The TomTen

We have been following We Folk Art Winter Curriculum a bit and they mention the book the Tomten. I don't have the book and didn't want to get out in the snow to go to the library. Good old Youtube has a reading of the book. We really liked it. It's a great book for Winter. So grab the kiddos on your lap and sit back for this wonderful little tale.

Snow Painting

A couple of days ago we had a snow day and decided to do snow painting. It is simple! Print out a picture. We like nature pictures. Have the child paint the picture using water colors. Then take salt and sprinkle all over. When it dries it looks like snow.

Catching Fireflies (Not the fantastic catalog that I drool all over)

 

  We had great fun catching fireflies (lightening bugs) and learning about them. I can't believe how good my daughter is at  catching them!

Nothing says childhood summers like catching fireflies.

Having a child is amazing because it gives adults an excuse to catch fireflies and not feel silly about it.

 

We spent quite a bit of time observing them closely.

  My daughter took this picture and it is one of my favorites. Is it a close up of the tail or something else?

We were lucky enough to have the neighborhood kids join us in catching fireflies.   Such fun in simple simplicity.

We read a our nighttime story with the fireflies close.  I told my daughter that if you let the fireflies go at the end of the night then the firefly fairy will reward you with a coin.  She was happy to let them go and I’m excited that I came up with an excuse to pretend a fairy visited her without having to wait for a tooth to fall out.

 

Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers

Looking for an Easter gift for your preschooler that delivers a message about Jesus instead of the Easter Bunny? I found these little books a few months ago but waited to review them until closer to Easter.  They are the most unique christian books for little one’s that I’ve come across.

Have you guys heard about the wonderful little series called Big Thoughts for Little Thinkers?  This series teaches little children ages four to eight about the Bible.  It isn’t just Bible stories but fundamental teachings that preschoolers can understand.  No kidding, I think I learned a few things!  The illustrations are a big hit with little kids.  I like that each page is based on scripture but reworded in a way that kids understand and are intrigued by.  I do think that elementary age children may like these books a bit more than preschoolers because some of this is some pretty heavy stuff.  What I like to do and recommend you do as well is introduce one page at a time, rather than try to read the entire book.  I will say that there are parts that bother my little girl.  It reads: “Everyone in the world has the same problem: we are all separated  from God and deserve to die because of our sin.”  This might be a little heavy for three year olds. 

The Trinity book explains to children that there is one God in three persons-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  I have to say that the Trinity is a hard concept to understand even as an adult.  This book explains, “There is only one God, but God is three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  They are all different from each other, but each one is God. This is called the Trinity.” 

The Scripture teaches children that the word of God is true.  It helps little ones to understand that the Bibl comes from a heavenly source, that Christ is the center, and that the Holy Spirit is needed to properly interpret the Bible.  It helps children to know that God speaks to them through the Bible. It helps children to understand the difference between the Old Testament and New Testament.  This is my favorite of the little books. 

The Mission is about sharing Jesus with other people.  A favorite part of the book is “so many people need Jesus but there are not many messengers.  God wants to use you to tell other people about Jesus and invite them to the party in heaven.  You can be one of God’s messengers! Isn’t it fun to help your mom bake a cake or help your dad fix the car? You can help God tell people the good news about Jesus.”  The book goes on to tell little ones how to be part of the mission such as using talents to show people how great God is, get kids to tell their friends about Jesus, pray for those who haven’t heard of Jesus, learning about missionaries, and so on.  It’s a great book to introduce mission work to little ones. 

The Gospel is about salvation.  Gracie talks directly to your child throughout the book and addresses fundamentals about God's unending love, how our sins separate us from God and how Jesus took the punishment for our sins so we can be reconciled with God.

If you want to learn more click here. They retail for $5.99 a book. 

Sunday Savings

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