I like to take the opportunity of Valentine’s Day to talk to the boys about God’s love for us and our love for God and each other, this year using 1 John 3 as we did so. If you would like to read more about God’s love I would recommend this article by Paul Tripp.
– matching verses and answering simple questions about love
– bicarb soda and vinegar fizzing hearts
– crayon resist heart paintings
Happy Valentine’s Day!
xo
We have been enjoying lots of Christmas activities and using them to to talk about Jesus as the joy, hope, peace, saviour, light, king and judge of the world (see here).
– tape resist Christmas tree paintings
– shadow puppet nativity
– decorating play dough Christmas tree
– decorating cardboard Christmas tree
– target practice (aiming for stars with the descriptions of Jesus written on them)
– bell maze (inspired by this one)
– trees from paintings with the descriptions of Jesus on them
We hope you are enjoying preparing for Christmas too. xo
With little more than 5 weeks until Christmas the boys have been begging to start some Christmas activities. As we read about Jesus’ birth in the Bible and do crafts and activities in these coming weeks we will be talking about some aspects of who Jesus is, being:
– Jesus is the joy of the world
– Jesus is the hope of the world
– Jesus is the peace of the world
– Jesus is the saviour of the world
– Jesus is the light of the world
– Jesus is the king of the world, and
– Jesus is the judge of the world.
We made some stain glass windows with these descriptions of Jesus alongside pictures I drew of parts of the nativity (Mary, Jesus, angel, shepherd, star, wise man, Herod) using black paper, contact and coloured tissue paper (cellophane would also work well). (Inspired by these).
xo
Like many others we are looking forward to the Olympic Games beginning. We had our own celebration afternoon tea today and a few activities hidden away in these black paper bags for the coming days. Hope you enjoy the Games too.
– Finger olympics: mini versions of some Olympic events using tiny balls, sticks, arrows, nets and so on
– Olympic countries: learning about different countries and in particular the host country, Brazil
– Olympic spirit: to install good sportsmanship
– Your Olympics: imagining some new ideas for the Olympics
– Olympic charades: acting out some key components and events of the Olympics
xo
Our final Christmas theme for this year has been Christmas superheroes. We have been looking at some of the many names of Jesus to learn that he is so much more than a superhero. While it seems like there are some similarities (such as saving others and being kind) Jesus is far superior – he is real, God himself, more powerful, more selfless and humble, and saves us from sin, something more sinister than any of the physical threats that superheroes save people from. His many names are like “word pictures” to help us understand how great Jesus is.
– names of Jesus spider web. The web is covered in a piece of contact with the sticky side facing outward. We threw balls of paper at the web, talking about the different names of Jesus as the paper landed near them. (Inspired by this sticky web).
– names of Jesus x-ray bags. Each bag contains a clue for a name of Jesus. We guessed the name and talked about what it means. (Inspired by this guessing game).
– superhero capes
– comic strip of the nativity
– painting a Christmas tree with spray bottles and brushes
– superhero sensory box (including some clues for names of Jesus, similar to those in the x-ray bags above)
– movie night (we watched, Vischer, P. (1996). The Toy that Saved Christmas: VeggieTales).
– superhero baubles (Inspired by these baubles and simplified for the little men)
– invisible paintings (tape resist paintings of Christmas trees)
– Bethlehem skyline (watercolour painting for the background, cut out paper for the buildings)
xo
We are continuing to excitedly prepare for Christmas with plenty of time spent talking about the birth of Jesus as we craft and play as well as some celebrations with Christmas desserts and friends.
– Peg doll nativity
– Angels from mini funnels
– Cardboard box nativity for pretend play
– Christmas dessert evening
One week to go!
xo
We have been exploring Christmas around the world and all the differences there are in traditions and celebrations. Despite all the differences we could see that there are people all over the world celebrating the birth of Jesus, a truth we kept coming back to throughout all these activities. We enjoyed Christmas celebrations, Christmas crafts, Christmas cookies (and other special foods) and Christmas cheer.
Christmas Celebrating
We chose a few cities and found out what continent and country they are in, what language they speak and what the climate is at Christmas time. Then we researched what Christmas is like in that city. Some of the cities we chose for their unique Christmas traditions and others because we know people living there.
Christmas Crafts
We enjoyed some crafts from around the world.
– Danish woven hearts
– Scandinavian gnomes (inspired by these, although we used cardboard rolls and cotton wool balls)
– Stencilling Mexican patterns (using bunting from Kmart as a stencil)
– Painting poinsettias with cardboard tubes (idea from here)
– Paper parol from the Philippines (instructions here)
– Class gifts for the little man to give (chocolate bar wrapped and decorated)
Christmas Cookies
We baked cookies from other countries. Links to some of the recipes we used are here and here, the other recipes we used are family favourites.
Christmas Cheer
We matched the Christmas greeting in different languages to the country in which they speak it.
We hope you are getting ready to celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus wherever you are.
xo
We have had a great week as Christmas Detectives with the mission of finding out the truth about Christmas, that being the birth of Jesus and his fulfilment of God’s promises. We’ve used these activities as an opportunity to talk about Jesus, his birth and its implications for us and to read passages in the Bible and Christmas stories.
– Mini explosions. We made wise men bon bons (crackers) and talked about worshipping Jesus, even when he was a baby.
We make bon bons each year and usually include the snap, a toy, a chocolate, a bauble and a joke. Simply wrap a cardboard tube in some paper, place or tape the snap inside and tie up one end with some ribbon. Fill the tube with the rest of your treasures and tie the other end. Add details with cut up paper and a pen to make them resemble wise men.
– laser maze (inspired by this spider web). The little men used tweezers to remove the stars without touching the string. We also collected larger stars using a life-size laser maze made of string. The stars gave us a chance to talk about following Jesus just as the wise men followed a star to find him.
– bauble eye spy. The little men looked for the item(s) inside each bauble and then matched them to a meaning/reminder:
– footprint analysis. We matched footprints to the type of animal that may have left them (and that may have possibly been near the manger). Then the little men made footprints with plastic animals.
We read two books along with this activity: Lloyd-Jones, S & Jay, A. (2011). Song of the Stars: A Christmas Story. Grand Rapids, MI: Zonderkidz. and Wiersum, G & Morgan, A. (2007). The Animals’ Christmas Eve. New York: Golden Books.
– bauble target practice
– matching Christmas shapes
– detective kits (read more here)
– painting with combs
– chocolate angel spoons
– decoding Christmas words (reading while looking for certain words and then defining those words). We read passages in Luke and Matthew and also Poole, S. (2014). A Christmas Journey. Nashville, TN: B&H Kids.
– fingerprint match and disguise. We lifted fingerprints using these instructions and then we stamped our own fingerprints and disguised them as angels, shepherds, sheep and wise men.
– candy cone search and decode. We had a hunt for the candy canes and then put them in order to make the verse from Matthew 1:21: “[Mary] will have a son, and you will name him Jesus – because he will save his people from their sins.”
– Christmas secret messages. The little men wrote messages and pictures about Christmas using invisible inks (baking soda and water; lemon juice).
– traditions of Christmas investigation. Matching up traditions with their origins.
– carol clues. Listening to sections of songs and guessing which carol it is.
xo
With six weeks until Christmas and an overly excited little man, we are going to be Christmas Detectives with the mission of finding out the truth about Christmas.
We’ll begin with some detective kits with things like disguises, things to analyse evidence with (such as magnifying glasses, gloves, tweezers, bags to store it in, brushes to dust for fingerprints) and invisible ink and notepads for recording discoveries.
Then they will decipher their mission and next week we will begin our investigations (listed in the top photo).
Please join us as we discover the truth about Christmas (for more details about the activities see here).
xo
emilia keriene 