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.

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.

Sticky Note Scripture: Pslam 23

My verbal learner decided that she wanted to do her verses with sticky notes too.  It is interesting to see the differences in how my children work.  My verbal child says the next phrase, and then looks for the picture. My visual learner puts all the sticky notes in order, and then works to say it out loud.  

I am always a little surprised how effective simple, unimpressive drawings can be in helping students learn visually.

The LORD is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness,

for his own name sake.

Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for You are with me,

your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil.

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Related Posts:  Scripture Memory for My Visual Learner (Psalm 1)

Bible memory for children

Scripture Memory for My Visual Learner

I was reading about learning styles this week, and was reminded that it is important to put things in a visual format for my visual child.  I think this explains the frustration we have both had at Bible memory time when I ask him to verbally recite.  I decided to try to make Bible memory a visual activity.

I am not a visual learner, and as you can see, not particularly accomplished in illustration.  However, my son's reaction to these little visuals has been enthusiastic.  In one day, he went from being able to say about half of the Psalm, with prompting and hand motions, to saying the whole thing, simply by looking at these sticky notes.  Right now, we are connecting phrases with the pictures in order.  I chunked the Psalm using different colors. In the future I plan to have him put each section in order, then put the colored sections themselves in order.   I did use some words, but at this point those help him learn the words, not the passage.

Psalm 1 in Sticky Notes

How blessed is the man, 

who does not walk in the way of the wicked, 

who does not stand in the way of sinners, 

who does not sit in the seat of scoffers,

but his delight,

is in the Law of the Lord, and in His Law

he meditates day and night.

He will be like a tree,

firmly planted by streams of water,

that gives forth fruit in its season.

Its leaf also does not wither,

and whatever he does, he prospers.

The wicked are not so,

but are like the chaff which the wind blows away.

He will not stand in the day of judgment,

nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

Bible memory for children

A few years ago, my friend, Michelle, inspired me by teaching her two-year-old scripture passages.  I realized that the time was quickly approaching when my kids would be ready to memorize scripture, and began to think about what that should look like.

Growing up in a dedicated family, church, and Christian school, I memorized many verses.   I am grateful now for what was stored in my young  heart.  As I look back, I see that some of the verses I memorized as a child are more useful than others.

Passages that lead to knowledge of God

My parents taught me John 3:16 before I was four-years-old.  It was reviewed many times during my child hood.  This is one of the most precious verses they could have given me.  The whole gospel, clearly written on my heart with love.  It speaks of God's graciousness, and nothing is more central to my faith.

Now that I am choosing passages for my own children, I want to choose passages that are central to the character of God.  Many of the verses chosen for children are focused on details of behavior.  I think this is a mistake.  Focusing on behavioral details in Bible memory tells the child that getting those details right is the most important thing.  According to Jesus, Knowing and loving God is the most important thing.  (See Mark 12:29.)

Long passages, thoroughly reviewed

Each year the teachers in my Christian elementary school would introduce a "passage of the year." The class would memorize the passage at the beginning of the year and recite every day for the rest of the year.  To this day, I can quote Exodus 20 in the King James, even though I have not reviewed it in the twenty years  that have passed since I finished the first grade

Remembering extended passages, is valuable to me as an adult.  If I am thinking through a situation, searching for words for prayer, or giving a defense, I have entire discussions at my disposal.  It is easy to remember where large chunks of memorized material are found, so I can go back and check whether I am remembering accurately, or refer someone else to these passages.  

In contrast, I was also asked to memorize many individual verses on a week at a time basis throughout my child hood.  The standard format was that the verse would be assigned one week, and we were expected, or bribed, to come back the next week able to recite it.   In most cases, the verse would be recited in a reference, one verse, reference, format.  The next week we would be on to a new verse found in a totally different book.

Although I do remember many of these verses, and am grateful for them, they are less valuable to me.  The references do not stick to the verses in my brain.   This is a problem if I want to share with someone else in the moment.  Of course, I can google if there is time.

A more dangerous problem with these stand alone verses is that I do not really know what they are saying unless I go back and look them up.  As the text book from my World History class at a state run university demonstrated brilliantly, you can make the Bible say anything if you mix and match.  Frankly, many preachers are just as guilty. Before I rework my life based on a piece of Scripture, or, worse, influence someone else to rework theirs,  I want to be sure of what the Scripture is saying. 

As my husband and I approach Bible memory for our own kids we are trying to pick passages that focus on who God is.  We are working on longer sections and reviewing that one section for months, maybe years, at at time.  I hope it serves them well as the passages entrusted to me as a child have served me.

What have you found most useful in your own experience with Bible memory?  What do you focus on in Bible memory for your pre-school and elementary students or children?

Easter Week Calendar

I just realized with a start that Palm Sunday is almost here!  Last year we were celebrating in a Muslim country which honored Christmas and Valentines, but the stores had nothing for Easter.  Our family sent treats, but it was too late to ask for other traditional items before I realized I would not be able to buy them.  

Holy Week Calendar

In order to make a big deal of Holy Week, we did two things.  First, starting with Palm Sunday, every day we read the section of Mark that corresponded with the day of the week.  Then I wrote the day of the week on a piece of paper, and we drew a matching picture.

Holy Week Calendar based on Mark

Palm Sunday: Mark 11:1-11

Monday:  Mark 11:12-19

Tuesday:  Mark 11: 20- Mark 13:36

Wednesday:  Mark 14: 1-10

Thursday:  Mark 14:12- 66

Friday: Mark 15

(Saturday:  Nothing recorded, but a great day to use as preparation for the Big Celebration)

Sunday:  Mark 16

A Hymn

A second activity that we did every day is to sing through "Low in the Grave He Lay" by Robert Lowry.  This is the best version I was able to find on Youtube.  Although it does the hymn justice, it is more fun to sing the chorus after every verse, and enjoy the fact that we serve a risen Savior more than once.

This hymn works well as an action song.  We lay on the floor while we sing the verse then jump up and dance around as the phrase "Up from the Grave He Arose!" resounds in the first line of the chorus.

This year we are going to spend part if not all of the holiday week in a hotel, so our celebration will again need to be simple.  I am looking forward to it though.  

Do you have an Easter Tradition that helps your family focus on what it is all about?

How to safely contract leprosy

This morning the 5th grade girls in my class had a great time and so did I. We were learning that God cares about us personally from Matthew 8:1-3. I asked for a brave volunteer… and got lots of eager, waving hands. The rest of the class used stickers to give her leperous spots. Then we talked about how it couldn't be cured and our volunteer said the stickers were a little uncomfortable. So then we dabbed on a variety of lotions, but sadly she still wasn't cured. So she was sent to exile in the back of the room in an out of the way corner. Through the avalanche of giggles we read the verses about how Jesus responded to the leper and invited our leper to rejoin the group and remove her spots.

Jesus calms the storm rain-maker craft

Last month, we tried to float sponges on our Sea of Galilee in basin before our lesson in the two year old room. The sponges didn't float, and neither did the children, but both were equally wet.

Here's the part of the lesson that did work like it was supposed to. We were learning about how Jesus calmed the storm. During the lesson we made lots of noise for the rain and the thunder and the waves. After the lesson we colored the clouds and make our own rain-makers using:

• plastic containers from the dollar store

• coloring picture of clouds. Here's mine.

• beads and tin foil bits to sound like rain... other things would probably work fine too. I didn't want them to try to eat beans, I had the beads on hand and they look kinda cool.

• packaging tape to make sure that the lids stayed on even if someone got curious about the beads

How to get Goliath to visit your class…

This week our church Bible story material gave me the story of David and Goliath from 1 Samuel 17 to teach to our eager group of 2 year olds. It provided a card-board cut out of David and one of his sheep, but Goliath apparently went missing last year.

Before class, I had some of my favorite 3 and 5 year old helpers help me measure out 8 feet on the cement block wall in our class. Then I used masking tape to make a life-size figure of Goliath on the wall. Next time I'll have to shoot pics, but he was just a little better than a stick figure. He immediately got lots of attention from all ages. My little Davids had a great time hitting him with paper-wad rocks at the end of class. (Hope nobody threw things at their siblings when they got home.)

I got a coloring page from here (but we didn't get to it because we were having too much fun).