Birds- Angry Birds Bible Lesson

As a part of our Birds Study, we decided to do a little Angry Birds lesson that I had seen over at The Home Teacher. This lesson was so much fun, and the kids enjoyed involving their Daddy. We pretty much used followed the script examples given on that blog.

Our oldest two kids did a bit of copy work to help them memorize our scripture for the night, while daddy helped Sammy say the scripture. I found these pages at Speech Room News.

“For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God”.

James 1:20

After the main portion of the lesson, each child drew an Angry bird picture.

After all of this we set up a real life game of Angry Birds. It was a blast.

Pumpkin Gospel

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:16

This year we have been teaching the kids about what Halloween is really about. They have heard lot’s of different things, and opinions, and they were getting confused. They had heard that Halloween was the devil’s holiday, and then also heard that it wasn’t, so I really wanted to take the time this year and teach them.

We began by reading a book that my Dad had called, “Halloween is it for real?” This is an awesome book. It starts from the beginning of how Halloween really started, and takes them to “All Hallows Eve”, and back to how it is celebrated today. The book then talks about how we can use this holiday to share Jesus Christ with other’s.

The cover of the book we have looks different. It was given to my Dad in 1983, but it is the same author, so I assume it’s the same book.

After we read this book, we sat down as a family and talked about it. We answered any questions they had, and talked about the ways that our family can share the love of Jesus this year. Then we did the Pumpkin Gospel craft from 1+1+1=1. We really enjoyed teaching the kids about this holiday, and teaching them about ways they can share the love of Christ.

Craft- Sword

These swords were also a part of our Armor of God learning. The kids loved getting to use glitter, but boy was it messy.

Items Needed

• White Felt (I got these at the Dollar Tree)
• Glue
• Markers
• Silver Glitter

Directions

• Free Hand a Sword template on the piece of white felt
• Outline and fill the inside of the sword with glue
• Have your child cover the glue with glitter
• After the glue dies have your child use markers to color the handle of the sword

 

Note: You can have your older children draw their own sword templates as I did in the picture above.

Craft-Construction Paper Shield

We made these shields as a part of learning about the Armor of God. I was pleased with how they all turned out so different.

Items Needed:

• Several Sheets of construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue

Directions:

• Cut out the base template of the shield. I did this freehand, I have also seen this done in round circles.
• Allow your child to choose what color they would like for the next layer, then cut a smaller version of the base template.
• Glue the two templates together
• Allow your child to decorate their shield as desired.

Note: For my 2 year old I had him rip pieces of construction paper to glue onto the shield. This helped him to feel more included, and it created a pretty cool looking shield. 

Raising Girls- Kissing

If we Don’t Teach Them, Someone Else Will

A couple of weeks ago my daughter said that she wanted a boyfriend. She had been with some youth girls, and while I don’t have a problem with that it always brings about an opportunity to teach Hailer something. I asked her why she wanted a boyfriend, and she said, “so I can kiss him”. (I’m sure that she has seem me kissing her daddy, and had heard one of the girls, talking about kissing)

I took this opportunity to begin talking with her about saving her first kiss for marriage. What? Yes, I said saving her first kiss for marriage. Now I would obviously not be upset with her if she kissed someone before she was married, but I do believe that kissing can lead to other things. I also believe that we should strive to live a life of purity, and kissing is something special between a husband and a wife. When I was her age I made a commitment to save my first kiss for my husband. I’m sad to say that did not happen. Chances are more than a few of us regret our first kiss. Anyway, after talking to her about this I used an illustration, to help her to understand what I was talking about.

   

I numbered a page 1-6, put lipstick on Hailey, and I had her kiss underneath each number. By the time she got to number 6 there wasn’t any lipstick left. We talked about how special the first kiss is, and how it loses it’s luster after you've kissed LOT’S of boys.

She really enjoyed the lesson, and seemed to have learned how special the first kiss is.   

4 Days of Bible Crafts for Toddlers- Stop Light Gospel

Items needed:

• Black, Red, Yellow, & Green construction paper
• Glue
• Scissors
• Black Marker

Directions:

• Cut the black sheet of construction paper in half, and then cut the corners in a Simi-circle
• Cut out Red, Yellow, and Green Circles
• Write the sayings shown on the picture above on each circle.
• Talk to your child about the purpose of a stoplight. Tell what each color stands for. (Red-STOP, Yellow-SLOW, Green- GO)
• Help your child glue the circles in the correct order on the stoplight
• Talk to the child about how God gives us directions. Read the ones on the stoplight (STOP and listen to God’s rules, Be SLOW to anger and never cruel, GO with God and He will go with you)

4 Days of Bible Crafts for Toddlers- The 10 Commandments

Items Needed:

• 1 colored & White piece of construction paper
• Fast Drying Paint (crayola) & Paintbrush
• Glue
• Scissors

Directions:

• Read the story if the 10 Commandments out of a children's story book or Bible
• Cut out the tablets
• Have child crumble each tablet into a ball, and then smooth them out. This gives them an aged look
• Have child glue the tablets on the other piece of construction paper.
• Let your child paint the tablets brown
• After the paint dries, help child paint different colored lines the represent the Commandments

4 Days of Bible Crafts for Toddlers- Praise Him!

Items Needed:

• 2 Styrofoam plates
• Paint & Paintbrush
• Staples
• Rice or Beans
• Black Marker

Directions:

• Have your child show you their hands.
• If old enough have them tell you some things they can do with their hands. If they are younger you can tell them a few thing their hands are used for (Helping, playing, painting)
• After they have come up with a few things, tell them they can use their hands to praise God. Talk about clapping, raising their hands, playing instruments.
• Paint their hand, and have them put a hand print on one of the plates, then allow them to paint the other plate as desired.
• Have your child place rice of beans inside of one of the plates
• Staple the two plates together
• On the side with the hand print write, “God made me to praise!”
• After you are done, put on some worship music, or some Bible songs, and have your child praise God by playing their instrument
• Each time you use this instrument have your child repeat, “God made me to praise!”

4 Days of Bible Crafts For Toddlers- The Good Samaritan

Items Needed:

• Construction Paper
• Glue
• Band-Aids
• Man Cut Out
• Red & Black Marker

Instructions:

• Read the the story of the Good Samaritan out of an age appropriate Bible story book.
• Tell your child that they can be a good Samaritan by helping their friends when they need help.
• If your child is younger, have them repeat, “I can help”.
• have your child glue the man cut out on the construction paper
• Put red marks on the man to represent the man’s needs. (boo boo’s)
• Open the band-aids and let your child cover the “boo boo’s” with them
• If your child id older they can open the band-aids to work on fine motor skills.
• After you are done, be sure to repeat that they can help others, just like the Good Samaritan.
• Use your black marker to write the scripture and saying.
• At the bottom of the page, underneath the saying, Sammy signed his name.  
• If your child is older you can have them memorize the scripture 1 John 3:18

Wee Rock

I recently posted about how our church is adapting 1+1+1=1’s Raising Rock Star’s program for our church. I have had so much fun teaching the kids. But, I have been the most impressed with the how my Sister-In-Law has really taken our toddler program to the next level. So often we forget about how much our Wee ones can learn. I have a tot that she teaches every Sunday, and He loves it! He has also learned so much. I wanted to share with you some of the wonderful crafts they have done. She reads them a story from a toddler Bible.

• The 10 Commandments

• God Parts The Water

• Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors

• Noah’s Ark

• Baby Moses

• Thankfulness

The most important thing he had learned is to sit and bow his head and pray. So remember, they are never to young to start learning about God.

Raising Rock Stars- 3 Lessons

We started off our 8 week session with a bang. The kids LOVED the change in the layout and curriculum, and the parents LOVE the resources found on the Raising Rock Stars website, as well as the at home activities I have sent with the kids.

We have already completed 3 weeks. Our first lesson was the Garden of Eden. We read the story of the garden of Eden, and talked about how the serpent lied to Eve. We then talked about how God is ALWAYS truthful.

Our scripture memory for that week was John 3:33. We used the printables from Homeschool Creations. The kids hung their scripture on the board, and made a scripture memory bracelet with the cut apart.

For craft time the kids made fruit trees. they used their arm to paint the trunk, their hands to paint the leaves, and their thumbs to paint the fruit.

For snack they ate Clementine's.

 

Week 2

Our scripture for this week was Psalms 104:33. Again we used the printable from Homeschool Creations. The kids took the cut apart home with them to complete.

I read them the story of Paul and Silas in prison. You can print it HERE. We talked about how you should praise God in al circumstances.

For craft time, we made, Paper Plate Noise Makers. I took two paper plates, and had the kids decorate them. (this one was painted by my 1 year old the others were much prettier lol!) I stapled the bottom half together, and had the kids put dried beans in. I then stapled the rest of it together. I used a hole punch to punch holes in each side and tied on the streamers. We then used our noise makers to sing praises to the Lord.

  Week 3

This week we learned about Noah’s Ark. This was my favorite week so far.

Geneses 7:5 was our scripture. As always, the kids helped me hang it on the board. I printed this scripture along with the cut apart from HERE.

We then made a necklace out of our scripture Memory cut apart.

I then read the story of Noah’s Ark from a story book Bible. We talked about how Noah obeyed God, and how we need to obey God also.

We completed our Noah’s Ark craft. I printed this craft from here.

I hope you enjoyed our first 3 weeks on Raising Rock Stars.

For more great idea’s, visit Carisa at 1+1+1=1

Raising Rock Stars- The Set Up

I recently took over the Pre-School Ministry at our church. I knew that there needed to be some changes, and began to pray about where I should go with them. God laid Carisa’s Raising Rock Stars theme on my heart. I truly feel that as a church it is our goal not to just teach the children about God, but to partner with their parents in raising them up at home as well. This theme, has so much to offer parents. I will be posting what we did in Sunday School, but all of the lessons are set up so that they could be done in the home. I hope you enjoy reading about our lessons.

Above is our bulletin board. I have posted the Raising Rock Stars scriptures for the parents to see, and to make sure that the vision  is clear. Each week we focus on one scripture, and the kids hang it on the board for their parents to see. There will be 8 total scriptures, then we will take them down, and put them on a ring that will be hung to the right of the RRS Scriptures. On the right bottom of the board I have the kids sticker charts. The kids earn stickers every week for the following; Being Present, Bringing their Bible, Bringing a friend, Being respectful in class, and Memorizing their scripture. At the end of 8 weeks the kids will have the opportunity to turn their charts in for prizes.

Each week we focus on one Bible story and scripture. We always have a craft or game (sometimes both) to go along with the lesson. This helps to give the kids a visual, and it gives them something to take home to Mom and Dad, so that they can see what we are doing.

The kids have really enjoyed this set up. It has also helped me throughout the week to guide our Bible time. (Christopher is in this class) I will be sharing our lessons in detail, I just thought I would start by sharing our set up.

If you haven’t already, please check out the Carisa’s Raising Rock Stars page.

Raising Rock Stars

Carissa over at 1+1+1=1 has come up with an idea called Raising Rock Stars. She has been posting their family devotions and sharing them with the rest of us. I think this is such a great idea and thought that I would add our morning devotion times to this blog.

We do a morning devotion and worship time each morning before starting school. We just started a book called Big thoughts for Little People. the kids have enjoyed it so far. I thought I would share what we have learned so far.

* A is for asking. We ask when we pray. God's happy to answer us each day.
"Tell God your needs and don't forget to thank him for his answers." Philippians 4:6
We talked about what we were thankful for and and we talked about the difference in a want or a need. The kids looked in magazines and cut out pictures of wants and needs and glued them to the correct page.

* B is for Behave; It means doing what is right. Be happy and helpful; Don't argue or fight.
"Jesus said,"If you love me, obey me." John 14:15
That morning my mom was in town and the kids had been acting up.We used this devotion to talk with them about honoring God and obeying Lovie.

*C is for Crying. It hurts when you fall,but please don't cry about nothing at all.
"A cheerful heart does good like medicine." Proverbs 17:22
Anytime that my kids get hurt we pray, "In the name of Jesus be healed." We are teaching them that God is the great physician. Despite our efforts I still have a child that is a bit of a hypocondriact.
For this lesson we name construction paper band aids and wrote different illnesses and things on them. I talked to the kids about the difference in a serious illness or injury and a small illness or injury. We talked about having a cheerful heart even if things are pretty bad. We learned that God is bigger.

D is for Doing what needs to be done. So please do it cheerfully; Then you'll have fun.
"Do for others what you want them to do for you." Matthew 7:12
For this we talked about how people from the church brought us food when I had my surgery. We discussed what things we would want others to do for us and how we should do those things for others. We also talked about the chores that we don't like to do and came up with ways we could make them fun. (don't complain and make up a game) We then called the church and asked to be put on the list for the next food delivery. I will have the kids go with me to deliver the food and we will talk about being a blessing to others.

* E is for Everyone. God loves us all: The black and white and short and tall.
"See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children." 1 John 3:1
We made pictures of ourselves using construction paper and yarn. We talked about our differences. We then mad a picture of Sally. (one of our previous foster placements) We put all of the pictures together and talked about the differences and how God loves us all not matter what we look like. He created us. So we should also love all people.