Last week we did a different kind of Christmas Family Home Evening. My husband wasn't quite sure about it, but I made sure it was very reverant and respectful. When the kids came out from playing I had made a little banner that said Happy Birthday and crepe paper streamers. On the table was a cake that said Happy Birthday with a bunch of lighted candles. We sang Happy Birthday (not to anyone specifically) and then the kids blew out the candles. Then we talked about birthdays and why they are important. We talked about how we celebrate someone's birth, and we do that because we love them. We also talked about how alot of times we give presents on birthdays too.
After that we moved into the living room where I had soft Christmas music playing. I read a scripture about Christ's birth and talked about how we were about to celebrate that wonderful occasion. I had some little boxes and we talked about what we would give Jesus for Christmas this year. I wrote down what kind of things the kids wanted to give him (ie, be nice to sister, help mommy clean, etc) and we put them in the boxes with a bow on top. On Christmas morning we will open them again to remind the kids of the things they are going to give Jesus.
I thought it turned out really well, and using something kids are very excited about and familiar with like birthdays made it more real to them that Christmas is a celebration of our Savior's birth. I also loved focusing on what kind of gifts we can give the Savior, instead of just thinking about all the fun toys that are coming :)
Friday, December 18, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Individual Worth Family Home Evening
Again last night we had a really simple but wonderful family home evening. I was wanting to save up my Christmas fhe's for the next few weeks so I was trying to think of what our family needed. Just a quick side note: I believe very strongly that if we go to our Heavenly Father in sincere prayer he will guide us every step of the way as we prepare our family home evenings. I personally have received a lot of personal revelation regarding the needs of my small family, and I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that helps me to see the things that will benefit my family the most.
Anyways :) We started off the night by reading my MOST favorite childrens book. If you don't have this book RUN, don't walk, RUN to the nearest book store and get it!! It is so fantastic, and the kids even at age 2 and 4 were mesmerized by it. What book you ask? :)
I couldn't get through reading it without tearing up. It beautifuly teaches us about the love of our Heavenly Father, and how we are special simply because of our existence, and the only love and approval we need is that of our Father in Heaven. I am not doing it justice, it really is wonderful!
After we talked about it we went around the room and everyone said what they thought made everyone else special. It was so cute to hear what the kids said, I especially loved it when my four year old said the reason her sister was special is because she is her best friend :) It was a beautiful moment for our little family, especially considering those two usually fight most of the day! It increased my testimony even more of family home evening and the spirit it brings into our homes, allowing us to become better and recognize the gifts that we have.
Anyways :) We started off the night by reading my MOST favorite childrens book. If you don't have this book RUN, don't walk, RUN to the nearest book store and get it!! It is so fantastic, and the kids even at age 2 and 4 were mesmerized by it. What book you ask? :)
I couldn't get through reading it without tearing up. It beautifuly teaches us about the love of our Heavenly Father, and how we are special simply because of our existence, and the only love and approval we need is that of our Father in Heaven. I am not doing it justice, it really is wonderful!
After we talked about it we went around the room and everyone said what they thought made everyone else special. It was so cute to hear what the kids said, I especially loved it when my four year old said the reason her sister was special is because she is her best friend :) It was a beautiful moment for our little family, especially considering those two usually fight most of the day! It increased my testimony even more of family home evening and the spirit it brings into our homes, allowing us to become better and recognize the gifts that we have.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Gratitude Family Home Evening
This last Monday we had a really great family home evening. It was one of the simpler ones we have done, and thats ok!!
Wanting to focus on gratitude I told the story of the 10 lepers. I always try to tell the story in my own words so the kids can understand a little better, but I think its really important too to read directly from the scriptures and help the kids understand that too. Skylar was really touched by the story, and couldn't believe only one man went back and said thank you. We talked about how we want to be like the one that told Jesus thank you.
Then I showed them the gratitude jar I had made. I am sure many of you do something similar, I think its a great reminder :) I just took an old formula can, decorated it with scrapbook paper and ribbon, and filled it with strips of paper and a pen. Then we all went around and said something we were grateful for. Now every night at dinner we do the same thing, and so far it really has brought a special spirit of thankfulness and gratitude into our home.
Question:
As I was bearing my testimony to my kids and expressing my love for my family, I got a little emotional :) My daughter asked why I was crying and I told her that is how I feel my Heavenly Father and Jesus talking to my heart. She said she felt like crying too, but she wasn't sad. I explained that she is just like me, that is Heavenly Father and Jesus talking to her heart, telling her the things we learned about were true and expressing his love for her. I believe we can't make our children have spiritual experiences, we can only create the proper environment for them to occur, and when they do help our children recognize them. What are some things you have done to help your children understand feeling the Spirit??
Wanting to focus on gratitude I told the story of the 10 lepers. I always try to tell the story in my own words so the kids can understand a little better, but I think its really important too to read directly from the scriptures and help the kids understand that too. Skylar was really touched by the story, and couldn't believe only one man went back and said thank you. We talked about how we want to be like the one that told Jesus thank you.
Then I showed them the gratitude jar I had made. I am sure many of you do something similar, I think its a great reminder :) I just took an old formula can, decorated it with scrapbook paper and ribbon, and filled it with strips of paper and a pen. Then we all went around and said something we were grateful for. Now every night at dinner we do the same thing, and so far it really has brought a special spirit of thankfulness and gratitude into our home.
Question:
As I was bearing my testimony to my kids and expressing my love for my family, I got a little emotional :) My daughter asked why I was crying and I told her that is how I feel my Heavenly Father and Jesus talking to my heart. She said she felt like crying too, but she wasn't sad. I explained that she is just like me, that is Heavenly Father and Jesus talking to her heart, telling her the things we learned about were true and expressing his love for her. I believe we can't make our children have spiritual experiences, we can only create the proper environment for them to occur, and when they do help our children recognize them. What are some things you have done to help your children understand feeling the Spirit??
Pumpkin Family Home Evening
Hey everyone! Was October as crazy for you as it was for me? I can't believe we are already working on being halfway through November! We did a REALLY fun fhe that I wanted to share. It was simple, but made the point and my 4 year old is still talking about it. We did this before Halloween, but if you still have some pumpkins laying around...go for it!!
Lately Skylar has been having a little trouble with lying. I think its pretty normal and part of a stage she's in, but still, I felt like it needed to be addressed and I think fhe is the perfect place for that. So for this one I got two big pumpkins. I cut the tops off of both of them and scooped the guts out of one, and left them in the other. Then I made up a silly story about two pumpkins, Patty and Perry. Both cute pumpkins made some mistakes and told some lies, but Patty said she was sorry and tried very hard to not do that any more. Perry didn't say he was sorry and kept telling more and more lies. I then talked about how Perry felt inside when he kept lying, and how Patty felt when she apologized and didn't lie anymore. Then I had the girls stick their hands into the pumpkins, Perry was yucky and dirty, and Patty was nice and clean. I asked Skylar what she wants her insides to be like, you can guess her answer.
It was really, really fun and a good visual for something I am always trying to explain. You could also definitely use this for repentance or a lot of other things.
Then we topped off the night with homemade pizza shaped like a pumpkin and these fun candy corn desserts. They are just butterscotch pudding, banana cream pudding, with some cool whip on top!!
Lately Skylar has been having a little trouble with lying. I think its pretty normal and part of a stage she's in, but still, I felt like it needed to be addressed and I think fhe is the perfect place for that. So for this one I got two big pumpkins. I cut the tops off of both of them and scooped the guts out of one, and left them in the other. Then I made up a silly story about two pumpkins, Patty and Perry. Both cute pumpkins made some mistakes and told some lies, but Patty said she was sorry and tried very hard to not do that any more. Perry didn't say he was sorry and kept telling more and more lies. I then talked about how Perry felt inside when he kept lying, and how Patty felt when she apologized and didn't lie anymore. Then I had the girls stick their hands into the pumpkins, Perry was yucky and dirty, and Patty was nice and clean. I asked Skylar what she wants her insides to be like, you can guess her answer.
It was really, really fun and a good visual for something I am always trying to explain. You could also definitely use this for repentance or a lot of other things.
Then we topped off the night with homemade pizza shaped like a pumpkin and these fun candy corn desserts. They are just butterscotch pudding, banana cream pudding, with some cool whip on top!!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
I love October!!
October is now coming in a VERY close second to my favorit month, December! I love this time of year for so many reasons, and one of them is all the fun opportunities it gives me to do some fun things with my kids. This year I made a fun little advent calendar to count down until Halloween.
This was made out of a 24-count muffin tin covered with square magnets. I am excited to use this to make our Halloween season a blast! Behind every day we will either have an activity or a little surprise (like stickers, etc) I think we will do an activity every other day, just so I can keep my sanity:) I thought I would post all the activities so you can use them too! I do have to apologize, this will be my longest post EVER! :) We will be starting this on the 8th, since my magnetic calendar only has 24 days on it :)
Make monster mouth snacks and serve peanut butter to dip in (www.familyfun.com)
Ghost footprint craft. You use a 12x12 piece of paper and dip the kids feet in white paint. Then they make a footprint on the paper, the heel is the ghosts face and the toes are the bottom. Super cute!
Adorable pumpkin pie bites! (www.bakerella.com)
Decorate our own witches hats with boas, glitter and anything else!
Make Nutter Butter ghosts
Make glitter pumpkins (www.sistersstuff.blogspot.com)
Make bread bowls shaped like pumpkins and have soup in them for dinner. Check out www.theidearoom.blogspot.com, they look SO cute!!
Make these cute pipe cleaner spiders (www.familyfun.com)
Go to the library and read books about Halloween
Make these simple pumpkins out of rolls of toilet paper and fabric and take them to our neighbors (www.sisterstuff.blogspot.com)
Make mini caramel apples
Such a fun month, right?! These are just the little things we will try to do every other day to really enjoy the season, I hope everyone has a fantastic October!!
This was made out of a 24-count muffin tin covered with square magnets. I am excited to use this to make our Halloween season a blast! Behind every day we will either have an activity or a little surprise (like stickers, etc) I think we will do an activity every other day, just so I can keep my sanity:) I thought I would post all the activities so you can use them too! I do have to apologize, this will be my longest post EVER! :) We will be starting this on the 8th, since my magnetic calendar only has 24 days on it :)
Make monster mouth snacks and serve peanut butter to dip in (www.familyfun.com)
Ghost footprint craft. You use a 12x12 piece of paper and dip the kids feet in white paint. Then they make a footprint on the paper, the heel is the ghosts face and the toes are the bottom. Super cute!
Adorable pumpkin pie bites! (www.bakerella.com)
Decorate our own witches hats with boas, glitter and anything else!
Make Nutter Butter ghosts
Make glitter pumpkins (www.sistersstuff.blogspot.com)
Make bread bowls shaped like pumpkins and have soup in them for dinner. Check out www.theidearoom.blogspot.com, they look SO cute!!
Make these cute pipe cleaner spiders (www.familyfun.com)
Go to the library and read books about Halloween
Make these simple pumpkins out of rolls of toilet paper and fabric and take them to our neighbors (www.sisterstuff.blogspot.com)
Make mini caramel apples
Such a fun month, right?! These are just the little things we will try to do every other day to really enjoy the season, I hope everyone has a fantastic October!!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Rainforest Week!
Hello everyone! It's been a while, but we are back! This month at Skylar's preschool they are learning all about the rainforest, and she has been really intigued by it. I thought it would be a great time to do some fun things at home with her, and also a great way to work with my 2 year old on numbers and colors.
One fun thing I thought of doing would be going to the grocery store and picking out some exotic rainforest fruit that we don't normally have like mango, kiwi, papaya, star fruit, etc. Then have a little fruit buffet and talking about which ones we like the most.
Another fun idea I found on Everything Preschool is to make our own rainsticks. I know the kids will not only love making them, but driving me crazy by playing with them nonstop :)
One thing Skylar has loved learning about is frogs. She was full of facts about tree frogs so I thought this next treat would be tons of fun:
Too cute, right? You can thank Familyfun.com for that one! :)
I also wanted to work with my 2 year old, so I colored a bunch of these frogs different colors and then laminated them. We are using them to learn colors and to work on counting (1 pink frog, 2 orange frogs, etc.)
Finally I found this cute craft idea on Familyfun.com. I am using my handy Cricut to cut out a bunch of leaves and flowers, then you just get a long piece of green yarn and sandwhich it between the flowers and leaves to make some fun vines. Then I think we will hang it on the girls door so they can enjoy it for the whole week!
One fun thing I thought of doing would be going to the grocery store and picking out some exotic rainforest fruit that we don't normally have like mango, kiwi, papaya, star fruit, etc. Then have a little fruit buffet and talking about which ones we like the most.
Another fun idea I found on Everything Preschool is to make our own rainsticks. I know the kids will not only love making them, but driving me crazy by playing with them nonstop :)
One thing Skylar has loved learning about is frogs. She was full of facts about tree frogs so I thought this next treat would be tons of fun:
Too cute, right? You can thank Familyfun.com for that one! :)
I also wanted to work with my 2 year old, so I colored a bunch of these frogs different colors and then laminated them. We are using them to learn colors and to work on counting (1 pink frog, 2 orange frogs, etc.)
Finally I found this cute craft idea on Familyfun.com. I am using my handy Cricut to cut out a bunch of leaves and flowers, then you just get a long piece of green yarn and sandwhich it between the flowers and leaves to make some fun vines. Then I think we will hang it on the girls door so they can enjoy it for the whole week!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Outer Space Week
I am excited for this one!! Next week we are learning and doing things all about Outer Space. Since my kids are still pretty young, I think we will mostly focus on the moon and stars, but maybe throw in some planets and meteors too :)
At the beginning of the week we are going to make paper mache planets. I am really excited for this since I have never done it before. We will make them on Monday so they have a couple of days to dry before we paint them.
Another craft is too get a paper plate and let the kids glue pasta and dried beans on it. Then once they have dried you cover the plate with aluminum foil and it looks like the moon with lots of craters.
At one point in the week I will be making this for dessert...
You just make a chocolate cake and bake it in a glass bowl. Then you crush oreos in the frosting and at some whole ones to look like the craters.
The activity I am looking forward to the most is this...
You simply make a few different stamps out of potatoes and then stamp away! I got this idea from Family Fun. First you stamp in white paint and then you let it dry and stamp over it with the glow in the dark paint. We are going to make these for the kids on Thursday and then they can wear them when we go to the planetarium later in the week.
Lastly we are going to make meteors to play with out of styrafoam balls. You just cover them with aluminum foil and then attach crepe paper as streamers. Then we can go outside and throw them around! Hope you all have a great week!!
At the beginning of the week we are going to make paper mache planets. I am really excited for this since I have never done it before. We will make them on Monday so they have a couple of days to dry before we paint them.
Another craft is too get a paper plate and let the kids glue pasta and dried beans on it. Then once they have dried you cover the plate with aluminum foil and it looks like the moon with lots of craters.
At one point in the week I will be making this for dessert...
You just make a chocolate cake and bake it in a glass bowl. Then you crush oreos in the frosting and at some whole ones to look like the craters.
The activity I am looking forward to the most is this...
You simply make a few different stamps out of potatoes and then stamp away! I got this idea from Family Fun. First you stamp in white paint and then you let it dry and stamp over it with the glow in the dark paint. We are going to make these for the kids on Thursday and then they can wear them when we go to the planetarium later in the week.
Lastly we are going to make meteors to play with out of styrafoam balls. You just cover them with aluminum foil and then attach crepe paper as streamers. Then we can go outside and throw them around! Hope you all have a great week!!
The Creation FHE
For once I am actually a little bit ahead of things, so here is the fhe we are doing next week!
Since our theme for next week is outer space I thought the Creation would be a great fhe to have. Online I found a really fun idea to help the kids learn what different things Heavenly Father and Jesus created on the different days.
First you print out these letters 1-7. Then I backed them with cardstock and cut them out. Then as you talk about each day you have the kids glue on things that represent that. For instance cotton balls for clouds, pictures of animals, stars and a moon, etc. My kids are really hands-on, so I hope this will help them to remember and understand the beautiful world we live in :)
After we do that I want to quickly talk about how Man was created, and to teach that I will simply get out the playdoh and have the kids use a cookie cutter in the shape of a person. We will talk about how even though we are using the same type of cookie cutter, everyone's person will be different, and that no matter what color, or size we are all children of Heavenly Father!
Since our theme for next week is outer space I thought the Creation would be a great fhe to have. Online I found a really fun idea to help the kids learn what different things Heavenly Father and Jesus created on the different days.
First you print out these letters 1-7. Then I backed them with cardstock and cut them out. Then as you talk about each day you have the kids glue on things that represent that. For instance cotton balls for clouds, pictures of animals, stars and a moon, etc. My kids are really hands-on, so I hope this will help them to remember and understand the beautiful world we live in :)
After we do that I want to quickly talk about how Man was created, and to teach that I will simply get out the playdoh and have the kids use a cookie cutter in the shape of a person. We will talk about how even though we are using the same type of cookie cutter, everyone's person will be different, and that no matter what color, or size we are all children of Heavenly Father!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Beach Week
What a fun week we have planned!! Especially since we are ending the week with a trip to a real beach :) Since we are going to visit family in California the end of this week I thought there would be no better time to do some fun activities that will get the kids excited for surf, sand and sun!
The first activity we are doing is making a Beach in a jar. I have a bunch of cleaned out baby food jars that we are going to fill up with sand, pebbles, shells and grass (seaweed) to look like the beach. Then we glue the lid on and spray paint the tops gold. I think the kids will love shaking these up after and looking at them.
I also bought the biggest pasta shells I could find, and the kids are going to paint these however they want. Then we are going to talk about how just like their shells are all different, no two shells are the same. I am excited to use this activity as a way to reinforce colors with my almost 2-year old.
It's also so fun to talk about some ocean life so aside from going to the aquarium, we are going to do a fun little octopus craft. All you do is put paint on their palm and four fingers, then have them stamp their hand twice to make a cute octopus :) My kids love anything to do with fingerpainting, and it will be fun to work on counting with all the legs.
Now for the most fun part: the treats!! :) Tomorrow we are making beach cups, these are simply clear cups filled up with vanilla pudding dyed blue with food coloring (water) crushed nilla wafers (sand) and gummy fish/sharks. But what I am most excited for is this...
This adorable thing is a cake!!! You simply get a new sand bucket, bake a round cake of your choice. Then you cut it into strips and layer them in the bucket, a layer of cake and then a layer of pudding. Yumm!! Then you top with crushed cookies to look like sand and add some candy shells. Isn't that too fun?! I can't wait to make it for my kids, they will just love it :) Have a great week everyone!
The first activity we are doing is making a Beach in a jar. I have a bunch of cleaned out baby food jars that we are going to fill up with sand, pebbles, shells and grass (seaweed) to look like the beach. Then we glue the lid on and spray paint the tops gold. I think the kids will love shaking these up after and looking at them.
I also bought the biggest pasta shells I could find, and the kids are going to paint these however they want. Then we are going to talk about how just like their shells are all different, no two shells are the same. I am excited to use this activity as a way to reinforce colors with my almost 2-year old.
It's also so fun to talk about some ocean life so aside from going to the aquarium, we are going to do a fun little octopus craft. All you do is put paint on their palm and four fingers, then have them stamp their hand twice to make a cute octopus :) My kids love anything to do with fingerpainting, and it will be fun to work on counting with all the legs.
Now for the most fun part: the treats!! :) Tomorrow we are making beach cups, these are simply clear cups filled up with vanilla pudding dyed blue with food coloring (water) crushed nilla wafers (sand) and gummy fish/sharks. But what I am most excited for is this...
This adorable thing is a cake!!! You simply get a new sand bucket, bake a round cake of your choice. Then you cut it into strips and layer them in the bucket, a layer of cake and then a layer of pudding. Yumm!! Then you top with crushed cookies to look like sand and add some candy shells. Isn't that too fun?! I can't wait to make it for my kids, they will just love it :) Have a great week everyone!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
4th of July Week!
I LOVE the 4th of July!! There are so many fun things to do with your fam, and I found some really great ideas we can do at home this week. I also think it is the BEST time to help our kids realize how incredibly blessed we are to live where we do, and to help them learn to appreciate our basic freedom, things I think we all tend to take for granted.
The thing I am looking forward to making the most this week is this:
I found this on Tip Junkie, isn't it darling?? A flag made out of your childrens handprints and footprints... I love it!
Since it is FINALLY feeling like summer here, I thought these little fans would be fun and easy to make, especially if you are at a park waiting for fireworks or a parade. I think I will just use solid blue and red paper, and let the kids stamp stars and paint stripes.
(I found this craft on Familyfun.com)
And finally since we will be spending alot of this week out enjoying the sun, a cool treat is just what we need. How cool are these rocket pops??
And you have to love this idea...
Make red and blue ice cubes with Kool-Aid or a sports drink, then pour some clear soda over them and watch the drink fizzle! My kids are gonna love it!
I hope everyone has a great 4th of July, and God Bless America!
The thing I am looking forward to making the most this week is this:
I found this on Tip Junkie, isn't it darling?? A flag made out of your childrens handprints and footprints... I love it!
Since it is FINALLY feeling like summer here, I thought these little fans would be fun and easy to make, especially if you are at a park waiting for fireworks or a parade. I think I will just use solid blue and red paper, and let the kids stamp stars and paint stripes.
(I found this craft on Familyfun.com)
And finally since we will be spending alot of this week out enjoying the sun, a cool treat is just what we need. How cool are these rocket pops??
And you have to love this idea...
Make red and blue ice cubes with Kool-Aid or a sports drink, then pour some clear soda over them and watch the drink fizzle! My kids are gonna love it!
I hope everyone has a great 4th of July, and God Bless America!
4th of July Familly Home Evening
Sorry this is a little late, but I thought it would still be good to post for the future or if you want to do a little lesson with your fam later this week. I found the MOST fantastic website that had a really great FHE plan. Here is the direct link:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/16391109/Star-Spangled-Banner-FHE
I really liked how easy it was to take this lesson and make it applicable for a 4 year old. Also the kids loved stirring the spoons in the water and seeing it turn the different colors that are on our flag. After we spoke about America being the promised land and how blessed we are we focused on the flag and talked about some fun things we do on the 4th. Of course, Fireworks!! So this is what we did for a little craft
All you do is get some acrylic paint, water it down A LOT (I think that was my downfall, not quite enough water :) and then put some drops on a piece of paper. Then you give the kiddos straws and when the blow on the paint it makes these cute little fireworks. Pretty fun!!
And what is FHE without a fun, themed dessert?
Mine didn't look quite that professional, but you get the idea :) All I did was make a yellow cake, top it with cool whip and then use blueberries and strawberries to decorate! Happy 4th everyone!!
http://www.scribd.com/doc/16391109/Star-Spangled-Banner-FHE
I really liked how easy it was to take this lesson and make it applicable for a 4 year old. Also the kids loved stirring the spoons in the water and seeing it turn the different colors that are on our flag. After we spoke about America being the promised land and how blessed we are we focused on the flag and talked about some fun things we do on the 4th. Of course, Fireworks!! So this is what we did for a little craft
All you do is get some acrylic paint, water it down A LOT (I think that was my downfall, not quite enough water :) and then put some drops on a piece of paper. Then you give the kiddos straws and when the blow on the paint it makes these cute little fireworks. Pretty fun!!
And what is FHE without a fun, themed dessert?
Mine didn't look quite that professional, but you get the idea :) All I did was make a yellow cake, top it with cool whip and then use blueberries and strawberries to decorate! Happy 4th everyone!!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Summer Week Part 1!!
Hello!! Life is finally feeling a little bit back to normal now that we have our sweet baby boy here. So bring on the weekly themes I say!! Today was Skylar's last day of preschool so that motivated me even more to start planning again. Since it was her last week of school I thought we would kick next week off as Summer Week! Wahoo!!
The first part of the week we will be learning all about the sun. For breakfast monday morning we will have Sunny Snacks. These are english muffins with cream cheese spread on them. Then you put triangles of cheddar cheese slices all the way around to make the suns rays and then use chunks of pineapple to make the eyes and mouth. So cute, right?
One craft I definitely want to do is to make a sun handprint wreath. You will probably notice I LOVE anything to do with handprints or footprints. I just love to be able to look back and really see just how tiny they actually were. Plus these kinds of crafts are easy and fun for both my 4 year old and almost 2 year old.
Another thing I really want to focus on is the importance of protecting ourselves from the sun. We will be decorating foam visors that you can find at any craft store and making our own sunglasses out of cardboard and using colored plastic wrap for the lens :)
Finally I want to talk about the sun and shadows, so we will use our abundant supply of sidewalk chalk and trace each others shadows. Then we can all fill in our own shape with facial features and clothing. I can't wait, it should be a great start to the week! Stay tuned for more summer fun focusing on...WATER!!
The first part of the week we will be learning all about the sun. For breakfast monday morning we will have Sunny Snacks. These are english muffins with cream cheese spread on them. Then you put triangles of cheddar cheese slices all the way around to make the suns rays and then use chunks of pineapple to make the eyes and mouth. So cute, right?
One craft I definitely want to do is to make a sun handprint wreath. You will probably notice I LOVE anything to do with handprints or footprints. I just love to be able to look back and really see just how tiny they actually were. Plus these kinds of crafts are easy and fun for both my 4 year old and almost 2 year old.
Another thing I really want to focus on is the importance of protecting ourselves from the sun. We will be decorating foam visors that you can find at any craft store and making our own sunglasses out of cardboard and using colored plastic wrap for the lens :)
Finally I want to talk about the sun and shadows, so we will use our abundant supply of sidewalk chalk and trace each others shadows. Then we can all fill in our own shape with facial features and clothing. I can't wait, it should be a great start to the week! Stay tuned for more summer fun focusing on...WATER!!
Monday, March 9, 2009
St. Patricks Day
What a fun little holiday to celebrate with little kids!! I love it because you don't have to go overboard, but with a little planning you can make it a special day for you and your family. Most of the ideas I will be posting are from www.familyfun.com, they have some great ones!!!
When the kids wake up and come out in the morning they will find the living room COVERED in clovers. The trick is there are only a few that have 4 leaves, the rest all have 3. Then we go on a hunt to find the lucky 4 leaf clovers, and the ones we find have chocolate coins taped to the back. We did this last year and Skylar loved it. I was planning on cutting all the clovers out but ended up finding a bunch at a party store that worked just fine, then I just made the 4 leaf clovers. If you do cut yours out I would reccomend laminating them so you don't have to go to that much work every year :)
I am excited to do this craft with my girls this year, it looks so fun!! This awesome stamp is made by using a heart cookie cutter on a potato, and then cutting the potato to make the heart shape. Then you use the potato as a stamp and just use a paint brush to make the stem. We are going to stamp a plain white tablecloth that we will be able to use every year in the future for St. Paddy's Day!
Okay, this next one is really fun!! After reading some kind of book about leprachauns and their gold, we went on a search for the gold at the end of the rainbow. I just hid clues all over the house and eventually they led to fridge, where Skylar found this adorable little bowl full of square yellow jellow jigglers. It was a blast!
Last but not least is our St. Patricks Day dinner. I am sure everyone has their own fun things they do, but of course it all has to be green! I have found a fun easy meal is fettuccini alfredo, breadsticks, salad, and of course a yummy green dessert. These are all super easy to give a green tint too, and the kids get a kick out of it! Hope you all have a wonderful St. Patricks Day!!
When the kids wake up and come out in the morning they will find the living room COVERED in clovers. The trick is there are only a few that have 4 leaves, the rest all have 3. Then we go on a hunt to find the lucky 4 leaf clovers, and the ones we find have chocolate coins taped to the back. We did this last year and Skylar loved it. I was planning on cutting all the clovers out but ended up finding a bunch at a party store that worked just fine, then I just made the 4 leaf clovers. If you do cut yours out I would reccomend laminating them so you don't have to go to that much work every year :)
I am excited to do this craft with my girls this year, it looks so fun!! This awesome stamp is made by using a heart cookie cutter on a potato, and then cutting the potato to make the heart shape. Then you use the potato as a stamp and just use a paint brush to make the stem. We are going to stamp a plain white tablecloth that we will be able to use every year in the future for St. Paddy's Day!
Okay, this next one is really fun!! After reading some kind of book about leprachauns and their gold, we went on a search for the gold at the end of the rainbow. I just hid clues all over the house and eventually they led to fridge, where Skylar found this adorable little bowl full of square yellow jellow jigglers. It was a blast!
Last but not least is our St. Patricks Day dinner. I am sure everyone has their own fun things they do, but of course it all has to be green! I have found a fun easy meal is fettuccini alfredo, breadsticks, salad, and of course a yummy green dessert. These are all super easy to give a green tint too, and the kids get a kick out of it! Hope you all have a wonderful St. Patricks Day!!
Does anybody still look at this thing???
Hey you guys!!! I cannot believe how long it has been. Due to some complications with my pregnancy I have been laying low for a while and just have not been that fun of a mom!!! But with St. Patricks Day on the way I couldn't resist a post with some of the really fun things we did last year and some new ones I am hoping to try out this year. Enjoy, and please leave comments with any fun traditions you have with your family, I love to know what other people are doing :)
Monday, January 12, 2009
Fishers of Men FHE
This week we are learning a lot about Ocean life and such so I thought this would be a fun FHE to go along with it! First we start off with the scripture in Matthew 4:19, "And Jesus saith unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Then we will have a short lesson on how because we have been blessed with the gospel we have the responsibility to be a good example and share what we know with everyone.
You could make this as long or as short as you want depending on the ages of your children (ours will be short!)
Then I found some cute little coloring pages of fish. Here is the direct link:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://jodyspets.com/site/images/kids/fish1.gif&imgrefurl=http://jodyspets.com/site/kids.html&h=957&w=718&sz=15&tbnid=TI6ufr3YnTPDGM::&tbnh=148&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfish%2Bcoloring%2Bpages&hl=en&usg=__dca7RzcYmVI-8cU_0qLl7UfuvgI=&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=2&ct=image&cd=1
I printed them off and colored them, and then wrote different things on them like, Start learning the stories in the scriptures, say hello to people, had a chance to invite a friend to primary but didnt, etc, etc. Then I put paper clips on each fish and get out our little magnetic fishing pole I made. Basically a stick with a string and magnet attached :) The kids will go fishing and then decide if that fish is doing something that will make us fishers of men or not.
For the treat I am going to make blue jello and when it has started to set put little swedish fish in it. Hope you have a wonderful Family Home Evening!!
You could make this as long or as short as you want depending on the ages of your children (ours will be short!)
Then I found some cute little coloring pages of fish. Here is the direct link:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://jodyspets.com/site/images/kids/fish1.gif&imgrefurl=http://jodyspets.com/site/kids.html&h=957&w=718&sz=15&tbnid=TI6ufr3YnTPDGM::&tbnh=148&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfish%2Bcoloring%2Bpages&hl=en&usg=__dca7RzcYmVI-8cU_0qLl7UfuvgI=&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=2&ct=image&cd=1
I printed them off and colored them, and then wrote different things on them like, Start learning the stories in the scriptures, say hello to people, had a chance to invite a friend to primary but didnt, etc, etc. Then I put paper clips on each fish and get out our little magnetic fishing pole I made. Basically a stick with a string and magnet attached :) The kids will go fishing and then decide if that fish is doing something that will make us fishers of men or not.
For the treat I am going to make blue jello and when it has started to set put little swedish fish in it. Hope you have a wonderful Family Home Evening!!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Dinosaur Week
What a fun week! My daughter loves dinosaurs, and I imagine the little boys do even more! I was able to find TONS of ideas for fun things to do, and tweak them a little to add some learning too. A while back we went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point and I bought a pack of little dinosaurs. One fun activity is to get old plastic easter eggs and put the dinos in the eggs. Then you can hide them around the house and go on a dinosaur egg hunt with your kids. I wrote a lowercase letter on each egg, and then would show Skylar the matching uppercase letter so she could find the corresponding egg.
This link had some really great ideas too, most of them are very simple, which I love!
http://www.preschoolexpress.com/theme-station08/dinosaurs-oct-nov08.shtml
I am definitely going to get a posterboard and draw a big dinosaur, then cut out pieces and make it into a puzzle for Skylar. We are also heading to the library to find some fun books on dinos. Hope you all have a great week!!
This link had some really great ideas too, most of them are very simple, which I love!
http://www.preschoolexpress.com/theme-station08/dinosaurs-oct-nov08.shtml
I am definitely going to get a posterboard and draw a big dinosaur, then cut out pieces and make it into a puzzle for Skylar. We are also heading to the library to find some fun books on dinos. Hope you all have a great week!!
Dinosaur Family Home Evening
Hey everyone, hope you are all having a fabulous year so far :) This week we are doing fun little things about dinosaurs, so of course, got to have a dinosaur themed fhe! I searched and searched for this little lesson because I remember when my mom did it for us when I was about 5 or 6. It struck me how odd that I would still remember a specific fhe we had years ago, and reminded me how important it is to keep doing them for my kids, even when at times they are super unsuccessful! Anyway, I finally found the same story my mom used on the website www.executivehomaker.com. Here is the direct link: http://www.executivehomemaker.com/content.asp?pid=87&id=551
You can print out the pictures of the dinos, which I did. This is a great lesson for all ages I think, I sure know my kids can't hear too much about manners. To do this lesson, I taped the different dinosaurs on the walls in different rooms in our house. Then we went on a dinosaur hunt where we walked through each room as I told the story and found the dinosaurs. The final dinosaur (the polite one :) was in the fridge, taped to a bowl of chocolate pudding. In the pudding I hid little dino fruit snacks that Skylar LOVED digging for! It is a really great fhe that I love having in my files. Enjoy!!
You can print out the pictures of the dinos, which I did. This is a great lesson for all ages I think, I sure know my kids can't hear too much about manners. To do this lesson, I taped the different dinosaurs on the walls in different rooms in our house. Then we went on a dinosaur hunt where we walked through each room as I told the story and found the dinosaurs. The final dinosaur (the polite one :) was in the fridge, taped to a bowl of chocolate pudding. In the pudding I hid little dino fruit snacks that Skylar LOVED digging for! It is a really great fhe that I love having in my files. Enjoy!!
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