Abigail (1 Samuel 25)

The story of Abigail contains a donkey, it may not be that first element that comes to mind but this donkey loaded with food is the leader of the food trail that was lead to the feet of David. There is also another reason for including this craft here, Abigail lends itself well to food related activities and yet often food is difficult to work with, this then is a non-food option.

This tutorial is not very detailed, the making of the donkey is simple but the decoration is more up to you and can be tailored to the materials you have on hand.The donkey can obviously be used for many other biblical stories, or it could easily be crafted into a horse.

You will need a toilet roll, four clothes pegs (I used mini ones but you could use full size), a pair of scissors, some grey or brown fabric, glue, a ruler, a pen or pencil, wired ribbon, some wool and pink pen

Start by measuring a strip of the tube about 5 cm wide and removing it to form the body.

Glue a piece of grey or brown fabric to the body. I used self adhesive felt to make this easier.

The head, neck, ears, and tail need to be cut from the remaining card. Use about 2 thirds of the card for the head, rolling it against the curve of the original roll. cut a strip for the neck too. The ears and tail can be cut from the remainder as shown.

The head needs to be attached at one end, you can also round the muzzle. This image shows the head completely covered in fabric, you can do this or leave the muzzle exposed. Use strong glue for this bit – you can see I left a peg in place while it dried.

Cover the neck and tail with fabric and attach them to the body. The neck is simply a rectangle. Make sure it’s thin enough to let the head slide on the end.

Now we have the basic shape in place we can add the legs and start to decorate. I added a small piece of felt to the tops of each of the legs.

I tied on some wool to the neck to add a mane, and added moving eyes and a line on the front of the muzzle. I also added some wool to the end of the tail. The ears slip into the top of the head, just remember to colour the inside pink!