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Friday, December 31, 2010

Kid-Customized Picture Frames

These picture frames bedecked with legumes turned out beautifully!


When Baby Brother was five days old, a friend did a photo shoot for us and captured a great family picture.  I had 8x10s printed to give as gifts to grandparents, aunts and uncles, but wanted this to be a gift from the kids not me.

I struggled to think of a way the kids could decorate the frames themselves, but still have them look nice enough people would want to display them long-term.  Multi-colored legumes solved my problem.

We started with very basic wood frames from the dollar store and a bag of legumes for "15 Bean Soup."  After experimenting a bit, I separated the small beans and the large beans into two containers.



The kids glopped Mod Podge on the frame, sprinkled small legumes first, and finished by pressing in large legumes.  Sis was great at making it random; Big Brother kept trying to make patterns.  I was pleased that at 2.5 and 4 years old they were both able to do this quite independently, so the final product was truly from the kids.  



After they were dry, I added a layer of Mod Podge on top to seal everything down.

The finished frames are colorful and fun.  They look like they were made by children, but are pretty enough to want to hang on a wall long-term (at least to a Grandma or Aunty).

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Presents for Baby Brother

Baby Brother received two homemade rattles for Christmas, hand crafted by Big Brother and Sis during our Giving and Serving week of advent.

They each started with an empty clear bottle.  I offered them a selection of bright or rattly items with which to fill the bottles:  bright feathers, multiple colors of legumes, macaroni noodles, and glitter.


I tried to pick items which, if the bottles were opened, would not be outrageous choking hazards (this ruled out the jingle bells sadly . . . ).

Baby Brother was awake while we were making these, so the kids made a big deal about keeping him from peeking and quickly wrapped the rattles and put them under the tree.

Baby Brother loves these rattles!  We've been keeping one on the changing table and it's perfect to occupy him during diaper changes (which keeps him from flipping over and yanking the cover of the changing pad as he loves to do).

This project was inspired by a post at Chasing Cheerios.

Family Memory Match Game

The Family Memory Match Game that Sis made for Big Brother was the biggest hit of all our home made gifts.

I had to do a lot of prep work for this, but Sis definitely contributed a lot and felt ownership of the final project.  When Big Brother opened it Christmas morning, she kept proudly exclaiming, "I made that for you! I made it!"

To prepare, I had purchased wood discs, two inches in diameter.  I ordered two copies each of pictures of everyone in the family--including the cat and dog.  Using a scrap-booking template (that I acquired years ago when Papa decided I needed a hobby), I cut out the pictures in circles to fit the discs.

Sis painted each disc with Mod Podge and then placed the pre-cut pictures on the disc.  After they dried, I helped her add a protective layer of Mod Podge on top.

Then she made a box in which to store the pieces.
She coated a small shoe box in Mod Podge and covered it in a collage of bright squares of scrapbook paper.  I thought this would be easy for her, but was mistaken as she kept putting down squares of paper without enough Mod Podge underneath.  Eventually we got it covered and added a layer of Mod Podge on top to finish it.

In an effort to hide this from both Papa and Big Brother (surprises are fun!), I hid the drying items on top of a kitchen cabinet.  Being Mr. Observant, Papa spotted it, but kindly cooperated and did not investigate, so got to enjoy the surprise Christmas morning.

The kids, grandparents, and aunties all loved this gift. I loved that, although I'd done a lot of prep work, Sis felt ownership of the project and was excited about making it and giving it to Big Brother.

Like so many of our projects, this one was inspired by a post from Chasing Cheerios.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Homemade Puzzles for Sis

Of all our homemade presents, this was the only one that was a but of a dud.

When I proposed to Big Brother that we make puzzles for Sis, he immediately responded, "We can't do that.  Puzzles are made of wood."

"Sure, we can," I responded.  "We'll use poster board."  Turns out Big Brother was wise.

As his National Geographic Little Kids magazines start to get beat up, I have been whisking them away to save for projects.  We started by choosing three animal pictures to cut out of the magazines and then three colors of poster board on which to mount them.


Big Brother than coated the poster board with Mod Podge, put the picture on and did another coat of Mod Podge on top.  I could tell immediately from the way the poster board started to wrinkle that this was not going to be fabulous, but we persevered.

After they were dry, I drew lines on the back and Big Brother cut them into pieces, which we stored in a box to wrap.

In retrospect, this would have gone better had we used cardboard (perhaps a broken down cereal box or a gift box like the one we ended up putting the pieces in) to mount the pictures.  I also should have spent a bit more time planning the lines on which to cut rather than just putting them on haphazardly.

Nevertheless, Big Brother enjoyed making these puzzles and Sis was pleased to open them.

I did not feel too bad that these puzzles were a bit of a bust as this was not the only gift Sis received from Big Brother.   He surprised me when he informed me he wanted to buy Sis a train engine with his allowance money.  He was very eager about it and very specific about which train he wanted to purchase for her.

Wanting to encourage his generosity, we made a trip to buy it.  Whenever he buys something (which is rarely), he wants his own bag and hangs on to his receipt proudly--it's very cute.

My Favorite Homemade Christmas Gift: Foot Prints for Papa

The footprint painting the kids and I made for Papa is my favorite homemade Christmas gift this year.



To help the kids get focused on the giving side of Christmas rather than the getting side of Christmas, I decided that we should make homemade gifts for everyone during our Giving and Serving week of advent.  I didn't post pictures sooner for fear the intended recipients might stumble upon them.

To make these footprints, we painted an 8x10 canvas art board with blue acrylic paint.  As this paint is not washable (and after a previous fiasco making hand prints), I dressed the kids in scrubby clothes, set up the board on a shop towel and had a bucket of soapy water ready.

Big Brother stepped on first and got a perfect foot print!  Sis stepped on and smeared paint everywhere, so I painted over that print and tried again.  Lather, rinse, repeat:  we got a good print on the third try.  Little Mr. Man cooperated quite well and left a nice print the first time around (although a little toe-smearing leaves the vague impression that he has six toes, but a close look clears matters up and I did not want to press my luck trying for anything better).

After we had made the prints, I realized I wanted to add the phrase, "Following in Papa's Footsteps," but couldn't figure out how to do it.  The scrap-booking sticker selection at Walmart was seriously picked over by the time I made it there.  My very crafty friend came to the rescue and cut the letters in adhesive vinyl on her SCAL machine.

I was literally applying the letters at midnight Christmas Eve, but all ended well as Papa loves it and plans to display it in his office.

Being sadly crafting-incompetent, I was scrambling to come up with easy ideas in which the kids be easily involved.   Most of our projects, including this one, were inspired by projects from Chasing Cheerios.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Our Savior is Born!

Merry Christmas--today we celebrate our Savior's birth!  For our final day of advent celebration, we added baby Jesus to our nativity scene and read Sis' favorite Christmas book.

Last year, Aunty T gave us a sweet little hand-crafted nativity set.  It included two mangers--one empty and one with baby Jesus.

All month, the empty manger has been on display.  Last week I started drawing this to the kids' attention.  (You can tell by the photos with my scratched, nicked furniture in the background that small children certainly live here.)


Today, Big Brother opened the final box on our advent calendar and found instructions to put baby Jesus in the manger.

Then Big Brother requested that we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  

After singing, we snuggled up on the couch to read Sis' favorite Christmas book, The Nativity, by Julie Vivas--all before opening gifts.  Bless my patient children!

Our advent journey is over for this year.  All of these activities with my children have helped me see afresh the truth of God's love for us and the wonder if His plan for redemption.  Praise God for his grace and mercy and love.  Merry Christmas!

P.S.  My sincere apologies for binge-posting today.  All caught up now. :)

The Nativity by Julie Vivas

The Nativity

At two-and-a-half years old, Sis' favorite Christmas book this year has been The Nativity by Julie Vivas (available at amazon.com).

This book is perfect for preschoolers because it is a true picture book--the story is carried entirely (and beautifully) by the illustrations.

The text is taken directly from the King James Version of the Bible, but is very limited with just a sentence or two per page and several pages with no words at all.

I'm loving children's books that are illustrated by true artists--people who clearly look at the world with a bit of a different perspective than the rest of us and who are blessed to be able to convey that unique perspective in their work.

The image on the cover is three shepherds peering at the baby Jesus and is typical of the illustrations--capturing their wonder at this tiny, seemingly ordinary baby.  There's some quirkiness in the illustrations--Gabriel seems to wearing combat boots and some of the angels who appear to the shepherds are riding the sheep (Grandma finds this rather sacrilegious).

My favorite picture is on a page with no words.  Bethlehem is pictured bulging with people--people literally sitting on roofs and sleeping in trees, crammed into every possible spot in the picture.  I also love that after giving birth, Mary is clearly pooped.  The illustrator's unique perspective makes a story I've heard hundreds of times fresh and real.

Sis captivated by the pictures, asking many questions; Big Brother enjoys this one too.

My Cop Out Advent Activity: Movie Night! (Advent Week 4)

Our real advent activity for the day was attending Christmas Eve candle light service, but I knew the kids wouldn't go for that, so I resorted to a bit of a cop out . . .

We used our stove top popcorn pan to make kettle corn (heat 1/4 cup oil; add 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup un-popped popcorn; keep it moving rapidly to prevent burning--we failed at this a bit and had some burnt bits).


Then the kids and Papa piled on the couch to watch Veggietales' Star of Christmas while Baby Brother worked on eating the Fisher Price nativity scene. 

Jesus, Light to the World (Advent Week 4)

Today as we developed our theme for the week, Celebrate!, we looked at Simeon's reaction to the infant Jesus.  I ad-libbed my way through Luke 2:25-33 with the kids.

This story isn't in any of our story book Bibles, so we were reading from the New Living Translation; I'd intended to read about Anna's reaction as well, but it was clear I was losing my audience, so we stuck with Simeon.

We talked about how Simeon praised God just like the shepherds had.  Then I drew their attention to the phrase from verse 32:  "He is a light to reveal God to the nations . . ."


I asked the kids--what is the opposite of light?  What does light help us do?   


Then, as an object lesson, I took them into my bedroom--shade drawn, lights off, very dark.  I told them there were two candy canes in the room, encouraging them to try to find them.  They gave up quickly as they couldn't see anything.  


Then I presented them with two mini-flashlights and said, "Okay, let's see if it's easier to find what you're looking for when you have some light."  


After they found the candy canes we sat and talked.  Jesus is a light to the whole world just like the flashlights were a light in the bedroom.  Just like the flashlights, Jesus helps to see things--He helps us see what God is like; He helps us see God's love for us; He helps us see we should live; He helps us see how we can be close to God now and go to heaven to live with Him when we die.  


Big Brother asked a ton of questions about how we can be close to God and I explained that we must see that we sin (do naughty things) and know that no matter how hard we try we can't fix the sin by ourselves.  Instead, we have to ask Jesus to save us from our sin and forgive us.  When we've done this, then God will help us to live our whole lives doing things God's way instead of our own way.  


I love to see him really processing all of this information!

Worshiping and Giving Gifts with the Wise Men (Advent Week 4)

Matthew 2:11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.


During our fourth week of advent, our theme is Celebrate!  For this day's activities I wanted to focus on the reaction of the wise men to Christ.  We started by talking about what worship means.  It's tough sometimes to bring this down to kid-level, so I decided to go back to our Thanksgiving verse, Psalm 100.  We sat together and did the motions and recited the verse, saying it to God.

Then we talked about gift giving: they're on top of this topic.  Next year, I'd like to incorporate the idea that what we give God for Christmas is ourselves and our lives, but we'd already done activities around that idea earlier in the month, so I decided instead to let this be about giving gifts to show others love.



Earlier this year I want a little kooky preserving fruit, so we had yummy pints of apple and pear butter to share.  We'd packaged them up during our Giving and Serving week of advent, but never got them delivered.  To make the kids feel more invested in the gift-giving, we also had decorated and packaged cinnamon-applesauce ornaments that they had made.


Papa took the kids to deliver canned goodies and ornaments to all the neighbors.

Glorifying and Praising God with the Shepherds (Advent Week 4)

Luke 2:20 tells us, "The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told."


During our fourth week of advent, Celebrate!, we focused on the reaction of different people to the birth of Christ.  As I read Luke 2:20 and tried to picture this scene, I couldn't help but imagine that the shepherds were dancing and singing and whooping it up celebrating.  


After reading the passage with the kids, we talked about what it means to praise God and that people often sing to God when they are praising him.  We made an age-old craft: a paper plate tambourine.  



The kids decorated the bottom of two paper plates.  We added noodles in between the two plates, and then stapled all the way around the edge.

When they were finished, we danced around the living room singing and praising God.  Big Brother suggested singing Happy Birthday Jesus, which was very sweet.  

Friday, December 24, 2010

Happy Birthday Jesus Party (Advent Week 4)

This Monday we hosted what I hope will become an annual tradition:  a Happy Birthday Jesus party!  In the past few months, my children have become obsessed with their birthdays, asking almost daily (!) how long it is until the birthday of each member of the family.  Since birthday parties are an experience to which they can so clearly relate, this Happy Birthday Jesus party was a great way to help convey that Christmas is really about Jesus' birth and fit perfectly with our theme for week four of advent:  Celebrate! 

Our goal was to invite friends who do not attend our church in hopes that we might share our celebration of Christ's birth with  friends who perhaps do not focus less on this aspect of Christmas.  We spent the morning cleaning way too much and decorating with green and red streamers just like a birthday party.  I sometimes forget that kids just have fun goofing around at parties, so I may have over-scheduled.  Here's what we did . . . 

Jesus--Light of the World Votive Holders
As our guests arrived, we got everyone started working on this craft. 
I had cut triangles from red and green glitter tissue paper and had cut out poinsettias from some poinsettia-printed tissue paper.  Each child painted Elmer's washable clear glue on a glass baby food jar and stuck on bits of tissue paper, then painted over the top with more glue.  After they dried we added a votive to the jar.
This was supposed to be an object lesson about Jesus being the light of the world, but Baby Brother woke up right before everyone arrived and I had to pause to feed him. Papa helped everyone with the craft, so I didn't develop this idea very well.  The kids loved this though and the finished jars were very cute.  

What God Wants for Christmas
After our craft, I gathered everyone around our Fisher Price nativity scene.  I had wrapped the figures up in packages labeled 1-9 and made sure that I had one package for each child. 

After a child opened a package, I read the poem from the What God Wants for Christmas Kit for that character.   

I really want to love this poem because I love the concept of opening the figures one at time and I love that the final package is a mirror representing that God wants each of us to give Him ourselves for Christmas; however, I just don't love this poem.  It does not seem to hold the kids' attention effectively and there are times when it seems to sacrifice sense for rhyme.  I know there is also an illustrated book by the same title and author and I wonder if with pictures it would work better.  

The kids enjoyed this, but their engagement wasn't quite as locked in as I'd hoped it might be. 

Food!
It's not a birthday party without cake . . . 

We added one candle for every child present and after singing Happy Birthday, everyone got to blow out a candle (germaphobes beware).  

We also had cranberry orange Chex mix (yummy!) and Lil'Smokies wrapped in biscuits.


And we served punch from my skiing snowman tea pot . . .
 . . . because there only so many occasions where one can use a skiing snowman tea pot, so one must seize that day when an opportunity arises.

Nativity Scene Sticker Sheets
I purchased a twelve pack of nativity scene sticker sheets from Oriental Trading Company (for just $5.99).

Each child got a paper backdrop with a stable on it and a sheet of stickers with all the characters and scenery to create a nativity scene.  The kids were totally engrossed in this activity.

Party Favor Treasure Hunt
We wrapped things up with a little treasure hunt to find party favors.  I like to give craft supplies as party favors, so I had prepped holiday ziplock bags with one marker for writing on windows, one marker with a funky tip, one glitter glue, and a pad of sticky notes.

I wrapped each package in a different style of wrapping paper and then cut squares of each style of wrapping paper.  While the kids worked on their sticker sheets, Papa hid the packages around the house.  When everyone was ready, I gave each child a square of wrapping paper and sent them off to find the package wrapped in matching paper.  

I'd never seen the window markers before, but they were a huge hit and we had an impromptu art party on the sliding glass door. 


Notes for Next Year . . . 
It was lots of fun, but two notes for next year. 
1)  This year I just gave verbal invitations on the phone or in person and it ended up being awkward and confusing.  Next year we need to send out written invitations two weeks in advance.

2)  To me, the stay-at-home mom with a husband who has the week before Christmas off, 1:00 pm on a weekday afternoon seemed like a great day for a party; however, most of the world is still working the week before Christmas and a number of our guests couldn't make it because of working parents.  Next year, we need to do this on Saturday.  

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Advent Week Four: Celebrate!

All along I've had this rough idea in mind that our fourth week of advent would be themed Celebrate!  I knew I wanted to host a Happy Birthday Jesus Party as part of this week and of course there would be Christmas Eve candle light service and Christmas morning presents, but I wasn't sure what I would do on the days in between.

As I reflected and reread Luke 2 and Matthew 2, I noticed how the different people who met the baby Jesus responded to him:  they all celebrated!  Although we'd focused on the plot events during week two, we hadn't really honed in on their reactions.

On the agenda for this final week we have  . . .

  • A Happy Birthday Jesus Party
  • The Shepherd's response to Christ--Luke 2:16-20, focusing on glorifying and praising God
  • The Magi's response to Christ--Matthew 2:11, focusing on worshiping and giving gifts
  • Simeon and Anna--Luke 2:25-38, focusing on giving thanks and on recognizing Jesus as light to the world
  • Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
  • Reading our favorite nativity book and adding baby Jesus to the nativity scene

I'm running a few days behind on my posts and I'd really like to get everything recorded for reference next year, so my apologies to anyone reading along if I do a little binge-posting in the next day or two.

Today, Big Brother prayed and said, "Thank you God for Christmas, but it's very hard to wait!"

The Servant King (Advent Week 3)

For our final activity in our Giving and Serving week of advent, we read "The Servant King" from The Jesus Story Book Bible.  It is the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet at the last supper from Mark 14 and John 13-14.

This activity was a bit on the fly, but as we finished the story, Jesus' words struck me:  "I am doing this because I love you . . . Do this for each other."   Inspired by this instruction, I offered to wash each of kids' feet.   As I washed Sis' feet in a bowl in the kitchen, I asked Big Brother if he wanted to help and he did.  Then Sis returned the favor and helped as I washed Big Brothers feet.   As we washed, I talked about how Jesus served others and wants us to serve the people around us.



They were both very solemn and serious as they helped wash and dry one another's feet.  It was very sweet!

Of course, a little later I asked Big Brother to help me clear the table and he was totally uncooperative, blowing it off when I tried to tie my request back to the foot washing story.  Oh well . . . we're planting seeds . . .

Monday, December 20, 2010

How We Deal with Santa: The Legend of Saint Nicholas (Advent Week 3)

A few weeks ago, Big Brother came home glowing and announced, "My teacher Ms. M told me that if I write Santa a letter he will bring me the toy that I want!  Can I write him a letter?"  This idea was totally novel--and clearly thrilling--to him as we have never talked about Santa at our house.   For a fleeting moment, I saw the allure of Santa:  the sparkle in Big Brother's eye, the innocent delight; for a moment I doubted our decision not to play the Santa game with him.   But then he kept talking.  And suddenly it wasn't innocent delight I was seeing--it was lusty greed and once again I was glad for the route we've chosen.

The Legend of St. Nicholas: A Christmas Story of Giving   -     
        By: Dandi Daley Mackall
    
    
        Illustrated By: Guy Porfirio
    
In past years, if he asked about Santa, we just said he was a pretend character some people like to decorate with at Christmas.  With him attending preschool this year, I knew I'd have to deal with it more directly.

As part of our Giving and Serving week of our advent celebration, we talked about Saint Nicholas.  I had purchased the book The Legend of St. Nicholas  by Dandi Daley Mackall from Christianbook.com, but after his letter-writing request, I moved it up on our schedule of activities.

This book tells the story of a boy selfishly focused on getting things at Christmas.  He hears a store Santa telling the Legend of St. Nicholas:  his parents teach him that God loved us so much He gave us the gift of His son; when he is left orphaned he decides to give secretly to meet the needs of those around him. Upon hearing this tale, the boy in the frame story experiences a total change of heart and cheerfully buys presents for his siblings and generously purchases toys to donate to kids in needs. 

With 4-6 sentences per page, this book is fairly text heavy for young kids.  We lost two-and-a-half-year old Sis almost immediately and I had to work to keep four-year old Big Brother focused.  The illustrations are lovely, but this book is clearly about making a specific point, and is not truly compelling literature, with the boy's radical about-face feeling a bit corny.  However, it is the best book I could find about St. Nicholas and the point it makes is the point I want to make with my children, so it's a good tool for our family. 

After reading, we discussed that Santa's real name is St. Nicholas and that he was a real person who lived a very long time ago.  He loved God so much that he gave other people lots of gifts to share God's love with them.  I explained that he was such a special gift-giver that even after he died, many families like to pretend that he brings the presents on Christmas still, but really moms and dads buy presents for their children. 

Many people think I'm a party-pooper not to include Santa in our Christmas celebration and I certainly don't think this is a black and white, right versus wrong decision.  However, I fear that encouraging faith in an unseen fictional Santa would damage my parental credibility as I encourage faith in an unseen living God.  


Saturday, December 18, 2010

Intact Gingerbread Men are So Last Year . . .


Why make decapitated, amputated gingerbread men?  Because my mother-in-law gave me this set of cookie cutters last year . . .

 . . . and I was craving my favorite gingerbread recipe . . .

Gingerbread People
 (originally from  Feeding the Whole Family by Cynthia Lair)


¼ cup unsalted butter, softened (we use coconut oil)
¼ cup unrefined cane sugar or brown sugar
¼ cup honey (or brown rice syrup)
¼ cup blackstrap molasses
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
2 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
½ cup unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼-½  cup orange juice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. 
Cream together butter and sugar; add honey, molasses and ginger, mixing well.
Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Add to wet ingredients a bit at a time, alternating with orange juice as needed to make a dough that will roll out.  You’ll need to work in the end of the flour mix using your hands.
Roll out on a parchment paper and cut shapes with cookie cutters.  Move parchment paper to cookie sheet.  Add decorations before baking.  Bake 8-9 minutes.

 . . . so it just seemed like the thing to do.  

No spiritual application . . . just silliness. :)  

Cinnamon-Applesauce Ornaments: My House Smells Fabulous!

I suspect that everyone in the world has made these, but they are lovely!  It's all the fun of decorating cookies with none of the sugar--and a bonus lovely fragrance that lasts for days.  Cinnamon-applesauce ornaments made up the bulk of my ornaments the first year I moved out of my parent's home and needed to scrounge up inexpensive decorations, so I have a nostalgic fondness for them.

The kids and I made these ornaments to give as gifts as part of our third week of advent Giving and Serving.  

Cinnamon-Applesauce Ornaments
Mix equal parts of applesauce and cinnamon to form a dough.  Roll out between pieces of wax paper or parchment paper to 1/4 inch thickness and use cookie cutters to cut shapes (parchment paper simplifies the process as it can go right in the oven meaning no need to transfer ornaments).  Use a straw (I like to use narrower espresso stand straws/coffee stirrers) to make holes for ribbons.  Dry for an hour or two in the oven on the lowest heat setting or let dry at room temp for 24+ hours.  They smell heavenly while drying and afterward!


After well-dried, decorate.  We waited until the next day to decorate.  I had the kids place buttons on the trees and wreaths (made from a flower cookie cutter with a hole added to the center) and I hot-glued them down.  Later I added a bow and hanging ribbon.

I love how they turned out!  To encourage the kids to get into the spirit of giving, I let each of them pick several people to whom to deliver their finished ornaments.

For the remaining ornaments, we used fabric puff paint to add decorations.  I started out doing it and being a bit of a control freak, but Big Brother asked to try, so I took a deep breath and handed over the paint.  His skillful outlining was quite impressive.

My mother picked up 1 lb jars of generic cinnamon for just $3.00 each on sale just before Thanksgiving, so these were quite economical.

The kids had fun in both the cutting and decorating stages and the results were great--definitely an activity to repeat next year.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Giving and Serving: Advent Week 3

Giving and serving will be the focus of our advent activities this week.  Now that we've focused on Christ's birth, this week is about how we're supposed to live in light of His life.

We're focusing on stories from the life of Christ:  the feeding of the 5,000; stories of miraculous healing; and the parable of the good Samaritan.  In an effort to combat the Santa propaganda machine, we'll also be reading some stories about the real Saint Nicholas.  I want the kids to get into the spirit of giving, so we're making lots of crafty gifts for family members.

I had also hoped to make some little things to take share with the residents of the small nursing home in our neighborhood.  Unfortunately, when I called them and told them my children's ages they said no--too great a risk of sharing germs.  (They would be happy to have has visit in the spring after cold/flu season, so I'm thinking May baskets.)

The first week of advent I had such a tight focus, clear object, and was on top of  my plans--and I was so pleased with how things went.  As the month wears on and other commitments have demanded my time, our activities have become a bit more haphazard than I like; however, I'm not going to let that discourage me.  I'm  making notes of what we're doing, what went wrong, and what I want to do to make it better next year.

This year is my rough draft.  By the time Baby Brother gets old enough for this, I'll have down pat.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Follow the Star: Advent Week 2

As we worked through the week with What God Wants for Christmas, I started trying to come up with more concrete activities to help reinforce the events around the character we had added to the nativity scene for the day.

On the day that we opened the package containing three wise men and a camel, I decided to play follow-the-star.

I made a star out of yellow construction paper (very quickly) and after we'd finished reading and talking about the wise men, we played follow-the-star.  Yes, this activity was really just follow-the-leader with the person at the head of the line holding the star.  We all took turns being the leader with the star.  It was silly fun and helped stick in their minds that the wise men had traveled a long way to come worship Jesus.

And There Were Shepherds: Advent Week 2

I love the words that the angel speaks to the shepherds (of course, in my head it's said in the voice of Linus from Peanuts) in Luke 2:10-11.  They seemed like the perfect words to memorize to help the kids focus on the heart of the nativity.

Adding motions was a huge help in memorizing our Thanksgiving verse, but I was struggling to think of motions for this passage, so we made picture books instead.

I broke Luke 2:10-11 into phrases and found a clip art picture to illustrate each phrase.  I printed out a sheet of pictures for each of the kids and they each cut and glued the pictures onto card stock, on which I had the words of the verse written.

We stapled them together to create the following book:





They loved making and looking at the book and I think it's a good tool to help them memorize (although not as effective as adding motions), but we didn't invest enough consistent time after making it for them to have it memorized well . . . next year!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

What God Wants for Christmas: Advent Week 2

After a busy week planning and implementing our The Problem and the Promise  week of advent, I thought week two was going to be a breeze.  I planned to use the What God Wants for Christmas kit available through  Family Life today as the basis of our activities.
What God Wants for Christmas--An Interactive Kid-  Friendly Nativity  -     
        By: FamilyLife
The kit comes with a nativity back drop and seven boxes decorated as gifts.  Each box contains a figurine for the nativity scene.  There as an accompanying poem narrated by Gabriel telling the story of Christ's birth focusing in turn on the role of each figure from the boxes.  This is meant to be done over seven days or can be done in one sitting.

The last stanza of the poem each day asks what it is God wants for Christmas and hypes that it will be revealed in box number seven.  Box number seven contains a small mirror:  God wants each of us to love Him and live for Him!

Each segment of poem is also accompanied by scripture references pointing to the Biblical passages that tell that character's piece of the story and several discussion questions.


 Gabriel –Luke 1:26
Mary—Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:26-38
Joseph—Matthew 1:18-25
Baby Jesus—Luke 2:1-7
A Mirror—John 3:16; Romans 12:1


I borrowed the kit from a friend, but decided to actually implement it using our own Fisher Price Little People nativity set as it's much sturdier for little hands.


The kids were delighted with the pile of seven presents and tickled when they found out they got to take turns opening them over the week.




However, after we'd opened the first figure (Gabriel) and read the poem segment and the scripture, Big Brother looked at me said, "What's our project?"

Oh--oops.  I'd been thinking that the gift-opening and reading would be it, but having set the precedence of having some sort of artsy/hands-on project each day the first week, I was locked in by four-year old expectations!

So I scrambled and threw together some things for us to do.  As the week wore on, I realized things were not going nearly as well as they had the previous week.  Big Brother was right: we did need a project to reinforce the learning for the day, but the projects needed to be tightly tied to a purpose.  I also realized that the purpose of the kit and poem we were using--although lovely--did not really flow well with our focus from the previous week.

My take away for next year is that I will still wrap up the nativity figures and present them one at a time, but our theme for the week will be God's Promise Comes True.  We'll focus on Jesus as the promised savior who will save us from our problem of sin.  We'll ditch the poem and stick to reading either the Biblical text of Bible story book versions.  I'll also be sure that each day our activity directly ties to the events we read about that day to help the events stick in the kids' minds.

I do really like the kit and I plan to use it at our Happy Birthday Jesus Christmas party.  I'll be interested to see how it goes opening all seven figures in one sitting.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Isaiah's Prophecies: Advent Week 1

For our final day of activities in The Problem and The Promise, our first week of advent, we read "Operation 'No more Tears!'" from The Jesus Storybook Bible.  It's based on prophecies from Isaiah 9, 11, 40, 50, 53, 55, 60.

I find this selection pretty impressive in that it is written in preschool friendly language and makes the prophecies concrete.  Even though it's very well done, it's still a bit lacking in action and abstract for a 2 year old and 4 year old, so I'm not sure how much sunk in.

As we talked about this story, I tried to focus them on the idea that Isaiah's job was to tell everyone about God's promise to send some one to save us from our sin.  To that end, as our project, we made what my mother-in-law fondly refers to as a "du-ta-du"--sometimes called a paper towel tube.

I gave them each an empty paper towel roll and had them hold them up to their mouths and hear how it magnified their voices.   Then we decorated them with left over party streamers.


Once finished, we held them up and shouted through them together, "God promised to send a Savior!" over and over again.  The kids loved them and danced and waved them around while we shouted.

It was a joyful way to celebrate God's promise.