Indoor Play - Following the Leader

I don't know about you, but I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to cold weather. I just want to hibernate under a blanket with a book and stay warm. However my kids need to get out some energy! Today I'm sharing some fun ways to get your children moving indoors so they're not bouncing off the walls (without permission).

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Young kids love playing follow the leader - especially if mommy is playing too! When I played this with my boys there was much giggling because they could make mommy do whatever they wanted! (Now do you have that "following the leader" song stuck in your head from Disney's "Peter Pan" movie? I do.)

Classic Follow the Leader 

Everyone playing stands in a line. Whoever is in front moves around the room in whatever way they like - skipping, jumping, hopping, crawling, etc . . . Everyone in line behind them copies their movements. Change leaders after a designated amount of time. (usually shorter is better - like after 2 minutes). 

Animal Variation

This is played like classic, except the leader pretends to be an animal of their choice. When the teacher/parent gives a signal, the leader switches to a new animal. Let each child lead as 3 or 4 animals before switching leaders. You can discuss ideas before you start playing to avoid children not knowing what to do, or the parent/teacher can announce the animal the leader should move like each time, which would work well for the younger kids. Some good animals to use would be: elephant, monkey, lion, frog, bear, horse, rat, bird, etc . .

"What are you stepping in?" Variation

Christopher about to dive into the swimming pool he's pretending to walk through

I couldn't come up with a good name for this variation. What I'm trying to say is that the leader pretends to be moving on or through different types of ground, ie. walking on sand, grass, water, mud, glue,  snow, hot lava, peanut butter, ice cream, egg shells, etc . . . Whatever the children can imagine. As with the animal variation, discuss ideas before play begins, and give the leader suggestions if they're unable to come up with an idea of their own. Kids love imagining what they're moving through, but don't be surprised if the group doesn't stay in a line. It's fine to just let them all move individually as they would imagine. The leader can be the one to choose what they're moving through.

Train/Snake Variation

Have the kids put their hands on one another's shoulders. The person in front is the "Train Conductor" or the Snake's head. Let them lead the kids around the room for a while, then switch.

Mirror Variation

Ha! Christopher's face in this one just makes me laugh

This is not played in a line, but is still a "Follow the Leader" type game. Each person needs a partner (or it can be done in a group of 3, but 2 works best). One child is the leader, the other pretends to be their mirror reflection. Facing each other, the leader slowly moves his body - lifting an arm, moving a leg, turning a head, or even making silly faces while the child who is the mirror copies. To explain the game to Nathan, I reminded him of the scene in "Muppets Most Wanted" where Kermit is pretending to be Constantine's reflection in a mirror so he won't discover him. We love that movie! Make sure the children know to move slowly so the mirror child can keep up. After a while, switch who leads and who mirrors. This game is too difficult for toddlers, but preschoolers love it. Nathan (5) needed help moving slowly, so I went first and modeled how. This was good for helping him learn to control his body. 

Bean Bag Variation

To make "follow the leader" more challenging for older kids, give everyone in the line a Bean Bag (or small stuffed animal) to put on their head. As they follow the leader they have to try and keep it balanced on their head, or elbow, or back, or shoulder, etc . . . The kids really liked this version! They wanted whoever dropped their bean bag to be "out", but I told them this time we were just playing for fun. If they wanted to play that way later, it was fine by me. 

Obstacle Course Variation

If you're playing follow the leader in a large space you can set up a sort of obstacle course for the line of kids. We put out an old board to walk on like a balance beam, chairs to move around, used a table to crawl under, and a pillow to hop over. If the leader is old enough, they can be the one to design the obstacle course. For younger kids, just put out some different options, show how they can be used, and let the child lead. They may just want to hop over the pillow over and over and over again. And that's okay. As with other variations, set a specific time limit for each leaders' turn to avoid shouts of unfairness in turn time. If you have the resources, there are some fun movement toys that would be great for an obstacle course. These are some I have my eye on: a tunnel to crawl through, Curve-A-Beam to balance on, Gonge Riverstones to walk across, Activity Cones to run around, and a Tumbling Mat to roll on. The kids would have so much fun with those! (or at least I would)

Freeze Dance Variation

Play "Follow the Leader" to music. Instead of playing in a line, have the leader out in front facing the group. The parent (or leader if the kids are older) can be in charge of pausing the music to make everyone "freeze" occasionally. Watching kids try to dance like the leader child is dancing is pretty funny. And mommy dancing in front of all the kids is even funnier. Good times.  

I hope this post has given you some ideas of ways to keep your children active indoors! This post is part of the Gross Motor Activities from A to Z blog hop. Our letter is "F", for Following the Leader.

Not only can you find 26 great ideas for indoor play, but you have a chance to with a parachute play pack from the series sponsor, Discount School Supply Enter to win below:

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Book Activity: Too Many Frogs

Yesterday, to celebrate Children's Book Week, we sat down and read the book "Too Many Frogs" by Sandy Asher.

In this book, Rabbit is just about to sit down to read himself a book when the doorbell rings and Froggy comes in out of the rain to listen, uninvited. Each night Froggy comes back, and causing more fuss in Rabbit's quite house; getting comfy-cozy with pillows, and making himself a snack . . . or three. The last night he comes with his whole frog family to enjoy the story, and Rabbit just can't stand it any longer. He tells Froggy to leave, but as he sits down to read himself a story, he realizes something is missing. He's just not enjoying it as he used to, and he invites Froggy back in. It's a fun story, and the kids really like it.

To start our activity, we decided to try some "knock-knockety-knocking" on the door, like Froggy does every time he comes to Rabbit's house. The boys came up with lots of ways to do this. We first played where one player was on one side of the door and the other player knocked on the door. The player on the other side of the door would knock back the same rhythm. We next got out our drums and rhythm sticks and took turns playing rhythms and copying rhythms. This play kind of snowballed and we ended up walking around the house tapping on things with our rhythm sticks and seeing what different sounds things made. Joshua discovered the rungs on our chairs made different pitches depending on how long or short they were. Christopher discovered that metal made a more ringing sound than wood. Nathan discovered that dirty clothes don't make much of a sound at all. This didn't really have anything to do with the book, but we just let the play lead us and I loved listening to the boys' ideas.

We decided to do as Froggy does and make ourselves a snack (or three) to go along with listening to a book. Christopher was in charge of popcorn. Joshua made a strawberry milkshake. Nathan passed out cheese and crackers.

We drank the milkshakes in the kitchen, because I'm not that brave. Then we got all comfy cozy in our family room and the boys ate popcorn while I read a couple of chapters from "Bunnicula" by Deborah and James Howe.

We had a lot of fun with "Too Many Frogs".

Our 2013 Summer Fun List

A couple of sundays ago, our family played charades.  Each child acted out something they wanted to do this summer while the rest of us guessed what it was.  We then added it to our list of fun things to do together this summer.  I think my favorite was when Christopher got up and started acting like a chicken.  We all laughed and guessed “Chicken?”  And he said “Yeah, like eating chicken nuggets at McDonald’s!” So I guess that’s his idea of fun. After a while the kids got tired of charades so we just talked about what we wanted to do.  Here is the list the kids came up with. (with a couple of additions from mom and dad)

2013 Summer Fun List

{  }  swimming

{  }  Camping, with s'mores

{  }  amusement park (I'm not sure if this one will happen)

{  }  water fight

{  }  bike ride

{  }  water slides

{  }  play with cousins

{  }  drama camps

{  }  bowling

{  }  eat chicken nuggets at mcDonald’s

{  }  picnic

{  }  baseball game

{  }  make ice cream sandwiches

{  }  watch movies in the theatre

{  }  make ice cream

{  }  watch kid snippets on youtube

{  }  go to cherry berry

{  }  catch fireflies

{  }  slip ‘n slide and sprinklers in the backyard

{  }  grill out hamburgers

{  }  get fresh vegetables from farmer’s market

{  }  make slush

{  }  visit library

{  }  go see fireworks

{  }  build a play place in the backyard

Booking Across the USA - Kentucky (Derby Activities)

Jodie from the blog Growing Book by Book has brought together bloggers from across the nation to bring you a list of books and activities for every state in the USA.  That's kind of fun, huh?  I am lucky enough to share some things about Kentucky!

I love Kentucky.  Most of you have probably never been to Kentucky.  It's a great place to live.  The people are friendly, the country is beautiful, and the seasons are mostly wonderful.  I grew up in California, but my husband is from Kentucky and I am so glad to be out here with him.  You really should visit sometime, especially in the spring and fall.  (I admit I still have issues with the summer humidity. We are not friends.)  

There were lots of Kentucky books I loved, and which I'll share a list of at the end of the post, but the one I chose to do my activity with is "B is for Bluegrass" by Mary-Ann McCabe Rhiehle.  It presents a multitude of facts about the state using the alphabet, from natural landmarks to famous citizens. If you're a baseball fan you will know that the Louisville Slugger baseball bat is the official bat of Major League Baseball.  If you're a fan of the outdoors, you might have heard of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave in the world.  If you like gold then maybe you've heard of a place called Fort Knox.  (Actually, this is totally unrelated, but once my husband was talking in his sleep and yelled out "Fort Knox! Are you crazy?" haha.  Sorry.  It just makes me laugh every time.)

And then there are the horses!  I love the horses and the fences of the horse park and horse farms.  You might have heard of something called the Kentucky Derby.  It's kind of a big deal here.  I decided to share some Derby related activities with y'all.  You will find references to horses and the Derby with the letters E, H, J, and R in the book.  

First some facts: The Derby happens on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs.  Some things traditional to the Derby include wearing fancy hats, and drinking Mint Juleps.  Tickets to sit in the stands are expensive, but many people buy tickets to watch from the infield.  The song "My Old Kentucky Home" is played as the horses are led on to the track.  The track is 1 and 1/4 miles long and horses usually run it in about 2 minutes, often called the most exciting 2 minutes in sports.  Only one horse has ever run it in under 2 minutes, and that was Secretariat back in 1973. A garland of roses is placed over the back of the winning horse, which is why the Derby is sometimes called "The Run for the Roses".  

Here are some Derby related learning activity ideas:

Music: learn the song "My Old Kentucky Home" and the trumpets "call to the post".  Or just listen to them or watch on YouTube

Science:  ya know, learn about horses and stuff

Math:  With little kids, you could talk about ordinal numbers. With older kids you could do a bunch with odds and probability, but I understand if you want to stay away from the gambling aspect of horse races with the kids.  I always just tell the kids "Some people gamble, but we don't." You can also do word problems with comparing number of people in attendance in the stands vs. the infield, or with the cost of tickets or cost of horses, etc. You can also talk about pace and the length of the race.  Just some ideas. 

Language Arts:  Naming horses - the horses always have ridiculous names, like "Bodemeister" and "I'll Have Another".  You can have the kids either name a horse and write why they chose that name, or you can have a list of actual names from the Derby and ask them to choose one and say why they like it or why they think the owners named their horse the way they did.  

History: Um, talk about the history of the Derby.  Sorry.  Just boring.

Drama:  Act out a horse race. Or, first listen to a radio announcer calling an actual race and then take turns pretending to call a horse race on the radio, using really excited voices towards the end.  That might be fun. 

Cooking (which is also science):  Make Derby Pie! (which is pretty much a chocolate pecan pie and very popular here, meaning with my husband)  Also, in lieu of Mint Juleps (which is an alcoholic drink), maybe try making mint milkshakes (a little mint ice cream, a little milk, and voila!) 

Art:  Make Derby hats!  You can either add decorations to a ball cap or other hat the kids already have, or you can use paper bowls or plates as a base and tie them on with string or elastic.  Then add all sorts of crazy things on top, like fake flowers, miniature plastic horses, dinosaurs - anything goes.  Then have a parade or a contest of sorts.  

- You can also make stick horses to have a Derby of your own!  That's what I did with the kids the other day.  They were really easy to make and the kids love them!  You can see more pictures and instructions if you click here.  

I think that's about all for the Derby ideas.  Other things you can do to celebrate Kentucky would include listening to bluegrass music, cheering for the UK basketball team (go Cats!) and eating at KFC.

(Giveaway is now closed. Winner announced here.)

For this book event I am hosting a giveaway! (for those in the continental US)  I will give one lucky friend a copy of "B is for Bluegrass".   To enter this giveaway, do the following:

1. follow my blog in some manner (you are going to want to anyway, because I always post such interesting things)

2. do 10 jumping jacks (because I'm helping you be fit and healthy)

3. leave a comment on this post saying hi and telling me what you would name your Derby horse (it doesn't have to be creative. i.e., my son named his horse Nathan, which also happens to be his name, but you will get brownie points if it has some reference to chickens)

The giveaway will close on 3/3/13 at 9:00p.m. (EST).  One entrant will be randomly drawn and announced on Chicken Babies the week of 3/3/13.  I'll send them an email. If I haven't heard from them in 48 hours, I'll choose someone else. 

The other books I had looked at deal with less fun facts about Kentucky. The eastern side of the state is in Appalachian country, and some of the people there have a different kind of life.  These books introduce children to that perspective.

  "Mama is a Miner" by George Ella Lyon (a book about life in the coal mines)

  "A is for Appalachia!" by Linda Hager Pack (a great collection of Appalachian stories and facts)

  "The Rag Coat" by Lauren Mills (it might make you cry)

  "That Book Woman" by Heather Henson (a great book about the Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky)

  "Silver Packages" by Cynthia Rylant (this is a Christmas book and one you should add to your collection)

Hope you all have enjoyed this post and found something useful. Thanks for reading!  And also, head on over to Growing Book by Book to check out the other states, some of which are also hosting giveaways.  

Making Stick Horses with the kiddos

To go along with the “Booking Across the USA” project, I made some stick horses with the kids.  That post was already long enough, so I thought I’d do a separate post here with how we made the horses.  

I took the idea from the blog “Ever Never Again”.  She made these really cute horses for a cowboy play day.  When I saw them I thought “My kids would love those and I bet we could make them together.”  We could, and we did, but it took a while.  

To make these horses you will need:

1. large socks (I bought some cheap ones at Walmart. I liked that they had a different colored toe, because it made the horses look like they had a nose and mouth.)
2. A dowel (I bought inch diameter ones at Michael’s)
3. Buttons for eyes
4. Felt for ears
5. Yarn for the mane
6. Stuffing
7. Glue Gun
8. Yarn needle

The kids started by stuffing their horses.  I happened to have some extra plastic doll beads on hand from an old project, so we put some of those in the toe of the sock to add some weight to the head, but I don’t think it’s a necessary step.  Fill the head to the heel of the sock, then stick in the dowel and stuff around the dowel to the bottom of the sock.  

I handled all the hot glue.  Hot glue the bottom of the sock to the dowel.  Also hot glue some felt triangles to the head to be ears.  This was a bit tricky, but they turned out okay.  

You can either sew on the button eyes or glue them on.  We sewed.  

The kids were able to cut the yarn and sew it to the head for the mane.  Using a yarn needle, they would pull a piece of yarn through the back of the head and then tie a knot.  Did that make sense?  

Later, I found that we didn’t have to cut individual strands, but could just weave a long piece in and out, leaving loops that could be cut and tied later.  Sorry, it’s late and I’m not sure if I’m making sense. 

Maren also sewed some ribbon in her horse’s mane, which I thought turned out pretty. 

This was a very rewarding activity.  Maren especially was really proud of her horse.  The kids have had a ton of fun with playing together with them.  They've been playing horse riding school, making racetracks and having races and jumping over things. So far there has been no fighting with them, so that's good. 

Also, just FYI, Nathan has named his horse "Nathan".  Clever kid, eh? Ah, but he sure is cute. 

Roll a MONSTER Snowman

In December, I pinned a "Roll a Snowman" game from the blog Somewhat Simple.  If you look at it, you will see she suggests you roll a die to get your snowman parts and whoever gets all their snowman parts first is the winner.  The rules also say that if you roll a part you already have, your turn is over and it goes to the next player.  I thought, "Well, that's silly.  Why not just grab another of the same part?  The kids would think that was funny."

So, that's what we did. We had lots of fun creating our monster snowmen.

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I started by making large dice out of some cube blocks by adding pieces of paper with the snowman body parts on them: 1 button, 1 eye, 1 scarf, 1 nose, 1 arm, 1 mouth.  I used 2 dice so our snowmen would build up more quickly. I had the same things on each die, but if I were to do this again, I would take out the scarf on one and replace it with a button, because it got hard to keep adding scarfs (I think Joshua ended up with 4) and the boys wanted to add more buttons.

I brought out some craft supplies - bits of felt, ribbon, Buttons, googly eyes, colored pencils, construction paper and glue - for the boys to choose from.

I gave each boy a large snowman body and we started to play.  The rules were simple.  Whatever you rolled, you added to your snowman.  Whoever was the first to have at least all the parts in a normal snowman (which we decided was 2 eyes, 1 nose, 1 mouth, 2 arms, 1 scarf and 3 buttons) was the winner.  But if you already had enough of a certain part, you could just add more, thus creating your own unique monster snowman.


And while for Joshua this was not an incredibly educational activity, it was a good chance to talk about math with the younger ones. "You have 2 arms and now you're adding one more.  How many arms will your snowman have?" etc... We also talked about what our snowmen could do with their extra body parts.  I commented that my snowman must be able to smell things that are really far away with his 4 noses.  Joshua commented that his snowman would have an advantage playing dodgeball with his 3 arms.

The boys loved this open ended crafting activity.  There was no set description of what their snowman had to look like, they could use whatever materials they wanted, and it sure was funny when mommy kept rolling noses and ended up with 4 carrot noses on her snowman.  And then there was the time mommy rolled and got eyes on both dice when she already had 3 eyes on her snowman.  Oh boy.  Nothing is more fun than laughing at your mother's misfortune during a game.

This was a great art activity for our homeschool day, and I'm sure we'll be doing it, or something similar, again.

Snowman Matching

Just for fun, we made our own snowman matching game (and because I got a new Silhouette Cameo for Christmas and wanted to use it).

I started each boy with 2 plain white snowman cutouts.  The boys decorated them with stickers, stamps, and colored pencils, making sure that whatever they did on one, they also did on the other so they would match.

I tried to help Nathan do matching ones too, but it's hard to always match scribbles. I think we did a pretty good job though.

We decorated 18 snowmen total, and then we played a memory matching game with them.  I decided also to laminate them in hopes that they will last a while.  The boys had fun with this simple activity.  They've come up with names for all the different snowmen, and say them while we are playing. Things like "Oh, I found rock star and soccer J!" and "I don't remember where the other Double Dime is!"  It makes me smile.

Sports Birthday Party

It is the season of birthdays for our family, and my son just turned 8!  He requested a sports party, so I set out to plan something fun.

Unfortunately, it was a super duper shmuper busy week. Friday night came and I was scrambling to finish a cake and think of party games.  Fortunately my husband saved the day and came up with the last game which was the hit of the party.

When the guests arrived, they decorated a party bag with sports stickers and pens.

We then played a version of "Simon says" called "Coach says".  The coach would tell the kids to do push ups, or jumping jacks, or sit ups, or run in place, trying to get the other kids out.  I gave each child a whistle when it was there turn to be coach which they really enjoyed blowing. They put the whistles in their party bags when their turn as coach was over.  The kids really liked the whistles, and I'm sure the parents loved them too.  I wonder how many kids still have their whistles, or how many mysteriously disappeared?

After playing "coach says" we went down into our unfinished basement and timed the kids running through an obstacle course we had set up.  They dropped ping pong balls into a plastic pumpkin, did a forward roll, walked on a balance beam, jumped through hoops, and shot a basket.  When they had made the basket, the timer stopped.  We played a couple of rounds.  I think the fastest time was 13 seconds.

The kids had fun with the obstacle course, but everyone's favorite game was dodge ball.  My husband had bought some official rhino skin dodge balls when he worked with the youth in our church.  The balls are pretty amazing. They don't hurt no matter how hard you throw (unless you are wearing glasses and the ball hits you in the face and pushes the glasses into your nose.  Then it hurts, according to my daughter). So even if you have grown ups playing with little kids, the grown ups can throw as hard as they like and the little kids won't cry (well, unless they hit my daughter).  My husband went to the church to pick up the balls that morning and we had a great time with them.

To play dodge ball, you split into 2 teams.  The balls are lined up in the middle of the room.  Each team starts by putting a hand on their back wall (or bookshelf in this case).  When someone yells go, the teams run to the middle of the room to grab the balls, but they have to get back past a certain line before they can throw the ball.  Once past the line they can throw at the other team.  If a player on the other team is hit by your ball, they are out and must go to the side.  If a player on the other team catches the ball you throw at them, then you are out and a player who was out on their side gets to come back in.  A team wins when all the other team's players are out.

We played many rounds of dodge ball then went upstairs to open presents and eat cake.

After presents and cake, the kids headed back downstairs to play dodgeball until their parents came.

The kids went home with party favor bags containing a whistle, sports mazes, a popper game from the party section at walmart, sports stickers, flippy frogs, and a gold medal.  My boy was one happy 8 year old.

Christmas Advent 2012

I know this is an old picture, but I just thought it was funny.  My kids are growing up too fast!

Several years ago my husband bought me an advent calendar from Pottery Barn Kids for my birthday.  It was a great gift!  We have loved it.  My friend Christina always put activities in her advent calendar instead of candy, and we started doing that too.

This year in addition to an activity, I am putting in a scripture to read or a song to sing.  The plan is to print out the scriptures and put them up in the kitchen so we can review them during mealtimes.  I also plan to print out the songs and put them in folders so the kids will have their own songbook by the end of the month. I guess we'll see if that actually happens.

The scriptures are taken from two sources - the King James version of the Bible, and the Book of Mormon, another Testament of Jesus Christ.  We believe the Book of Mormon to be additional scripture, written by prophets long ago and translated for us by a prophet in the latter days.  It is an additional witness to the divinity of the Savior and supports the Bible's claims.  Sound strange? Maybe, but it makes sense to me that God talked to many believers through the years and they wrote down their testimonies of what they had seen. If you're interested in having a free copy of the Book of Mormon, click here.

Also I have a list of the activities we will be doing each day.  A lot of them are parties or concerts we already had scheduled.  I also tried to throw in some service projects so the kids won't always be concentrating on getting things this season.

December Songs and Scriptures

1.  “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

2.  What Child is This

3. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”  Isaiah 9:6

4. Joy to the World

5. “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs with His arm and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” Isaiah 40:11

6. O Come All Ye Faithful

7.  “But thou Bethlehem, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Micah 5:2

8.  O Little Town of Bethlehem

9.  “Behold I say unto you that none of the prophets have written, nor prophesied, save they have spoken concerning this Christ.  And it also has been made manifest unto me by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, I know if there should be no atonement made, all mankind must be lost.”  Jacob 7:11-12

10. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

11. “And I beheld the city of Nazareth: and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.  and he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of god, after the manner of the flesh. . . 

And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms.  The angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of god, yea even the Son of the Eternal Father! And I looked and I beheld the son of God going forth among the children of men: and I saw many fall down at His feet and worship Him.”  1 Nephi 11:13, 18, 20-24

12. Away in a Manger

13. “And I looked and beheld the Redeemer of the world . . and I also beheld the prophet who should prepare the way before Him.  and the Lamb of god went forth and was baptized of Him: and I beheld the heavens open, and the Holy Ghost came down out of heaven and abide upon Him in the form of a dove.” 1 Nephi 11:27

14.  The First Noel

15.  “And behold, this will Io give unto you for a sign at the time of His coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before He cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day. . . .And behold, there shall be a new star arise, such as one ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.  And behold this is not all, there shall be many signs and wonders in heaven.” Helaman 14: 3, 5-6

16.  With Wondering Awe

17.  “And the angel said unto her “Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in they womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.” Luke 1: 30-31

18.  Silent Night

19.  “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, our of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.  And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Luke 2:4-7

20.  Once Within a Lowly Stable

21.  ""And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savor, which is Christ the Lord."  Luke 2: 8-11

22.  Far Far Away on Judea's Plains

23.  "And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."  Luke 2: 12-14 

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Angels We have Heard on High

December Activities

1. Write Letters To Santa, drop them off at the mall, pick up a child’s name off the angel tree there, buy toy for child
2. Choir Christmas Party
3. Find a new Christmas book at the store/ go home and read christmas books!
4. Service - drop coins in salvation army buckets
5. Make and decorate gingerbread cookies
6. Joshua’s Birthday/ Christmas Movie Day!!
7. Church Christmas Party
8. 2nd Annual Reverse Caroling Party
9. Christmas Piano Recital, Nativity Festival and Concert
10. School Violin Christmas performance
11. Make Blankets to donate to the Linus Project
12. Cut snowflakes and decorate the house with them
13. Daddy’s Birthday, Record the kids playing/singing Christmas songs they’ve worked on this year
14. Christmas Craft of some sort
15. Nutcracker in the afternoon, Handel’s Messiah in the night
16. Make Graham Cracker houses
17. Fancy Christmas Restaurant
18. School Holiday Concert
19. Go grocery shopping to donate the food to a food drive
20. Make Ornaments
21. Grandma Liz and Grandpa Marty Come! so everyone gets to clean the house (sounds fun, eh?)
22. Make Sugar Cookies
23. Watch home videos from past christmases
24. Santa Pancakes for breakfast, Go bowling mid-morning, nice ham dinner, open presents from siblings, Christmas eve program at home

This is going to be a busy month!

Halloween activities

Hello all!  Just thought I'd repost some activities we've done during past Octobers to bring the halloween spirit into the home.  Or, if planning activities is too bothersome, you can just do as I do and screech and cackle and scream like a witch at your kids the whole month.
 hee hee hee hee hee . . .

 Hungry Monster People Toss

Monster Meals

Lair of the Spider Queen