Acts 8: 26-40 Bible Lesson

We skipped ahead a little bit (we'll go back and catch a couple intermediary stories the next two weeks) to the story of Phillip and the Ethiopian man.  As always we find the story in the Children's Bible and read it to start off our week.  Then we use hands-on objects to connect to the story.

For this story we use a play horse and a trailer "cart" we rounded up in our toys.  We also happened to have a peg man with black skin that works out perfect.  Quinn has a cousin and a soon-to-be-adopted good friend that are both from Ethiopia, so this lesson was immediately one of her favorites.  We also made a Phillip.  We have an angel somewhere we've been looking for (from our nativity set I made) and until it turns up we're just pretending an angel is there.  We act out the story with the objects.  I made a little scroll with Isaiah 53:5-7 on it that we unroll for the man to read, and we talk about what this passage means and that it is about Jesus. 

 

 

Then of course the best part is the baptism.  Quinn has even baptized the horse.  :)

 

Art Desk

For her birthday last year Quinn's Mimi and Papa got her an art desk.  We decided on a children's table from Ikea--it has legs that can raise as she grows and when Beck gets bigger we can turn the table so it will fit two.  All of the other items are pretty much rounded up from around the house or people's trash.

The blue metal box with drawers was in Grandbob's garagesale pile a few years ago.  We ran the drawers through the dishwasher and I spraypainted the outside and now it houses little items for Q to work with--beads, google eyes, pompoms, etc.  It's great for organization as well as promoting the skill of sorting.  She knows how to put items back in the correct compartment based on the type of item. 

On top are some salt shakers someone gave us and I filled them with glitter.  Love the small holes that slows down the glitter exit.  Often the glitter containers have holes that are WAY to big for preschoolers. 

The color wheel is a piece of wood I cut into a circle and we mixed/painted the colors earlier in the year when we were studying color theory.  We keep it there for reference. 

On the way are a couple pieces (my faves) of artwork she's made.  I plan to add more in time. 

There is a wooden box (great find at the sal army) that holds scissors, paintbrushes, glue, etc.  Next to that is a metal can that holds dirty brushes.  When it gets full we soak them in the sink and wash them up.  Nex to that is her marker block.  And look at her breaking a rule and painting on the bare table.....tsk, tsk, tsk. 

Under the table is a rug I got for $5 at a garage sale.  I love it because I don't care about spills that way.  If she does spill on the rug she still cleans up her mess  (with my help) as part of the art process is knowing how to clean up materials!

This shelf came out of someone's trash pile.  It's from Ikea and perfect for holding her materials.  Mimi bought her a wooden lazy susan that spins and several glass jars.  The jars hold gluesticks, markers, colored pencils, crayons, etc.  In the middle is a metal bucket of glitterglues--her favorite medium.  Also her own tape dispenser.  Next to that is a paper tray that holds paper for her to use.  I just put out a few choices at a time, otherwise they get strewn all over the places when she is making her color choice.  I also often put scraps in there for her to work with. 

On the shelves are different baskets/trays that offer choices of work.  I trade these out just like I do all her other work in the house.  Out right now are:
-some foam letters that can be glued (backwards) onto a popsicle stick and pressed into ink to make word stamps
-some rolling pin-type painters and paint
-chalk (she loves wet-on-wet wth chalk--dipping it in water)
-beads and pipecleaners to make bracelets
-stencils, pens and paper for tracing
-the collage basket--this is the most popular spot.  Basically I put any little scraps of string, yarn, ribbon, fabric, scrapbook paper, etc., in here and she uses them to glue into collages.  She LOVES anytime I give her new pieces!
-dot stampers

And these are two shoe racks also from a garage sale.  They serve as the drying rack for all her work.  On top of this shelf is a roll of paper towels (can't see in this pic) and a roll of big paper.  Also on the shelf is a box of wipes for cleaning the table when she's finished. 

The rules of the art table are:
-wear an art smock when working
-paint and glue on an art tray
-clean up after yourself
-all art needs to be done on the table

I spent many years teaching her the processes of different materials--how to use crayons, markers, paint, etc.  I always taught her step-by-step how to use each tool and never let her use items incorrectly or unsupervised, as I didn't want her to learn to misuse the tools.  This doesn't mean that when she was little I didn't let her explore with the tools, it just meant I worked hard to teach her correct uses.  For example-
*crayons and markers only write on paper
*markers are for writing gently (not smashing)
*when you take the lid off a marker you put it onto the end of the marker
*when you put the lid back you listen for the click
*when you close a glue bottle you wipe the end off so it doesn't make a "glue booger"

Finally all of those lessons have paid off and she has become very independent in creating her own art as well as cleaning up/caring for her materials!

I love that she enjoys long stretches of creating--and that she is doing true art, for the most part.  We have a few "crafty" projects thrown in here and there, but on the whole what she does is explore artistic concepts as she works at her art area. 

Environmental Print Play

Quinn is enjoying a basket full of food box pieces right now.  I cut off the fronts of granola bars, applesauce, pasta, Chick-fil-a nuggets, cereal, etc. and put them together in a basket.  She pretends to buy the items at the store, gives them to her babies, and incorporates them into dramatic play.  She is also absorbing concepts about the print on the front of them as she works with them.  She will ask me to read them to her or she'll point out letters/ask me why there is a certain letter on the front.  I don't do any formal instruction with them--just let her play and follow her lead. 

Baby texture basket

One of Beck's work items on the shelf right now is a basket filled with different textures....Hard to see them all from this picture but objects include:
-tulle
-coffee wrapper (smells amazing, too!)
-empty plastic liner from cereal box (great and crunchy sounding!)
-corrugated cardboard
-minky fabric
-(not pictured) empty heavy paper flour sack

These objects provide listening, feeling, tasting stimulation as Beck can explore them with his hands and mouth.  He likes to crawl around the house carrying one or two of them.  :)

Bean pouring never grows old....

At each new stage Q enjoys bean (or noodles or rice or another small sensory object) play just as much but in a little different way.  Here she had her babies all lined up around here and she was launched deeply into a monologue about their medicine as she poured and scooped and measured and.....learned...math, science abounded!

Handmade Book--Acts 2

We are slowly but steadily making our way through learning the history of the Church. 
I am having no problem taking a super slow pace and really reflecting on/processing each story.  I think often times we feel the need to do "a story a day" (or week or Bible class session) and that usually isn't enough for little ones. 

We read about the early church and how they operated.  We decided to make a book from scratch to show what they did.  We folded some plain white paper together and Q did all the cutting herself (with my verbal instructions).  Then we used sticky notes to plan what each page would contain--referencing the scriptures we talked about each page--I wrote on the sticky note a word or two that the page would address.  Then we worked on a page a day--she did the majority of the writing, so it was a great chance for emergent writing.  I helped when she got frustrated or with long parts. 
She also did the majority of the drawing (with some help from me.)  We really focused on discussing how to draw each element--this is a great comprehension tool.  There is a correlation to how well children can sketch objects and their listening/reading/writing comprehension.  You see on the "Praised God" page the person has hair all around their head--kinda looks like a lion.  After this we looked at ourselves and talked about where hair really grows and how we shouldn't draw it the whole way around. 
Of course the biggest focus was on the spiritual implications of each page.....we spent the majority of our time talking about that. 

 

On the "broke bread/remembered Jesus" page we had grape juice and crackers as we reviewed the meaning of the icons we use for communion.  She loves doing this any time I let her!!

 

We had a lot of fun with this book and it is now a great resource for reviewing.  After it was finished (drawing/writing) we laminated it and I sewed it down the middle to bind it. 

Peter, John and the Crippled Man

These past couple of weeks we've been focusing on the story of Peter and John and the crippled man. 
You know how I always have a "use what I have" mentality, so when I was preparing for this activity I raided my studio with that in mind.  I ended up using a large macrame bead (I think that's what it is?  It was in a hand-me-down stash of craft supplies....) and some pipe cleaners.  I wanted the man to have legs that could be "hurt" and then have there be a tangible way to see them working correctly.  So when he is crippled (in the story) we smush them all up and watch him fall over.  When Pepeter calls upon Jesus' power to heal him, we straighten them out again. 

The top picture has the "temple" built from blocks and Peter and John headed to pray.  Notice I haven't yet painted John....but you get the idea.  Eventually my plan is to have a complete set of painted apostles as they are introduced in the various stories we study.  At the time of this posting John is half-painted up in the studio.  :)

We read the story and manipulate our objects to match the storyline. 

Here's our memory verse--from the International Children's Bible.

We have a "Bible study basket" that holds past manipulatives.  After story time Q enjoys playing and exploring with the manipulatives on her own....often making up new stories or adding on.  Here she is wearing the "fire hat" from a while back.  She can't ever get enough of that.  :)