Everyday Teachable Moments

What Does Not Belong?

Recently, at a birthday party, Sean Patrick was given a little activity book of hidden pictures as a party favor. We had a great time working on this little booklet together and we ended up talking about the bigger pictures on each page as well as the hidden images.

So, I wanted to make a “bigger picture” that led to even better discussions.

This can set up great conversation for discussing the nativity setting (where the birth of Jesus took place). The “characters” (who was at the birth of Jesus) including who is not pictured. And much more. Leave a comment if you do this so I can learn from what came out of your conversations.

You can also talk about what was not there – a car is “silly” to be in the picture because when Jesus was a baby people went from place to place by walking. They didn’t have cars.

People wore sandals not tennis shoes. I’m trying to give you ideas here discussing the hidden images as prompts but I’m kind of running out haha.

The Wise Men brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, not pencils and paintbrushes.

Visual discrimination is a great skill for kids to learn. They have to concentrate, focus, and isolate objects which is easy for us, but difficult for kids who are still learning what the objects are called.

You don’t have to print this… you can pull it up on your computer and you can search for the hidden images on the screen and click “edit” on the PDF and put a circle image around it when they find each picture.

Click HERE to get it!

December 11, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

Gingerbread Templates

I do not have time to post pictures of my little ones doing these crafts at the rate I am making these printables for the “24 Days of Christmas Printables!” (You can like the album on our Facebook page to get notifications when I add new ones each day). I am enjoying filling our playroom with options.

This gingerbread man template is great for choosing to use it however you feel up to it maybe after reading a Gingerbread Man book you check out from the library or after making a gingerbread house in time for Christmas.

Each day the kids get excited about the templates because I give them options like:

Do you want to decorate the gingerbread man with glue and sprinkles?

Do you want to color him or paint him?

Can you trace the gingerbread man with markers?

Can we give him sticker buttons and yarn hair?

These templates just make it easy to use however you feel up to it.

Click HERE to get the templates. They are included in my membership (which is just $5 a year) OR you can purchase them for just $1 in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.

December 8, 2013 by Jessica | 0 comments

Including Your Kids In Your Hobbies

My mother-in-law gave me great advice the other day… she encouraged me to look for ways to include my kids in my hobbies.

This made me ask myself the first important question … What are my hobbies?

Hmmm…(I just had to ask my sister)… lol thats sad.

I like to exercise (is that a hobby?), I like to make personalized gifts (crafting a little), I like to cook (but not bake), and the obvious… I like to work/play on the computer.

So here is a small example of how I involve my kids in “working” on the computer…

It makes sense to include your kids in your hobbies right? It is just hard to purpose it sometimes. But, I love to go on walks with my kids, cook with my kids, and craft with my kids so I should include all of those things in our daily routine since I enjoy them so much, AND take them on adventures so they can discover their hobbies.

Can you easily think of your hobbies or do you have to remind yourself what you used to enjoy?

My mother and father-in-law did a phenominal job training my husband as a child. He is so disciplined – he helps around the house, he is always on top of the yard work, he fixes our household glitches, but he also has hobbies that he enjoys.

I want to train my children like that…to “work” hard and to play hard!

What are your hobbies and how do you (or can you) include your children in them?

I would love some more ideas. 🙂

P.S. Someone tell my husband I want a learning tower for Christmas! I can’t believe I don’t have one yet, but if I get one I can include the kids even more in the cooking – a stool isn’t cutting it!

Guidecraft Step Up Kitchen Helper - Espresso

November 13, 2013 by Jessica | 2 Comments

{DIY} Personalized Scripture Cards

My latest project is complete… and I’m pretty excited about it. The best part is that I really had fun sticking pictures on these Scripture cards that I made for our family.

I got this idea the other night simply looking through pictures on my phone.

Looking at each picture, I would think of different Bible verses like:

“How sweet it is when brothers live in unity…”(Psalm 133:1) or looking at a picture of my mckayla enjoying a cupcake and “Taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8) popped into my mind. So, I started searching for companies that made picture stickers. Tons of companies make them, but not sticker pages that could be made of multiple pictures.

Then, I stumbled upon Moo.com and found this:

A sticker book of 90 pictures for just $9.99!

sticker pictures from Moo.com

I uploaded lots of my Instagram pictures from my Facebook account into their program (which didn’t take long), and then ordered my book. When it came in, it felt like Christmas. At nap time, I printed my Scripture cards & got busy.

After printing my Scripture Card Printable I spread out all of the Scriptures all over my table so that I could pick which pictures applied most specifically to each verse. I was excited to make them really meaningful.

After I finished matching all of my stickers and cards, I laminated them and cut them (you can do both of these things at an office supply store); I laminated mine with my affordable self-laminator that I love. I bought mine at Walmart.

I cut them with my guillotine cutter.

Then, I searched around my house for the perfect place to place them… they are currently in my rooster coffee cups. 🙂

diplaying scripture cards in coffee cups

When I shared the idea with my friend the other day, she asked me,

“How would you introduce these?”

I let her know that I try to 1) Memorize most of the verses so that I can make them a part of our natural conversations.

I occasionally 2) Make observations verbally:

“Sean Patrick, you are being such a kind big brother. Did you know that the Bible says “Be kind and loving toward one another?” It makes God, Daddy, and Mommy so proud to see you doing those things.

Sometimes, I 3) Show my kids the pictures and we discuss them…

“See this picture of Mckayla and Meme looking at the sky God made? The Bible says that the Heavens tell about God’s beauty…. Can you see how beautiful He is when you look at the sky?”

Finally, when they are old enough to read, I will 4) Ask my kids to read me a verse so we can talk about it, how we can see that verse in our lives, and how we can do a better job of living out that verse.

Does that make sense?

My mom did such a great job investing in my five siblings and myself by teaching us lots and lots of Bible verses in such a natural and meaningful way.

I am excited to follow in my precious momma’s footsteps and purpose teaching invaluable truth to my kids.

You could also use these as part of your daily devotions and come up with activities or songs to go with them. 😉

November 6, 2013 by Jessica | 2 Comments

Park Scavenger Hunt

I’ll never forget the day when I was packing lots of monkey puppet printables and crayons on our way to Kennilworth park and my husband said “Jess, no kids are going to be coloring while they are at the park.” And as I recall I said something along the lines of “We’ll see.”

Mmm Hmm… I think you know where this is headed…

Every last printable was colored and taken home, of course. I set it up on a picnic table under a covered awning and the kids re-visited the craft bit by bit.

Now, don’t get me wrong… I FULLY believe that parks are a place to take advantage of the gross motor skills (balance, coordination, running, jumping, climbing skills, etc.) that naturally take place in that setting. And there are SO many great parks in Baton Rouge to wear out your kiddos ;). But, if you are like me, you might pack snacks and other carry-ons that can make your playdates vary and LAST!

Today, I am sharing a printable that could be a great way for kids to observe, record, and note the differences of their local parks.

This printable has different uses for different stage kiddos:

For Toddlers:

Introduce the vocabulary…. “Look! Swings. Where are the swings? Yay! We found the swings. Do you want to swing?”

For Pre-schoolers:

Observe the details…. “Does this playground have swings? What color are the swings? Lets color the swings green so we can remember that this park has green swings!”

For Pre-Kinders:

Record the details…. Put an “x” on the line under the equipment that is not at the playground, try to write the beginning sound or all the sounds you hear on the line under the equipment that is at the playground.

For Kinders:

Write about the details…. “Can you write what you like about the {slide, swing, etc.} at this playground?” “I like to push my friends on the swings so I am going to write that under swings.”

For Kinder Grads:

Compare and Contrast the different playgrounds by making their own scavenger hunt specific to their own local parks/playgrounds.

My final bit of advice for using these: bring clipboards… kids feel so official when they are “recording information” on a clipboard. 🙂

I hope you like this little freebie that you can tote along to the park OR have it out on a table at home after going to a park for some unwind time.

Become a member of my page for just a one time paypal of $5 to access this printable: