A Pup of Hearts

In today's story, Leila had to say goodbye to her puppy Chester, letting him go to his next adventure in life after getting to spend only a year with him. That's exactly where our congregation is regarding our congregation's Assistant Minister for Religious Exploration. We got to spend a year with him, and now he's moving on to serve another congregation. It's sad to say goodbye, but what a privilege it's been to spend the year we've had with him!

Let's make adorable thank-you pups out of hearts to show our appreciation! If your family is able to come to the parking lot farewell tomorrow, you could drop your pup in with the other notes. Or, if you can't make it, you could snap a picture and email it to him. Or you can just make a pup to thank someone else in your life!

-construction paper

-scissors

-circular lid

-glue

-pencil

-markers

First you'll need a circle for the puppy's body. I used a circular plastic lid to trace mine. Cut it out.

I decided to use white and brown paper to make my puppy, but yours can be whatever color you'd like.

Fold your paper in half, and draw two half-heart shapes along the folded edge. Maybe you've done this in school! You'll want a big heart (about the height of your circle) and a small heart.

Cut them out, making sure you don't cut the crease. Unfold your hearts.

The small heart will be for the puppy's paws, so you'll need two. Trace the unfolded heart on the paper and cut it out.

Fold another piece of paper in half (I used the extra from cutting out my puppy's body). Draw a small heart, a little narrower than the heart you drew for the paws. Cut out the heart, unfold it, and trace a second one. Cut it out, too. Now you have a pair of ears.

Finally, you'll want a central heart for the puppy to hold, upon which you can write a message. Mine is just a little smaller than the heart I made for the head.

Flip your biggest heart upside down and glue it to the circle. Here's your puppy's body and head!

Your small, narrow hearts are his ears. Glue them on. This is the best time to draw a cute face on your puppy!

Glue your message heart in the center of the puppy's body, and then add the paws on top of it, so it looks like the puppy is holding the heart.

Now you can write a message on the heart. I am not ashamed of this terrible pun. I also added an adorable tongue at the last minute because I thought it was cute.

Give your pup of hearts to its intended recipient!