Cup Games for Kids

This past weekend I had the pleasure of helping my sister host a baby shower. We had some cups left over and in the blur of exhaustion set the cups down on the floor by the front door. Days later (don’t judge me) I finally picked up the cups. Did I mention we have a dog, a various curious dog who I am sure put her nose in the cups. So what was I to do with these paper cups? Games!

I took the cups and put letters and numbers on them. I told the kids it was game day and I set the game rules they had a blast!

For the Math Game we used our Base Ten blocks and put the appropriate tens and ones inside the cup to make the number.

As the kids filled the cup I would stack them. They loved seeing the stack grow as a mark of their accomplishments.

We then flipped the cups over and used the letters to make words. Once the kids discovered a word I would write it on the white board. My kids are motivated by praise and a sense of accomplishment so seeing there progress is important for them.

I hope you and your kids enjoy these cup games!

Touching God

I am a mother of three little beauties who are currently are 5, 3 and 9 months. I am with them most of the time since I work from home. There may be 4 out of the 24 hours of the day that I am not touched by one of them and that’s being generous. They want to cuddle, sit on my lap as I read, or crawl into my bed in the middle of the night. Sometimes they touch me for NO REASON AT ALL.

What if one day I told my three, “You can’t touch me, only daddy can. If you want to touch me, touch daddy. If you want my guidance, direction, or affirmation, ask daddy. He will ask me and get back to you. If you want to know the plans I have for you ASK. YOUR. DADDY.” Our relationship would be weak based only on daddies availability and filtered only through daddies understanding. God forbid something happen to daddy, they would no longer hear my heart, or know my will. The snippets of filtered understanding they got before would cease to exist.

Now imagine it the other way around. What if my littles ONLY wanted daddy. What if they preferred to ask him to ask me what they should do? What if rather than get a hug directly from me they asked daddy to ask me for proof of my love? What if they became comfortable with this arrangement and only touched me in passing because they were near their daddy. I would be HEARTBROKEN.

By now you get where I am going with this, I’m sure. If you are in a place where your relationship with God is dependent on another person you have to question the legitimacy of your faith. If you can only touch God through they remnant crumbs of another’s personal encounter I am here to tell you there is more.

God wants you to touch Him (Matthew 11:28). In fact He became flesh, and became a sacrifice unto Himself so that you could go directly to Him (John 1:14). You want guidance and direction? Ask Him (Psalm 119:105). If you need affirmation. You are the apple of His eye!( Psalm 139:14) You want an encounter with Him. Seek Him (Matthew 7:7).

Enough stuffing your face with scraps of anointing from the tables of our teachers encounters. Enough being satisfied with Sunday and Wednesday meat and milk. Enough with starving yourself though out the week, then leaving God’s presence unsatisfied!

The morsels are not for you! They are bites to whet the appetite of the unbeliever. The word you hear on Sunday morning should be confirmation of what God has been telling you throughout the week. How else will you know for sure that you are hearing from God through the mouth of your teacher? We have to take responsibility for our faith (Philippians 2:12). We have to stand up in our own lives least our faith be based on another.

Here’s the best part! He never tires of our touch! He doesn’t mind our dirty hands! In fact He says if we seek Him, He will answer! Oh, how He loves us! I encourage you, spend more time with Him, sneak away for moments in His presence. You will be blessed.

Raw Key Lime Pie

Crust:

½ Cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1 cup date honey

1 cup walnuts

  Filling:

1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 4-6 hours (or overnight), then drained

 3/4 cup full fat coconut milk, well shaken

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

 3-4 large limes or 6-7 key limes (1 Tbsp zest, 1/2 cup juice)

  1/2 cup date honey (depending on preferred sweetness)

Crust Instructions

1    1.    Combine coconut and walnuts to a blender or food processor and pulse until well mixed.

2    2.    Place mixture in bowl and add date honey.

3    3.    Press mixture evenly into a pie pan and place in freezer

Filling Instructions

1.  Add all filling ingredients to a blender and blend on high (or liquefy) until creamy and         smooth. Taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more lime zest/juice for more tart, or more agave for added sweetness.

2. Pour over frozen pie crust

3. Freeze for 2-4 hours or until firm. Remove from the freezer for 10-15 minutes to thaw before serving. Will keep covered in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.

DIY Bath Bombs for Kids

This past week was dubbed “Experiment Week”. Day 1 was DIY Bath Bombs. 

Here is what you need:

 Empty Christmas Ornament or a Bath Bomb mold

 1 Cup Baking Soda

 3/4 Cup Epson Salt (Blended until its a fine powder)

1 Tablespoon of lemon juice

1/4 cup water

Spray bottle

Wooden spoon

Food Coloring

Essential oils

Coconut Oil

Place all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon.

Next place the water, lemon juice, 1 tbsp coconut oil and essential oil (add per fragrance preference) into a spray bottle. Spray the liquid into the dry ingredients until the mixture has the consistency of sand. At this point we added food coloring. 

Once the mix starts to stick together start placing into the molds. Close the mod and allow to dry overnight. Due the the size of the ornament molds it took a few days to completely dry out. 

We covered the following topics: life skills, science, and math. 

Questions and discussion. 

1. Can you measure out a cup? 1/4 cup? 1/2 cup?

2. Why is it important to rest and relax?

3. What happens when the wet ingredients mix with the dry?

4. What happens when the colors mix?

Busy or Fruitful?

As a wife, mother, caretaker, and teacher I have “busy” down. I know how to do busy. I can take on a million task willingly and sacrifice time, money and sleep to get things done. Unfortunately, one of the easiest things to overlook is my quiet time with God. Its easy to say going to services a few times a week, joining a daily prayer line and trying to commit my daily Bible verse to memory is enough, but the fact of the matter is it, isn’t.

I will use marriage as an example because my husband is the most important person in my life. If I went out with him while in a group, included him in a group conversation and only knew His characteristics by the insights others shared based on there time with him. Our marriage would be fun at times, even enlightening but it would be far from the truly intimate relationship we desire to have. How then is it okay to devalue our time with God. We should seek after Him like a bride stealing glances at her groom. Looking for opportunities to steal away.

In Luke 10:38-42 Martha, frustrated, asks Jesus to reprimand Mary for sitting in his presence rather than help her serve the group. In verse 41 Jesus says, “Martha, Martha you are worried and troubled about many things.” Busyness equates to worry and being troubled. It is not God’s will for us to be worried in fact His word says the opposite. He instructs us to give Him our cares because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). Matthew 11:30 tells us God’s yoke is easy, His burden is light.

If you follow God you should not worry. Worry equals fear. Fear equals hiding or covering, more specifically burying. In Matthew chapter 25 we find a story about a man who buried what his master gave him because he was afraid. We cannot act in fear. It goes against the nature of Christ. If we bury our talents, purpose, callings even if it is by doing good things it leads to bareness in a place where God intended there be fruit.

So how then can we as believers be fruitful?

There is really only one way. Spend one on one time with God. I recently had a friend ask me what my time with God looks like. Everyone is different but I love to start with worship. I spend time acknowledging who God is, thanking Him, talking about my hopes, and concerns then I ask His will. I read His word and just sit in silence waiting for Him to give me an impression. Then I confirm if it is God by reading and studying His word.

Luke 10:42 tells us to choose the good thing, which is spending time with God. Romans 8:14 lets us know, sons of God are led by His spirit. John 10:27 lets us know that if we are Gods sheep we follow His voice. 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us to study the word of God.

He wants to know us and He wants us to know Him. If what you are doing does not enhance your relationship with God there is no good fruit in it.

A Day at The Farm

Last week SJ was out of town. She got back Saturday night, we went to church Sunday and started up with school again Monday. She was pretty wiped out and after a week of informal school with KJ we needed something to look forward to. So we told the kids we would go on a field trip and today we went to Riley Farms.

It was really fun. We took a nice hike from the main cabin where we picked up a map to the apple orchards. The hike was less than a mile and the kids got to learn the proper way to pick apples. Once the apples were picked they were weighed and we paid for them.

The grounds are really neat. They have sheep on property, colonial toys, a bakery, even a cabin. The kids and I finished reading Meet Addy which takes place during the colonial era and so we got to go inside the cabin giving them a visual to a setting similar to the cabin in the book.

It was a fun, informative day, and its only 15 minutes from our house so I see many visits to this farm in the near future.

Puzzle Mat Fun

I love to combine subjects. The easiest subject to combine with another is reading or phonics. This puzzle mat game allows my kids to use phonics and science to identify and place animals according to their name. In a previous post I told you about finding these wonderful mats at the dollar store. They are awesome!

We have a tile floor so I had the kids place one letter per tile all across the classroom floor.

I then stacked all the animal squares. Each child got a stack.

I had them match the first letter of the animal name with the corresponding tile. 

They had a blast!This is something you can use for beginning and and end sounds of the animal names. I then had them put the mat back together in order. This required them remembering where each letter went as well as working together.

This quick, easy, cheap game was a great way to reinforce their letters, and phonics.

Outside School

Last night was crazy! I didn’t get home from church until late, I barely made it home without falling asleep. I went straight to bed and woke up at almost 8 this morning! School starts at 9 ya’ll! So I make breakfast (eggs, potatoes, and tomatoes) and sent my husband to the store. We were out of many things but the most important thing we were missing was coffee. I managed to start school on time but without my daily devotion time AND coffee I’m all out of sorts.

After our daily review the kids wanted to play outside because starting late this morning also meant they lost out on their morning playtime. So we took school outside. The kids used chalk to write their letters. I was pleasantly surprised that KJ could write so well.

We then gathered leaves, glued them to a paper then talked about what was the same and what was different about the leaves. Even Princess AJ joined us!

We ventured back in the house worked on some sight words, read a few books and the kids worked in their math books. Before I knew it, it was noon. I instituted quiet time for an hour and the rest of the day the kids get to play.

I did not follow the lesson plan for today but after writing it I guess we got more done than I realized. I’m getting used to going with the flow when it comes to my children’s education. I want them to learn the way they learn so that means being unconventional with their learning.

Good Intentions

As  I am visiting with a friend I hear the water running outside
I yell out the screen door. “KJ turn off that water!” “Okay mom!” He replies and I hear the faucet is being shut off. A few minutes later I hear the water running again.
“KJ!”
“Yes mommy?”
“Is that water back on?”
“Yes.” He sighs knowing he is in big trouble.
“Come inside and go get in the bed until I come talk to you.”
“I was just trying to water the grass,” he mumbles as he comes in and goes to his room.

I turn to my friend an explain to her KJ’s position.

“I was just trying to water the grass, after all in the heat of summer the grass is now in patches in the backyard. The grass needed water. What was the big deal? I was being helpful. I was doing what needed to be done. I took initiative and now I am being punished for it. I don’t understand.”

As I went on and on she stopped me and said, “Okay, okay I get it.”

See this is how we are when it comes to things that God tells us not to do. We hear it all the time, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” In fact that is one of my favorite quotes. The problem wasn’t that he was watering the grass. He was being disobedient. He thought he could see and understand things I couldn’t. He was mistaken. Isn’t this how we are with God. We see an opportunity and though God tells us to stop, wait, or move we decide on our own. We know He is older than us, wiser than us, stronger than us but we still want to do what we feel is right based on the information we have on hand. Isaiah 55:8-9

My sweet boy had forgotten that just a few days earlier as soon as the sprinklers were turned off a very large snake crossed the yard. He does not realize that our state is in a drought and he has absolutely no idea that the water he is frivolously using is a utility that needs to be paid for. In his mind he was doing the right thing.

It blesses me so much when God allows me to see myself in my children, because once I see myself in them I am better able to respond to them as close as I can to the way God responds to me.

Potatoes and Eggs

My SJ is a STEM girl through and through and I unfortunately am not.  I see I am going to have to keep up with programs and classes in our area as she gets older. Today she was asking to do an experiment. I really like to give them some room to participate in what we learn. Since there is no (or very minimal) common core directives for science in kindergarten this is a great place to let the kids flex their freedom.

First we defined experiment. SJ said it was trying something for the first time. KJ said its going faster and slower. Um….okay. I explained that an experiment is a test to see if something is true.

We decided to see what would happen if you boiled an egg. We also wanted to know what happens when you boil a potato. 

I let the kids handle both them state their hypothesis.  As you can see KJ though they would both be soft and SJ thought they would both end up hard. 

I let the kids prepare the experiment. The more hands on they are the more they retain. 

They waited a whole 20 minutes which is really long when you are 3 and 5. As soon as the potato was soft I removed it from the heat and put in on a plate to cool. 

The kids got to squeeze the potato and peel the egg. 

The kids were excited to see that the proteins in the egg bind together when heated and the starches in the potato break down. I then let them act it out. When I yelled protein they stuck together. When I yelled starch they ran away from each other. Both my kids have a hard time staying still and since science is at the end of our day I try to limit frustrations from all parties by keeping them up and moving as much as I can.  

We had cooked potato and cooked egg the natural progression was to let the kids make their own lunch. Potato salad! They loved being able to cook for themselves. 

All in all it was a great day!