Thanksgiving is so much fun to celebrate in the classroom! I love using Thanksgiving activities that encourage students to reflect and appreciate all the things they are thankful for in their lives. Thanksgiving activities require
Try these 15 easy fall Sunday school craft ideas at your church as part of your lesson! Use them to teach your children about Jesus at home too!
This blindfolded maze game teaches obedience to children. My kids loved playing this game, wanting to try completing the maze over and over again. Teaching through games speaks volumes to kids. The concepts resonate with them because kids learn through play. Some people are questioning whether obedience is outdated. They don’t want their children being...Read More
Activities with M&Ms for an ice breaker or a guided prayer time. Perfect for any kind of group! Printables include blank templates for you to customize.
12 printable writing prompts for Black History Month
Looking to jazz up your youth group? Starting a new group at your church? Here are more than 50 ideas that will make your weekly youth meetings the place to be!
Of course we are all thankful for our families, friends, pets, and home, but why stop there? Here are two activities to get your kids to think more creatively about what they are thankful for. You Might Also Like:Editing PracticeFree 12 Apostle CrossFree Download: Student Leadership Guide7 Martin Luther King Bookmarks
Bullying is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days when anything goes wrong between peers. It is our job to make sure students understand what constitutes bullying in order for them to use it appropriately when uncomfortable or unsafe circumstances arise. With my fourth graders I handed out a quick 10-question true/false survey to find out what they already knew about bullying: Then I created a chart, inspired by fellow blogger Mrs. Sinclair, that clearly identified the differences between teasing, conflict, a mean moment and bullying. You can download a copy of it here. After discussing this, I elaborated further on the definition of bullying by using Savvy School Counselor's "The A, B, C, and D of Bullying" poster: I called out different scenarios and had each table discuss and come to consensus on where it feel on the chart. We spent time debating and advocating for where it would best fit under by utilizing the criteria for each. Some examples included: Martin called Tom a freak. Each morning Sam tells Jarod he has to let him copy his homework or Sam will embarrass him in front of the whole class Sue rolled her eyes at Kendra when she walked into the room Every day at lunch Sarah tells Joan whom she can sit with at lunch Finally, we went through the original bullying survey to see how accurate we were and if we had any further questions. I made students a copy of both the handouts as well as printing out a color poster of each for the teacher to post in the room.
I shared this stained glass sidewalk chalk idea last year because our kids LOVED it, so I updated it and wanted to share it again this summer! I hope you enjoy making sidewalk chalk art with your family! ♥ If I had to pick a favorite outdoor activity to do with the kids, it would
Great ideas to keep you connected while you still have to stay apart at church.
Rosie and Jewel loved their Build a Frosty so much last year that I wanted to make them another one.
Celebrate the National Cherry Blossom Festival by making cherry blossom artwork using a recycled 2-liter soda bottle.
Enjoy our free Bible crossword: Abraham's Journey. Fun for kids to print and test their knowledge. Homeschool resources and activities.
Looking for a {DIY} ornament that'll add a touch of magic to your Christmas tree? I've gathered a dozen ideas to share with you today! *You'll find the original source at the clickable link below each image. Click through to enjoy the full tutorials/printables {where applicable}. You're welcome to use the image above to pin the entire round up, but if you'd like to pin an individual ornament image please do so from the original source. Thank you! Jingle Mickey Ornaments | The Goodlaff Girl Disney Antenna Topper Ornaments | Adventures in DIY Mike Wazowski Rudolph Nose Ornament | Spoonful Phineas and Ferb Character Ornaments | Spoonful Pixie Dust Disney Ornament | Crafting in the Rain Toy Story Holiday Ornaments | Spoonful Homemade Playdough Mickey Ornament | The Suburban Mom Disney Princess Holiday Ornaments | Spoonful Mickey and Minnie Caramel Apple Ornaments | Crafty Staci Mickey's Handy Candy Ornament | Spoonful DIY Disney Figurine Ornaments | g*rated Embroidered Felt Mickey Ornaments | The Goodlaff Girl Follow my "DIY Disney Ornaments" pinboard for more magical homemade ornaments finds! Make sure you don't miss a bit of the Christmasy fun at Chatting Over Chocolate! Follow on Facebook, Bloglovin', Pinterest, Google Friend Connect, or have each new post delivered directly to your inbox! *To join via GFC or subscribe via email see left sidebar of blog ;) I appreciate each comment, & Facebook "like"! They let me know that you enjoyed what you read, which makes it worth sharing! ;)
Teaching little ones how to treat others is a big task for parents. Consistency and structure plays a big part, but I like to use the Fruit of the Spirit in the process. We talk a lot of how God wants us to treat others so using the Bible is key for us during
Activities with M&Ms for an ice breaker or a guided prayer time. Perfect for any kind of group! Printables include blank templates for you to customize.
Tints and Shades with a Cherry on Top This project has made it's way around Pinterest and I can see why! Immediately when I saw this I knew I was going to do it with my 4th graders. It's an excellent and fun way to teach about tints and shades. We did a fairly large ice cream cone using 2 12x18 papers to paint on. This could be done by using only one 12x18 paper with smaller painted sections - but I liked the large finished cones and so did the kids! We spent the first class period discussing what tints and shades were. I had students divide a 12x18 paper into 4 sections. We painting one section with the pure hue they had chosen. Then I demonstrated how to create 3 different tints in the other sections. The next class was spent doing the shades. This time we divided the paper into 3 sections - 2 just like the tints and 1 twice that size for the cone. I demonstrated how to create a shade by adding a little black to the color and then another one with a little more black. The last section - the largest one - was for a very dark shade of the color. As students waited for the paper to dry they were given a piece of tagboard to create a stencil for the ice cream scoops. This was important so that all the scoops would be similar in size. If time remained students used the stencil to trace and cut out scoops of ice cream from the first painted paper. The last class was spent finishing cutting the scoops of ice cream, creating the cone, putting it all together in order, and adding a cherry and sprinkles. Students used black marker to draw the cone outline and lines before they cut them out. We, (my wonderful student teacher and myself) had students pick sequins that matched the color they had chosen. Students finished the project by developing a flavor name for their ice cream. They were encouraged to create a unique flavor and were not to discuss it so that students would "borrow" other's ideas. I posted the flavor under the ice cream. They are all so great!
Learn about Juneteenth, a celebration of the end of slavery in the United States.
The sermon this week was on Mark 3:13-19 on Jesus choosing the 12 apostles. Our Pastor gave a great sermon (as usual!!) He discussed the choosing of the apostles, and then he asked if we would be f…
I have a new Minute To Win It game. It's a New Testament version. Just click on the picture to check it out. In Seminary this year we are studying the Old Testament. For our Christmas party I thought that it would be fun to have a review of the year so far with Minute to Win it games. Here is what I came up with. I gave each team 5 apples and had them do their best to stack them. The team who had the most apples stacked at one minute won. You could also have a person from each team eat an apple and the person who eats most of the apple wins. For this one you will need 2 jars and a bunch of plastic animals. I taped a picture of Noah's Ark to the outside. Each person puts the jar by their feet. While standing straight each person tries to drop an animal into the jar from their nose. The teams that has the most animals is the jar at one minute wins. Each team is given a stack of cups. The team who has the tallest tower at one minute wins. For this one you will need 2 empty tissue boxes, 2 belts and 16 ping pong balls. Put slits on the two sides of the tissue box to slip the belt through. Fill each tissue box with 8 ping pong balls. Each person playing ties the belt around his waist with the box in the back. They both have one minute to dance around until all of the ping pong balls (seeds) have been bounced out of the tissue box. For this you will need 2 straws, 40 marshmallows, and two plates. Each person will have one minutes to get 20 marshmallows (sheep) into the plate (the pen) with the straw. For this challenge you will need 10 3"x 14" pieces of poster board and about 40 cups. Give each player 5 pieces of poster board and a stack of cups. Each player builds a ladder with the poster board for rungs. The team with the tallest ladder wins. Each team gets a copy of Joseph's coat to color. They have one minute to color it on their head. Each player must use at least five colors. The team is allowed to give advice on how to color in the lines. The team that does the best job wins. This one I did not end up doing. Here's how it could be done. You will need 20 old Bibles. Each team will have one member help another team member stack 5 Bibles in each hand. Then they will have to walk across the room with all 10 Bibles without dropping them. The team that gets all 10 Bibles across the room first wins. This challenge is in reference to Deuteronomy 33:17. Give each team a bag of Honeycomb cereal. Each team will have one member lie down on the ground while another team member stacks the honeycomb cereal, one on top of the other, to look like a unicorn horn. The team that has the tallest horn wins (without cheating). For this challenge you will need to print out two pictures of the brick wall below onto cardstock. Fold the cardstock in half like a card. Place the cards at one end of the table. Both teams have a member blow the card across the table and then try to get the card to hang off the edge without falling off. If the card falls off then they have to start all over. Bounce a ping pong ball at least twice to knock over Goliath. The first person to do it in under a minute wins. Here's a printout for you to use. For the Champions I made these trophies out of Toblerone. Just print out the picture below. Cut it out and glue it to the top of a Toblerone. The students loved it. This is all the further we have studied this year. If we come up with more games I will be sure to post them on here. Good Luck! Check out my other New Testament Minute to Win it game. Here's another fun game to play with scriptures. I also have Grinch Minute to Win it Games And Alice in Wonderland Minute to Win it Games And Frozen themed Minute to Win it Ideas
This week, we started our lesson by talking about rules. We all agreed that, at times, rules are annoying because we can’t do what we want, but, they help to keep us, and others, safe. We went through our Sunday School rules and talked about how each one keeps us or others safe and what the natural consequences would be […]
Romans 8:1-2 (NLT) So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that …
I have been obsessed with horses since I was 6 years old. I started taking riding lessons when I was 8 and got a horse of my own when I was 10. I competed in hunter/jumper until my freshman year of high school. If you follow me on Pinterest , you may have seen my horse-crazy-girl board na
Here are 7 Bible Verse Memory Games that are fun, creative, and unique! Plus these Memory verse activiteis work with any Bible verse.
The Blessing Wall! Walking into the room and seeing all the kid's blessings just makes you smile. Isn't it a WONDERFUL thing to count the blessings that God has deposited into your life? This station is designed to get kids excited to really see how God has blessed them and their friends. During Response Time, we turn off the overhead lights, using lamplight to quiet the mood of the room. We play quiet, worshipful music and explain to the kids that this is their time with God. We have enough stations around the room so that every child can interact in some tangible way with the Holy Spirit. You can read a brief explanation of why we believe Worship Stations are so fruitful with this generation, HERE. The basic concept is that we are making space for our kids to practice responding to God's Spirit. And they look forward to it all morning. For all of you creative "Pinners", here's how you can make it yourself: We used pressed plywood - the cheap stuff!! One of the "Alpha" Men's Groups in our church took a Saturday morning and cut out four of these plywood frames. Then they drilled small starter holes every few inches and screwed in i-hooks. I strung it with jute twine from the craft store in nice randomness. We used i-hooks that were large enough for at least two strands of twine to pass through. As I was stringing it, I had to be careful to keep it pretty tight along the way so there wouldn't be slack when tying it off. I went around once with the twine, tied it off, and repeated once more to make sure there were plenty of lines to clip prayers onto. We bolted it into the wall (on the studs since it is somewhat large). And I cut out squares of colored card stock (With a scrapbook cutting tool) for writing prayers of blessing. We added a table lamp (the main lights go off in the room during this time to "set the tone"), buckets of pens and clothespins, and then we were in business! Here is a close-up of what the instructions in the frame say: It is a blessing to ready what the kids are thankful for... God's blessings are greater than all the stars in the heavens!
Too many children go straight from the Palm Sunday parade to the Easter alleluias and totally miss what happened in between. They are conspicuously absent from Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the …
If you are currently a young woman or young man in the youth programs of the Church, or a parent or leader of youth, you may be looking for ideas for ways to incorporate missionary work into Mutual activities. Even though not all youth may not be planning to serve a full-time mission, many aspects of preparing for a mission (such as learning to speak in public, learning to cook & clean, etc) are skills that apply to any adult's life. Learning more about missionary life is helpful to any church member (whether they serve a full-time mission or not) because it gives them a better idea of what missionaries do and can help them be better member-missionaries. For ideas on how to do this, check out my other blog "The Jolly Rogers Young Women Blog" that features mutual activity ideas that help youth start thinking about missionary work, preparing for missionary service, and doing service for current missionaries. Click on the photos below to link to my activity blog: Missionary-themed youth activities for mutual (mission prep, learning about missions, etc)- How-to write letters and tips for sending care packages to full-time missionaries- All of these ideas can be used for YW activities or adapted for Combined YM/YW activities. It's never too early to start thinking about mission preparations!
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!
Developing a strong sense-of-self is a crucial part in strengthening self-esteem. Judging ourselves by character traits that we think we ought to have and not the traits that we possess naturally sets us up for disappointment. The trick to developing a powerful sense-of-self and self-esteem is by finding out what our 'genius' is. Children and teenagers have a hard time recognizing their 'genius' or character traits. Limited vocabulary and cultural stereotypes hinder their ability to find and understand their strengths and realize their full potential. In essence: they are fish that are comparing themselves with squirrels. They spend the majority of their
Free Printables, Free Homeschool Printables
