Sunday, December 4, 2011

Jesse Tree

This Christmas Season, my family and I are doing a Jesse tree, where we daily put on ornaments concerning the line of Jesus, reading Scripture each day about prophesies of Jesus up to through the birth of Jesus.

I won't add a lot of detail here, but point you to resources that my friends have sent me to.

http://jakeannie03.blogspot.com/2011/11/as-jake-and-i-are-approaching-christmas.html

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/Verses_for_Advent_Countdown_Chain.pdf

www.cominghomecatholic.com


Friday, December 2, 2011

Making up Games/Being Creative

After several times of playing our Family Trivia Game, the kids began making up their own game....

With a regular deck of cards, my four year old explained this new game to me.  You draw a card.  If the card is a heart, then you have to make your arms into the shape of a heart.  If you draw a diamond, you have to say rhyming words.  If you draw a club you have to stand on one foot. I don't remember the rule they came up with for spades... because my five year old took over my place and played the games as instructed by her sister, as if it was the most natural game in the world.  Maybe some day my girls will be good at playing that card game Mau, where you are never told all the rules, you just figure them out as you go and you add new rules as you go.

Another game my four year old made up is "Splatch, Splatch!"  I guess its kind of a combination of match and splash.  You play a regular type match game, but if you get a match, then the other players get to wrestle you.  Not really my favorite game, but she sure loves it.

Our babysitter (and homeschool mom of 8) commented about my four year old, she doesn't just think outside the box, she doesn't even know there is a box.  It's exciting and sometimes overwhelming to encourage creativity in our children.  What will they think of next?