Preschool / Bible Craft – Shining Our Light

Yesterday I wrote about how we are trying to integrate our faith more and more into our every day life as a family.  Occasionally we do little crafts or activities (if I can think of any) to go along with this.   

This weekend, the Sunday scripture reading from the Gospel of Matthew is about how Christians should be salt and light in the world.  (Matthew 5:13-16)

We talked about this a little and then did a fun candle craft.  We’ve done this once before and M loved it.  He’s  been wanting to make another one, and this was the perfect opportunity (especially considering that I just used up a jar of chicken bouillon, the perfect size for a little candle. ;) )

We started off with some tissue paper scraps, our jar, white glue thinned with water, a foam paintbrush, and a small picture of Jesus with His mama, cut from a Christmas card:

I explained to M that this is called decoupaging.  He just loves those big words. :)

Paint on a thin layer of glue, press on tissue paper pieces, then carefully paint another thin layer of glue on top.  Keep doing this until your jar looks “just right” to you:

It took some extra glue to get the picture to stick on.  I would suggest using a cutting from a magazine instead of a card, or using generous amounts of double stick tape to put the picture on, then covering it with the thinned glue:

 

When it’s dry, pop in a tea light candle and watch your little light shine. :)

the back

the front

We’ve also been singing This Little Light of Mine, using a battery-operated tealight to “hide under a bushel” (his cupped hand) and “blow” out. :)  M really, really loves this!

Have a beautiful day! :)

 

Books of the Week – Feb. 5, 2011

We read another Carl book this week – Carl’s Sleepy Afternoon, by Alexandra Day.  It was even more of a hit than our Carl book last week.  Carl is quite the dog – very adventurous and helpful and completely loveable.  So far we haven’t found a story about Carl that we haven’t loved or at least liked.  We haven’t read all of them though, so I can’t say for sure that they are all wonderful, but this one sure is!

 

A Far Fetched Story, by Karin Cates has been one of M’s top favorites over the past couple of weeks.  We read it at least once a day, and quite often it’s one of the books he chooses to look at in bed at the end of the day.  In my opinion, it’s okay… even cute, and sort of funny.  The real attraction (for me) is the artwork, by Nancy Carpenter – so interesting, and I can’t even explain why.  Here’s a note about the artwork, found in the front of the book:

“The paintings for A Far-Fetched Story are done in pen and ink with watercolor on Arches 90-lb. hot-press watercolor paper.  Each family member’s far-fetched tale, as well as a few other illustrations, are also pen and ink drawings with watercolor that have been color copied onto transfer paper and ironed onto white linen.  I used a sewing machine and colored thread to sew additional lines and add details to the linen paintings. – Nancy Carpenter” 

Interesting, no?

 

  

Our newest series of chapter books to read at lunch is The Littles, by John Peterson.  I remember loving these books when I was little.  I read them on my own in 2nd grade or so, but the vocabulary and story lines are super-easy for M to comprehend and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend these as read-alouds for 4+ non-readers.  There are a couple of things I’ve skipped (which is easier to do with non-readers than readers, right?), that I felt were too scary for M (like a Little almost getting eaten by a dog, and that kind of thing, which some children his age are fine with).  The three books pictured above are the ones we’ve read so far.  Our favorite is The Littles Go Exploring – a story about finding a hidden room, going on a adventure beyond the Dark Woods, and looking for Grandpa Little who disappeared 2 years prior.  Super-duper exciting stuff! ;)

For more reviews of children’s books, check out Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.

Have a beautiful day! :)