Saturday, November 23, 2013

Quick, easy, Bible-centered advent calendar activity


Advent starts in one week!  Last year, I shared a simple advent calendar that I developed for my own kids. Looking at it last night, I realized that my visual skills have improved in the last year.  One more benefit of blogging!  Sorry, I took the embarrassing "before" evidence down, so you can't go look.  However, I am re-doing the post in case someone might find the content helpful.

 Here are the the themes and verses we will look at each week during the month leading up to Christmas.

Week One:  The Promises of Christmas


1.  To Abraham: Genesis 12:3, Genesis 17:19, Genesis 22: 18;  Page 56 in the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones.
2.   To David: 2 Samuel 7:16, Psalm 22; Page 116 in the Jesus Storybook Bible
3.  To Micah:  Micah 5:2, cf. Matthew 2:6
4.  To Isaiah:  Isaiah 7:10 and Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 9:1,2 and Matthew 4:15,16, Isaiah 53:4 ; Page 144 in the Jesus Story book Bible.

I like using the Jesus Sotrybook Bible for this first section of advent because Sally Lloyd-Jones does such a lovely job of tying together the themes of the Old Testament with the coming of Christ.  For the rest of the calendar, I find reading directly from Scripture alone connects well with my children.

Week Two: Songs of Christmas


1.  Elizabeth's song:  Luke 1:42-45
2.  Mary's song:  Luke 1:46-55
3.  Zacahraias's song:  Luke 1:68-79
4.  Simeon's song: Luke 2:28-32

Week Three:  Comings of Angels at Chrstimas


1. To Zacharias: Luke 1:5-24
2.  To Mary:  Lukie 1:26-38
3.  To Joseph: Matthew 1:19-25, Matthew 2:13, 19
4. To Shepherds: Luke 2:8-14

Week four: The Baby Jesus


1.  The Word: John 1:14
2. The King: Matthew 1:25, Matthew 2:11
3. The Baby: Luke 2:1-7
4.  The Savior: Luke 2:15-20

Last night I made up figures for each week, and printed four of each of the figures with one set of verses on each.  Both of my kids will get a figure to decorate if they like, then paste on their own calendar.  We will talk about one figure on each of our normal school days during calendar time.   You could also use this calendar as a basis for a weekly lesson that focuses on one of these themes each week.

My figures are super simple, (maybe I'll figure out beautiful by next year?), but they are available in the form of a free printable!  

To down load a copy of my PDF of Advent Calendar Tokens, click here.




I hope that your Christmas is full of Wonder at the Gift sent from Heaven.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

A balloon and a fan



I was cleaning out my photos and found this gem from last summer.  My daughter had discovered this phenomenon and came running to find me.  "Look, Mommy!  The balloon sticks!"

Of course the balloon is not actually sticky.  Why is it hanging there? Gravity is pulling it down.  

Before thinking about what is happening vertically, think horizontally for a moment, into the picture (the y-plane in three dimensions).   The fan blades are pushing air away from the camera, and pulling the air into the fan.  The balloon is pulled along with the air, but cannot enter the fan because of its size.  It is pulled against the grid of the fan.  Wherever it touches the grid of the fan, there is a normal force and friction.  Friction always works against motion.  To whatever degree the balloon would fall due to the gravity, the friction holds it in place.  

Of course I didn't lay all that on my three-year-old.  Just part of it, I couldn't help myself.  Mostly though, I'm just happy that she notices these things.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

What will a five-year-old boy want to read?

I have read several articles recently that talk about how difficult it is to interest boys in reading, and gave elaborate suggestions on how to wet their appetite.  Now, there are no guarantees about what anybody else's boy wants to read, but this is what my five-year-old chose.  


Birds because he loves flying, and wants to understand everything possible about flying.  Comics...I don't know, but he loves them!  Although, I have decided to cut them up and just give him the ones I am willing to read and explain.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Posted Note Verses: 1 Timothy 3:16

I shot these photos after my son ordered and explained them to me.  The quality of these pictures is not anything to celebrate, but they are an authentic peek at how we make scripture memory a priority in our day.  Note, the pictures read right to left.

1 Timothy 3:16, And we all agree, that our religion contains amazing revelation.


He was revealed in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels



proclaimed among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, taken up into glory.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Decomposing numbers into pairs, Duplo activity


This week, we're working on decomposing numbers into their pairs.  For example, three and seven make ten. 

Our materials are pretty simple.  We are using the same box of magnetic numbers that I showed you in my post, Addition at the Fridge, a metal board that allowed us to have our lesson on the front porch rather than in the kitchen, and several Duplos.