This is a cute video by Kathie Hill Music that teaches your children the fact that they are special and their possibilities are limitless.

It is a live-action video using pipe cleaner characters.  The music is the classic children’s song by Bill Gaither with new tracks.

This week we are emphasizing the Bible verse “A brother is born to help in time of need” (Proverbs 17:17b)

Today Grant and I read the story of Moses in The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes; we talked about how Moses’s big sister helped her little brother in time of need. We also read Courage the Monkey in which the little brother helped his big brother have courage. We read a favorite again today We’re Very Good Friends, My Brother and I.

We sang this song:Grant Has a New Brother 

We cut out, colored, and put happy faces on paper dolls of Grant and Hudson.  We then covered them in plastic to make them durable to play with.

A simple activity but it gave us opportunity to talk about the fact that brothers are friends and that Grant can help Hudson and one day Hudson will be able to help him.

When Hudson was crying today, we stopped what we were doing and prayed for him to be happy and not cry.

I think Grant loves his brother!

How fun to be able to spend time with Josh and Becca during these special days in their family.  What a privilege to be with Grant as he grows to love his new brother.   This week we are using Proverbs 17:17b with him and Hudson – “. . . a brother is born to help in time of need”.

Grant and I found a picture of an older brother helping his younger brother and glued it onto a styrofoam plate.  I wrote the verse on the plate and we tied a ribbon to it and hung it on a door knob for him to look at all week.

Becca let Grant pick out Hudson’s clothes for the day.  Grant helps with diaper changing by taking the dirty diaper to the trash with great enjoyment.  He checks his diapered Teddy for poo often.

We read about Joseph and his brothers in Joseph and His Brothers: Genesis 37-47 for Children (Arch Books).  We talked about how sad it was for the brothers to be so unkind to Joseph.  We prayed that God would help Hudson and him to be good friends and help one another. We read We’re Very Good Friends, My Brother and I.

We sang “You’re Something Special” from Especially For Children (classic moments from) The Bill Gaither Trio.  You can download the song here and see the lyrics here.

It seems like just yesterday I was using these same activities with Josh when Jer was born.  Moms, don’t miss a moment with your little ones because with the blink of your eye, they will be grown and having little ones of their own

(This is another lesson from Here a Little, There a Little,  a compilation of  Bible activities I created years ago to use with my preschool children.  It was designed to spend a week memorizing the verse and reinforcing it through 5 Bible lessons and 5 activities.)

Self-Worth
(a sense of your personal worth and value to God and others)

Bible Verse: I will praise God for I am wonderfully made.  Psalm 139:14

Bible Stories:

Psalm 139:14 Did you know that God made you?  He made you when you were in Mommy’s tummy.  He made your arms and legs, your eyes, nose, ears, hands, feet.  He made your inner parts too- your heart, your stomach, your lungs that help you breathe.  God did such a wonderful work when he took all these parts and knit them together into you.  I’m glad God made you.  I praise God that you are wonderfully made.

Proverbs 16:4 God has made everything for His own purposes.  He made you for His purpose.  He made Mom and Dad and brother for his purpose. We must ask God what he wants us to do.  God will show us why He made us and what He wants us to do with our lives.  Let’s ask God to help us know why He made us.  We need to remember that God has a special plan for us.

Psalm 150 The Bible says we were made to praise God.  We should praise Him for His wonderful works.  We should praise Him for being so great.  We should praise Him with music.  Everything alive should praise God.  Let’s praise Him right now with words and singing.

Genesis 1:26-28 In the very beginning God made the world.  He made plants and animals to live in His world but He wanted someone to take care of His world.  So God made man and woman.  He made them like Himself.  He told them to take care of the plants and animals.  He also told them to have children.  That is how we all began.  God made Adam and Eve and they had children.  Then their children had children and on and on until your Mom and Dad had you.

Job 33:4-6 The Bible says that God has made me.  God has breathed life into me.  Because of God I live – I run – I eat – I sleep – I play – I grow. The Bible also says I belong to God.  Since God made me, I belong to Him.  We should always remember we belong to God and try to act like we are His children.  God wouldn’t like one of His to act unkind.  That would make Him unhappy.  God made us wonderful.  Let’s make God happy that He made us.

Prayer: Thank you God for making me wonderful.  Help me to act like I am your wonderful creation.

Activities for baby:

Let him look in a mirror as you repeat the verse

Listen to music and say, “Thank you God for ears”

Let him smell a flower and say, “Thank you God for my nose”

While feeding say, “Thank you God for my mouth”

Clap hands and sing, “Thank you God for hands”

Activities for older preschoolers:

Look at baby pictures and foot print when he was a baby

Trace his hands and sing, “Thank you God for hands”

Let him smell different spices and say, “Thank you God for my nose”

Let him look in a mirror and thank God for making him so wonderful as he points out his eyes, ears, nose,
mouth, hair, chin, etc.

If you haven’t already, hang a growth chart on the wall and measure his height.

Have him color, run, jump, help in some way.  Talk about how God made him so wonderful that he can do                all these things.

Look at pictures of the inside of our bodies and repeat the Bible verse.

Video

This is a great video for teaching  your little one how special God made them.

Songs:

You Are Special cd with several self-esteem building songs by Mister Rogers

Because He Lives mp3 download (second verse is a favorite I have always sung to babies.)

“You’re Something Special” on the cd Especially For Children (classic moments from) The Bill Gaither Trio I highly recommend this whole cd

“Blue, Blue Sky”

Singing and Signing “You are Very Special”

“Five Senses”

“God Loves Me”

Books:

The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes

Grant welcomes Hudson

Our new grandson is now home with his family – Josh, Becca, and Grant.  All are doing well.  Josh and Becca have done a good job preparing Grant for his little brother’s arrival during the months of waiting.  They talked with him often about how God was blessing them with a new baby and what a good big brother Grant was going to be.  They even came home from the hospital with a gift from baby Hudson for Grant – the Batman helicopter was a big hit with him.

I am staying with them a few weeks to reassure Grant of his special place in his family during this adjustment time of learning to share Mom and Dad.  We are reading books about new babies, coloring pictures of babies and mommies, gluing pictures of babies into a booklet, and diapering a teddy bear.

I am using some of the same activities and stories I used the week we brought our second son home 30 years ago.  Our Bible verse for the week is “I will praise God for I am wonderfully made”. Psalm 139:14.  We have looked at baby pictures of Grant and talked about how special God made him. We ran, sorted big & little toys, sang and danced.  We shared the verse as we did each activity and talked about how wonderful God made him to be able to do all these things. (Check out the next blog post coming out in a few days for the entire lesson on self-worth.)

There are a number of books to read about a new baby.  Here are a couple of suggestions:

The New Baby by Mercer Mayer

The New Baby (Paperstar) By Mister Rogers

Mister Rogers has an excellent song about when a new baby comes to your house.  I couldn’t find it online but am linking to a recording from a vinyl I had years ago When the baby comes to your house.  If anyone does find it for sale online please let me know so I can post the link here.

I hope these things are helpful if you have a new baby come to your house.

1980 Josh welcomed Jer into the family

I can’t believe our little girl has graduated college.  Where did the last 22 yrs go. For that matter the last 32 years since God first made me a mom.

Deuteronomy 6 says we are to teach our children “at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again.”   This indicates that we are to spend much time with our children.  Don’t waste one moment with them  because they don’t stop growing while we are busy doing other things.

I am so thankful for all the tea parties, for bedtime prayers and tucking in, for snuggle times we had, books we read and Bible stories we talked about.

I am thankful for all the tents we made inside with sheets and the huts we built outside, for nerf wars and sock wars.

I am thankful for the picnics and the lazy summer days swinging together as we pretended to take some sunglasses to the sun.

I am thankful for the pretending with dolls and GI Joes, for the hours watching Mister Rogers and eating peanut butter sandwiches.

I am thankful for all the masking tape we put on the floor making Dawsville, and for all the messes with flour, and playing snake pit or avalanche with all the pillows.

I am thankful for the Daws family Christmas traditions, the birthday celebrations, the popcorn and movie nights, the playdough devotions.

I am thankful for the Disney trips, the camping trips, and the walks in the park and in the neighborhood.

I am thankful for fun times with all our varied animals through the years. (frogs, newts, gerbils, iguanas, snakes, fish, bunnies, ferrets, turtles, dogs, and cats)

I am thankful for the hours of homeschooling and even the struggles with math, for the time making costumes for Halloween or Christmas plays or just because we wanted to play civil war or Star Trek in the backyard and really dress the part.

You know, I don’t have a very impressive resume.  I have not spent the last 32 years teaching at a major university, or meeting with heads of state, or making major business deals.  I don’t have awards or degrees on my wall, but I have 32 years of making memories with my children,  and  nothing I could have been doing with the prime of my life could have ever been more important or rewarding than this!!

Thank you, God, for  calling me to the most important and awesome  profession in the world
- being Jenny’s, Jon’s, Jer’s, and Josh’s Mom!

Building Memories
By Sandra D. Romans

So much to do – I have no time
To listen now, I say,
And hurry back to the chores
That always fill my day.

No time to listen? A small voice
Seemed to whisper in my ear…
Soon your little ones will be gone
And you’ll wish to hold them near.

I left my broom – the chores undone
And found them under the apple tree.
I held them close and listened while
They shared their love and we built a memory.

“Your children love you, they want to play with you. How long do you think that lasts? . . .  We have a few special years with our children, when they’re the ones that want us around. After that you’re going to be running after them for a bit of attention. It’s so fast . . . It’s a few years Peter and it’s over. And you are not being careful. And you are missing it.”  from Hook

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

Galatians 6:9 (NLT)
So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.

Here is another video teaching aid using Joe. Children are concrete learners so using visuals with them is very helpful in getting a point across. You can easily adapt Joe to help you teach many things to your children.

In this video Joe learns that he is special just the way he is. Self esteem is a foundational character quality that we all need to have. We as parents need to feel good about ourselves before we can help our children learn to value their own uniqueness. God wants us all to know that He loves us just the way we are. Romans 5:8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

If you can’t get the video to play, try clicking this link.