Making Lent Meaningful for Young Children part 3

I ordered this Wooden Easter Play set from Oriental Trading and it was a big hit with Evan. We acted out the story using the little painted, wooden people. And when he's done, they store neatly in the little box that also works as the burial cave.

He played with these with me and then got them out again, to play by himself later. He enjoyed showing the girls his little Lent Surprise, too.

Evan and I made this little prayer box/center for Lent. I just made the pictures by gluing holy cards onto folded card stock. We use a piece of felt in the correct liturgical color for the altar cloth. And the candle we made by gluing tissue paper squares onto a clear, plastic cup. We then let the glue dry, trimmed the edges and Evan added stickers. The little battery operated tea lite works perfectly inside. This all fits into a photo box that I bought at the craft store. Evan can set this up anytime he wants to pray or just talk to God.

I placed some little Catholic picture books inside the box too.

I will change the "altar cloth" and we'll make a new candle holder as the liturgical seasons change. I'll probably include some different books and add a rosary during the month of May and perhaps a little plastic Blessed Mother Statue.

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Tomorrow will begin another busy week. I'll be posting our little "happenings" as much as I can.....with pictures. I love taking photos! I am one camera-happy Chickie. I might not be the best at it.....but I love it, so I'm not about to quit. :)

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Have a happy week, everyone! Make it special!

TTFN

~Tina

Making Lent Meaningful for Young Children part 2

As I mentioned in this post, I have really tried to focus on finding things (activities, crafts, stories) to get Evan to feel the reality of Jesus this Lent. Not just Jesus as this "far away" or "a long time ago" divine person, but as someone in Evan's life now, today, every day.

Lent provides a lot of ways to accomplish this. Little by little, activity by activity, prayer by prayer, story by story, the connection grows.

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Some of these ideas are so simple, like the crown of thorns activity in this post. Evan continues to ask if he can remove a thorn when he knows he's been especially good at Mass or at Stations of the Cross or cleaned up his toys voluntarily.

This next little idea, well it comes across as pretty lame, but it mustn't be. Because believe me, Evan (unfortunately) has picked up the word "lame" and has used it to describe things in a rather rude manner. And he didn't say his "this is lame" comment during this activity.

(We're workin' on removing that little word from his vocabulary.)

Anyhoo, I pulled out some colored string and I had Evan go on a search for some sticks in the yard. He brought them inside and we put together a very simple, little wooden cross. It sits atop our altar behind the crown of thorns. Another project is to cut a cross out of lavender paper. Choose (or have the child choose) a holy card to place in the center of the cross. Also, cut out little white sheets of paper that will be glued on the cross around the holy card.

Once the cross and holy card are glued down, think with your child, about what sacrifices they can make this Lent.

What would be some good behaviors they can offer up for Jesus? Write these out on the white sheets and have the child glue them on the cross.

Use this throughout Lent as a reminder of things they can do that will make Jesus happy. They could also decorate around the cross with stickers (Evan likes his without stickers).

The last project for today, comes from The Catholic Icing Blog. This is an awesome blog for sharing our faith with the littles. The link to this printable is found here. You are supposed to color a square each day, but Evan doesn't like coloring....at all.

So we got stickers. Heart stickers to show his love for Jesus every day.

He's enjoying watching the hearts get closer and closer to Easter. :)

Keeping Lent simple has been key this year. Planning too much or too many complicated things just leads to stress and unnecessary pressure that I place on myself.

There is beauty in simple things.

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TTFN

~Tina

Spontaneous Prayer

This is the first year that I've really made an effort to get Evan to understand, on whatever level he is capable of, what Jesus did for us and why Lent and Easter are so important.

He's responding well overall, especially for his age.

There are quite a few activities and books out there that really touch children at this age......more than I realized and I'm pleasantly surprised.

I hope to compile a list of what we have been reading and doing this year, and share it with you.

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After reading this story to Evan, we went to the desk to do some Lent activities. I was flipping through some holy cards and he saw this one and grabbed it. He looked at it for a second and said, "OH, poor Jesus!"

Then he set it down and did this. He stayed that way for 5 or 10 seconds. I almost felt bad taking a picture, because prayer is a personal thing, but I wanted to capture that moment with something more than my failing memory.

He didn't seem to mind. And we went on to discuss the picture some more.

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Sometimes I feel like I'm beating my head against a brick wall when I try to pass on my faith to my children. But I can never give up.

The battle is too important, and it's not just me in the ring.

God is right there with me, reaching out to my kids in powerful, and sometimes unexpected ways.

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Have a wonderful weekend!

TTFN

~Tina

Making Lent Meaningful For Young Children

This is an activity/craft that we started last year. It takes a few simple, inexpensive items from the craft store.

• toothpicks
• a 10 inch foam wreath
• foam block
• a wooden cross
• brown acrylic paint

This is pretty inexpensive, but very visual and meaningful to children.
You begin by painting the wreath brown. Let it dry, then poke holes in it with either a small nail or some other thin, sharp object. I made this little makeshift gadget and it worked okay. It's just a large, bent paperclip with tape around the "handle" so it's more comfortable to use.

Poke holes in the wreath all over in no particular pattern. Then fill those holes with toothpicks that have been broken in half. Put them in with the "pokey" side facing out.

This resembles or at least reminds us of the Crown of Thorns that Jesus wore. It is a physical reminder of His suffering and sacrifice.

I put this on our family altar, now that Evan is almost 5. When he was younger, I had to put it up higher for safety.

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How it works:

Very simply, I read this story to Evan

and explained, as gently as I could, what Lent and Easter are all about. And how Jesus loves us so much He died for us. And because He did that, and rose again, we can enter Heaven when we die. And that we do still make mistakes and make wrong choices sometimes, but as long as we're sorry, we will be forgiven.

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Then:

I showed him the crown of thorns which he recognized from the story. I explained that our sins are hurtful to Jesus, but in the same respect, our good actions (sharing, helping, cooperating, etc) make Jesus happy. So every time he does an especially good deed, he gets to take a thorn out (and throw it away promptly, so it doesn't end up in someone's foot).

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On Easter:

He awakens to find all the holes that originally held "thorns" now hold flowers and in the center is a cross that says "Alleluia", sitting atop a flowery base. It's a very recognizable change from the cold, harsh crown of thorns.

Evan is doing well with his good deeds and sacrifices. And when he does an especially good deed, he asks to take a thorn out, then says, "There ya go, Jesus!" :)

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Hope your Lent is bringing you and those you love closer to Jesus.

TTFN

~Tina

RAAWWRRR! (aka. Pre K Dinosaur School)

Dinosaurs seem to be making a comeback with the preK kids. With Dino Dan and Dinosaur Train on TV, it's easy for little ones to become interested in dinosaurs.Evan and I did a little Dino School last week. We used this Dino Size game from File Folder Fun. We've used quite a few of their games in our schooling this year.
I printed out some worksheets from Busy Bee Kids Printables. Evan has wanted to do more "real school" with worksheets like his sisters lately. Makes him feel like a big kid, I guess. He's already growing too fast if you ask me. He'll be in Kindergarten next year! *sniff sniff*

I bought this little puzzle to color at the dollar section at Target. This wasn't a big hit with him. My little guy reeaallly dislikes coloring.

So we colored it together, then he broke the puzzle apart and rebuilt it.

The funnest part of this prehistoric week for Evan was probably the Dinosaur Playbox I made for him. I printed out the background papers from this site then I purchased some little dinos from the dollar store. I put the diorama together and added the dinos and some little rocks and then let Evan have at it. :) We also played a few games with these dinosaur cards I printed out.

Look at that smile on his face. Can you tell who won the game?

I bought a set of 4 mini dinosaur puzzles by Melissa and Doug that are similar to this set.

He was really excited when I pulled these out. My little guy has no patience for coloring but loves puzzles, lately! He even wanted to bring this set to his preschool group to share it with his friends. :)
School with Evan usually goes best when I pick a theme for the week that he's already shown some interest in. Then it's like we are just playing together for an hour or more each day.
It's just fun time with mom. :)

Hope you are enjoying your little ones. They won't be little for long.

Have a great week!

TTFN

~Tina

Just Had to Share This

While shopping for school supplies, I happened upon this little preschool activity book by Mead. This wonderful workbook is called Snip It. It is so neat! I've come across so many preschool workbooks that seem to have the same activities....connect the dots, mazes, letter tracing, etc. But this one works on fine motor skills with scissors and it results in art projects that the child can be proud of! It begins with easier tasks, and works it's way to more difficult ones. The first projects in the book just require the child to snip strips of colored paper into little bits that they can then put on a page to fill in the colors on simple pictures, like a rainbow or a tree. As the child progresses, they can cut out the various colored simple shapes and put them where they belong in the book. They then finish the project by coloring in the rest of the details on the page. And another cool feature is that anywhere a child is supposed to put their "snips", has a peel and stick area so there is no glue involved! This was a really fun idea worth passing on!

TTFN

~Tina

File Folder Preschool Fun

I found some file folder games and neat FREE printables online to use to enhance Evan's schooling this year. One of the websites is http://www.filefolderfun.com/ . This site is filled with many different games and activities based on many different themes. I printed out some easier games for him to do on his own while I am working with his sisters, and some more challenging ones for us to do together.

The Monster Manners game had to be "altered" a bit. It comes with several monsters holding signs. Some of the signs have kind words printed on them, and some have rude and selfish words.
The game came with two pockets in which to sort them. One had "under the bed", the other had "in the closet". The child determines that if it's kind words, the monster can go under the bed, not so kind goes in the closet. I really don't need to put those ideas in Evan's head, so we focused on how our words make other's feel. I made happy and sad faced pockets for Evan to put the sorted monster cards into. I think he'll enjoy it and it will teach him about the power of words.

Another game is for sorting shapes. It's based on a Fall Leaves theme. This is one Evan could do on his own, once I show him how.

(The "pockets" I picked up at the dollar store. They have come in very handy.)

To make this game, you cut out and glue the leaves with the shape designs on them to the inside of the folder (below), then have the child match the coordinating leaves (above) to the ones pictured below.

There are so many themes to choose from at a variety of skill levels. Outer Space....
Animals......

Apples.... Dinosaurs..... Harvest Time/Thanksgiving.....
The list goes on and on. I'm looking forward to using these with Evan! Can't wait to get our new school year started! Only one week left for us! How about you?

TTFN
~Tina