ask everyone to think of ways in which your family is flexible. For example:
EXTEND THE TOPIC TOGETHER. Try . . .
FAMILY DISCOVERY
For a hands-on exploration of how flexibility makes duct tape versatile, try some Duck Tape Club projects (at www.ducktapeclub.com/ducktivities/) such as a picture frame, a rose, a bookmark, and a bracelet.
Two books with more duct tape crafts are:
Got Tape? Roll Out the Fun with Duct Tape! by Ellie Schiedermayer (Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2002). The author, a high school student in Wisconsin, suggests twenty-five duct tape projects including a tie, a picture frame, and a crown and tiara.
Ductigami: The Art of the Tape by Joe Wilson (Toronto: Boston Mills Press, 1999). This book provides a brief history of duct tape and instructions for fourteen projects including an apron, a tool belt, and a wallet.
FAMILY DISCOVERY
Find a flexibility message in "The Oak Tree and the Reeds," in the book, Once Upon A Time: Storytelling to Teach Character and Prevent Bullying; Lessons from 99 Multicultural Folk Tales for Grades K-8 by Elisa Davy Pearmain (Greensboro, NC: Character Development Group, 2006). The author provides guidance on how to tell a story, along with activities for a group of children — or a family — to do together.
See if your congregational library has or wishes to order the book (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=707) A Lamp in Every Corner, A Unitarian Universalist Storybook by Janeen K. Grohsmeyer (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2004). This is a collection of twenty-one short stories that amplify and explore the seven Principles through Unitarian Universalist history and traditions, including stories about famous Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist men and women. It includes helpful suggestions for the novice storyteller and a list of further storytelling resources. Take turns reading or performing the stories in your family.
TOOLBOX OF FAITH: SESSION 4:
STORY: ANSWER MOUNTAIN
By Sarah E. Skwire; used with permission. This story appears in What If Nobody Forgave? and Other Stories edited by Colleen M. McDonald (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2003).
For a dramatic storytelling, make signs that say "The Answer Is No," "The Answer Is Yes" and "The Answer Is under Construction." Show each sign when it is mentioned in the story, or engage three participants to each hold up their sign at the appropriate time.
Long ago and far away, or yesterday and just around the corner, or maybe somewhere halfway in between, there was a town that sat, quiet and content, tucked into the shadow of a mountain. And carved on the side of that mountain, big and tall so no one could miss them, were the words, "THE ANSWER IS NO."
No one knew where the words came from or why they were there. They'd just always been there.
But, oh my goodness, the people who lived in that town cuddled into that mountain were glad to have those words there. Because whenever the townspeople had a question, all they had to do was to look up the mountain and read it. The answer was always NO.
Making decisions was very simple, and life went on smoothly and easily in the town cuddled into the mountain . . . until one day. Now, on that particular day, Ma Custus was about to make dinner for her family. And she just couldn't decide — because sometimes you can't — whether to make stew or steak, pasta or potatoes, dumplings or doughnuts, so she went out into the yard.
"Should I make liver for dinner tonight?" she asked, and looked up at the mountain. And the mountain said, "THE ANSWER IS NO."
"All right. I knew that, really. Nobody is crazy about liver. But should I maybe make steak for dinner? "
And the mountain said, "THE ANSWER IS NO."
"Should I make chicken? "
And the mountain said, "THE ANSWER IS NO."
"Should I make tacos or tofu? Baked beans or broccoli? Pork chops or popcorn? "
The mountain said nothing but "THE ANSWER IS NO."
Ma Custus asked more questions until the sun disappeared behind the mountain. She kept on asking questions until the sun came up around the other way. And all the mountain ever said was "THE ANSWER IS NO." Because Ma couldn't get an answer that was any kind of answer, she and her family went all night and all the next day and all the next night without dinner.
Finally, Ma just gave up and made liver anyway — even though the mountain said no, and even though everyone hated liver — because liver was the first thing she'd thought of. But Ma Custus had had enough. She glared at the mountain, stamped her foot, and shook her fist. "Why is the answer always 'NO?' Why can't you just say 'YES' for once?"
Ma turned around and stomped away to ring the town bell and call a town meeting. Well, when that bell rang, the whole town came running. From the oldest man with the longest beard to the youngest kids who still needed carrying, no one would miss a town meeting. They all came, and they all listened carefully as Ma Custus told her story.
"Seems to me," she said, "that we've got a problem. That mountain just isn't helping us like it should. Seems to me it would be nice if it would say 'YES' for a while."
The townsfolk knew Ma Custus had a point, but they didn't much like this idea — changing something that had been the same for so long. But after they thought and then thought some more, they finally nodded solemnly. The mountain would have to be re-carved.
Mason Sharp, the stone carver, nodded along with the rest of them. He scratched his nose, adjusted his cap, and slowly gazed up the length of the mountain.
Then he cleared his throat and said, in his gravelly voice, "Looks to me like I could do the carving, if that's all right with all of you."
And so it was. Mason spent the next two weeks up on the side of the mountain, chiseling and chipping and carving away, and coming down only when it got too dark to see. And when he was done, the mountain said, "THE ANSWER IS YES."
Mason rang the bell to call the town together, and once again they all came running. From the oldest woman with the whitest hair to the youngest kids who still needed carrying, they all wanted to see the new sign, and they all wanted to cheer for the stone carver and all his hard work.
Ma Custus, who had started all of this, came right up to the front of the crowd. She figured she ought to be the person to ask the first question of this new and different mountain, since she'd discovered the problem with the old one. She stepped right up to the foot of the mountain, looked way up to the top, and asked, "Should I make liver for dinner tonight?"
And the mountain said, "THE ANSWER IS YES." Well, now, Ma Custus almost fell over with surprise. "But Pa Custus told me he'd never forgive me if I served liver again, and all my kids threatened to hide in the barn for a week. Should I really serve liver?"
And the mountain said, "THE ANSWER IS YES."
The townspeople began to grumble. They didn't like the sound of this. Ma Custus's family grumbled the loudest.
"But, well, I can't," Ma said. "I mean, I just can't serve liver again. I promised I wouldn't!
"Are you telling me I should break my promise?"
The mountain said, "THE ANSWER IS YES."
The grumbling got louder. And Ma Custus, well, she glared at the mountain again, stamped her foot and shook her fist, and she turned to the townspeople and said, "This just isn't right! This just can't be right! What are we going to do?"
Once again, the townsfolk put on their thinking caps. Everyone thought: Ma Custus, Pa Custus, and all the Custus kids (who probably thought the hardest of all, because they were worried about the liver — very worried). Finally, the smallest but one of the Custus kids piped up.
"Why does there have to be just one answer? Can't we have more?"
The townspeople gasped. No one had ever thought of such a thing before. They mumbled and grumbled and talked among themselves. Finally they decided that the mountain ought to say, "THE ANSWER IS SOMETIMES YES AND SOMETIMES NO AND SOMETIMES WAIT AND SEE AND SOMETIMES I JUST DON'T KNOW."
Mason the stone carver, who had been listening to all of this talk, cleared his throat, scratched his nose, adjusted his cap, and said, "I think I can do it. I don't mind — not really — even if I did just finish carving in the new change. But, well, it's going to take a lot of time, and I can't work all day long like I did the last time. How about if I work on it when I can, and we'll hang us up some kind of sign on the mountain that lets people know that the answer is coming?"
And so it was.
The funny thing was that, for a little while, Mason worked on the mountain every day. And for a little while, everyone in town waited eagerly to see the new answer. But soon, the stonemason got tired of climbing the mountain every day and everyone else got tired of waiting, and they all started asking each other questions and helping everyone else find answers that seemed to fit. The townspeople realized that different questions usually had different answers, that sometimes the same question had more than one answer, and that there were many more answers than they had imagined. And all of that was fine with them.
After a while they thought that maybe the answer the mountain was giving them right then, just as it was, was better and more sensible than any other answer it had given. And so they left it as it was.
And the mountain said, "THE ANSWER IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION."
TOOLBOX OF FAITH: SESSION 4:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: DUCT TAPE LUNCH BAG
Step 1: Lay your paper bag down on a flat surface with the bottom flap of the bag facing down.
Step 2: Rip several strips of duct tape. These will be used to cover the side that is facing up.
Step 3: Tape the front of the bag, overlapping each strip slightly. You can lay your strips horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Overlapping the strips will make the bag stronger and create a water-resistant seal. If a strip is slightly off, fix it later with a patch across the space, even as part of a decoration.
Step 4: Trim off excess tape, or fold it around the bag.
Step 5: Turn the bag over, making sure to fold down (or flip) the flap (bottom) of the bag to fit underneath the side you’ve just covered. Repeat steps two through four.
TOOLBOX OF FAITH: SESSION 4:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: DUCT TAPE LUNCH BAG PAGE 2
Step 6: To tape the sides, open your bag and stand it upright.
Step 7: Cover the sides with duct tape. Laying the tape vertically will help make the bag easy to fold. In addition, placing your hand in the bag will give you a solid surface, making the sides easier to cover. Trim off any excess tape.
Step 8: Cover the bottom of the bag with one strip torn into 2 6” strips, trimming off any excess tape.
The end result should be a duct tape lunch bag that folds flat after use with the original folds of the paper bag. Add tape or pen decorations, a handle, or whatever your imagination can think of.
From the Duck® Tape Club (at www.ducktapeclub.com/ducktivities/projects/lunchbag_print.asp) website; used with permission.
See other Duck® Tape Club projects (at www.ducktapeclub.com/ducktivities/), such as the Picture Frame, Bookmark, and Bracelet.
TOOLBOX OF FAITH: SESSION 4:
LEADER RESOURCE 2: CHANT — KORE CHANT
Listen to a tune for the chant, Kore Chant (at www.soulrebels.com/beth/shechanges.html) online. You can also hear it on the track, Spider Woman/Kore Chant (at www.sevensouth.com/recordshop/MovingBr/01.php) on the CD, She Changes: A Collection of Songs from Healing Circles, by the group Moving Breath on a label by the same name. If you are not sure how to musically incorporate the counter-harmony couplet, you may add it as a final verse. You can also make up your own tune, or lead this as a spoken chant.
She changes everything she touches
And everything she touches changes
She changes everything she touches
And everything she touches changes.
He changes everything he touches
And everything he touches changes.
He changes everything he touches
And everything he touches changes.
It changes everything it touches,
And everything it touches changes.
It changes everything it touches,
And everything it touches changes.
Change is, touch is. Touch is, change is.
Change is, touch is. Touch is, change is.
Change us, touch us. Touch us, change us.
Change us, touch us. Touch us, change us.
Counter-harmony
We are changers. And everything we touch can change.
FIND OUT MORE
The story, "Answer Mountain," comes from What If Nobody Forgave? and Other Stories (at www.uuabookstore.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=669), Second Edition, edited by Colleen M. McDonald (Boston: Skinner House, 2002), available from the UUA online bookstore.
The game, Outright Lie, comes from "Deep Fun," (at www.uua.org/documents/youthoffice/deepfun.pdf) a collection of games and activities published by the Unitarian Universalist Association Youth Office.
Is There Such a Thing As Being Too Flexible?
Valuing flexibility and change may bring the accusation that Unitarian Universalist faith is "wishy-washy," that is, without a moral core. A compelling article by Warren R. Ross ("Does tolerance disarm religious liberals?" UU World (at www.uuworld.org/ideas/articles/5817.shtml), Fall, 2006) discusses this challenge.
Duct Tape
There are a variety of projects to make with duct tape. See other Duck Tape Club projects, such as a picture frame, a rose, a bookmark, and a bracelet, online (at www.ducktapeclub.com/ducktivities/).
Two books with more duct tape crafts are:
Got Tape? Roll out the Fun With Duct Tape! by Ellie Schiedermayer (Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2002). The author, a high school student in Wisconsin, suggests twenty-five duct tape projects including a tie, a picture frame, and a crown and tiara.
Ductigami: The Art of the Tape by Joe Wilson (Toronto: Boston Mills Press, 1999). This book provides a brief history of duct tape and instructions for fourteen projects including an apron, a tool belt, and a wallet.