Site Review: Homefrontmag.com

Spiritual Parenting. That sounds hard right?
You mean I need to know how to spiritually parent my children on top of everything else I am doing to raise them?
No. But you should know how to spiritually parent your children through everything you are doing to raise them.

But how?

Well, there are a lot of different ways to do Spiritual Parenting - and every family is different. This site and online Magazine offer great ideas that do not take too much time to read through that might be something you can easily slip into your day without too much intentionality.

http://homefrontmag.com/

This magazine is full of different ways to connect with your children and each month follows a different theme.

There is everything from Games and stories to prayers and recipes to use as a family, as well as inspiration and ways to equip and support you as a family on your journey in becoming more spiritually mature.

Favorite Aspect of Homefront:

Conversation Starters

These allow you to get practical ways to talk to your children about biblical subjects intentionally in your day to day life. They are so short and simple too! Even the busiest of parents can take a few seconds to read this to get some ideas on starting spiritual conversations with their children whenever and where ever they want to! 

Overall this is a great resource for parents who are wanting to do more for there children spiritually and offers many different ways that they can incorporate these awesome teaching opportunities in there lives. 

Helping Hands Project

My kiddos LOVE to be involved and get the chance to help out on Sunday Mornings, and I love to train them to have a servants heart!  


Sometimes I reward them for their help with candy, but then they are cleaning for the incentive's and not from the kindness of their heart if I do it too regularly.


So I decided to make this container, and put a Popsicle stick for each child into the container.  Then every time that I need a helper, I just pull a stick out and ask that student to do the job.  This way, I am not playing favorites with the children on accident because I call on the ones that raise there hand, and not on the ones that are too shy to do so.  If I call on a child that really does not want to help, I can just simply put there name aside and call on someone else.  Maybe something like this would work for your service too! 


Supplies:
- a small container (I found mine for a dollar at the dollar tree)
- Popsicle sticks (I also found a bag of a hundred colored ones there as well!)
- Marker
- Paper
- Tape
- Any designing tools that you may want to use for your container!

I just made a label that would fit the container, and attached the paper with some glue first so it would stay on the container, then I wrapped the container with tape to secure the label.  Then I just added a Popsicle stick for each of my kiddos to the box. I put the left overs in a save place for when I have new kids come so I can add them as well!

 (I also wrote on the top of the container so its clearly labeled)

Hope this works for you, or gives you an idea of how to make it work! 

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to comment! 
Thanks (:

Quiet Spray (Shhhhhh...)

This Idea was found and adapted from Pinterest.

I have 30+ 4-6 year old children on any given Sunday with few helpers.  (Thank you God for a patient heart!)
Anyways, as many of you might already know, when you get together that many children it is very hard to keep them in order, let alone quiet.  I don't mind the noise during play and craft times, but during story time, it makes it hard to actually teach the kiddos.

So.... I adapted this craft from a blog on Pinterest and it works out well for me, so I hope it works out for you too! All it is is a decorated spray bottle that the kids think has the ability to keep them quiet.  (younger kids really believe it too!)

Supplies:
-Empty Spray Bottle (could be used or bought new from the Dollar Tree for cheap)
-glitter, paint, sequins, sand, marble
-Paper
-Tape

(excuse the messy table, I was hard at work!)

Start with just the bottle you are using, and add the marble, sequins, sand and glitter into the bottle.
You can use any combination of these Items, basically they are to help move around the paint and cover the inside of the bottle with it.  The sand/glitter helps to have the paint stay on the sides and the marble helps to move it.  The sequins are good to make it "sound as if there is something actually in the bottle that makes the kids stay quiet.

Then you have to add the paint into the container, one color at a time.  If you add them all at once, the colors combine together and then you get a brown yucky color.  I used acrylic paints I already had, but I think tempra paint would work fine too. Any colors work, I just went with bright colors that popped!

Last, after it has dried and you can put the lid on it, you can create your sign for the bottle!

Just simply tape this to the bottle so that it looks like it is an actual label.

Finish product "sounds" like it has spray in it, and is really empty.  I suppose you could also use water in it after it dries to create a mist that you spray towards the students, if they need something more visual and you felt comfortable with that.

Once the child has "Quiet Spray" on them, they should no longer be able to "be loud"! I only use it during the story time so that the effect is stronger.  

Hope you get this to work out well!
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to comment!

Thanks! (:

Craft, Game, and Object Lesson: God Makes Samson Strong

Craft: 

•  "Paper Doll" Samson
• Supplies:
• Yarn
• Man Coloring Page
• Card Stock

I created an Outline of a plain paper doll with no gender, and then made copies on card stock so that when it is cut out, the kids can make it stand up.  The idea is that they get to draw Samson on the plain outline and then glue on his very long hair, as a before his hair was cut and he was still very strong figure.  
I did not have any brown yarn, so Samson gets to be blonde! 

They cut it out, glue on the long hair and then use it to play out the scenes from the story.


Object Lesson: 

•  Honey and Bread

In my Sunday Class we always do a snack because the children have been in Sunday School and when they get to my class they need a break and a refresher.  Well for this particular lesson, our snack gets to be a part of the story! 


Because in the Bible story Samson uses some honey from a bee hive and shares it with his Parents.  We are using two loaves of bread and a cup of honey so that the kids can taste exactly what Samson tasted. 


You could also just simply use a gram cracker or a pretzel stick dipped in honey, or just have them taste honey and guess what it is.  






Games:


- "Samson" Says:
Instead of Simon Says, and you can use things from the story to play "Samson says to eat honey", "Samson says to pretend to be angry", and so on. You can add in Simon says classics as well if you need to make the game longer.  






-"Bee Hive" Walking Tag:
This is like tag except a lot safer.  In the center of the room, place a yellow cloth (sheet, towel, or shirt if you need to be creative) or a Drawn out actual Bee Hive if you have time and materials to do so.  Then, Have all the children WALK around the room "buzzing and flying" like Bees while you, or an adult helper, acts as the "Bee Keeper". When you tag them, they have to go to the Bee Hive in the center of the room and sit and wait until everyone has bee tagged and sent back.  

Children's Ministry Game: Giant Tic Tac Toe

This is a fun game for VBS, a summer picnic or just a way to pass time with your children!

Supplies Needed:
- Shower Curtain or tarp (Dollar Tree sells plain colored curtains for only a buck!)
- Tape
- Frisbees, rings, or an item to throw at the tic tac toe board

Lay out the curtain and then tape the lines equally out in the design of a tic tac toe board.

I had these rings from a Twister Game donated to the church that worked great!

We played a review game with it, so it was really good because it allowed the kids to have fun and learn.

Please feel free to comment with any questions, thoughts or concerns!

Thanks! (:




This Idea was found and altered from http://www.aturtleslifeforme.com/search/label/teacher

Gideon's Small Army: Craft Idea

Although this story is a little advanced for my Pre-Schoolers, I believe that they can handle it (and so does my lesson curriculum).

This week is the story of how God asked Gideon to lead an army against the Midianites but they wanted a smaller army so only 300 soldiers went up against the Midianites in the end.  The 300 showed up at night, with a trumpet and a jar with a torch after Gideon learns the Midianites are afraid.  Then they took out the torch and blew their trumpets and scared the Midianites.

As a craft, I could not make trumpets two weeks in a row, So I planned on making torches this week, and they can cup their hands around their mouth to make the trumpet noise at the appropriate time. 

The Craft Supplies:

• Brown paper for the torch part
• Red, Orange, and Yellow for the flames
• Scissors
• Glue/Tape

Next:

Cut the brown paper into triangles that look like cones - I got about 5 from each piece of brown paper

Then: 

use the red, yellow, and orange papers to cut "flames" for the top of the torch.  The flames can be in many different shapes, as long as they have tips on them.  I used 2 sheets of each color and it was plenty enough for 20+ preschoolers.

Finally:

Instruct the children to glue the flames to the top of their torches.

I did this with my kiddos and they were very quick with it and loved that they got to design their own torch flames.  They took maybe 10 minutes in total and I would put the difficulty level at about 1/5 for preschoolers.  If they are older children, you may want to let them cut out their own material, to take up more time and to allow them to make the torches more unique. 

Please leave any comments, thoughts or concerns bellow! 

Thanks! (:

"Safe Sparklers" for Fourth of July!

So, as many parents and workers with pre-school aged children know, they should never be allowed to play with fire! However, they feel out of the loop and sad when they see older kids getting to have sparklers and fireworks that they cannot.  That is why I decided to have a second craft this Sunday so that the kiddos could have a safe sparkler to play with.

The idea was found and tweaked from Pinterest.

Material needed:
- tape
- red white and blue paper
- wooden rods (found at Walmart - $1 for 16)
- fourth of July tinsel  (found at the dollar store - $1 for 25 feet)

Instructions:

- choose a design for the top, I could not find a star dicut so I used this one:

- Wrap the rod with the tinsel and then attach one large star or "flower" in one color, and then one smaller one of the other two colors on each side. I used tape so that the kids could not destruct them as much due to how long glue takes to dry fully, but glue would probably last longer and be more effective in the long run.  

Finished product:

Hope this works well for you!

Please feel free to comment with any questions or concerns!

Thanks! (:

Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho: Craft Idea

As you know in this story they march around the walls of Jericho sounding trumpets/horns and shouting for seven days.  A good craft for pre-school aged children is to make a horn for them to use at the parts in the story where a horn is mentioned. 


Supplies Needed:

- Markers
- Scissors 
- Tape 
- "Gold" (Yellow) paper 




First:

Allow the kids to decorate their trumpet any which way they choose to, or if you want you can have them make it really look like a trumpet.


Next:

Roll up into a cone shape and place a piece of tape on the bottom part to hold it together.  Also, it is good to put take around the mouth part to keep the kids from getting the end wet and soggy from spit.  (I didn't think it would be a problem, but some of my kids really liked to put the whole end in their mouths). 


Then I used our carpets as the edges of the walls of Jericho and had half of my kids line up as the wall, while the other half marched around and blew their trumpet at the appropriate times.  Then I switched so everyone got a turn.  


They LOVED it! 




Please feel free to comment with any questions or concerns! (: 

What should we teach?

"Then, what exactly are we supposed to teach children? What is important for them to learn? The answers to these questions differ based on one’s context, faith tradition, and cognitive abilities. But I believe that, in general, children ought to learn about the great texts of the Christian faith (with a particular focus on the life and teachings of Jesus), the Christian tradition or denomination in which they participate, and current events and issues that affect the life of the church and the world."

- David M. Csinos

Guevara, Matt (2012-03-11). Nexus: Central Themes in Children's Ministry (Kindle Locations 94-97). What Matters Now. Kindle Edition.




This book can be found at:
http://www.amazon.com/Nexus-Central-Childrens-Ministry-ebook/dp/B007JL627I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340325037&sr=8-1&keywords=nexus+central+themes


I completely agree. Often we focus more on the Old Testament because the stories can be made into simplistic ideas that seem appealing to children (i.e - Noah's Ark, Moses and the Red Sea). But really, the concepts that are most important for kids and teens to grasp and understand are often the ones that come from the New Testament and center around the life and teachings of Jesus. What I am not saying is that the Old testament is less important than the New Testament to teach to kids because they should know ALL of the bible, but when it comes to the hard stuff, the concepts children struggle with understanding and personalizing, often they are found in the New Testament, which means more time needs to be spend learning and teaching there.


I think another important thing to teach the children you minister to is Church history, both the history of the church you attend and the Churches of Christianity in general.  This does not mean that they should know who did what, where they did it, and why.  What it does mean is that they understand through the connections you make that the church they see in the New Testament, is linked to the church they are in now.  They need to personalize the concept that the Jesus in the bible is the same Jesus we know today, and that the concepts are still true.  


We need to not be afraid to approach the hard topics in the Bible, because they are the most important for children to understand. Things like, death and sex are really tough to talk out with kids. What should they know about these topics? What is age appropriate for them? How much information is too much? 
These are all genuine questions when we come to these topics that require discernment of maturity and understanding.  






If you have any thoughts or concerns, please feel free to leave a comment! 

A Book Worth Reading: Your Daughter Needs a Hero

Your Daughter Needs a Hero 

By: Maria C. Furlough

I was recently blog searching and came across a post for this book.  In that post featured on epicparent.tv, Maria talked about how she was insecure as a teen and how her parents could have helped with the issue. (post found at  http://www.epicparent.tv/young-women-insecurity-and-a-book-give-away/#more-5264)

The reason this book is worth reading is because ALL girls struggle with this issue in some way at some point and MOST parents do not know how they can help with the issue.   It is not that parents do not want to help or try to help, its simply that they often do not know what the right and wrong things to do and say are with this issue.

Thanks Maria for writing a book that tackles a major issue with Children, Preteens, and Teens today!


You can purchase this book at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Your-Daughter-Needs-Maria-Furlough/dp/161346794X/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Also, Check out Maria's Ministry Site:
http://www.trueworthministries.org/