Will It Be Okay?

Written by my husband, a writer & pastor.

Advent Activities

There's a craft to do everyday after the bible reading from Truth in the Tinsel.  The crafts really help to "sink" the story into the little minds of children. I mentioned that I would post some of the activities that we did throughout the Advent season.  There are 24 activities in total; here are just a few we've done so far.

A crown; Jesus' Kingdom is upon us.

We made and decorated a CD to remind us of the song Mary sang in praise to God while visiting her cousin Elizabeth.

Decorating a sun to remind us that Jesus is our "rising sun".

"Clothes Pin" Joseph.

O little town of Bethlehem.

Stable.

Week three of Advent...the anticipation is building!

Advent...The Countdown

Advent is upon us, so I ordered the ebook, Truth in the Tinsel with a discount from Cultivated Lives, just for the occasion. I will try to post some of the activities that we do throughout the Advent season.  Below are pictures from our 1st day; Jesus, light of the world.

The boys and I went to our toy room in the basement for a dark place.  I told them that before Jesus was born, our hearts lived in darkness, full of sin (selfishness, anger, fear).  The boys are actually in the picture but it was too dark to see them. They felt nervous and scared in the darkness.

But when Jesus came into the world, his light expelled the darkness.  How much easier it is to see when there is light!  Jesus' light shines into our hearts, changing us from within and helping us as we live our lives for Him.  There was a sense of relief that came from the boys once we turned on the flashlight.  I think the same sense of relief comes when we recognize Jesus as the light of our lives.

Week two of Advent...He's almost here!

Topographical Map of the Sea of Galilee

Continuing with this week's story––Jesus calms the storm (Matthew 8:23-27)––we set out to make a topographical map of the story's setting. We made our own play-dough (spelt flour, sea salt and water; safe enough for Asher to eat) and set to work shaping the dough into mountains to overlook the Sea.

After baking our mountains for an hour, Abishai painted them a grassy green.

We poured water into our tinfoil sea and the boys slowly blew down over the mountains to create ripples on the water.  The Sea of Galilee is quite shallow and is easily tossed up by the wind, making storms treacherous.

A Galilean Fishing Boat

We made a boat and sent it sailing on the Sea of Galilee.

Cool air came down from the mountains and met up with the warm air of the sea and a tremendous storm arose, causing water to crash over the sides of the boat.

 

Unable to resist the lure of the fresh-water sea, the boys plunged in and destroyed the little boat and cast its wreckage over little brother Asher.

Oh what fun they had splashing about.

Time to get out, Mommy! I've had enough; these brothers are too crazy for me.

Sea of Galilee in a Bottle

This week we studied Matthew 8:23-27. The boys were fascinated by Jesus' control of the weather. To remind them of the story, we did several activities throughout the week, which will be here in upcoming posts.  Below, we are making a stormy Sea of Galilee!

Tools:
Empty bottle
Half a bottle of water
blue food colouring
Half a bottle of baby oil
Optional: glitter, sand, plastic sea creatures

You're supposed to gently rock it back and forth, but the boys definition of gentle is different than my own.

Gym Day

Homeschoolers having a gym morning at Youth For Christ.  We played...

 Hockey...

Games...

Bouldering...

More hockey...

and a game called Avengers vs. Aliens, invented by "Uncle" Brennan.

The balls were the Aliens.  This was their holding cell once captured. 

Setting the bomb detonator to blow up the aliens (cell phone sound effects).

 Capturing more aliens.

Cuddle time with "Auntie" Rhonda (no biological relation, but you'd think there was).

Aliens in their space ship ready to be sent into outer space.

 The Avengers have completed their mission.

Advent

First week of Advent.

Advent reading.

My Science Experiment Loses Its Steam

Our week...

Lots of reading practice.

Science experiment: a steam powered pinwheel.  I wanted to show the boys that steam has energy to power this pinwheel, but after boiling a kettle of water and carefully adjusting the pinwheel so the steam would turn it, nothing happened.  The boys smiling faces went blank and they ran back to their play.

Our book of the week: Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel.  Mike's beloved steam shovel dug his corners..."neat and square".  We had a lot of Social Studies discussions stem from this book. 

We pulled out our Geoboard and took turns making squares like Mary Anne the Steam Shovel.

Art: Observing and drawing trees in our nature books.

The older teasing the younger.  My mom, being the last-born of three children, says that the youngest doesn't get raised up, they get kicked up.  I couldn't agree with her more.  Kicked up in love, of course.

Alphabet Scoop Scrabble.

Math addition questions and funny faces.

Spiderman Pajamas!