Weaving Craft Inspired by Psalm 139

Today Wugs started his first weaving project.  It was inspired by this passage from Psalm 139: 13-16:

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

I've been a bit hesitant to do activities with Wugs that are directly related to bible stories. I remember how bored I used to be learning about this stuff as a child, colouring in little cartoon bible figures in Sunday School and feeling completely disconnected from the characters I was learning about.  And it's this stuff - the real meaning and truth behind the bible stories that I want Wugs and Dooey to understand and appreciate more than anything else and my challenge is to engage them without making the stories feel like "just another story".  I decided to apply a hands-on activity (weaving) that develops fine motor skills to Psalm 139.  The Psalm also ties in with another activity that I have been doing with Wugs, which is looking back on his baby pictures as a way of celebrating his life, recalling fun times and hopefully generating some empathy for his younger brother!

I researched the phrase "you knit me together in my mother's womb" and this brought up some image templates.  I traced the main outline of the baby from the drawing on this site onto white paper and cut it out. I fixed two sheets of black A4 card together (I wanted it to be sturdy as I thought Wugs might struggle with the weaving and tear the card) and then glued the image of the baby onto the card.  Then I cut around the image, leaving about an inch of black border. Using a single hole punch, I went around the black edge and evenly punched some holes.  I attached some thick wool to one of the holes and tied a knot at the back.  As the wool was quite thick, I thought Wugs may struggle to pull it through the hole, so I sellotaped the end of the wool that he would be guiding through the hole into a pointed shape so it would be easier for him to grasp.  The activity was an experiment and I didn't think he would pull the wool completely through or I imagined he would get bored, but he picked up the idea straightaway and insisted he didn't need any help.  We followed up the activity with reading part of the Psalm 139.

What we used:
2 sheets black A4 card
1 sheet white paper
Black marker pen
Glue
Wool
Sellotape
Single hole punch