Easter Fun Focusing on Jesus

Hi Mommy Teachers!  I hope you all enjoyed a fabulous Easter!  Many of you may have kids on Spring Break now, or perhaps your Spring Break was last week like my oldest’s was, or if you don’t get a Mardi Gras holiday like we do in Louisiana, yours may have been several weeks ago.  Or if you don’t have a child in school, then perhaps every week is Spring Break… or not.  What is a break when you’re a mom anyway?

Easter was so much fun this year for my family!  The night before Easter, our family had our 4th Annual Glow-in-the-Dark Easter Egg Hunt with friends!  While I read from our Jesus Storybook Bible about Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection, the dads threw hundreds of glow-in-the-dark eggs in the field.  Jesus is the light in the darkness…great reminder!

Easter

This year, for our egg hunt on Easter morning, we decided to hide 12 Scripture Eggs, or Resurrection Eggs.  We followed the guidelines from Your Homebased Mom’s post for the Easter Scripture Egg Activity.  She shares a list of items/symbols to include in each of your eggs to have a visual element to better connect to each scripture, the twelfth egg being empty to represent the empty tomb. Her post also includes a PDF that you can print out with each of the scriptures on it.

I know that this post is after Easter, but I wanted to share with you how we adapted wonderful activity to our family and how my kids processed it.  Be sure to pin it to your Easter and Holiday Pinterest boards for next year!

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My kids are 7, 5 and 2 and so I decided to hide three sets of Scripture Eggs to avoid a huge fight over who gets to learn about Jesus ;-).  I used 12 blue, 12 green, and 12 pink eggs and each of my kids knew which color they were searching for.  My kids each got a symbol in their eggs, but I rotated which kid got the scripture reference in his/her egg.  My husband had an New International Version (NIV) Bible open (or you can search for your favorite translation online) because the King James Version (KJV) can be confusing for the kids.

The kids were instructed to find the eggs, but not to open them.  When all the eggs were found, we sat down together and opened one egg at a time in order.  I loved hearing my 7-year-old say, “Hey!  There’s nothing in my 12!” and then the light bulb went off seconds later, “Oooooh because the tomb was empty!”

symbols

The whole family really did enjoy this activity! There was a bigger purpose and defined focus for what each egg represented than years past when we filled the eggs with candy… and even my 2-year-old caught on.  When my oldest was joking around like they do on VeggieTales saying, “Easter is for chocolate bunnies,” my 2-year-old was the one who corrected him, “No, Easter is for Jesus!”

Easter win!

Oh, and here’s a Mommy win for egg dying…

tongs

I call them “egg tongs.”  You’re welcome 😉

Remember to Pin this for next year!

My All-Time Favorite Kid’s CD

I grew up listening to Hide ‘Em in Your Heart, Vol. 1 & 2 but had nearly forgotten all about it until my sister gave me the two-for-one CD for Christmas.

My first thought was, I’m going to be so sad if my kids don’t like it.

So, before I popped it in my CD player,  I said “Guess what?!?  This was mommy’s favorite music when I was a kid, and now we can learn the songs and listen to it together!”

Then I skipped right to my two favorite songs as a kid:  “God loves a Cheerful Giver” and “Encourage One Another.”

At first, my kids ONLY wanted to listen to those songs for the first day or two, but then as the songs played without them noticing, they eventually fell in love with ALL of the songs.

This CD has been a GREAT teaching tool because when my little girl is afraid of “sharks” and “alligators” at night, we sing “When I am afraid, I will trust in HIM.”

Or, when they are complaining, I sing “Do everything without complaining.”

It is a great way to introduce and memorize Scripture naturally and regularly which is my favorite way to do things.

My kids are under 5 so it is really appropriate for them, but I remember liking this CD as a 10 year old child.  I can’t promise that your kids will love it because I know Kid’s bop and Disney music are kid favorites these days, but it is worth a try because the content it priceless.

I hope you like it as much as we do!

riding in the car

An Elf Alternative

I have noticed that Elf lovers and Elf haters BOTH have something in common… they are happy with their own way of doing things.
Casey has great Elf ideas (that even incorporate Bible verses), and Krista is an example of someone who all of you Elf-Haters could relate to.  I am not Pro Elf or Anti Elf.

I think I might even fit into a whole new category.

I’m just kind of an observer of all things elf.  So, when I saw these elves, I bought them but I didn’t have any intention of doing the Elf on the Shelf thing.

Stuffed Elves

I actually had a few different ideas in mind:

1) To give them as gifts this year to friends, each holding Personalized Chocolate Bar with caricatures of our family dressed as elves.  (I was really proud when I came up with this gift idea!)

Elf Gift

2) To tell our kids that Santa sent us elf toys to take with us each time we go to do something special for Christmas (like picking out a Christmas tree, caroling, taking pictures with Santa, or going to parties).  If I forget to take them, we will just tell our elves all about them when we get home.  Each child gets their own elf and it is simply a plush toy – no magic involved.

photo 3

3) To decorate with the little cuties.

Decorating with Elves

4) To make boring spots of our house fun and festive…. like the microwave.  I love that their hands velcro together.

plush elves

There isn’t going to be much more to it than that for me, but this was exactly the elf I had been looking for if I was ever going to consider including Elves in our holiday traditions or household.

But maybe you do want this to be your Elf on the Shelf and in that case, CLICK HERE and go buy them. 🙂

 

24 Christmas Activities with Printables!

In case you missed out last year… we shared a variety of Christmas Activities that are perfect for the whole family.
1  If your kids haven’t written their letters to Santa yet (or Mrs. Claus), we have the template for you.
2  If you want to come up with a fun game or scavenger hunt for the kids and their cousins, we shared ours with you.
3  If you want art activities, we have plenty!
Take a look by clicking here or on the picture below!  And Pin It to save for next year! Christmas Activities

Post on The Mommy Teacher Facebook Page.
merry christmas

For Kids Who Can’t Write Their Letters Yet – Building Letters {Part 2}

If you didn’t get a chance to read Part 1 {Click here} – go back and skim through it now so you aren’t wondering what in the world I am talking about.

I didn’t even know at the time that that post was a “Part ONE” but when a Pre-k teacher asked me if I could turn it into a printable, I decided to stay up all night (like the night owl I am) and make it happen.

Letter Puzzles Screen Shot

So, here is how this HUGE set works…
You can have your little one cut up the movable shapes that make up the letters or you can cut them yourself and laminate them, but either way….

I made this so that you can work on a letter a day if you want to OR you can have a bunch of the shapes out and about and let your littles explore with combining them to make the letters (or numbers).

You get an E for effort either way… see what I did there?

The first page acts like a little reference.

I am including this set in my Members Page.

If you EVER have problems with getting locked out of the site or losing your password e-mail me Jessica (at) the mommy teacher (dot) com so that I can take care of it!

Thanks!

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