Preschool Crafts

This quarter I have been working Wednesday nights at church in the preschool class. Parents are in classes or Redemption Groups so the kids are in "Kids Kore." It's one of the highlights of my week. It is very tiring at the end of a long day, but I love seeing the kids learn about Jesus and love Him more. I also love Wednesday nights because Caley is in the preschool class, and it's fun to see her playing with other kids in that setting. 

We are doing the Big Book curriculum, which is basically a Bible story a week told through a big storybook. Then we play some games to help the kids learn the story and do a craft. I've been planning and preparing the crafts this quarter, which is really fun for me. There has been the occasional week I can't think of a craft or run out of time to prepare, but the good thing about preschoolers is that they're easily amused. In a pinch, shaving cream, playdough, or just coloring is a good activity. They especially like playing group games like "Lost Little Sheep" which the class assistant Janessa does with them, or just running around pretending to be a dinosaur. It gets really loud in class sometimes. But that's bound to happen with 15 kids in a room at 830 at night.

Here are the crafts we've done. Most of these crafts I got from the internet and tweaked a bit.

Story of Abraham and Sarah
Noah and the Ark
Joshua and the Wall of Jericho- baked dough bricks (salt, flour, water) with playdough as the mortar
On left- Daniel in the lion's den; On right- Moses in the bulrushes (egg carton cup for basket, piece of felt, tiny baby inside)

Jonah and the big fish

Can you tell I like using paper plates? They're not just for eating! 

Encouragement

For some reason when I woke up this morning, I felt convicted that I don't share my faith in Jesus "enough." I was hearing lies such as, "You aren't working hard enough; your kids don't know how to talk to people about Jesus; you need to do more." 

Then at breakfast, without any prompting from me, Caley turned to Amelia and said, "Once upon a time, Jesus died on the cross. And the bad guys did bad things to him and then he rose from the dead!"

Thanks for the encouragement Caley. :) I know there is always more to be done, but I'm glad you know the basics and aren't afraid to share them. Thank you Lord for your amazing timing.

I have some competition

As much as I'd like to be innovative and franchising, I just can't compete with Disney. They went and stole my idea for an EVE doll. I should have patented it. :)

Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I still like the homemade version.