Now we know our ABCs

Last year I started a post as we went through the ABCs with Totally Tots. I ended up changing my course and started doing my own thing but still linking up with them. We made it all the way to Y and fizzled until a couple of weeks ago when we finished up with the letter Z by making a Jesus ascension craft. (And yes I did come up with the design all by myself)




As I make my way back around the world I'm planning on making one PDF with all the Bible Verse coloring pages to coordinate with each letter. So make sure you check back in a couple of weeks as I'm certain there will be lots of down time as we adjust to the time change.

Kiddos Create: Making Rain

This is really cool to do. Remember Mrs. Beth, well she showed us how to "make rain" several months ago and I thought I would share it with you!!! To make it sound really cool, pick someone who will start the action and then have an order of how everyone else will follow along.
(Once you watch the clip below it will make more sense.)

1. Snap your fingers
2. Clap your hands
3. Slap your thighs
4. Stomp your feet
5. Slap your things
6. Clap your hands
7. Snap your fingers
8. Shhhh the storm is over!!!!

Homemade Breakfast

Last week, on a day where LJ was my helper,we tried out a new recipe from cooks.com for a Waffle/French Toast batter mix and tried our hand at Homemade Syrup from Lorrie Flem's More Sanity-Saving Breakfast Ideas. Let me tell you, we were not disappointed!!!


First we made the Base Batter Mix:
- 10 cups flour
-2 1/2 cups powdered milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking powder
1 tsp salt


Next I taught LJ how to properly measure flour. He really had fun with this part.
- 3 cups of Base Batter Mix

We meausured out the remaining ingredients to add to our base batter mix
-2 eggs
-1/2 cup oil
-1 1/2 to 2 cups water
1 tsp vanilla


Make sure your waffle iron is good and heated up and add about 1/4 cup of waffle batter.

We waited 4 minutes per batch and...

Voila, yummy homemade waffles!!!!!


And since were were having so much fun we decided to give a try with homemade syrup:
1 cup sugar
2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cups water
all combined in a saucepan and boil until it starts to thicken then remove from heat.

Next add
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp butter flavoring
1 tsp maple extract
and serve warm or cool and store in refrigerator.

(*Note when we made this I added everything to the saucepan and the mixture did not really thicken, so after about 10 minutes I just stopped cooking the mixture. It was a bit runny for breakfast that morning but once it had cooled and was stored in the refrigerator overnight, it was the perfect consistency.)

Our homemade breakfast ready to hit the table!!! And LJ was most pleased with the fruit of his labor!!!


Next week I'll share with you whether my freezer cookies were a flop or not!!!! Till then go see what you can create with your child and link up with us at Kiddos Create on Mama Jenn's blog!!!

Homeschool Storytime and a Mother's Day Craft

One of the things I will truly miss about Okinawa is Mrs. Beth!!!

Mrs. Beth has the best songs that she sings at Preschool Storytime; which she allows my boys to be apart of, and is doing an amazing job with the Homeschool program she started. Once a month she comes up with amazing themes to teach our children about.

They get a mini lesson.This month Mrs. Beth did recycling.

stories

and a craft!!!!




The kids did a recycling game where they had to put the items into the correct recycling bin. They had a blast!!




At last it was time for an eco-friendly craft!!This one called for potting soil, flower seeds, tissue paper, liquid starch, cups, paint brushes and some kid friendly shovels.


Each kid gets a cup...

and tissue paper.


In an age appropriate manner, distribute the liquid starch.

Next have the kids put some of their tissue on the cup and using paint brushes apply the liquid starch.

Continue to add tissue paper until your kiddos is happy with their creation.


Next we fill the cup up about half way full of soil...

add a couple of flower seeds...

and then add some more soil to adequately cover the seeds you just added.

Next add a little water each day and make sure your cup gets plenty of sunshine and before you know it, your child's craft will blossom into something they are sure to be proud of!!!


A quick note, this craft can get very colorful if your tissue paper bleeds. So you might consider having your children wear gloves to protect their hands and play clothes that you are not concerned with getting ruined.

Also if you are in need of a Mother's Day present, print of the below poems and attach or give it with your cup of dirt!!!!

A mother's love
and tender care
makes happiness
bloom everywhere.

I planted some seeds in hopes that they'd grow.
Something went wrong, I just didn't know.
Instead of some flowers, it's a cupful of dirt.
I love you ! I hope your feelings aren't hurt.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY !!

Check out CanTeach for some more great Mother's Day Poems!!!

Resurrection Cookies

I haven't done these in a couple of years so I thought it was time to dust off the recipe! I'm posting before we actually do them since Resurrection Sunday is this coming Sunday. These are really fun and I like this recipe most because of the scripture references that go along with it. Hope you enjoy!!!

 

Resurrection Cookies

1. Gather a baggie, 1 wooden spoon, mixing bowl, mixer and your Bible.

2. Preheat oven to 300°. Don't wait for this step; you really DO need to preheat the oven!!

3. Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole pecans
  
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
  
• 3 egg whites
  
• a pinch of salt
  
• 1 cup sugar
  

Beat pecans in baggie with spoon.	Jesus was beaten by Roman soldiers.	John 19:1-3
To mixing bowl add vinegar,	Soldiers gave Jesus vinegar while He was on the cross.	John 19:28-30
egg whites,	Eggs represent life. Jesus gave His life so we could have life.	John 10:10-11
pinch of salt,	Jesus shed salty tears for us.	Luke 23:27
and sugar.	Jesus died because He loved us.	John 3:16
Beat on high speed with mixer for 15 minutes or until stiff peaks form.	White represents our sins being cleansed.	John 3:1-3
Fold in nuts.	Represents rocky tomb, Jesus' grave.	Matthew 27:57-60
Drop 12 teaspoon sizes onto cookie sheet and place in oven. Turn off oven and No peeking!!	Jesus is placed in his tomb.	Matthew 27:65-66
The next morning, open the oven and taste your cookies!! Why the cookies are hollow!!!!	Jesus tomb is empty.	Matthew 28:1-9

**This post has been edited to add the instructions to Turn OFF the oven once you place your cookie sheet, with cookies in the oven. These DO NOT bake over night in an oven that is on. PLEASE PLEASE turn your oven off, whew!!!!

Wordless Bible

This is a craft I made for my Cubbies at church and also saved a couple to give to my own children. I sewed mine together with cotton fabric but to make it easier and enable little ones help make it, you can use felt or construction paper; then staple or hand stitch the Wordless Bible together.


(Here are several books laid out to show you the different colors needed. The Wordless Bible actually begins with the color green and then continues with blue, white, red, black, and finally yellow. Gwen suggest, and I agree, that when you talk about the black page use the word dark and not black as it can be offensive to certain ethnic groups.)

I adapted The Wordless Book by Gwen Moffat Davis for our Cubbie's group. I included verses that they already know or will learn by the end of the year to help them connect with what they were hearing.

Wordless Bible
Hey guys, come over here! I want to share something very special with you. (I don't like to say let me read you a story, when teaching from the Bible, because I want to stay away from putting in their heads that this "might" be a fairy tale.) In my hands I have a book, but its no ordinary book! Look at it and tell me what you see that is different from any other book you have ever seen?

(If you need to encourage them by noting that there are no words to read or pictures to look at.)

That's right I don't have any words to read or pictures to look at. Remember how I told you I wanted to share something special with you? Well that something special is my Wordless Bible!! See I want you to be able to tell anyone you meet about Jesus!! Are you ready to learn how you can share your Wordless Bible with someone who doesn't know God??

Great, first we have to turn our Wordless Bible over and start from the back with the yellow page! Genesis 1:1 (Bear Hug 2) tells us ...God created the heavens and the earth. Since we live on earth we know what it looks like and although we have not been to heaven yet, the Bible tells us that in heaven the streets are paved with gold and that it has walls of jewels and gates of BIG pearls. Did you know that Heaven is God's home and one day we can live there with him!!! So our yellow page reminds us of..... HEAVEN!!!!

Now who remembers what Romans 3:23(Bear Hug 18) or our A verse tells us? Yes ...all have sinned. So as we turn to our next page, the dark page that reminds us that sin can NEVER be in Heaven. But do you know what sin is? Yep, it's when you disobey God. Like when you steal something or lie to someone, or when you say unkind words to someone, that is sin. And that sin is what separates us from God. So our dark page reminds us of what?? SIN

Now God knew we would sin and he knew we would need a Savior. And as we turn to our red page, lets say 1 Timothy 1:15 (Bear Hug 16)...Jesus came into the world to save sinners... Now does anyone remember how Jesus saved us from our sin? Yes by dying on the cross. 1 John 4:10(Cubbie Bear Key Verse) tells us ...God loved us and sent His Son. When Jesus died on the cross, He paid for your sin, for my sin, for ALL sin once and for all!!! Wow, isn't that awesome. So our red page reminds us of the Blood of Jesus.

But look we still have more pages left so that means I have more to tell you!!! Now turn to your white page. After Jesus died on the cross they put Him in a tomb and then on the first, second, THIRD day, guess what!!! God raised Him from the dead!!! So when you hear Luke 24:6 (Special Day 4).. He is not here, He has risen; it's talking about the day that God raised His Only Son from the dead!! When we look at our white page it reminds us that when we ask Jesus to be our Savior, He wipes all our sins away and our hearts become white as snow!!!

Who knows what color the sky is? Blue, right! And does the sky cover the whole earth? Yes it does. Matthew 28:20 (Bear Hug 19) tells us ... I am with you always.. When you ask Jesus into your heart He sends a very special friend to live within you and His name is the Holy Spirit. And guess what! The Holy Spirit is here to help us know what is right from wrong, to understand what the Bible says and do things that please God. So our blue page reminds us of who???? The Holy Spirit.

Oh wow, we only have one page left and what color is it?? Right, green!!! Well lets see are the leaves on a tree green? Yes! How about the leaves on a plant? Of course. And what does a tree or plant need to grow? Right Sunshine and water. And guess what just like a tree or plant needs nourishment to grow, we need to read God's Word to spiritually grow in God!!! Proverbs 30:5 (Special Day 6) tells us ...every word of God is flawless [good and true]. So if we want to grow up big and strong in God we need to read His Word, The Bible.... Every day!!!! So our green page reminds us to keep GROWING in God!!

Do you remember what Mark 10:14(Bear Hug 14) said?? let the little children come to me... Jesus wants you to ask Him to be your Savior and also to share who He is with other people that you meet. And now, even though you can't read you can still share your Wordless Bible with someone and tell them how much Jesus loves them!!!!


Hopefully you find this useful. Don't forget to check out Mama Jenn and see what other parents are doing with their children this week!!!

Scripture Memory Games

Our kids are a part of our church's AWANA program. LJ is in TNT and JJ is in Sparks. The AWANA program runs parallel to the public school year so we are down to our last couple of months. This is a very exciting time yet mundane can set in. So as JJ works for his review patch and LJ works to finish his last Discovery, I decided to come up with a game that would help them maintain their excitement for memorizing God's Word!!

For JJ I came up with a matching game. I print out the verse reference and Bible verse out on separate cards.

JJ is an beginner reader so right now I'm focused on him tying the references with the verse instead of reading the verses. So I can say Psalm 118:11 says "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good" which verse does Psalm 118:11 belong with. And although he is just learning to read, he is always able to figure out the right verse.



If you child is an independent reader, you can turn the cards over to make it a matching game. Now they have to find the verse and the reference to get a match!! When starting with a early reader you might want consider starting with just two verses. After they have those down then you can add a new verse as needed.This way you can reinforce new verses while reviewing older ones all at the same time.


LJ has longer verses to memorize so I wanted to be able to break down the verses into smaller sizes to help him whiz through memorizing them. I decided to write the verses on index cards and cut the verse apart.

Then he has to take the mixed up verse

and put it back together again!


Mama Jenn inspired me with her calendar board post and so I decided to store their game pieces on our school cork board in baseball card protectors! I really like the hook idea Mama Jenn used but when I decided to put ours together all I had was push pins. Hey, it works!


Another cool thing about using baseball card protectors is that once we are done


we can simply put them into a 3 ring binder for storage!!


You can use these ideas for many learning subjects, foreign language, matching objects to their shadows, Upper and lower case letters, or math facts. This list can go on and on!! I hope this gave you a little bit of inspiration and put some excitement back into what ever it is you are teaching your children!!!