With Lent and Easter just around the bend, I thought it was a great time to re-share my friend's Prayer Hands with a free printable. It's a simple way to remind your kids of what is important and remind them of all that they have to be thankful for, not only during this time of
Make this super soft, no cook, cloud dough recipe! Only 2 ingredients - cornstarch and lotion. This homemade dough is really easy to make!
Zacchaeus is a real-life example of the power that Jesus has to change our hearts. The goal in this lesson is for the children to feel the darkness and ugliness of sin, and then experience the joy and miracle of forgiveness when Zacchaeus meets Jesus! Bible Truth: Jesus has the power to forgives my sin. Bible Story: Jesus changes Zacchaeus' heart. Bible Study: Luke 19:1-10; I Corinthians 5:7 teach cha-ching! To tell the story of Zacchaeus "hands-on" style gather up these items: children's picture Bible, or flannel graph scenery and characters a small bag or coin pouch loose change a cut-out of a black heart and a white heart Peak your class's interest in your lesson by shaking the bag, and letting them guess what is inside. They will probably easily guess that you have money in your bag! Pass out a coin for each child to hold throughout the lesson. (Remind them that they should never put coins in their mouths!) Read the story of Zacchaeus from a children's picture Bible, or tell it in your own words with visuals, such as flannel graph. Introduce Zacchaeus as a short man, who was a tax collector. His job was to collect money that people had to pay to the king. But Zacchaeus took more money from people than he was supposed to. If someone was supposed to pay one coin to the king, Zaccahaeus made them pay two coins, and he would keep one of the coins for himself. That is called stealing. Zacchaeus was rich and had lots of money, but nobody wanted to be his friend because he stole money from them. He had a dark sinful heart. Hold up the dark heart as you describe Zacchaeus' dark and sinful heart. Go on to tell the rest of the story of Zacchaeus meeting Jesus, as you show pictures from the children's Bible or manipulate flannel graph characters. At the conclusion of the story, talk about how amazing it is that Jesus changed Zacchaeus' heart! He used to be a man that stole people's money, but now he gives his money away to people! Jesus did a miracle! Only Jesus has the power to take a dirty, sinful heart and give us a new clean heart! Zacchaeus repented, he turned away from his sin, and followed Jesus! Hold up the white heart as you describe how Jesus changed Zacchaeus' heart. Lead the class in a prayer, asking Jesus to forgive their sin, and change their hearts so they can follow Jesus like Zacchaeus. After you pray, collect the coins from the children. Tell them that they are giving the money back just like Zacchaeus did after he repented. sing Zacchaeus (was a wee little man) is a Sunday School classic, and the perfect song to reinforce the story they just heard. Be sure to do some actions with the song! The Repent Song is the same song we learned along with the story of John the Baptist, so it's great review and repetition. Follow the link for the lyrics and actions. The Bath Song is a great song about how Jesus washes away our sin with "super soap." The "call back" format makes it really easy to sing along! craft color & paste Here is a coloring sheet from Sermons 4 Kids of Jesus talking to Zacchaeus in the tree. Cut pieces of green paper, or green tissue paper into leaves for the children to glue onto the tree. zacchaeus meets Jesus A good craft is one that helps children retell the story that they learned. This craft does exactly that! You will need: this print out in (black & white) or (color) card stock scissors hole punch yarn green tissue paper glue clear tape crayons (optional) To prepare, print the print out page onto card stock. Cut on the dotted line, and cut out Zacchaeus. Punch a hole at the top and bottom of the tree. Cut out approximately 1" x 1" squares of green tissue paper. Cut yarn into 16" lengths. In class, provide glue for the children to attach the squares of tissue paper to the tree as leaves. Lace the yarn throught the holes and tie it behind the tree. If using the black and white version, provide crayons for the children to color Jesus and Zacchaeus. Tip: Tie the yarn near the top of the page, and attach Zacchaeus to the bottom of the page. It is easier for the kids, if you let them glue on the leaves before you add the yarn. Use clear tape to attach Zacchaeus to the yarn. Tip: Set the clear tape under the yarn, sticky side up, and then press Zacchaeus onto the tape. Move Zacchaeus up and down the tree to retell the story! up and down the tree For this craft you will need: this tree pattern this Zacchaeus pattern green construction paper jumbo craft sticks yarn scissors hole punch crayons glue tape To prepare, cut out the top, leaf portion of the tree pattern, and use it to trace onto green construction paper. Cut out tree and Zacchaeus figures. Punch a hole near the top of the trees. Cut yarn into approximately 7" lengths. In class, provide crayons for the children to color Zacchaeus, and the jumbo craft stick. Help them attach the tree to the craft stick with glue. Tape Zacchaeus to the yarn, thread the yarn through the hole in the tree, and tie the yarn off in the back to move Zacchaeus up and down the tree. Find more ideas and for teaching your child at home about Zacchaeus and his encounter with Jesus, here!
Kids can make these Colored Paper Collage Sculptures as a sculpture and colored paper collage project all rolled into one.
Download HIER
This simple project with help teach kids geography and increase their global awareness as they begin to grasp their city, state, country, and continent.
Science projects for kids can be fun and exciting. Make hands-on science crafts at home with these easy at home science crafts.
“Gay #skephalo #SkeppyFanArt #badboyhalofanart”
Teaching students to sequence and summarize stories is crucial to their reading comprehension of fiction texts. These reading crafts are fresh, hands on and unique fiction activities for supporting students in breaking down sequencing and summarizing key events. It is an alternative to reading response that will help you to reach all learners in your classroom. These summarizing and sequencing activities require little to no prep, and the only materials needed are scissors and glue (word rings needed for the "key" events ring craft). WHAT’S INCLUDED: 8 Sequencing and Summarizing Crafts: Sequencing Movie Reel: Students illustrate and describe 5 key events in the story in the order that they happened. A large (full page) and small (2/page) movie reel options are included, as well as options for illustrations and descriptions or illustrations only. Film Strip Lift the Flap: This craft is similar to the craft above, but is a one page only option. Timeline Lift the Flap: Students record events from the story in a book shaped timeline. They illustrate the important events on the front of the flap and describe it on the back page. Summarizing Bookworm: Students can record as many key events as they want on this bookworm craft. Each event is a segment they add to build their bookworm. Lift the Flap Storyboard: Students create a storyboard of 6 or 12 scenes from the story, and describe each scene under their drawings. 5 Finger Retell Book: Students fill in the palm of each hand to create a retell book. Options are included for students to fill in "First, Next, Then, After that, Finally" or "Characters, Setting, Beginning, Middle, End." "Key" Events Key Ring: Students write events on each key. Keys number 1-9 are included, as well as a blank option with no number. Somebody...Wanted...But...So...Then Lift the Flap: Students fill in the flaps to create a S.W.B.S.T. summary.
see more:
Helping children understand and express their emotions is critical to their emotional development. By using fun and interactive activities, ...
Make the most adorable little dolls out of craft sticks, yarn and a few buttons. They're SO cute, and the process is seriously addictive! Kids LOVE them!
The Kissing Hand is a story for children who are nervous about school. Here's our favorite The Kissing Hand activities for preschool.
Wow! I would guess at some point in our lives we all made a house or something out of a recycled cardboard box but this artist took it to an amazing extreme! Pop on over to Annalise Rees’ sit…
Genesis 37: 1-36 A sweet friend gave me this idea. This project was made for very young children though older kids have liked it as w...
Blog about Easy and Fun Kid Art and Crafts Activities
I am sorry for being away from here for a few weeks. I truly appreciate all the emails I received from readers asking where I have been an...
I love this math activity. It’s genius on so many levels! This would help students with addition and subtraction, but also to teach “the 9’s trick” with multiplication! It w…
Basic vocabulary, like knowing prepositions, is necessary for beginning readers. Teach prepositions with this simple game.
I wanted one place to share all of my Mass ideas for kids, so here you go- crafts, games, books, and other learning resources! Mass Books For Kids Mass book for Catholic kids: A Picture
This Waving Chinese Lucky Cat craft is so cute! A great Chinese New Year craft for kids to bring you good fortune! (Printable template in B/W & 3 colours)
We are sharing tips on how parents can best help their kids with school projects. See how we helped ours with the Kids Cloud Science Project.
Making a rain cloud in a jar is a great experiment for kids that teaches them about the weather. My girls loved the original experiment so much that I sought recreate it with a fun twist. My girls w
Learning about the Human Body is great fun! Exploring and understanding the amazing structure and design within the composition of human life, inevitably points to a Creator. Oh what a blessing to be made in
Make this paper toy and be mesmerized by the colorful action! Get the template and instructions on Babble Dabble Do.
Five engineering challenges for kids – with wooden clothespins, binder clips, and craft sticks! It’s a simple STEM activity that kids of all ages will love. Move over, expensive building sets! These simple materials were a huge hit with my boys. The first time we got them out, Owen (almost 7) spent well over an […]
Get the kids inspired with these 16 fantastic different and easy things you can create using ordinary playdough.
Sensory Board Craft {Sensory Activities} This is a fun craft to use and to make for and with the kiddos! Using the inside of cereal boxes along with some fun and colorful items to glue on the cardboard, you create a perfect activity for the preschool aged child! View This Tutorial
Experiment #1 What will happen when I put raisins in a cup of sprite? After you do the experiment, you will find out that the raisins DANCE! My students L.O.V.E this experiment and think that it is hilarious that the raisins dance up and down in the Sprite! Click {here} for the raisin experiment Experiment #2 What does our heart do for us? We talked about the heart and it's purpose! Then, we observed our own pulse using a marshmallow and toothpick. What a great time to learn about the heart (Valentine's Day)! Click {here} for the heart experiment Experiment #3 Which object lets the most light through from our flashlight? Using a flashlight, we determined which objects (dollar, black paper, net, plastic wrap, and tin foil) let through the most light. Click {here} for the light experiment clipart and/or fonts by DJ Inkers. www.djinkers.com Is your school heading to the land of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) or STEAM (Same, but add art)? Last year, our school committed to becoming a STEM+A (plus Art) school. So far- I'm loving it!!! It has really got me thinking outside of the box for sure. I'm excited to share with you some ideas that I have with STEM in the future. For now, I've got some posters that I made for our 1st grade STEM+A Intro Day! For our STEM+A Intro Day, we rotated all of the first graders (split into 5 groups) through our classrooms. Each teacher took on one of the letters and taught the students about the meaning of that letter and how we use it in every day life. We want our students to know that STEM is everywhere! Then, we did an activity based on the letter we had. I had Math and we played Pokemon Go Addition (totally made the game up...haha). These posters are great for my students to refer back to. Click {here} to check these posters out!
Building with sticks and playdough is a fun, inexpensive way to pass the time, develop fine motor skills, and foster creativity. My
Have you ever started out doing one thing and ended up with something totally different? That's what happened when we tried an exploding milk experiment. It started off as a completely innocent experiment using milk, food coloring and dish soap and ended up as a bubbly, fizzy adventure. We did all of these activities at once but you can split them up over a series of days culminating with this bubbling milk activity. If you are in the mood for more science activities for kids, try our Making Color Disappear experiment. You will need: MilkDish soap in a small cupFood coloringTooth picksBaking
Do you remember how to make a paper cup phone? Does yarn work for cup phones? Teach your child how to make a string phone with cups and test how far it works.
Here's a quick Shape Reference Card to help your little learners! Click on the pic to download! Hope you enjoy! Laura
Learning about Shadows and Reflections We talked a lot about how shadows move with the sun and how the location of the sun determines which way your shadow falls. This was a fun craft to help the kids to visually understand how the sun casts shadows. We used the projector to see the 'shadows' different objects make. We played a game too, I sent each kid to hunt for something in the classroom that was small enough to fit in their hand. I called them up one by one and they placed their object on the projector, the other kids had to guess what the object was! It was fun and some of the items were tricky!!! We have these cool bugs in our classroom, we brought them over to the projector to see what kinds of 'shadows' they would make, because they are clear the kids observed how you could see color....more like a reflection then a shadow! Exploring with different objects. Shadow puppets!! Each kid had a chance to make a shadow puppet on the wall. This is actually my hubby and my son at LACMA in Los Angeles but it was fitting since we were talking about shadows! I made these shadow games by taking objects and photocopying them onto a sheet of paper, then I glued the paper onto a file folder and laminated it. I taped a envelope on the inside to store the pieces. The kids take out the objects and match them to the correct 'shadow'! These are my favorite! Have you ever tried to trace the silhouette of 24... 3 and 4 year olds?!?! It's NOT easy!!! But this is!!! I simply set up the projector and put a chair in front of a white sheet of paper on the wall. I took my CAMERA and turned the flash off, then simply snapped the picture....TA-DA instant silhouettes minus the tracing and cutting!!!! We spent lots of time looking into mirrors and seeing our reflections! Talking about the differences between our shadows and our reflections! Questions to ask when talking about shadows and reflections! Can we see our shadow at night or in the shade? Why not? Do our shadows have colors? Do our reflections have colors? Why do our shadows get bigger and smaller? Why do our shadows move? We also took the kid outside and traced their shadows with chalk then we went out later and had them stand in the same spot.....their shadows moved!!!! We of course also played shadow tag! We also read the book Moon Bears Shadow. It was a GREAT week learning about Shadows and Reflections!!!
Escape room activities are a fun and interactive way to work on the skills kids need. My favorite part about escape room activities is that they really encourage cooperation and critical thinking skills. Kids work together and use their collective brain power to solve a variety of puzzles and challe
Dzisiaj o tym, jak ułatwić dzieciom naukę miesięcy – oczywiście kreatywnie, bo u nas inaczej być nie może :) Potrzebne będą: papierowe talerzyki w kolorze białym, żółtym, czerwonym, niebieskim i…
I stumbled across this idea on Pinterest and thought it would be perfect for my third and fourth graders! I often hear complaints from students that although others "allow" them to play games at recess, they often do not "include" them in the game. For example, in football they are on the team but the ball is never passed to them. I used this as a springboard for discussion on what teamwork really looks like. The Cup Stack is a great activity to facilitate teamwork. Some groups are able to complete the task very quickly while other groups must keep trying and trying to complete the task successfully. It's hard not to give up when things get frustrating, and this is a valuable lesson for children to learn in a safe environment. All you need is cups, rubberbands, and string. I decided to put my students into groups of 6, so I tied 6 equally spaced strings (about 1-2 feet long) around a single rubberband. Each group was given this device and 6 cups. The challenge is for the group to build a pyramid out of the paper cups (3 on the bottom, 2 in the middle, 1 on the top - can be adjusted for more cups). Group members cannot touch the cups with their hands or any other part of their bodies, even if a cup falls over or on the floor. Each person holds onto one of the strings that are attached to the rubber band and they use this device to pick up the cups and place them on top of each other (by pulling the rubber band apart and then bringing it back together over the cups). Some groups took 2 minutes to accomplish their goal, some 10 minutes, and some never successfully built their tower. I had groups that finished early watch the remaining groups to add a little "pressure." Afterwards we debriefed with the following discussion questions: Was anyone frustrated at all during the activity? If so how was it handled? What did you learn about yourself or others? Why was teamwork so important for this activity? What is so hard about teamwork? What did you do today to contribute to the teamwork on your team? What are some skills needed to be good at teamwork? Are you every in a situation where you must use teamwork? Is this always easy for you? Why or why not? How can we use what we learned through this experience in situations outside the game? Check out Teamwork: Cup Stack Take 2!
It seems like every week, my daughter finds a new favorite book. When she finds that book, she reads it over and over again and even has to sleep with it on her bed. *This post contains affiliate links* She loves books that make her laugh. She is a big fan of the Mo Willems […]
