Go to each of these sites to read an account of what Jesus was doing each day before that first Easter morning.  Use the activity ideas for each day to make your children aware of the Greatest Story ever told!!

Day One - Palm Sunday -  Cute video of children singing Hosanna Here Comes Jesus Riding on a Donkey

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

Day Five

Day Six

Day Seven

Resurrection Day! Great song Hooray, Hooray  The Stone is Rolled Away. (words can be found here)

The flowers are springing up,
and the time of singing birds has come,
even the cooing of turtledoves.
Song 2:12 

 In Matthew 6:25-34 , Jesus must have been enjoying spring time as He taught His friends about how much God loves them.  He noticed the birds flying around and said,  ”Look at the birds! They aren’t worried about having enough to eat because God feeds them.  In the same way, you shouldn’t worry about what you will eat.  God will feed you too!”  Then Jesus picked up some flowers that were blooming and said, “These flowers don’t have to worry about what they will wear because God has beautifully clothed them.  You don’t need to worry about clothes either for God will make sure you have something to wear.”

I hope your main activity with your children during this season can be outside enjoying nature together. Share with them that the Bible says in Psalm 145:10 that all God’s works shall praise Him.

As yall observe the beauty of God’s creation, join with the flowers, trees, and birds in praising God.  Here’s some songs to sing as you do.

This one is an old recording, but you can get the idea, or better yet, you can make up your own:

 Now the Flowers Are Growing

And another about God’s Beautiful World:

http://youtu.be/AbWgeJOMQ4U

Isaiah 55:12 says the mountains and hills will burst into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! So even if we don’t praise the Lord, creation still will.  Here’s a song about this that was recorded for me and my children by a friend, Patti Bennett:

 The Rocks and Hills Will Cry Out

These next two are from children’s musicals when my children were small.  Yeah, I know they are dated, but give them a listen:

http://youtu.be/W8wFjhWztcw

http://youtu.be/HLsh3lwKv5c

Happy Spring!!!

Let your children know the history of special days or the reason for celebrations. God commanded His people to do this in Joshua 4:20-24:  At Gilgal Joshua set up the 12 stones they had taken from the Jordan. [21] He said to the people of Israel, “In the future when children ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ [22] the children should be told that Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground. [23] The Lord your God dried up the Jordan ahead of you until you had crossed, as he did to the Red Sea until we had crossed. [24] The Lord did this so that everyone in the world would know his mighty power and that you would fear the Lord your God every day of your life.”

We are familiar with February 2 being called Groundhog Day. But did you know it is also called Candlemas?  It is celebrated forty days after the birth of Jesus Christ.  In Luke 2:22-35, it is recorded that Mary and Joseph took infant Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem for the ritual purification of Mary after childbirth  and in order to present their first born which was required by the Law of Moses. As they presented Jesus to Simeon, he prophesied: “Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of manyhearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35).

Celebration of Candlemas Day began by Roman Catholics with lighting candles and parading through the streets as a commemoration of the presentation of Jesus and the prophesy of Simeon.  German immigrants known as Pennsylvania Dutch brought the tradition to America in the 18th century.

But where does Groundhog Day come in?  Candlemas occurs half way between the first day of winter and the first day of spring.   Ancient thought was that hibernating creatures were able to predict the arrival of springtime on this day.  Traditionally, it was believed that if Candlemas was sunny, the remaining six weeks of winter would be stormy and cold. But if it rained or snowed on Candlemas, the rest of the winter would be mild. If an animal “sees its shadow,” it must be sunny, so more wintry weather is predicted.

So now you know and can tell your children.  Be sure and read Luke 2:22-35 and tell in your own words about Jesus going to ‘church’ for the first time.  Then just have some fun with groundhog crafts:

http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mgroundhog.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/groundhogday/popuphog/ (my personal favorite!) Sing this song Mr.-Groundhog when you finish this craft.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/groundhogday/

Daniel 2:21
And He changes the times and the seasons;

Celebrate each season, emphasizing God’s hand in it all.  Autumn is such a fun time to enjoy God’s beautiful world with your children. Go outside and play in the leaves – build a leaf fort, bury each other in leaves, walk on the dry leaves and hear them crunch, see who can find the most perfect, colorful leaf.  Be sure to thank God for the leaves as you play. And don’t forget to sing!!!

Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Josua 1:9

Just as the verse promises, God was with Moses wherever he went throughout his life and He will be with us wherever we go.  Have fun teaching the life of Moses and this wonderful promise to your children.  I recently spent a week doing this with my grandsons and we had a blast!!

Read the Scripture passages and retell the stories in your own words.  Also read the stories to your children from a children’s Bible.  Share  Joshua 1:9 often as you do the following activities.

Moses is born
Exodus 1:8 – 2:10

(Make a basket out of paper and put a baby in it.  Hide in real grass or make paper grass)

God Calls Moses
Exodus 3

(Put bits of yellow, orange, and red construction paper in a bush to represent the burning bush)

Crossing the Red Sea
Exodus 14

(Take blue construction paper and fold the ends to the center.  Glue sand or brown construction paper in the center)
(Use toy figures and don’t forget the army men)

Eating and Drinking in the Wilderness
Exodus 16:1 – 17:7

(Let manna fall from heaven (soda crackers or popcorn cake or any kind of white wafer)

(Run a hose pipe under a rock and have someone turn on the water as the child strikes the rock)
(Notice the backpacks packed for their trip in the Wilderness)

Here’s a song with motions to help memorize the verse:

I received this question from a mom last week:

“We are having a problem with our preschool son being sneaky. We tell him no and he waits until we aren’t looking and then does it.
Any scriptures for this one? Ideas? Help.”

Below is my response:

“This one verse comes to mind:
Genesis 16:13 Thereafter, Hagar referred to the Lord, who had spoken to her, as’the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have seen the One who sees me!’
Here is a week long lesson I used with my children using this verse:”

God Sees Me

Genesis 16:13 God Sees Me

Bible Stories: (Tell a different Bible Story each day)

Genesis 3 Adam and Eve disobeyed God. They ate some fruit from a tree that God had told them not to eat. They tried to hide themselves from God in the garden. But God came looking for them. He knew what had happened. God saw them. God was very disappointed with Adam and Eve. Remember that God sees you and you can’t hide from Him when you do wrong.

Genesis 16 There was a lady name Hagar who ran away from her home. She ran to the wilderness trying to hide from everyone but God knew where she was and he told her to go home. Hagar said, “You, God, see me: and she went home like God had told her to do. God sees me everywhere I go and He sees you everywhere you go. God sees everyone.

Proverbs 15:3 The Bible says that God’s eyes are everywhere and He sees all the good things we do and He sees all the bad things we do. Even when mom and dad aren’t watching you, God is watching you. God sees you; He keeps His eyes on you to take care of you and to keep you out of trouble. Always remember that God sees you and when you are tempted to do something bad, ask yourself if you want God to see you doing that.

1 Kings 19 A wicked queen named Jezebel was mad a the preacher Elijah. She wanted to hurt him so Elijah ran away. He ran into the wilderness and sat down under a juniper tree and went to sleep. God saw Elijah there and woke him up and gave him some food and water. Then Elijah went to a cave. God saw him there, too. God saw Elijah everywhere he went. God told Elijah he had special things for him to do and to go back. Elijah obeyed God because he knew that saw him.

Jonah God told Jonah He wanted him to go to Ninevah to preach to the eople there. But Jonah didn’t want to go to Ninevah. He got on a boat going to Tarshish to hide from God. But God saw him on that boat and sent a big wind to disturb the water and cause the boat to almost sink. The men on the boat found out that Jonah was trying to hide from God so they threw him out of the boat. God saw Jonah in the water and caused a big fish to swallow Johan. God saw Jonah in the fish and heard him praying. God made the fish spit Jonah out on dry land. Then Jonah went to Ninevah and preached like God had told him to do. Jonah learned that God saw him wherever he was.

Prayer: Help us to always act with the thought that You see us. Thank you that we can’t hide from You. You are always watching over us to keep us from trouble.

Activities:

• Cut the letters ‘God Sees Me’ out of felt and frame them and hang them on the wall as a constant reminder that even when no one else is looking, God sees me.
• Show glasses, telescope, mirror, camera, microscope, binoculars, sunglasses. Talk about the fact that God doesn’t need any of these things to see us.
• Have child turn their back and you take one of the items away.  When they turn around have them guess which one you removed.  Talk about the fact that God sees what we do when others can’t.
• Go in every room, outside, under the bed, etc and repeat the Bible verse in each place
• Play Hide and Seek with older children and Peek a Boo with younger – pointing out that even when you can’t see them God still can

“You can talk to him about honesty which is being careful what you say and do – Click here for a post on this site for ideas and a song with signing video about honesty.

Hopefully something here will be helpful. Thank you for having a passion for establishing God’s Word in your children.

‘You are doing a great work’ (Jeremiah 6:3)”

Please feel free to email me with any questions at sheilahdaws@gmail.com. Not that I have all the answers, but I would be happy to try and help you find the answers as you train up your child in the way he should go.

Giving thanks produces contentment.  Read the suggested passages for Bible stories or thoughts and tell them in your own words.   Do one each day along with a suggested activities.  Put the Bible verse on the fridge and repeat it often.

(Choosing to be happy with what you have)

Bible Verse: In everything give thanks. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Bible Stories:
Hebrews 1:15 - God wants us to give Him thanks more than anything. He would rather us tell Him “thank you” than to give Him money. He would rather us tell Him “thank you” than give Him presents. God likes to hear “thank you”.

Psalm 119:1 - David thanked God for everything God did. He thanked him for the good things. He even thanked God for the bad things that happened. David thanked God even when he was hurt because it helped him to learn God’s Word. The bad things that happen to us can help us learn more about God when we go through the hurtful things. God wants us to thank Him when good things happen and not so good things happen.

John 6:1-13 – One day Jesus was teaching a lot of people and they were all hungry. Jesus took what food was given to him by a little boy and thanked God for the food. God made enough food from that to feed all the people. Jesus gave thanks for His food and so should we.

Luke 17:11-19 – One day 10 sick men came to see Jesus. They asked Jesus to help make them well. He told them how to be healed. When they obeyed him, they were healed. All 10 were healed but only 1 came back to thank Jesus.

Psalm 139:14 David thanked God for making him. He said, “I will thank God for making me wonderfully” David thanked God for making all of his body – eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hands, feet, stomach, etc. Thank God for making all of you.

Prayer: Help us focus on things we do have, not on the things we don’t have

Activities:
Thank God for someone special and make a card for them.
Make a ‘thank you box’ and find pictures of things to put in it.
Paste picture of foods (favorite and not so favorite) on a paper plate and write the Bible verse on it. (John 6:1-13)
Make paper cut outs of the 10 sick men and act out the story. (Luke 17:11-19)
Play ball together and thank God for each part of the body as you use them. (Psalm 139:14)

A Thankful Song

Great song to sing on Easter 10-hooray.  Words can be found here.

Ministry to Children posted an awesome 4 minute video for children that wonderfully sums up the message of Easter.

Happy Easter!!

(This is a lesson from Here a Little, There a Little, a compilation of Bible activities I created to use with my preschool children. It was designed to spend a week memorizing the verse and reinforcing it through Bible lessons and activities.)

Trust

Bible Verse: What time I am afraid I will trust in God.  Psalm 56:3

Bible Stories:

Psalm 56 Some mean men were fighting against David.  They wanted to hurt him.  David became afraid, but he remembered that when he was afraid he could trust God.  So David said, “What time I am afraid I will trust in God..”  Then David knew that it didn’t matter what men tried to do to him because God was protecting him.

Luke 2:8-14 Remember the shepherds watching the sheep the night Jesus was born?  The Bible said that they were afraid when they saw the angel that appeared to them.  The angel said, “Don’t be afraid for I bring you good news about Jesus.”  The shepherds learned what time they were afraid to trust in God.

2 Corinthians 11 – 12:10 Paul went through many problems.  He was in prison; he was beaten; he had a wreck in a boat 3 times; some men took all he had and hurt him.  Paul had times of being hungry, thirsty, and cold.  But through all that, even though he was afraid many times, he knew to trust God to make him strong in the midst of all these problems.  Paul learned what time he was afraid to trust in God.

Genesis 14 A bad king had taken Abraham’s nephew, Lot.  Abraham knew he must do something to help Lot.  The bad king had many, many men to help him, but Abraham had only a few to help him.   However, Abraham received a promise from God that He would take care of his enemies.  Abraham didn’t have to be afraid of all those men who were going to help the bad king,  he could trust God to take care of him and his family.

Daniel 6:7-23 The king gave an order that no one was to pray to anyone but him or they would be put in the lions den.  Daniel loved God very much and he knew that the Bible said to always pray to God and only God – no one else.  So Daniel continued to pray to God and the king threw him into the lions den.  Daniel knew that when he was afraid he could trust in God, so he trusted God right there in the lions den and do you know what happened?  Instead of the lions biting Daniel like the king thought they would, God shut the mouths of the lions so they couldn’t hurt Daniel!!!

Prayer: Thank you, God,  that we can trust in You at all times in every situation.

Activities:

Make a clock face out of a paper plate and a brad to hold the clock hands on.  Write the Bible verse on the clock and hang it in a prominent place like on the refrigerator door.

Pretend together with toys, dolls, stuffed animals and that one of them is afraid. Talk about trusting in God whenever he’s afraid.

Spend time all week talking to God about a problem the child or family has. (ex. going to potty, finances, afraid of the dark, etc)  Talk about trusting God to take care of the problem.  Talk about trusting God anytime, anywhere, and with any problem.

Act out Genesis 14 with army men using many to represent king’s army and only a few for David’s.

Act out Daniel 6:7-23 in the lions den.  You could use stuffed animals for lions or make lion masks out of paper plates and yarn for the manes.

Songs:

Put the verse to music for easy memorizing.  Compose your own tune or use a familiar one.  Here’s mine to the tune of  ’Mary Had a Little Lamb’: What Time I Am Afraid

You can find cd’s of scripture put to music.  Steve Green has some especially for children:
Hide ‘em in Your Heart Vol. 1 (This volume has Psalm 56:3 on it)
Hide ‘em in Your Heart Vol. 2
Steve Green: Hide ‘em in Your Heart: 13 Bible Memory Music Videos for Children of All Ages [VHS]

Books:

Find these stories in a children’s Bible.  If you don’t have one, check here or here for some good ones.  Below are two of my favorites:
The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes
Read and Share Bible

Arch Books has a book about many, many Bible stories.  Begin building your library with these colorfully illustrated paperbacks
Daniel in the Lions Den: Daniel 6 for Children (Arch Books)

(This is another lesson from Here a Little, There a Little, a compilation of Bible activities I created to use with my preschool children. It was designed to spend a week memorizing the verse and reinforcing it through Bible lessons and activities.)

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” (William Arthur Ward)  Share this quote with your children and teach them that since everything comes from God, we need to express thanks to Him for everything.  We should also express thanks to those God leads to give to us.

Gratefulness

Bible Verse: James 1:17  Every good present and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father who made the sun, moon, and stars.

Bible Stories:

1. Psalm 127:3 The Bible says that children are a gift from the Lord.  Every good gift comes from God. God gave Mom & Dad a very special gift (age of your child) ago.  We are so thankful God gave us the special, special gift.  Do you know what that gift was? – It was (child’s name)!

2. Psalm 68:19 Praise God who daily loads us with benefits The Bible says God daily loads us up with blessings.  Blessings are anything God gives us just because He loves us.  Can you name something God gives us every day? (Jesus, food, sleep, sunshine, happy times, smiles, hugs, water, love, friends, air to breath, etc)

3. Genesis 1 In the beginning of the world God made everything.  He made the animals, trees, blue sky, water, stars, sun, clouds, birds, plants, etc.  After He made His beautiful world, He made Adam and Eve.  He gave all He had made to them to enjoy.  God also gives all He has made to us to enjoy.  Thank you God, for your good gift of your beautiful world.

4. Philippians 4:10-19 Paul had need of something.  He was locked up in jail for preaching about Jesus.  The people in the church in the city called Philippi decided to send some gifts to Paul.  They loved him and wanted to help him.  Paul knew that it was God who had helped them to give the gift.   Paul knew that every good gift comes from God.

5. Philippians 1:1-5 Paul wrote a thank you letter to his friends in Philippi while he was in prison.  He told them that he thanked God for them every time he thought of them.  His friends cared about him and Paul was grateful for their friendship.  He knew they were a gift from God to him.  We need to thank God for our friends and those who help us.  We need to tell others we are thankful for them.

Prayer: Thank you God for all the gifts you have given us.  Help us to always be thankful to you and to others.

Activities:

1. Look at baby pictures  and express your gratefulness to God for giving you your children.

2. Cut out pictures of things that God gives us.  Put them in a a ‘thankful box’ and pull them out regularly and thank God for them

3. Play out in God’s beautiful world and sing one of these thankful songs.

4. Find or draw a picture of Paul in jail and talk about what gifts God might have led his friends to send him.  Do you know of someone that has a need that God could be leading your family to give to like the Philippians gave to Paul?

5. Train your children even now to always be quick to thank those who give to them.  This should also be those who give of their time to them. Help them write a thank you, complete with art work, to someone God has used to bless them (grandparent, pastor, s/s teacher, waitress, sales clerk, doctor, mailman, etc).