Time to work on colors! There are so many ways to sort and play, but the main point is for you and/or your child to be saying the color names aloud. My son wasn’t a big talker, so just getting the shapes sorted was a fun task for him, too. First gather or make small/flat items you have of each color of the rainbow. (I chose to stay away from shades like teal and coral, for example.) Items can be found or made from about anything – paper, fabric, felt, buttons, lids, etc. These can be sorted into and out of color-labeled plastic bags, and we then stored those in a wipes container. Besides having the small colorful items, you will also need sheets of construction paper, a poster, or some other surface onto which your child can place the small items as he matches the colors. Besides using it for storage, the wipes container is also used for more focused play by dumping in all or some of the items and covering it with the lid. Then he can pull out one random item and place it in the correct spot while saying the color name. Simple and versatile! Here are some photos and description of ways we play our color sorting game:
I found this idea on the Frugal Family Fun Blog here. These are very easy to make and very cute. They are great for little ones, because they get to do a lot of spreading and sprinkling.
All you need is the following:
cardboard (we used a left-over pizza box from dinner the night before)
bird seed
vegetable shortening
scissors
cookie cutters or stencils (optional)
string or something to hang your cookie with (we used garbage ties because it kept the cookies from swinging once they were hung).
Trace around your cookie cutter or stencil or free-hand draw a shape onto the cardboard.
Cut out the shape and punch a hole at the top for threading your string later.
Spread the vegetable shortening all over once side of your cardboard cookie.
Sprinkle the birdseed on top and press it down.
Repeat the vegetable shortening and birdseed on the other side of the cookie.
Run the string through the hole and find a great branch outside to hang your bird cookie.
We hung our cookies very close to the branch, because the birds like to sit on the branch from which it is hanging and bend forward/down to get the seeds.
This is my new solution to keeping the kids’ toys organized when we are on lengthy trips! The best part is that doing this was cheap and required minimal stitching. Plus, they are washable.
As a fun way for Ava to listen for the phonetic sounds of each letter, we have begun what we call letter strips. We began with the letter “Mm” and as Ava thought of words that began with the letter “m” we added them to the list. Sometimes one of us drew the word, sometimes we used magazine pictures, sometimes we made a little version of the item to tape on the strip, and so on. This activity keeps Ava’s mind sharpened to identifying the sound of the particular letter we are working on. After a few day of noticing “Mm” words and adding them to the list, the strip was complete and we began again with a new letter.
When we complete a letter strip, we work very conscientiously on writing the letter very well.
It’s Easter! My spiritual birthday! I’m so glad that we can celebrate the resurrection of our Savior! How do I know He’s alive? Because I know Him personally. He speaks to me and guides me. He encourages me and corrects me. He blesses me to feel His presence. Jesus is most definitely alive, most definitely saving souls, and most definitely worthy to be praised!
Here is a wonderful song, I would like to share… and/or you can read on below.
O THE BLOOD
If you don’t know Jesus personally, you can! It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done. God loves YOU right NOW. Jesus took all your sin upon Himself when He died on the cross, so that you can live a life of freedom and a life (now and eternally) close to God. He already made the way possible for you to know Him, He just wants you to receive Him into your heart and let Him be your Lord and Savior. You can’t do enough good works to get to heaven. You can’t be good enough on your own. You need Jesus. The Bible says that Jesus is the ONLY way to get to heaven, and thank God, because of His death and resurrection, that is possible… for every one who receives Him.
To ask Jesus into your heart, you just need to pray and ask Him. Your words don’t have to be perfect, they just need to be from your heart in faith. God already knows you. He wants you to know Him back. If you need a start, here is a prayer you can pray…
“Heavenly Father, I come to You in the Name of Jesus. The Bible says that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. I am calling on you, Lord! I ask Jesus Christ to come into my heart and be the Lord of my life. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me and that God raised Him from the dead. Thank you, God, for forgiving me and loving me and making me new!”
If you have prayed that prayer from you heart, then your life is now changed and new because of Jesus! I invite you to get a Bible, if you don’t already have one and begin reading (I recommend you begin with the book of John to learn more about Jesus). Also, find a Christian and/or a church where you can learn more and get plugged in to the body of Christ. We all need one another as we serve and follow Jesus. Continue praying and talking to God – spending time with God builds your relationship with Him and your faith in Him. You will be amazed at the joy and peace that comes from knowing and following our awesome God!
Another wonderful song…
This morning before church, I read to Ava and Landon from the book of Mark about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. We talked about it, and then we acted it out for ourselves. We grabbed jackets from the closet and laid them at the front door in imaginary, but sincere, anticipation of Jesus’ arrival. Then we shouted LOUDLY, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! It’s Jesus! We love you, Jesus! Hallelujah!… and so on, as our hearts desired. We truly glorified God this morning. The kids were shouting and jumping a foot higher and I was crying and shouting – If Jesus had truly come riding through our front door, we couldn’t have physically expressed our excitement any more.
Last year, we also made these adorable Easter cards, which I want to show you. We love using our fingerprints for handmade cards or gifts, because they are so personal. Simply use your child’s thumbprint stamped with ink or dipped in paint and lightly blotted to form egg shapes. Next, use colored pencils to decorate the precious eggs.
Our poem inside reads: Every morning we can say, “God has blessed us with a brand new day!” So let’s make the most of all He has given, And gladly rejoice that Jesus is risen!
These are the pretty Easter cards Ava made last year, and I wanted to share them with you, because they turned out so cute. Last year I only posted about sharing the Easter cards and the Easter message with others, and not about creating the cards themselves.
So, here is how we made our cards:
Create the Eggs:
Give your child an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet of paper or cardstock, and have them use stick glue to place cut or torn pieces of tissue paper all over the paper. Encourage them to cover all (or at least most) of the paper.
Now turn the pretty paper over and draw egg shapes all over the back of the paper, creating any number of eggs of any size you like.
Cut out your egg shapes, and ta-da, you have some lovely egg cut-outs to select from as you make your cards.
Create the Cards:
Cut and fold paper or cardstock into any size or shape that you like, keeping in mind the envelope size you’ll be using. If the only envelopes you have are letter-sized, then make your card fit those (like the top card in our photo). For most of our cards, we folded the paper so that it would actually open differently from the traditional card. We wanted the card to open sort of like double doors, instead of like a single door, to make them more interesting and give us a nice way to use our paper eggs.
Draw and color grass all across the bottom edge of the card.
Glue your egg/eggs onto the grass. We choose to make our egg hang over the edge of the top flap of our card, to make it interesting.
Write a greeting on the front, draw some more (Ava added sunshine and butterflies to some of our cards), or leave your simple.
Write your special Easter message inside the card. Use the poem we made up or write your own!
Every morning we can say, “God has blessed us with a brand new day.” So let’s make the most of all He has given, And gladly rejoice that Jesus is risen!
When we take walks around our neighborhood, which we do often in this amazing weather, Ava sees Easter eggs hanging on trees and wreaths on doors and other decorations. She always remarks that we need to decorate for Easter.
So, we did. We purchased two pieces of posterboard, and used our craft supplies to make our own door hanging. We LOVE it! A simple project with a BIG message!
I don’t particularly like that the posterboards block the sunlight when I leave the front door open (which is often), but I do love how it looks from the street!
So, to all the passers-by, I hope you notice that at our house
we love Jesus
and we want you to love Him, too,
because He already loves you – in the most ultimate way!
All you need is: posterboard (we used blue and green), construction paper of different colors, stick glue or regular glue, markers and scissors.
We attached the posterboards to the inside of the storm door with shipping tape. I’m assuming I won’t have any trouble getting it off?
Ava put heart stickers in the centers of the flowers they colored. She said the hearts were for showing that Jesus loves us.
Ava and Landon decorated and “filled” these birdfeeders to send their Grandma in Wyoming, who is having milder weather than usual, but nothing like the springtime we are experiencing here in Tennessee.
I do not have pictures of the process, but hopefully you can tell by these photos what we did. Here are some simple steps to help you out:
Begin with a piece of cardboard on which you draw the entire birdfeeder.
Cut out the birdfeeder you just drew.
Trace the cardboard birdfeeder onto construction paper. Trace it twice (once for the back, where a message can be written or drawn and once for the front pieces).
Cut out both birdfeeder tracings. Cut one of them into the individual pieces that you want to make up the colored parts of the birdfeeder.
Color/decorate the front pieces. Create a message on the back piece.
Glue all the construction paper pieces to the appropriate places on the cardboard.
Punch a hole at the top of the birdfeeder and run a string/ribbon through it.
Spread glue (not too thinly!) wherever you want the birdseed to go. Then sprinkle on the birdseed!
Around the world, believers are longing for and praying for Bibles – their very own copy. If you are like me, you could walk around your house and gather up 10 Bibles, at least. And with technology, we often don’t use the ones we have, because we can access it on our computers and phones. We don’t memorize it, because we can reach over to a table or bookshelf and look something up. But is that really enough? For my children’s sake, I want to instill the importance of having, reading, memorizing, and following the Word of God. I want them to appreciate the fact that they have the Bible, and I want them to treat it with reverence and love, because it is a precious gift. Corrie ten Boom’s father said to her, “Girl, don’t forget that every word you know by heart is a precious tool that [God] can use through you.”
A couple years ago, we hosted a mail exchange, and now we’re doing it again! Ava (4) and Landon (2) love getting mail and sending it. I assume your child is the same away. So, if you would like to participate with us, we would be happy to exchange a letter or drawing with your child.
Here’s how it works:
Email me directly (kimberlymfarmer {at} yahoo {dot} com) and include the name(s) of whom the letter will be sent to, their age, and your mailing address.
I will rely to your email to confirm that I received it.
Ava will send your child a drawing in the mail (with our return address).
Please have your child mail Ava a letter or a drawing back.
That’s it! It is just a simple, one-time exchange of mail between Ava (Landon may participate, too) and your child. It will be fun for both of them, whether they already know one another or they have never met before! We will keep this mail exchange open for the month of March, so join us!
