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Homeschoolers Finish Strong! Ten Easy Activities to Keep Preschoolers Busy!

Many of us want to finish strong and complete a few things before we call it quits for the school year. Homeschooling with toddlers and preschoolers can definitely add challenges towards that goal. One thing that helped me through those years with my toddler was to do the more important subjects during nap time. Also I noticed if I spent one on one time with my little one first before I started with my school age child, it satisfied their need for mom-time right off the bat.  For families with multiple children, scheduling each school-age child with easy activities to keep preschoolers busy helped create a peaceful home and nourished the young child’s need to be involved with the family.

 Toddlers are some of the busiest people in the world! With some creativity, you can keep those little hands busy while developing their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination to boot!

Time spent on getting these activities together will reap big rewards! Preschoolers can glean loads of educational skills with their “school” assignments and grow in independent learning.

1. Toddler Tube-drop pom-poms through a cardboard tube that spills into a bowl over and over-http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/activities-that-will-keep-your-kids-busy-all-sum?sub=3235568_2927444#.jfzqBjZjgg

2.  Pipe cleaners and a colander will also keep toddlers occupied and develop fine motor skills. https://www.pinterest.com/janmay2012/preschool-fun/

3. Use masking tape and lay out your ‘track’ roadway on the couch and furniture for match box cars.  Make it fun by going down onto the floor and up the side of the couch. http://frugalistamamas.com/2013/07/how-to-keep-little-boys-busy-for-more-than-5-minutes.html

4. Use a tub of hot wheel cars (or other toys) and colored construction paper and instruct your little ones to park the cars on the matching color. http://www.littlefamilyfun.com/2011/09/car-color-matching.html

5. Build a dinosaur with cut out shapes of rectangles, triangles and circles! http://www.littlefamilyfun.com/2013/09/build-dinosaur.htmlhttp://www.littlefamilyfun.com/2012/03/crafts-activities-for-boys.html

6. Preschool Shape Hunt - Learning activity for three year olds with very little set up required- http://frugalfun4boys.com/2015/10/01/preschool-shape-scavenger-hunt/

7. Set up a Pouring Station Activity for toddlers with different size containers into a large plastic tub-this is good for tons of fun! http://busytoddler.com/2015/09/pouring-station/

8. Scoop and transfer different kinds of dried beans from bowls into dry ice cube tray. Great for developing small motor skills! http://busytoddler.com/2015/09/scoop-and-transfer/

9. Thread dry pasta on straws stuck in play dough. http://laughingkidslearn.com/pasta-threading-activity-for-toddlers/

10. Contact Paper Collage-Have the child rip strips of construction paper and put them into a small box. Then tape a piece of contact paper onto the table, sticky side up. Show the child how to put the torn up bits onto the contact paper. http://creativewithkids.com/5-quiet-toddler-activities-ideas-for-independent-play/

 

 

 St. Nicholas on the Move!

We all love the story of St. Nicolas and the way he blessed the poor. Why not play St. Nicholas and call a local school in a poor area, nursing home, soup kitchen, women’s shelter or fire department and add those to your holiday baking deliveries? 

Can you image someone in need or difficult situation receiving a delightful homemade treat to cheer them? It’s like wrapping them up in a warm blanket and setting them next to a fire-the fire of Christ’s love.

Sometimes it’s that one act of random kindness that brings hope to a helpless situation and gives a person a reason to believe again. A warm hand shake. A smiling face. A Christmas song. 

Christmas Advent is the perfect time to think about others. I loved giving my children an opportunity to keep the spiritual focus during the holiday season. What better way to reach out to a lonely neighbor or new family than to make up a batch of fun Christmas treats to share?

One of our favorite holiday treats to share is

Frosty White-Chocolate Pretzel Snowman.

You will need:

• 1 bag of long pretzel rods
•  Mini chocolate chips for eyes
• Mini multi-colored candies for buttons and nose
•  Red fruit roll ups for scarves
•  Jelly fruit rings for hat brims
• Ju ju  gummy candy for hat tops
• White almond bark-1 ½ packages

Dip the pretzel rods into the melted chocolate 2/3 of the way up.

Apply the jelly ring around the top of the pretzel for the hat brim

Add extra chocolate to a ju ju and put it on top of the head making the top of the hat.       

Work your way down using the chocolate mini chips for eyes and a mini -colored chip for a nose.

Apply the scarf by going around the snowman in the back like you are going to wrap a present with ribbon and crossing it in front. This works best with two people, one holding the pretzel snowman and one applying it.

Add the buttons at the end below the scarf.  

Place the finished snowmen on a wax paper covered cookie sheet and put into the freezer for quick drying.

We spruce them up by wrapping them in festive bags, boxes and Tupperware. We even put some in a snowman mug! They say Your Special and Loved.

Christmas Advent Fun 

I love that it all started with God. It was His idea to celebrate the birth of his son. He set a bright star in the sky like birthday candles and sent gifts through three kings. The heavenly hosts sang songs to lonely shepherds and a tired mother and father found room in an inn.

Let’s keep our hearts yearning for what’s important this holiday season. Take the Nativity out first, let it be the first thing you decorate with. Take it out piece by piece one each day and read the correlating Bible verses and reflect on its meaning.

I will be posting fun foods to make with the family as well as craft and Advent ideas weekly, so subscribe to stay informed and receive my Holiday eBook for free!

The first craft I want to post is how to up-cycle Christmas cards into beautiful ornaments.  So many tell the Nativity story in a beautifully illustrated way. We use gold trim, glitter glue, red and green ribbons.

Each year we save the prettiest cards to make into ornaments for the next year. It’s also fun to do it with friends and trade cards- have a Trading Christmas Cards Party! Its also a great idea to glue a magnet on the back and let little hands tell the story by putting each magnet on the refrigerator in sequence. Here is one of my favorites we have made over the years.

For Full FREE download of instructions Click on the Picture.

More Advent Activities for Kids 

Thriving Family has a terrific FREE Advent resource for families! It has games and puzzles for kids for each day along with a poster and some great verses to read. Build lasting strength in your family by learning the Bible and celebrating these things together.

http://www.thrivingfamily.com/advent

Squanto and Making Sense of Adversity I love the story of Squanto. It helps us to make sense of adversity. How can God worked EVERYTHING together for good in our lives, especially the struggles that make no sense? I think it all boils down to one thing: Our world view- do we struggled to fit God into our plans or do we fit into His? God has a plan for all of humanity: The rise and fall of nations. The birth of babies who will become world changers. The preaching of the good news to all men. Squanto’s story poignantly reveals this. When English traders landed in what was to become Plymouth, Massachusetts a decade before the pilgrims arrived, Wampanoag Indians came out to trade.  The traders sadly took them prisoner to Spain, and sold them into slavery. Even in the midst of this tragic circumstance God kept a young Indian boy named Squanto safe and appointed a kind Spanish monk to buy him. He was treated well and taught the Christian faith. In 1618 he happily sailed back to America. But when he arrived there, an epidemic had wiped out Squanto’s entire village. It was as if God’s hand plucked him out and spared him! God had a plan for Squanto’s life that was bigger than himself. He would be an important part in birthing a new nation. One that God could use for good in the entire earth! (Yes, I still believe we are a great nation in the midst of everything!) A year later the pilgrims arrived in America and Squanto greeted them in English! According to the diary of Governor William Bradford, Squanto became a special instrument sent from God of good. He showed them how to plant  corn and practically how to survive in the new land. He stayed with the pilgrims for his entire life. So, in honor of the redeeming love of God in Squanto’s life and the first Thanksgiving so many years ago, I am posting Chocolate Marshmallow Pilgrim Hats. What a fun way to teach your children about God’s faithfulness in building our nation! Chocolate Marshmallow Pilgrim Hats Four Easy Ingredients 1 12 oz bag of chocolate chips 1 package chocolate striped cookies 1 bag of marshmallows 1 tube of yellow decorator’s frosting This is great for kids of all ages-preschoolers to middle graders!

The Pilgrims and Homeschooling

With Thanksgiving around the corner, it’s a great time to incorporate art with writing! My kids love bean mosaics and we made a cool one of the Mayflower. We chatted as we worked about the First Thanksgiving. How brave the Pilgrims were, how devout their faith in God was and their desire to raise godly children. Then they wrote the account as if they were one of the Pilgrims.

It almost feels like homeschooling! We look at the public school system with shaking knees and pounding chests and think, there’s got to be a better way than this! We embark  on the Home Education ship to take us to a good land, free land only to find that there are challenges and hardships there too! 

BUT if we stick it out, like the pilgrims did, teach self-government so our children begin to take responsibility of their things and actions, we learn that what we have embarked on is a life changing experience! One that could possibly change the world with godly adults with leadership qualities and moral character that will shine in the darkness of this world.

Keep at it dear friend! Your harvest is greater than you know! Pull back if you need rest. Regroup and get creative! Join a co-op, talk with a friend, get your nails done! You’ll be glad you did. The Pilgrims had an opportunity to go back after that first year. But they didn’t take it. They pressed on to build the New World.

Making Bean Mosaic is easy!

·         Draw a picture of a the Mayflower  and the ocean on orange construction   paper

·         Using Elmer’s Glue, make a puddle and let children fill in with beans

·         Embellish with glitter glue

·         Let dry for about 4 hours

Look for My Fun and Easy to Use Writing Curriculum for Kids! Even the most reluctant writer will dive in!

Enjoy Refreshing Times with Jesus in Your Homeschool

Posted on Thursday, July 31, 2014 7:52

Teaching children to have a daily quiet time yields so many benefits! This year build some solace into your homeschool day where everyone reaps rewards. Allow children to rest for an hour a day in their rooms or a special nook (regardless of age!) Using it for  Bible reading, reflection or quiet play teaches them to slow down and builds into them a habit our Savior had of retreating from the noise and crowds of the day. It's in this time we hear His voice of guidance, creativity or affirmation.  It's a daily discipline that yields the same for busy moms. Restrain from doing the laundry or answering emails! Let the Lord whisper to your heart the answers you've been asking. It's not only good for your spirit but for your blood pressure too! A rested homeschool mom is a better homeschool mom. After all it's in Him we live and move and have our being. All success in this life flows from Him. Help your children learn how to cultivate it with quiet time! You'll be glad you did! A precious mom of eight, wrote me that she visits a new state park each week with her homeschool. They explore, take photos, find frogs! She feels the refreshment of nature is heaven sent. "It has restored a part of me and the kids love the fresh air and hiking." Rested moms respond with more patience and joy. Give yourself permission to enjoy this season. You don't have to be super mom. We all need rest. Jesus did!