VBS Camp Family Style

We were going to miss our church's VBS and so I suddenly had the bright idea to have the older three kids put on a VBS for the younger three kids.  I planned out a simple three day curriculum, camp t-shirts (that I majorly helped with), and assigned the three big kids their specific jobs.  Isaac was in charge of snacks, Genevieve was in charge of music, and Hannah was in charge of story time, arts and crafts, and the memory verse because they were all pretty closely tied together.  Holy Heros has a ready-made VBS for just such an occasion as this, but I looked at it and it was a little too involved.  I wanted something easy that I could mostly hand off to the older kids.  So I made ours up and am sharing it here.  I think that it was a wonderful experience for all of the kids and we will do it again in the future, even if we do go to an official VBS.  Even if it is only for one morning, maybe an Advent VBS day as a break from school or something.  Who knows!

I wasn't a huge part of this in action, in fact two of the days I was out when they were doing it, so I didn't get pictures of it in action.  I did get pictures of some of Drew's coloring pages and one craft.

Day One:

Story:  The Calling of the Apostles with coloring page

 

Memory Verse: "Come," Jesus said, "Follow me, and I will make you Fishers of Men." -Mark 1:17

Craft:  Write memory verse on light blue construction paper.  Use a dark blue peeled crayon on it's side and place netting under the paper to make it look like a net.  Glue goldfish snacks onto paper.

Snack:  Goldfish in snack baggies with a "net" drawn on it (aka blue cross hairs with a Sharpie)

Songs were the same all week.  Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children, Baby Shark, This Little Light of Mine.

Day Two:

Story:  Good Shepherd with a coloring page

Memory Verse:  "I am the Good Shepherd; a good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep." John 10:7

Craft:  I drew a simple sheep on a paper and wrote the memory verse on it.  Everyone got to glue on a cotton ball each time they finished the sentence, "I love (insert name of sibling here) because..."

Snack:  Popcorn

Day Three:

Story:  Jesus Dying on the Cross with coloring page

Memory Verse:  Dear children, let us not love in words or speech, but with action and in Truth.  1 John 3:18

No craft that day because life got the best of us.  Drew learned the three verses very well and Judah knows them fairly well also.  After they completed the VBS stuff for the day, the older kids put on a religious movie for the younger ones as a reward.

At the beginning of the week we made these Divine Mercy tie dye shirts.  They turned out well and Brian insisted we use puff paint on them.  So we wrote "Jesus I trust in You" on the shirts.  The kids got carried away and did bonus tie dye shirts and puff paint shirts with old white t-shirts from the boys' drawers.

Here's Bobby's!  

Doctor File Folder Game

I have seen the file folder ideas on the internet and thought I would try making a version to keep the girls busy during a double doctor appointment. They were fun, but the only problem is they didn't kep them busy long enough. Hannah finished hers in less than five minutes. Here they are:

The Matching/Reading Game was for Hannah. I have the words of the things you would see in the doctor's office and the pictures were kept in that side plastic pocket. She had to slide the pictures into the plastic pockets that I taped over the words. I thought it would be hard with words, like otoscope and eye chart, but she figured them out just by sounding out the first parts mostly.

The Sequencing Game was for Genna. She was supposed to put the pictures in order under the numbers in the plastic pockets in order of how her doctor appointment went.

By the way, Isaac had his well baby two year check up. He did excellent and we found out his tubes are blue since they are from a German doctor and that is a rare color over here in the states. He is growing like a weed, but his weight gain is slowing again.

Isaac's 2 yr stats:
Weight: 31.5 lbs, 85%ile
Height: 3 ft 1/2 in, 95%ile

Everything looks good for him, and Genna doesn't have fluid in her ears anymore. So we will be doing a hearing test for her just to make sure since she is always saying she can't hear and her speech, although perfectly clear to understand, is just a little different. I just want to make sure. During this school year, I will be working on her pronunciation and mouth movements a bit on our own, since the doctor doesn't feel it warrants official speech therapy.

Magnetic Trays

This is going to double as a car toy for the long drive and then as a Montessori tray for our home school room which will be it's final destination. The trays are just cheap cookie sheets that came in a set of three at Walmart. The first one has pom poms hot glued to magnets (I used a magnetic strip and cut it up to fit the pom poms.) Certainly not the most exciting craft I have ever done, but, hopefully, it will be enjoyable to the kids. They can sort by color or make shapes, designs, pictures and use their imagination.

I found this magnetic paper doll set at a local store and decided that they didn't stick as strong to the background scene as to the cookie sheet. I taped the background onto the other cookie sheet so the girls could play on one tray and then store the dolls and clothes on the other.

My plan is to add other magnet sets to trade out. One idea is to print out and have the girls color Thomas trains or construction trucks, laminate them, and glue on magnets. And then, of course, we have multiple fridge magnet sets of letters and numbers to add.

Mosaic Craft

Here are our mosaics, inspired in Rome.

Hannah's: Crucifixion

Genna's: Crucifixion

Mommy's: The Eucharist in a Monstrance

We had a great time with this. It was easy to set up for and easy for them to do on their own. I did draw an outline for their pictures and they did the rest. Genna got bored in the middle and asked if she could color the sky blue instead of gluing more pieces on. Hannah even came up with an idea for her border/frame. She wanted me to cut out a big whole in the middle of another piece of paper so she could glue it on as a frame. I really enjoyed spending this time with the girls.

The Duke and the 12 Apostles

That's what our lessons are centering around these days. I checked out a book on Duke Ellington from the library and we read it this week. Then we have been listening to the Duke during breakfast and dinner. The girls love it! I heard Hannah tell her sister she loved Jazz music today while they were playing dance class. I even found a Duke Ellington coloring page.

We are also focusing on learning all twelve apostles' names. I found a song to the tune of Jesus Loves Me that teaches the names of the apostles. Here it is:

Jesus called them one by one

Peter, Andrew, James and John

Next came Philip, Thomas too

Matthew and Bartholomew

James the one they called the less

Simon, also Thaddeus

The twelfth apostle Judas made

Jesus was by him betrayed

Yes, Jesus called them

Yes, Jesus called them

Yes, Jesus called them

And they all followed him

Then we are learning Matthew 28:19-20a. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." And, of course, I found a coloring page of the 12 apostles as well.

We still haven't gotten around to the mosaic craft, but, hopefully, we will have time on Saturday if not sooner!

Sign your heart out!

Since Isaac is doing so well with signing and is not the clearest talker I've ever had, I have been wanting to add more signs to his repertoire. I had this great book, Signing Smart, but I lent it out and never got it back. So I searched on the internet (after my eldest daughter gave me the nudge by asking how to sign the word cook.) I came across the most amazing site called Signing Savvy! They have video demonstration for any word you search for. And Isaac came over as I was showing Hannah the video for the word cook, and he started laughing and copying it immediately! It was adorable, but then again I seem to think anything he does right now is adorable! Well, almost anything! Standing on the couch isn't so cute.

I am all caught up on posting now! I haven't forgotten about my promised trilogy post, I just have had too much else to post lately!

Shape Blocks

We are obviously at the grandparents house now for the wedding extravaganza (4 family weddings!) Mimi saved these shape blocks for the grandkids, and they are great for entertaining the girls for a long period of time. They started out building these flowers on their own, and so I showed them how to make different kinds of flowers too. We had a whole garden by the time we finished!

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life.”

This was our memory verse for last week and we continued to work on it this week. It is rather long, but Hannah seems to have it down. Genna can say it if I help her and say parts of it then let her fill in the blanks.

Here is our craft to help learn the verse. It's kind of a mobile that walks you through the verse visually. The heart with “God” written on it is for the “For God so loved” part. The Earth is for “the world” part. The baby Jesus in swaddling clothes is for “that He gave His only son” part. The cross that says, “Believe in Jesus” is for the “that whosoever believes in Him” part. And finally the cloud is for “shall have everlasting life” part. Then I stapled them to a looped over piece of yarn to hang up with their coloring sheet from last week. We did this craft Monday night after dinner while Isaac had some free play time.

This one is Hannah's. She was able to do so much of it on her own compared to Genna. She can draw, write, cut, and glue all on her own now.

Here is the video of the girls saying it together.



Since Hannah is faster and overshadows Genna a bit in that video, here Genna is saying it alone.

Here are the girls doing their morning activity sheet. They looked so studious!

Zip Lock Bags!

Hannah and I made the Zip Lock bag book on your right. First I stapled the correct number of bags together on the closed side. Then I printed out a story tailored just for her from a website that I am now having trouble finding in my bookmarks. Oops! Anyway, she colored the pages. I cut them out even though she is excellent at cutting. We were short on time that day, and I cut them all simultaneously to save time. Then we folded them and slid them into the empty Zip Lock book. Then, of course, she had to read it to me while I did the dishes.

Here is the inside of hers...

The one on your left was a book I made (slightly sturdier) for Isaac. This is for the upcoming long airplane ride, so I have not tried giving it to him yet. So I can not say for sure that he won't destroy it quickly. We shall see. I made his on the computer using pictures of him and his daddy from his recent visit. Then I captioned them. I guess now Genna needs one too, right? My problem is after making two of something, I am usually ready to move on to the next project. I still owe Hannah a hooded towel since I made Genna and Isaac one. Maybe it all evens out in the end. Isaac doesn't have a mommy-made scarf or apron like the girls do, not that he really wants one anyway.

Another activity I made for the plane trip are these touch and feel boards. I drew animals on index cards and cut them out to leave the outline of the animal. Then I collected materials (in order: a boa, pink thin wavy ribbon, duct tape, towel, tulle, wide white cotton ribbon, shiny blue ribbon) from around the house to glue to card board. Then I placed the index card on top and a whole on on the bottom. To make it more durable for my rough and tumble boy, I used clear packing tape all the way around it to keep it all together in addition to gluing the index cards down. The only one that the girls couldn't decipher was the first one which is a baby chick.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the best part of the Zip Lock bag books, you can replace the pages inside super easily! So I guess there is no reason I can't make one of these for Genna too!

What am I teaching the baby?

Isaac seems to need more structure to his day so that he doesn't get into trouble, so I am working on spreading out his free play time with more structured play times. Sometimes I play with him, sometimes the girls (more likely one of the girls at a time) play with him, and then sometimes he plays alone. Here are some of the activities we have been doing lately.

Puzzles- He loves to help me put them back in place and then clap for himself. Occasionally he gets one in by himself too.

Reading- He is sitting stiller for longer now and seems to enjoy books even more. He likes to pick them out himself now occasionally. His favorites are McDuff's Favorite Things, Five Little Ducklings, I See a Monster, and Noah's Crew Came Two by Two at the moment. These are all touch and feel books. He also enjoys lifting the flaps on the monster book. We always read two books before naps and bedtime as well.

Singing- He is loving the songs with hand motions these days. (I am seeing a pattern here. He's a hands on kind of guy.) His favorites to join in with are Patty Cake and Twinkle Twinkle. He loves to "Roll 'em" in Patty Cake and to do the twinkly stars and make the diamond for Twinkle Twinkle. He will even do this when the song comes on in the car all by himself.

Physical activities- We roll the ball or practice walking.

Walks in the stroller- We walk to go pick up the girls a couple times a week. He loves the stroller when we are outside, but walk inside a building and he is ready to get out. Don't know why, but he is much better at staying in the shopping cart than he was a few months ago. I wear him in the sling so often out of convenience and speed and I think he gets used to being carried around when we are shopping. He is heavy though, so I only do it if it's a fast trip into a store.

New activities- I am trying to do one new activity each week with him. In the last couple of weeks we have done a fine motor skill developmental game with pipe cleaners and an ice cube game.

Here is Isaac enjoying the pipe cleaner activity while I cook dinner.

Here is the whole gang enjoying the ice cube fun!


Isaac mostly sucked on it and moved them around with his hands, not quite able to pick them up with a spoon to move them yet.


The girls had way more fun than I thought they would moving the ice around with various tongs and spoons. Then we turned it into a science lesson and watched the ice melt at high speed when we put them in hot water. My plan was to make cucumber lime popsicles afterward to demonstrate freezing in opposition to melting, but our cucumber molded much to my dismay.


I love Genna's tongue hanging out in all her concentration!


**Isaac is fever-free now by the way!**

Our Morning Activity Sheets

As I mentioned in this post, we have time set aside in the morning before they go to school to do an activity sheet or two each weekday. Here is our rough 5 day "lesson plan" for each week. These activity sheets have to be things they can do on their own after I show them what to do so I can get ready in the morning.

ABC's/Reading and Writing- Hannah usually reads a sentence or two and traces it once. Then she practices writing it several times. Genna has about half of the Alphabet down and so she is moving through the letters she doesn't know well. I print out a coloring page with the letter, a picture of something the letter starts with, and a place to trace the upper and lower case letter at the bottom.

Numbers/Math-Hannah is doing simple addition, using dominoes or pennies. Hannah also needs to learn what the names of the double digit numbers are (i.e. teens and multiples of ten.) Genna is still learning a few of her 1-10 numbers in a similar fashion to the letters.

Tracing/Handwriting-Hannah is tracing sentences and rewriting them again here. Genna is practicing her name or does pre-handwriting worksheets with dot-to-dot pages and mazes. Her hand is not too steady yet, but she is trying hard to write her name now. She even spells it correctly, but some of the letters are backwards and she tends to put too many lines on her capital "E."

Saint Coloring Page-I am trying to pick one saint a week on his/her feast day and find a coloring page, but if this isn't possible I will just find a religious coloring sheet for that day instead. If I ever find the time, I could make my own coloring page. Big if! In the future, I want to start doing memory verses with them again. We kind of got away from that when the little guy was born. This could replace the Saint day if I can't find a coloring page for a Saint that week. One idea is they could illustrate the verse and we could hang it up for the week going over it many times a day.

Illustration/Creative Writing- Hannah writes something and draws a picture illustrating what she wrote. For Genna, I write the sentence and have her illustrate it.

The order of these depends mostly on the feast days of the Saints, so I move things around accordingly. I am keeping their work in a binder. Here they are!