"One in a minion" Valentines 2014

This week has been a whole lot of fun, we have had a good bit of snow for our parts and playing with the kids was wonderful. So, at the end of it all we ended up doing our Valentines last minute and though this wasn't our original plan, it turned out pretty cute.

Minion sticks and baked sugar cookies... The cookies are always a hit when kids can help bake, at least my kids, they LOVE to bake. Also, they LOOOOVE Despicable me so we wanted to do something little to do with that too that they could help with and they really enjoy crafts. Of any kind!

Here are some photos of what we did, maybe it will give you an idea of something you can enjoy doing with your own children or do the same as we did! It was incredibly easy (except clean up lol)!

First we baked allot of sugar cookies, and yes I make home made sugar cookies and all but when baking with the kids we sometimes just choose the simple route and we did a cookie mix.

 
 

Next we made some adorable little minion sticks... "Your one in a minion" I wrote on it and they could help paint, put eyes on etc what ever you want to let the little ones help with. These self stick googly-eyes are great and I had everything needed on hand. All you need is a sharpie, large popsicle sticks, yellow paint and googly eyes! Minions have some crazy hair so just play with it with a marker and make some fun different faces.

Just throw them in a cute valentine goody bag and tie it up... Cute and easy!

We did little handmade tags with some yellow paper (for the minions) cut into hearts and just wrote the to/from on it!

Childrens Sunday School Lesson: Using music to praise God. DIY Harp.

Praising God,
With singing and with music.

Music is such a fun concept and past time for children; and, such an important part of praising God. We all have our favorite songs, teaching children to desire the right kind of music and using it to praise and glorify God can be allot of fun.

Psalm 92:1-5 kjv

92 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High:

² To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,
³ Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.
⁴ For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.
⁵ O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.

Before starting a good conversation point (as I always like to prompt conversation with the kids in the beginning of class to give them a chance to talk before being quiet and a way to find fun in what we will be learning) is their favorite songs, instruments. Now, keep in mind that they might need coaxing and try to remind them of songs common in your church that they may know/like/sing.

Points to go over with children:

1-Music is good, something to be proud of and something to be used to glorify God. 
         -Singing in church, playing an instrument are wonderful ways to praise God. He wants us to praise Him with music!
2-Singing/Playing in church does not have to be perfect.
        -Something so hard for us to teach children is to not be afraid to get up on stage and sing or play an instrument, it's hard because often we are nervous or scared to do just that. Tell the kids that, that nerves bother adults too and that nerves are okay, not something to be ashamed of. Also, make sure they know that if they get up there to sing Jesus loves me and forget half the words that the EFFORT is what is important and what God asks us for. He never asks us to be perfect, He simply asks us to SERVE with a willing heart.
3-Everyone has different talents.
         -If a child doesn't seem to have a certain talent make sure they know that is okay and not something to be ashamed of. Each person, each child has a talent that they can explore and use to praise and glorify God.

CRAFT TIME:
Lets make a harp, one of the instruments mentioned in the scripture, a fun play "pretend" to remind the children of the lesson to use music and instrument to praise and give thanks to God.
  
What you need:
Card board (cake boards sold at walmart or craft store in cake section work great)
Large rubberbands (5 per harp)
Wooden dowel cut to about 5 inches
Hot glue gun

Cut board to shape of a harp, as seen in the photos (Not the best cut of card board but it works). After cutting the hole in the center place the wooden dowel at the top with hot glue gun (this serves to balance the rubber bands).  Pull rubber bands to fit around it and spread them out evenly. Let the kids strum and play pretend music. Using a sharpie write the Scripture on it as a reminder.

 

 

Spring-time finger paint crafts, our Easter!

A little late I know, but, I hope that EVERYONE had an amazing Easter. What an amazing holiday? Not only is it a reminder of our Lord Jesus' love for us but we can celebrate that He did indeed RISE again after his crucifixion on the cross for our sins. May we always remember, all year the sacrifice and the love He has and shows us. 

Now, on to our Easter celebration that included a couple cute little crafts for the kiddos, and of course hunting eggs and dieing them too! And who forgets, CAKE! You can find more on my Easter/Spring Rabbit cake HERE!

First, I'll share the paint crafts we did then you can feel free to see the pictures that tell the story of the rest of the weekend of fun with family quite well!

Craft time:

For the girls we did Aprons, my little girl and niece absolutely LOVE to help in the kitchen and of course their own special apron that THEY made, well that makes it all the more fun for them.

Before we began I painted the stem to the flower and their name. Depending on the child's age you could do this at the time of the craft but I found this worked so we could keep it short and sweet with the paint in case they got tired of it. Didn't want to push it with them but you know the kids you are working with so you be the judge. Suprisingly, all 4 that I got to work with (niece, nephew and my 2) had a blast with it!

Oh and just to add, the aprons are 4-5.00 at Hobby Lobby and fabric paint about 3.00/bottle, so it is a cheap fun craft!

The apron before the hand print, which will serve as the flower on the stem!

 Now for the boys, we simply did some cute little t-shirts for spring time, and they look adorable on. Since it is for the boys we didn't do a flower for theirs but before hand I did write their name and Spring 2013, they did hand prints!

The 'before' shirt.

 And... Who can forget the egg dying time!

Great tip for making it less mess to clean up, do it out side in the GRASS, kids love it out side anyhow! Oooh, and as you can see in these pictures we used a no spill egg cup (due to younger age, so they can have more control) I got at walmart. They by no means DONT spill but they definately keep the spills down and make it much easier. Still count on a little mess but it wont be as bad and as they do spill some it holds most of the water in the cup so that they can keep on dying!

 

 

And here, feel free to check out all the great fun we had with the Easter egg hunt and baskets through all the pictures below! You will also find all the pictures of the painting fun we had!

 

All the kiddos took turns rolling down the hill with my husband too!

 

God Bless and Happy SPRING TIME!