Kids in the Word: Jonah

Although we're all recovering from illness here, we did get through our Bible story from last week, which was Jonah. 

As usually, we read the story in our toddler Bible. And then we read these stories to supplement:

Jonah and the Big Fish

This is an easy-reader story that recounts the narrative of Jonah. It focuses on the themes of obedience as well as God's forgiveness. Jonathan has loved this series of books and this one is no exception. It focuses mostly on Jonah 1-3 and includes the fact that the people of Ninevah repented and turned to God. 

Jonah and the Very Big Fish 

This is another Arch book which recounts the biblical narrative in rhyming verse. I like that it actually includes all four chapters of Jonah and therefore also includes Jonah's attitude at the end of the book after Ninevah repents as well as God's response. 

Whoops! (Jonah and the Fish) by Mary Manz Simon

This is another easy reader that tries to tell the story of Jonah and the fish in about twenty-five words. Jonathan really liked the illustrations in this story-- he would pound his fist with Jonah as Jonah declares he will not go to Ninevah. What I don't like is that the book solely focuses on Jonah's obedience and never mentions how Ninevah responds. 

Games 

We talked about obedience a lot with the Jonah story, so we played Simon Says and Red Light Green Light. 

Art 

We made Jonah and the fish. We cut two sides of a fish out of cardstock and colored it and added a googly eye. Then we glued a picture of Jonah to another piece of cardstock and taped yarn to it. We glued the two fish halves together with the yarn in between and Jonathan could use the yarn to pull Jonah into the fish's belly:

He loved it! The only drawback was that it was played with so much it ripped. But he had fun! You can see other Jonah art projects on my Pinterest board. 

Movie 

We didn't get to do this, but I was planning on watching the Veggie Tales movie of Jonah. (You can stream through Netflix). We've seen it before, and it's a fun retelling of the story. 

So that's our week on Jonah. Next up- Daniel.... 

Kids in the Word: Josiah

It's hard to believe another week has flown by! This past week we learned about King Josiah finding God's Word in the temple. We talked a lot about the Bible and that the Bible is God's special book.

Books 


Obviously, we read the story from our toddler Bible. This was covered in only one short story, so we supplemented with:

King Josiah and God's Book

this Arch Bible story is a good retelling of King Josiah deciding to clean the temple and finding God's scroll in the process. Josiah decided to make some changes and attempted to get rid of idolatry and re-institute the Passover feast. I'm new to the Arch books series and quickly becoming a fan. The story captures Jonathan's attention and provides good opportunities for further discussion.




Pretend Play 


We acted out the Bible story. Here was the messy temple:

And here is King Josiah:

Finding the Bible under all the mess:

Grace supervised:

Cooking 


We made scrolls using crescent roll dough. We divided the dough into rectangles and then rolled up the ends. These were garlic flavored so I sprinkled them with cheese and herbs (plain ones would be yummy with cinnamon sugar!):

Art 


I had an art project planned for earlier this week, but we've all been dealing with a cold, so it hasn't happened yet. I may update if we get to it... but in the meantime you can see my 1 & 2 Kings Pinterest board for some other ideas!


Music 


We learned the song the B.I.B.L.E. -- Jonathan was so cute. At first he started singing B.I.B.I.O.! By the end of the week he got it down though. :)




Next up... Jonah! Have a wonderful week! Thanks for visiting!

Kids in the Word: Elijah

This past week, Jonathan and I learned about Elijah. We covered four different stories during this time:

- Elijah is fed by ravens

- Elijah and the widow

- Elijah and the priests of Baal

- Elijah goes to heaven in a chariot

First, we read the corresponding stories from our toddler Bible. Then, I supplemented our Bible reading with two books from the Arch Books Bible Series:

Elijah Helps the Widow and God's Fire for Elijah. I haven't really read books from the Arch series before. Each story is told with colorful pictures and rhyming verse. Jonathan (at almost 3) really engaged with both of these stories. They are a great way to supplement your Bible reading. I'm planning on looking for more of the books from this series!

Art 

I found lots of craft ideas that I posted on Pinterest. Here's what we did. We glued craft sticks down to make an altar and then tore up tissue paper to make flames. (Originally, we marble painted to make flames but then had a friend over so we ended up using tissue paper so both kids could do the craft- similar to this craft.). 

Music 

We reviewed the song "My God is So Big" and talked about how He is the only God we should worship and serve! We prayed that Jonathan and Grace would be bold like Elijah and trust that God would take care of them. 

So that was our lesson this week! Now we're moving on to Josiah. Check out The Pelsers for more ideas for discipling your little ones. God bless! 

Kids in the Word: King Solomon

A couple weeks ago, we learned about King Solomon. Let me tell you, finding resources to teach on Solomon was pretty tough! I found no children's books that I liked and coming up with a craft was hard as well. I was determined to press on so here's what we did:


Books 


First, we read from our toddler Bible. Solomon was divided up into 4 or 5 stories, so we did one story per day.

I tried to find some children's books on Solomon, but couldn't find any except for King Solomon and the Bee. This is a myth adapted from rabbinic literature-- but I didn't feel comfortable reading Jonathan a myth about a true biblical figure. I don't want him to confuse the Bible with mythology.

Do you know of any books on King Solomon? I couldn't even find any Arch books (a pretty expansive series for children) on Solomon. I'd love to have some up my sleeve for next year.


Life/Character


Since Solomon asked for wisdom, we talked a lot about what wisdom is. We talked about making wise choices which honor God. I read some Proverbs about wisdom:

Proverbs 2:6  For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. 


Proverbs 3:13 Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding. 



Craft 


We made a crown (since Solomon was a king). I just had Jonathan color on yellow cardstock and then I cut out the crown and had him glue it on paper. He also decorated it with star stickers and was very particular about one gold star, two silver stars, etc.  It would also be cute using gem stickers or something similar, but we didn't have any on hand. Since Solomon asked for wisdom we wrote one of our Proverbs on the crown:

So, this was a hard week to pull together, but I'm glad we learned about Solomon. Next up-- Elijah!

Kids in the Word: David & Goliath

Time for another edition of Kids in the Word! This week, we've talked about David and we've especially focused on the story of David and Goliath. This has long been a favorite of Jonathan's so I was excited to talk about the story this week.

Bible 


First, we read the stories of David from our favorite toddler Bible. And then we supplemented with these books:

David and the Giant from The Beginner's Bible I Can Read! series

This along with David & God's Giant Victory (a 2nd level reader) are two of Jonathan's absolute favorite bedtime Bible stories. I like how the books emphasize that God was the true hero of the story and they contain just enough action to be very exciting to little boys!

Bing! David and Goliath by Mary Manz Simon

This is another easy reader series that we've enjoyed in the past. This story also tries to tell the story of David and Goliath in a few words. It's a decent revision, but not as good as other books in this series. Jonathan preferred David and the Giant over this one.

Art 


Well, this was a fail. This is the craft we attempted to make:

Source: solapublishing.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Super cute, right? Well, we learned that rocks don't glue onto paper very well. Even pipe-cleaners (for a slingshot) didn't glue down. We tried tape, but that didn't work well either. Oh well, he still liked playing with the glue. Maybe I'll have a better idea next time we learn about David...


Pretend Play

We acted out the story-- Jonathan has a foam sword and had fun fighting Goliath (mommy or daddy). What boy wouldn't love this story?


Music


We learned the song "Little David, Play on Your Harp"... this one was okay. I personally found the song annoying, but Jonathan didn't care. I think "Only a Boy Named David" would be a better choice, but we don't own that one.




Movie 

We wrapped up our David & Goliath study with a viewing of the Classic Dave & the Giant Pickle. This was the first Veggie Tales episode I ever saw and I'm glad to say Jonathan enjoyed it very much!



So that's been our week about David--- next week, it's time for Solomon! I still haven't found a craft for this one, so we'll see what I can come up with!

Kids in the Word: Ruth

So, I just found out that another blogger (and another Amanda) has started doing Kids in the Word Wednesdays. Great minds think alike, right? I'm excited to be able to connect with other moms in learning how to disciple our little ones.

Anyways, for those who are new to this blog, here's a little background. I started going through the Bible with my son Jonathan (32 mos.) in June. My goal is to cover major Old Testament and New Testament stories in a toddler-friendly format over the course of the year.


Well, although last week was a short week, we managed to cover the story of Ruth. This one didn't appeal to Jonathan as much as some of our previous lessons. I'm not sure if it was because the lesson got split up a bit because we were out of town or because it wasn't action-filled. We still learned a lot about God's faithfulness. Here's what we did:


Bible

We read the story through Jonathan's usual toddler Bible, which covered the story in two short devotionals.  We also read:

Choose!: The Story of Ruth

This is part of a series of easy readers which combine Bible stories with phonics instruction. The story of Ruth emphasizes the long "u" sound such as in Ruth, choose, groom, Hebrew. It's a great idea-- but it kind of falls short in this book. The book skips over details in the story, so overall I wouldn't recommend it.






Ruth: the Harvest Girl by Carine MacKenzie

This was a much more faithful retelling of the story of Ruth. It is part of the BibleTime series which we've recently discovered. Like other books in this series, it is very well written and has beautiful illustrations. These stories are a little longer- and we split the story into a couple days. While it covers the story of Ruth faithfully, it didn't capture Jonathan's attention. I'm not sure if it was because of the lack of action in the narrative of Ruth or the crazy week we had. It's still a very good book-- maybe he'll appreciate it more later (or maybe it will be more appealing to Grace).



Art 


We did a little Ruth craft. I cut out a basket out of brown cardstock and cut a slit in the basket. Then we glued the basket onto paper. I cut yellow pipe cleaners into various lengths for "grain" and we stuck the grain in the basket.

Movie

Veggie Tales: Duke and the Great Pie War

I always like tying in a Veggie Tales episode since Jonathan enjoys Bob & Larry so much. We watched this on the ride down to central Illinois. The main feature is Duke and the Great Pie War is a retelling of the story of Ruth and emphasizes the importance of familial love. It was a very fun movie we'd recommend!











Next up... David!

Kids in the Word: Gideon

Last week we learned about Gideon, and Jonathan was equally enthralled with this story as he was with Joshua. I suppose there's something about boys and soldiers!

Bible


Jonathan's toddler Bible only covered a small portion of the story of Gideon. Therefore we used some books to help supplement and tell the story better. These two books were the basis of our lesson this week:

Gideon: Soldier of God by Carine MacKenzie

This is another book from the Bible Time series that we recently discovered. It covers all aspects of the story of Gideon: Gideon's call, Gideon's fleece, reducing the size of Israel's army, and God giving Israel the victory. We divided the book up into three readings and this seemed to work well for Jonathan.

Hurray for the Lord's Army! by Mary Manz Simon

This was Jonathan's favorite. This book covers the story of Gideon, but leaves out Gideon's wanting a sign from God. It's an easy reader story, but full of action. Jonathan loved pretending to blow a trumpet and shouting "A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!". He was so cute! Jonathan requested this book several times throughout the week.



Music 


We learned the song "I'm in the Lord's Army!" along with the actions. Jonathan even taught this song to his Sunday school class on Sunday!





Art


I looked and looked for a toddler-friendly Gideon craft, but I couldn't really find one. So, thankfully God gave me an idea. Jonathan loved shouting "The Sword of the LORD and of Gideon!"-- so I used that to make a craft:

I cut out the base of a sword from black paper and the base of a torch from brown paper. Then I had Jonathan glue them down onto his paper. For the torch, we ripped yellow, orange, and red tissue paper and glued them onto the base to make "fire". For the sword, we used aluminum foil to make a blade. This really helped Jonathan remember our lesson and he was so proud to show his artwork to daddy!

Now we're moving on to Ruth... we're just zipping through the Old Testament! 

Kids in the Word: The Ten Commandments

Last week, Jonathan and I learned about the Ten Commandments. Although it was a rough week, we made it through our Bible lesson, so that was a success!

Bible


We read the story out of Jonathan's favorite toddler Bible, The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. The Ten Commandments were covered in one short story, which was good but I wanted a little more detail this time.

I found a copy of The Ten Commandments for Children by Lois Rock in our local library. This story gives the ten commandments in child-friendly language and emphasize how the Ten Commandments help us know the good and right way to live our lives. Some are simplified such as "Husbands and wives- keep your special love just for each other" instead of "Do not commit adultery". I liked this explanation for toddlers.


Other books that were recommended to me (but not in our library system) are The Ten Commandments for Little Ones by Allia Zobel-Nolan and The Story of the Ten Commandments by Patricia Pingry. I think we may try to purchase these for next year.

We also went through part of the Big Book of Questions & Answers by Sinclair B. Ferguson. This is a great book for grounding children in the Christian faith. It's aimed for elementary age students, but I found the explanations of the ten commandments very applicable for toddlers. The ten commandments are covered in questions 39-50. We read two questions per day-- usually at breakfast and lunch.


Games 


We played the "perfect" game. We tried to sit perfectly quiet and still-- which was obviously hard for my Jonathan to do! The point of the perfect game is to show that no one is perfect. We all make bad choices and we can't keep God's perfect law. God's rules are meant to show us that God is perfect and we are not. God sent Jesus to live a perfect life so that we can be forgiven.

Art 

We made a Ten Commandments train, using a printable I found here. To add a little math practice, I cut out the train and put numbers on each car. Then I had Jonathan put the numbers 1-10 in order and glue the pieces down on a long piece of paper. He loves choo choo trains, so this was a hit! As we read our Ten Commandments books, we pointed to the appropriate train car.

So we wrapped up our study of Moses last week, now it's on to Joshua!

Kids in the Word: the Exodus / Manna

Last week we continued our journey through the Old Testament, focusing on the stories of the Exodus (Passover) as well as God providing manna for his people in the desert.

Bible & Stories


Each morning at breakfast we read the relevant stories from Jonathan's toddler Bible. The stories are one page long and each story has a picture to accompany it. Jonathan loves this time every morning and he's started reminding me that we need to read our Bible.

We also read his beginner reader book Moses and the King. This book covers the events of the Exodus in a simple story that is easy for Jonathan to follow. We've had this book for a while and he almost knows it by heart. He enjoys saying "No! The slaves cannot go!" every time the king is answering Moses' request. It's another winner from this series of early reader Bible books. My husband had a great idea when he picked these up for Jonathan.

We also attempted to read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett. I chose this story because it is loosely related with the theme of manna from heaven. I loved this story when I was a child, but it was still a little too long for Jonathan to sit through. Maybe next year!


Art 


We did a paper craft of Moses parting the Red Sea from DLTK Bible. I cut out the pieces and Jonathan had fun gluing them onto paper. The boy loves to paste!

I also found this cute craft after we completed our lesson. It uses cornflakes for manna-- great idea for next time!

Source: daniellesplace.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Baking 


To go along with the idea of manna from heaven, we made manna cookies. Jonathan helped me mix and scoop these. We made half the recipe since I wasn't sure how they would turn out-- but they were quite good! I'd recommend making the entire recipe next time! Jonathan really enjoyed helping me make these- and he enjoyed eating them even more!


Manna Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and mix well. Add in honey and vanilla. Add flour slowly. Drop by half tsp on cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 minutes. Yield: about 2 dozen.


That was our lesson last week- now we're on to the Ten Commandments. Thanks for visiting!

Kids in the Word: Baby Moses / Moses and the Burning Bush

When Jonathan was one, I tried to have a monthly Bible story we learned about. Last November, we focused on the story of baby Moses from Exodus 1 and 2. This week, we repeated a lot of the same activities that we did back then.

Books 

We read the stories from Jonathan's Bible. The narrative of Baby Moses was covered in three mini-stories and the burning bush in one story. Jonathan remembered a little bit about Baby Moses, much to my delight! 

Baby Moses and the Princess 

We also just received this early reader through Paperback Swap. It's part of the series of books that Jonathan just loves and requests each night. It tells the basic story of how the Pharaoh's daughter rescued baby Moses. I like that this book series is very God-centered, but leaves out some of the more mature details. We read this story three or four times and Jonathan seemed to enjoy it. However, it's not his favorite of the series. He tends to like the action stories!

Art 

We actually made our art project this week-- a burning bush:

To make this, we used construction paper, leaf stickers, tissue paper, and our dot markers. Jonathan is all about using glue and stickers, so this craft was right up his alley.

I cut grass out of green construction paper and  Jonathan glued it onto the blue background. Then I cut a trunk and branches from brown paper and he glued that on as well. We took leaf stickers and stuck the leaves to the bush.

Next we took red, orange, and yellow tissue paper and Jonathan tore them into pieces. We glued the pieces on the tree. Then we used our red dot marker to dot the tissue paper to make it look a little more like the bush was "burning" (instead of just a fall scene!).

Jonathan was very excited to show off his art work to daddy and could tell daddy all about the burning bush!


So that's what we did for the stories of Baby Moses as well as the Burning Bush!  

Kids in the Word: Joseph

Before we went down to central Illinois to celebrate Grace's birthday, we learned about the story of Joseph.


Books 

As usual we read, the story out of Jonathan's toddler Bible. We do this at breakfast time, when J's attention is best. Even Gracie has started enjoying looking at the pictures. The story of Joseph was broken into ten shorter stories, so we did two stories each day. We talked a lot about being forgiving and obedient just like Joseph.

Joseph and His Brothers


This is another book from the I Can Read! series. Jonathan loves all the books in this series and this week we focused on the book about Joseph. We read these books before bedtime, so it ties back in with the morning lesson. The stories are simply told, but Jonathan knows them so well he can tell us what is happening in each passage.

First Virtues for Toddlers: Tiger Forgives by Mary Manz Simon

Jonathan's Nana got him this book and I'm very thankful for it, because we've used it a lot. It illustrates twelve different character traits in little stories. This week we read the story "Tiger Forgives". Very cute!


Crafts 


I didn't get around to these, but here are some we bookmarked:

Source: dltk-bible.com via Amanda on Pinterest

This is a simple cut/paste craft where your child pastes different colors onto Joseph's coat. It would be great for teaching color recognition! You can also print a black/white template so your child can color each patch of Joseph's coat. I meant to do this one, but the week got away from me. Maybe next year...

Source: daniellesplace.com via Amanda on Pinterest

This link is to a full lesson on Joseph. I love the idea of using different fabric to make a multi-colored coat!




Movies 

We wrapped up the week by watching this Veggie Tales movie that tells the story of Joseph, but puts it into a western backdrop. Very entertaining!






So that was our week on Joseph! To see more Joseph ideas I found, check out my Pinterest board.

Next up- Moses!

Kids in the Word: Jacob

Our Bible story a couple weeks ago was about Jacob. We learned about Jacob receiving his father's blessing, Jacob's ladder, marrying Rebekah, wrestling an angel, and reconciling with Esau.

Bible & Books 

Most of our stories, once again came from our favorite toddler Bible: The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. We read this most mornings at breakfast. The story of Jacob was divided up into five different mini-stories, so we covered one per day. (We also read the two stories about Isaac to bridge the gap from Abraham to Jacob). As usual, Jonathan really engaged with the stories and the pictures in this Bible. It's just perfect for him at this stage.

Twin to Twin by Margaret O'Hair

This was a recommendation from Hubbard's Cupboard. It's a lively story following a pair of energetic fraternal boy-girl twins from infancy to toddlerhood. The big, colorful illustrations show the twins playing, eating, bathing as well as celebrating milestones like walking and talking. The rhyming text is equally sweet. It's a great book for teaching and emphasizing the concept of twins. Jonathan has some friends who are fraternal twins, so the concept wasn't unfamiliar to him. Still, this was a sweet read.

"Piglet Tells the Truth" from First Virtues for Toddlers by Mary Manz Simon

The story of Jacob also lends itself well to talking about being honest. Simon has written twelve short stories focusing on different biblical virtues for children. We read this short story about a little pig who learns that being truthful pleases God.


We also learned the nursery rhyme Peas Porridge Hot (also per the recommendation of Hubbard's Cupboard).

Art 


Our Country Road designed a super-cute printable for the story of Jacob's ladder. She and her kids make a Bible Activity Book containing a printable activity for each story they learn. What a fabulous idea! I think I may incorporate it next year-- how fun to be able to look back and see what you've learned about God even as a preschooler! For now, we just practiced our gluing (sorry for the poor quality picture):

So that's how we learned about Jacob and Esau. Coming next week... Joseph!