Homemade Gingerbread Playdough

We made gingerbread playdough today. The kids had a blast making the dough and then rolling and cutting it with cookie cutters.
Here is the recipe:

Gingerbread Playdough
 * Note - I halved the recipe and it worked fine.

4+ cups flour
3/4 cups salt
2 Tbsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp ginger
2 Tbsp instant tea (this is a powdered tea mix that is available in the coffee/tea aisle at the grocery store. I know Licpton makes some.)
2 cups water
1/2 cup oil

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  Add wet ingredients and stir. If the dough is sticky, knead in enough flour to make it the desired consistency. (Note - we added a lot more flour so it wasn't so sticky.)
Get out your cookie cutters and playdough tools and have fun!
If the dough starts to get sticky again as the kids are playing with it, just knead in more flour again.

Jesus in the Manger ornament

Materials Needed

Green Card stock

Yellow card stock

cream card stock

Brown card stock

mini wooden craft sticks (available at Walmart & craft stores)

regular or jumbo wooden craft sticks

yellow yarn

foil star stickers

Glue (I used hot glue, but other glue will work.)

 Glue 2 mini sticks to the larger stick. Let dry.

 Turn the stable over and glue on 2 mini sticks to make the roof.

 Trace the shape of the stable on green cardstock. Cut out.  Turn the stable over again and glue the cardstock onto the to side sticks. 

Glue a loop of yarn to the back.

If you are doing this craft with children, an adult might want to prepare the ornament up through this step ahead of time.

Cut out a baby shape from the cream card stock. Cut out a manger from the brown card stock. Cut out a circle from the yellow cardstock. GLue the baby to the manger, then the manger to the bottom of the ornament.

Glue some cut up yellow yarn at the bottom, under the manger. GLue the yellow circle to the top and place a star sticker in the center.

Stocking Lacing Card

Buy some red card stock, yarn, and cotton balls.

Cut out the shape of a stocking.  Hole punch holes around it.  Glue (or have the kids ) cotton balls of a strip of felt at the top.  Cut a length of yarn long enough to lace around the entire stocking.

Wrap a strip of masking tape around one end (it will make it easier to lace) and knot the other end with a large knot (or knot it to a large bead. )  The kids can then practice lacing/sewing around the stocking.

 

This craft is also courtesy of ServingPinkLemonade

Baby Jesus in the Manger

I found this ADORABLE baby Jesus in the manger craft on ServingPinkLemonade's blog.

Here is the link to her instructions

http://www.servingpinklemonade.blogspot.com/2010/12/away-in-manger.html

Thanksgiving Crafts and Songs

Thanksgiving Turkey Crafts
There are a number of variations of the "thanksgiving turkey" that you can make.

Version #1
Cut out a turkey head and body out of brown construction paper. Cut out "feathers" from orange and yellow construction paper.  Glue the body on a paper plate and write "I'm thankful for". Have the kids glue the feathers around the body.
Ask the kids some of the things they are thankful for.  Write them on the feathers.

 Version #2
Cut out a turkey head and body from brown construction paper. Glue it on a paper plate. Use up that extra halloween candy corn by gluing it around the body as "turkey feathers".

Version #3

Cut out a turkey body and head from brown construction paper. Glue it on a paper plate. Cut out a bunch of hearts shapes from colored construction paper. Have the kids glue the hearts around the turkey body as turkey feathers.

Thanksgiving Song

I taught this song to my kids last year and they did a "thanksgiving show" for the adults by singing it. They picked it up really quickly and learned about the first thanksgiving at the same time!

The First Thanksgiving (Tune:The Muffin Man )

The Pilgrims came to America
America, America.
The Pilgrims came to America
a long, long time ago.

They sailed on the Mayflower
the Mayflower, the Mayflower.
They sailed on the Mayflower
a long, long time ago.

They made friends with the Indians
The Indians, the Indians.
They made friends with the Indians
a long, long time ago.

They planted seeds. The corn grew tall
The corn grew tall. The corn grew tall.
They planted seeds. The corn grew tall
a long, long time ago.

They had a great Thanksgiving feast
Thanksgiving feast, Thanksgiving feast.
They had a great Thanksgiving feast
a long, long time ago.

Here is a link to my kids singing it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIXPS6QoXVE

Felt Design-a-jack-o-lantern

Materials needed
orange felt
black felt
white felt
scrap of brown felt
sewing machine or hot glue

Cut out a pumpkin shape in orange felt. Sew or hot glue it to a rectangle of black felt. Cut out a brown felt stem and sew or hot glue it on the pumpkin. Cut out eye, nose, and mouth shapes from black and white felt. The felt pieces stick right to the felt pumpkin. The kids can then design all kind of jack-o-lantern faces. You can either hang up the pumpkin or set it out on the table for play.

Jack-o-Lantern bagels

Color cream cheese orange with yellow and red food coloring. Then add pretzel sticks to make a jack-o-lantern face.

Color cream cheese orange with yellow and red food coloring. Then add a pretzel stick  for the stem and raisins for the face.

Super easy and super fun!

Teacher appreciation

An apple (with a stem) with 2 labels affixed to eachother with a written message and a red ribbon

Pumpkin and Bat bagels

Mini bagel with orange cream cheese (dyed with red and yellow food coloring), raisin features and a pretzel stick stem

And for the non-raisin eaters, a mini bagel with orange cream cheese and pretzel stick features and stem

And for the non-cream cheese eaters, a mini bagel with nutella and goldfish cracker eyes

Leaf Rubbings

For a fun fall activity, you can make leaf rubbings. Go on a nature walk with your children to collect different shaped leaves.
Put the leaf on a table and put a piece of paper over it. Using the side of a crayon with no wrapper, rub over the leaf until the leaf shape comes through.

Fall Flashlight Walk

This is an easy, free, simple, and fun activity that the kids really love. On a warm fall night, after it gets dark, arm your kids with flashlights and go for a "flashlight walk".  You can walk around the block, walk in a park or along a bike trail. We did half in a park and half around the block and visited all of the halloween decorations in peoples' lawns.
It's even more fun if you get together with another family to do it.  All of the kids got such a kick out of walking in the dark and playing with their flashlights!

Fruit of the Spirit Bible Study for Kindergartners - part 2

Lesson – Fruit of the Spirit & Galatians 5 Bible Verse

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. “

- Galatians 5:22

Today we are going to talk about fruit.  Do you like fruit?  What is your favorite fruit?  All fruit is different.  It tastes different, it looks different and it feels different in your mouth (sometimes fruit is crunchy, sometimes soft, sometimes juicy, etc.)

The Bible talks about fruit but it’s a different kind of fruit, it's called the fruit of the Spirit.  The fruit of the Spirit is a little like real fruit because they are each special and different too.  It's really neat because when we ask Jesus to live in us his Spirit stays with us and He will give us some of this special fruit.  As we grow and learn more about Jesus, the Holy Spirit will give us more and more fruit so we can become more like Jesus.

Now, the fruit I’m talking about isn’t strawberries or apples.  We read about it in the Bible in a book called Galatians.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.  All of these fruits are good to have and the Holy Spirit wants to give them to us.

It is important to God that we develop the fruits of God's spirit because these are the qualities that God has. We need to learn how to use these fruits so that everyone around us will see how it looks to act like Jesus.  It takes time and practice to develop our fruit. Sometimes we may not feel like exercising our fruit, but with practice and self-control, we can learn to use them more and more.

God wants us to try to be good and have the fruit of the spirit in us. 

Let’s talk about the different fruits of the spirit and what they all mean.

Just in case you don't know what each of the fruit of the spirit means I'm going to try to explain them.  (Show pictures of fruit with corresponding fruit of the spirit printed).

   

"Fruit of the Spirit" Bible Study for kindergartners

Host a "Fruit of the Spirit" Bible study for kindergartners

Invitations

Just print out the info on card stock and glue on any embellishments. (I find hot glue or rubber cement work best and don't wrinkle the paper.)

 Nametags 
Cut out green semicircles and slightly-smaller red semicircles. Glue the red to the green, dot with permanent marker and write the names. Include safety pins to attach them to the childrens' shirts.

Fruit of the Spirit signs
Glue fruit of the spirit templates to cardstock. Color in with colored pencils. Glue to popsicle sticks.  These are held up as each fruit of the spirit is explained in the Fruit of the Spirit Curriculum. (see below).

 Snack
Cross shaped sugar cookies and cut up fruit.

 Craft - Painting watermelons with jello paint
Cut white paper plates in half. In ramekins, pour green jello powder and red jello powder. Mix with a small amount of water to make "paint". Have the kids paint the plates to look like watermelon slices - red in the middle with a green outer shell, using Q-tips.

 Coloring Pages
Print out a graphic of a large tree (or draw one ) . Paste the fruit of the spirit templates on the tree and make copies. Print the Galatians 5:22 Bible quote at the bottom.  (I will try to scan in a copy of this one when I can.)

 Fruit of the Spirit Poster for families
This can be made on cardstock. Glue the Galatians 5:22 quote at the top. I made a little see-through pocket using hot glue, card stock, and part of the plastic from a ziploc bag. I hot-glued a cardboard bowl at the bottom to store all of the fruit.  I made the fruit from the fruit of the spirit templates by gluing them onto cardstock and laminating with laminate sheets (that you can buy at office supply stores).

Lindsay’s Vacation Bible School – Fruit of the Spirit

Description	Time Allotted
Name tags and welcome Pin on name tags.  While the children arrive, they can have free play and do coloring pages. Sing the Learning our Names song  Sing to the tune of "Did You Ever See a Lassie"/"The more we sing together")   As each child's name is said they should stand up. Thank-you God for (name) For (name), for (name) Thank-you God for (name) We're glad (s)he is here	5:00 – 5:15
Lesson During lesson, show picture of which fruit represents which trait.	5:15 – 5:40
Game – spoon relay with plastic fruit	5:40 – 5:50
Craft – paint watermelon with jello paint	5:50 – 6:05
Grace Pizza & fruit Write names on juice boxes.	6:05
Story Self control story Songs Fruit of the Spirit Song Jesus Loves Me http://ministry-to-children.com/fruit-of-the-spirit-song/	6:20
Closing: Ask the children if they can name the fruits of the spirit.  Also ask if they know Jesus and if He lives inside them?  We are only able to have the fruit of the spirit if we have Jesus living inside us Show  take home sheet. Explain how to use. Prayer Dear God, Help me know your way And be kind to others every day. Show me how to be very good And do the things I know I should. Amen.

Fruit of the Spirit Lesson - See post #2

Reading award-winning picture books from generations past

Picture book reading idea of the day
A picture book is awarded with the Caldecott Medal each year. Why not read some wonderful, award-winning picture books to your children from the present and back through their parents and grandparents' generation.

You can check these out at your local library. Some libraries even offer online catalog services where you just search for each title, and request the books online.
Here is a link to all of the Caldecott award winners from 1938 to present  -->  Caldecott winner website

Need more books to choose from?
There are also "honorable mentions" also given each year.
Here is a list of all the books receiving Caldecott Medal winners and Caldecott Honors from 1938 to present
--> Caldecott honors and medals website

Need even MORE books to choose from?
Each year a committee of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) identifies the best of the best in children's books.
Their list is grouped by younger readers, middle readers, and older readers.
Here are the 2011 books on their recommended list.  ---> Website

Pepperoni Pizza Monkey Bread

I made pepperoni pizza monkey bread with the kids. It was really good and a lot of fun to do with them. I highly recommend it to families with kids that like to help cook!

Here is a link to the recipe and instructions --> http://www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride/archives/7195

Tortoise and the Hare Game

Items Needed

bunny ears (1 or 2 pairs)

1 - 2 green plates

duck tape

black marker

cones or jump ropes

At least 2 kids

A printed out story of the Tortoise and the Hare

With a black marker, draw shapes on a green paper plate to resemble a turtle shell. Next, fold a long piece of duck tape over (sticky sides together) to make a "strap". Fold a 2nd piece to make a 2nd strap. Duck tape the straps to the paper plate. Cut a small strip open at the end of the tape (but not all the way to the end), kind of like you're making a button hole.  When the child puts the "shell" on his back, you can put the straps around his waist and pull one strap through the "button hole" to keep it on. 

Mark off the starting line and halfway line with cones or a jump rope. 

Race 

First, read the kids the Tortoise and the Hare story. Then explain that you'll be having your own tortoise and hare race.

 Explain to the kids that they will get a chance to be the tortoise and the hare. Divide the kids into 2 groups and have them stand in 2 lines behind the starting line. When you say go, the first 2 kids will put on their rabbit ears and hop to the halfway line, turn around and hop back to the starting line.  Then they will take off the ears, put on the turtle shell and crawl like a turtle to the halfway line, turn around and crawl back. 

The team that gets all their players back over the starting line first, wins!  You can make many variations of this game. For little kids, you can just have 1 line so they're not racing against anyone and no one wins or loses.

Or you can have one line of kids that are turtles racing against one line that are rabbits.



Find the toys in the jello - messy game

Items Needed

Jello mold or bundt cake pan

Knox Gelatin box (containing 4 packets)

1 box flavored jello (the bigger size box)

Water

Little plastic or rubber toys

In a large bowl, sprinkle gelatin and jello in 2 cup of cold water.  Let stand 1 minute. Add 5 cups hot or boiling water and stir until gelatin and jello are completely dissolved; about 5 minutes. Pour a small amount into the mold, add a few toys, and chill in the refrigerator until firm. (Keep the remaining liquid mixture out on the counter.) After a small amount has set, place another batch of toys in mold and then cover with a little more of the liquid mixture. Refrigerate until set and repeat with toys and liquid until mold is full. As each layer starts to set you can move the objects around if you want them positioned differently.

After completely set, dip mold in warm/hot water (I filled the sink) and run a knife around the edge, invert onto a plate and shake to release. When inverted you might need to use a knife to break the seal.

Then, let the kids start diving their hands into the ooey-gooey jello for some messy fun.  We did this for Clayton's 4th birthday party and the kids searched for little toy lizards in green jello. The game was to see how many lizards they could catch.

Pretzel Trees

Items Needed
Blue construction paper
leaves - preferably small ones
skinny pretzel sticks
glue

This is a fun fall craft. Take the kids "leaf picking". Collect small leaves from bushes, trees, or fallen branches.
Glue several pretzel sticks onto the paper as the tree trunk. Then glue other sticks fanning out from the trunk, like tree limbs.
Let the glue dry. (Otherwise, the pretzel sticks will slide around). Then glue the leaves around the pretzel "branches".

Thanksgiving Candy Corn Turkeys

Items Needed
paper plates
brown construction paper
candy corn
black marker

Cut out a brown turkey head and body (kind of like the shape of a bowling ball with a circle on top.)
Glue it to a paper plate. Then let the kids glue candy corn on like turkey feathers. 
It's a good way to use up leftover halloween candy corn!