Spy Training: The Greatest Invention Since James Bond

No, I didn't invent anything here, but I did see it on Pinterest and did NOT bother to click on the link. 

Do you have ninjas living in your house?  What about superheroes?  Imaginary animal vets?  I have all of the above in my house, and do you know what they all need on a regular basis? Spy training.  That's right.  I put my kids through their paces just like Sean Connery did for Catherine Zeta-Jones in Entrapment, with yarn and masking tape.

My first foray into spy training, Mission: Impossible-style, was with my 2nd- and 3rd-grade Sunday School class.  About our fifth week into Joshua and Jericho, I decided to conduct some spy training with them, related to the story of Rahab and the Israelite spies.  And let me tell you something: that was the greatest way to entertain 8- and 9-year-olds EVER.  Boys or girls, shy or extroverted, they did it over and over again.

This past week for Valentine's Day, I wanted to make Sarah and Will work for their little stuffed animal gifts, so I put the softies in a corner and strung red crepe paper in a web for them to get through.

For older kids, you can enforce the rule that you're out if you touch any part of the "laser".  For my little guys, not so much.

In my Sunday school class, the web was much more intricate.

Sarah had a lot more fun with this than Will did it.  It's the scalpel vs. the sledgehammer in our house.