Looking for Thanksgiving ideas for your kids?

If you're looking for some FUN Thanksgiving ideas for next week, here are some suggestions:

TONS of free printables, including an on-line Thanksgiving quiz! I printed off a packet for my boys for each day next week, which had math, reading, and writing activities. This is a nice break from the regular routine and they love it (and are still doing educational activities- it's a win-win for all!)

Creative Art ideas

Clever way to use candy corn to teach the trinity

Great suggestions for Thanksgiving books

Fantastic Interactive Thanksgiving site

Happy Turkey Day! 

Thanksgiving printables and much more!

Are you looking for some Thanksgiving printable and activities? Well, look no further because my new favorite site, www.education.com,  has plenty of fantastic ideas for you to enjoy!

Your kids can take this on-line history quiz. 

There are several e-books to use for learning activities.

There are tons of FREE printables I have several of these FUN activities printed off, stapled into packets, and all ready for next week's homeschool lessons.

Wishing you lots of turkey,

Kid-friendly Halloween Movies

I hope you are having fun getting ready for Halloween. Today's feature is by someone very special, my oldest son Conley :) He just informed me a few minutes ago of the topic he wrote about on his blog, Movies, Cars, and Guitars, so I wanted to share it with you- Best Halloween Movies You Can Watch With Your Kids. If you hop on over and leave him a comment, it will make his day! Trust me☺

Our family enjoys movie nights. We eat popcorn and snuggle together. I thought Conley did a great job of listing some family-friendly movies. I did find it interesting reading a list from a teenager's perspective.


I would like to add to the list this year's favorite Halloween movie that Conley's baby brother and sister LOVE- Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - Mickey's Treat

It is just adorable! My two toddlers are CRAZY over Mickey and Minnie.

They are dressing up as them for trick-or-treating.

Our jack-o-lantern is going to be Mickey, too.

They even dress up our dog as Mickey! Thankfully, our dog is a good sport. 

Yes, I realize they are just a little obsessed but it's a season of life that I wish I could pause and enjoy more. Colby and Charity are just so little and cute! Before I know it, they will be teenagers and I will be reading their blogs, too. :)

Enjoy your little ones this Halloween,

Fire Safety Week Activities

This week is Fire Prevention Week and attention is focused on promoting fire safety. These are great reminders for all of us to implement during the entire year, such as testing those fire alarms around your home and reviewing your family's meeting spot in case of a house fire.

My kids recently had a fantastic field trip to the Tice Fire Station. I have been on several field trips to fire stations over the years but this particular one far surpassed them all. The firemen really took their time with the kids and even had rotating stations set up. My kids loved it!

Our homeschool group had a blast.

Colton loved shooting the water like every boy does!

The kids made fire escape plans for their homes.

Look at these awesome firemen demonstrating how to Stop, Drop, and Roll.
What great sports they were! 

Now it was time to practice what they learned. Just a slightly chaotic few minutes :)

Below are some resources for fire safety. A great site that is very kid-friendly with lots of FUN activities is www.sparky.org

When you click on "activities," you will see this page with FREE downloadables and checklists.

Do you remember Smokey Bear when you were a child? I adored him! You can visit  www.smokeybear.com for lots of fire prevention activities, including videos and printables.

You will even find a special kid's station with stories and games.

Don't forget to click on http://www.smokeybear.com/resources.asp to find several super FREE printables.

Enjoy!

Using candy corn to teach the Trinity

Teaching the Trinity to children can be a challenge. Getting children to understand that God has three parts: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit can be quite confusing for children to grasp. The easiest way I have found to introduce the Trinity is to relate it to the three forms of water: ice (solid), water (liquid), and steam (gas). I have also used a shamrock to review this concept. {CLICK HERE}  for that post. 

I recently found this A.DOR.A.BLE craft at www.OrientalTrading.com that I did with the Kid's Club in my home.

For those of you new to my site, I host a Kid's Club once a week in my home for children in my neighborhood. They come over for dinner, Bible drills, games, and a craft. It is similar to VBS but instead of just one week a year, we do it all year long. It has been a powerful ministry tool for children in my neighborhood who do not regularly attend church. We have such a wonderful time together each week.

What I liked about this activity is the kids got the concept of the Trinity really fast. Candy corn is in the shape of a triangle, which is usually the shape the Trinity is referred to in drawings. Candy corn is three in one. One candy corn is made up of three colors just like one God is made up of three persons. The kids seemed to relate better because candy was involved. I guess it must be a kid thing to learn better with food ;) 

The great thing about this activity is that you do not need to purchase it. You can make your own at home using construction paper, or you can print off this coloring sheet and write the poem in each section.

As there are three colors in the candy I see;

there are three persons in the Holy Trinity.

God our loving Father, Jesus, the son,

and our helper, the Holy Spirit.

All three are God, yet together they are one.

For those of you who have younger children, you can print off the candy corn sheet and label the three sections: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to simplify the project.

Here is a great video on how candy corn is made. Do you know candy corn's secret ingredient that makes it shiny?

If you'd like to see other ways I have used candy corn for learning activities, fly on over to Homeschool Chicks to read my post there.

Make sure to also hop on over to A Learning Journey for an A.MA.ZING post on tons of fun ways to use candy corn for learning. Also, check out this post on graphing candy corn, too.

After typing this post, I am totally craving candy corn. I better wrap this up and make a quick run to the store now.

Enjoy!

Beautiful Tissue Paper Fall Leaves

 We recently made fall leaves out of tissue paper and liquid starch, and the finished products were spectacular!

First, I enlarged these templates and printed them on cardstock. My kids cut squares of tissue paper and placed them on the leaves. If you have very young children, cut the squares larger. Next, my children painted over the tissue paper with concentrated liquid starch. (We used the brand Sta-Flo.) The liquid starch will dry clear and make the tissue paper adhere to the cardstock. After the leaves were dry, they cut out the leaves. 

This was a terrific art project that can be adapted for kids of all ages!

Enjoy!

Create marbled fall leaves with shaving cream!

Hi friends! I can't wait to share with you the marbled fall leaves my kids made today! As many of you already know, my children are hooked on the shaving cream art projects. Their addiction began with the Marbled Shaving Cream Eggs. Next, they made the Shaving Cream Earths for Earth Day and then Fourth of July Shaving Cream Stars. So of course they asked to make fall leaves with the shaving cream.

But before I begin sharing the photos, I must confess that I may be suffering from a mild case of blogger's envy. I love looking and reading other people's blogs. Many bloggers have beautiful photos that could easily be in a magazine, in addition to their detailed step-by-step directions. I want to blog like that! But here is my reality.

First, I do not have a nice camera and probably will not for a l-o-n-g time. Why? Do you see this innocent face? She loves cameras and will swipe a camera anytime she can (and drop it occasionally too). Therefore, my hubby said, "No nice cameras!" An inexpensive camera is much less painful to his wallet to replace. But she is a cutie so it's worth the wait.

Second, I can no longer snap action shots. Why? Do you see the boy in the Mickey Mouse shirt? This kid will keep you on your toes! He kept trying to eat the shaving cream because he thought it was whipped cream, as well as trying to eat the "ketchup and mustard" paint.

Last, my posts are usually brief and to the point. I wish I had the time to write elaborate details. Those two toddlers above interrupt me at least ten times before I hit publish on my posts so I'm content to just make sense for now.

Are you still with me after all my rambling? If so, you will not be disappointed with this art project! Your kids will love it and the results are gorgeous one-of-a-kind designs. I enlarged and printed the leaf templates on cardstock and had my children cut them out before dipping them into the shaving cream.  CLICK HERE to read how to make shaving cream art from a previous post, or you can watch my son and I explain it in the video below.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity." This is a busy season of my life with two toddlers (and three older children) but I do treasure every moment, as well as welcoming the season of fall. I hope you can appreciate my not-so-great photos with my rather short descriptions. :)

Enjoy!

Fall Art Projects

Hi everyone! Here are some of my favorite fall art projects that I'd like to share with you.


Fall Sponge Painting

Draw a tree trunk with branches on brown construction paper. Cut and glue the tree trunk on white construction paper. Cut out small leaf shapes from a new sponge. Dip the sponges into different fall colors, and press them on the construction paper with the tree trunk.

Fall Wreath

Trace your child's hands on fall-colored construction paper or thin sheets of colored foam and cut them out. Glue the hands on a large circle. (You can cut out the center of a paper plate for this and leave about an inch thickness around the edges.) Glue decorations such as acorn shapes and a bow, as well as a piece of yarn to use to hang it. This is a keepsake that you can decorate with for years.

Johnny Appleseed Art

Slice an apple in half. Dip the halves into red poster paint, and press them onto white construction paper. Next, paint stems and leaves. For a variation, you can also use yellow and green paint to represent the different colors of apples.

Enjoy!

Why do leaves change colors?

Photo by Tamara L. Chilver

Here is a photo from a recent road trip with my family. I appreciate the fall season so much up north since we hardly get an opportunity to view the leaves changing colors in south Florida. I find God's creation absolutely breath-taking.

A few years ago I had learned something fascinating about the vibrant colors of fall leaves. Did you know those beautiful, bright colors are the true colors of the leaves? The green chlorophyll covers up the colors of the leaves in the summer months. During autumn, the days get shorter and the trees begin to get ready for the winter when there will not be enough light or water for photosynthesis. The trees will rest and live off of the food they stored during the summer. When the trees stop making food, the green chlorophyll will disappear from their leaves. As the green color fades away, the leaves' true colors will appear. This also explains why the leaves do not change colors in warm areas.

This marvelous act of nature reminds me of scripture. No matter how good we are at covering up and hiding our flaws and sins from others, God always sees directly into our hearts where our true colors are revealed.

But everything can be tested by the light and thus be shown in its true colors.

Ephesians 5:13

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

1 Samuel 16:7

Happy fall precious friends,

Dirt Cake

My kids LOVE this simple dessert because it tastes yummy, is FUN to make, and my four boys and dirt just seem to go together. We make this dessert for Halloween, when we are learning about plants or insects, to celebrate spring, and sometimes for no special reason, just because we are craving it.

Dirt Cake

1 pkg. Oreo cookies
1-8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1 c. powdered sugar
3 1/2 c. milk
2 sm. French vanilla or chocolate instant pudding boxes
1 small container Cool Whip

Mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar together. In a separate bowl, blend pudding together with the milk. Add the Cool Whip to the pudding mixture then blend in the cream cheese mixture.

Crumble the Oreos in a blender. Add half of Oreos into mixture or use to create layers with the pudding. Sprinkle the other half of Oreos on the top. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

Watch my kids demonstrate how to make Dirt Cake on FOX's Mom Squad.

And the fun doesn't stop after you make this classic dessert!  There are so many different things you can do with it before you eat it. 

You can line the inside of a clay flower pot with foil or use a plastic flower pot.. Alternate cookie crumbs and filling and sprinkle the remainder of the cookie crumbs on top. Top with Gummy Worms and plastic flowers. This is perfect for springtime parties and when your kids are learning about plants in school.

You can also make individual dirt cupcakes like this one.

Put the dirt cake in a baking dish and fill it up with gummy worms and other gummy insects when your kids are learning about insects or during Halloween time for a gross dessert.

For a spooktacular treat, use Ghosts Mashmallow Peeps and Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies. Stick toothpicks in the bottoms of the ghosts and place around your dirt dessert, along with the cookies. This will create ghosts in a graveyard- how fun!

Source

You can use candy corn pumpkins and create a pumpkin patch for fall.

Source

You can make Summer Sand and an Easter Dessert by substituting the chocolate pudding with vanilla pudding and the chocolate Oreos for the golden Oreos.

Add some Bunny Marshmallow Peeps and jelly beans to create an Easter dessert. Stick toothpicks in the bottoms of the bunnies and place around your dirt dessert, along with the jelly beans. So cute!

Layer it in a bucket and use a pail to serve it. This is a big hit at pool parties or beach-themed parties. (My kids also like to make Summer Sand with our favorite banana pudding recipe.)

UPDATE:

My sister made this adorable Olaf cake using the summer sand concept.  Some tips she had was to add blue food coloring to make the pudding look like an ocean and to divide up the cookie and pudding part. Totally cute!

Enjoy making these desserts with your kids!