Julie Abrahamson, teacher at Maranatha Adventist School in Moberly, Missouri, loves to find creative ways to engage students with people in the community. She recently organized an outreach project for the school and Moberly Pathfinders to build snowmen outside Ravenwood Terrace Senior Living facility while the residents watched out the windows.
The group of young people, accompanied by parents and leaders, engaged in the “snowman project.” Homemade sugar cookies shaped like snowmen were given to the residents to snack on while they watched the snow being transformed into snowmen outside. One gentleman, a resident of the facility, came outside to watch up close and engage with the children and adults.
He offered creative ideas on how to decorate the snowmen, suggesting how to make one look like a Native American by putting a long wooden piece of mulch on the back of the snowman’s head to resemble a feather. He then handed some dried hydrangea flowers from a nearby bush to use as the headdress and shared his pocket knife to make the hole for the carrot nose. The group did their best to follow his instructions and were delighted with the results!
Abrahamson said, “This project was meant to be a blessing to the residents, but it ended up being as much a blessing to the children and adults who participated in the snowman activity!”
