Thursday, May 30, 2013

What's Up? God Made it All!





God made everything that's UP;
as in Up in the sky. 
 Here's an easy way to "hang" the sun, moon, 
and anything else that your preschooler wants to hang in the sky. 

 And it was all made by God!

Start with some card stock, crayons, yarn and a clothes hanger.
It was nice that it was blue....like the sky!


Have your preschooler draw the things that God made for the sky:
Sun, moon, stars, 



Your child can cut out the pictures, then,
depending on their fine motor skills,
you can either have them thread the yarn through a hole (you make) in the picture
or, for younger ones, 
simply tape one end of the yarn to the back.


Tie the yarn at various lengths to the clothes hanger
to "hang" the sun, moon and stars!
Place the hanger where your child can see
all the things that God made!
That's what's up! 




Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Ocean In a Bottle

Here's an easy way to hold the ocean in your hand!




All you need is a bottle of water and some vegetable oil.  You can embellish it from there, but here's the basic "Ocean in a Bottle":


Fill your water bottle about 3/4 full of water and add a drop of blue food coloring. 
Shake that around, then add oil to the top. 
(If you want to add fish or other items to the ocean, leave extra room.)
Replace the cap securely.  When you tip the bottle upside down
and back, it will resemble to ocean waves!


You can add fish or turtle-shaped beads to the water, if you like.
Glitter will make it sparkle, too.
Or, you can add fish stickers to the outside of your ocean!


Once you have your ocean the way you want it, 
tighten the cap, then wrap it with tape to prevent spills. 


Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Woo-Hoo! I Can Thank You!

Here is a very simple craft that will let your preschooler "thank" those community helpers that serve around you day in and day out.  Using paper bag puppets will let a child think about who is it that is "helping" our community and how we could tell them thank you!


You only need these very simple supplies:  paper lunch bags and crayons!





First, let you child make a puppet of himself!  Try to let them add as much detail as they can.  Their eye color, hair color, even the blue and yellow stripe shirt that they are wearing.  And all preschoolers love to color their mouth under the flap of the bottom of the lunch bag!


Next, pick a community helper.  Maybe a policeman.  Talk with you child about what a policeman wears as you make a police puppet.  Blue uniforms and a badge may be what your child will associate with him.  As you make this puppet, talk about what that person does to help those in your community.



Now you can let your child use the puppets to "thank" those community helpers!  If you have the opportunity to thank them in person, this activity helps eliminate some of the shyness that may keep your child from talking to the policeman or fireman, since they have all ready "practiced" at home!




Monday, May 13, 2013

Let's Build a Wall!









Nehemiah led all the people to work together to build the wall around Jerusalem.   
You can build a wall at home, too!














 Here's what you'll need:
Some ink pads, a sponge, scissors and paper.
And your "helping hands"!
That's it!





The idea is to "stamp" blocks onto the paper to build a wall.  
You can cut the sponge(s) into block shapes, 
squares and rectangles.
The scrubber sponges work well because the scrubber side
 is stiffer and is easier for little hands to hold while stamping.



Now you are ready to "build" a wall.  
You can let your child build it himself; with various shapes and colors of blocks.






Or you can have each family member have a special color 
or shape to "build" with! 



Woo Hoo!!  I'm proud of YOU!! 

What a great helper you were in building this wall!

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

A Room for a Friend








If your child had a friend coming to stay at your home, what would he put in the room for the guest to enjoy?  Here's a way to let your child do that!  










Collect magazines, newspapers or catalogs with pictures of things that might go in a child's room.



Let your child cut out pictures of items that he would put in a room for a guest.
These pictures could include bedding, furniture, toys and even pets!



Have your child glue stick the items where they think they would go best in the room.




Now you have made a room for a friend
just like the woman made a room for Elisha!