The Fantastic Five: Fruit of the Spirit

Bible Alive! Tuesday: Gentle Giants

As I opened up our
Fruit of the Spirit Lapbook
this week,
I had this thought:

"WOW-
we are almost done with our
Fruit of the Spirit Summer Bible Study-
I can't believe it!"

(Summer just FLIES by, doesn't it?)

But I digress- on to today's "fruit"...

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The kiddos and I read the following verse
about gentleness to lead our morning's
devotional discussion:

"But you, man of God, flee from this,
and pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, endurance, and
GENTLENESS."

(I Timothy 6:11)

We talked about what it means
to be gentle with someone,
and this really hit home with the kiddos
since we have been watching our little
soon-to-be-two friend...

They know they cannot play as rough with him
as they do with each other,
so the idea of gentleness towards others
is very relevant to them right now.

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After our discussion,
I led the kiddos in a craft
that will hopefully remind them to show
gentleness to others around them.

We made
"Gentle Giants"
(which are AMAZINGLY similar
to our
Yarn Yetties that we made a little while back...
*ahem*)

The supplies we used for the craft included:

Yarn
Scissors
Glue
Forks
Wiggly Eyes

I THOUGHT I would use THIS idea I saw on Pinterest
to make the pom-poms more kiddo-friendly...

The technique involves wrapping the yarn around a fork.

So...

...we wrapped...

...and wrapped...

...AND wrapped...

...and played a little Peek-a-Boo...

...until our forks were full of yarn.

However.

SOME of us...

...created a tangling mess...

...AND we ALL wrapped them so tight
we couldn't put a piece of string through
to tie to yarn together, soooooo....

...we went back to the traditional way of making
pom-poms with our hands...

When the pom-poms were made,
we glued on some googly eyes to create...

...Gentle Giants!

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Oh, and the kiddos DID find a use for those forks...

...by turning their Gentle Giants into
stick puppets!

(Although some of us preferred to use them
as balls...) ;0)

If you have done anything to make the
Bible come Alive! for your kiddos this week,
please link up your ideas below...

Bible Alive! Tuesday: "Have Faith" Walk

"Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
and FAITHFUL in all he does."

Psalms 145:13

This week we discussed faithfulness
in our
Fruit of the Spirit Summer Study.

After discussing how God is faithful to us
(see the above bible verse),
I wanted to illustrate to the kiddos how
having faith in God can feel like...sometimes...

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First...

...I blindfolded the kiddos.

(Could my son BE any cheesier?)

Then...

...I led the for a walk around the neighborhood.

When we arrived back home...

...I had a little treat waiting for the kiddos.

They each got a little baggie...

...full of "Grow-in-Water" critters.

These animals only further illustrated my point
to the kiddos that faith grows
when you trust God in the scary times of life...

(Don't they look like I scared them?) ;0)

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Please link up any ideas below in which you made the
Bible come Alive! for your kiddos...

Bible Alive! Tuesday: Got Fruit?

The kiddos are gone this week
to their Nana and Papa's,
so I just thought I'd share some scriptures
that I found that relate
to our Fruit of the Spirit Summer Study...

Just click HERE to read more...

And link up below way in which you made
the Bible come Alive! for your kiddos
this week...

Bible Alive! Tuesday: Good Gabbin' and Game Play 'bout Goodness

This morning, after breakfast,
the kiddos and I had a discussion about
Ephesians 2:10, which says:

"For we are God’s handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do."

I asked the kiddos for some suggestions
on what we could
"do go works" for God...

(Even though her expression
is less than serious in this photo,
(*ahem*)
I promise that Baby Girl had some good input on
the subject.)

I love to talk to my kiddos about God...

...their answers are just beautiful sometimes.

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After our discussion,
we reviewed the
Fruit of the Spirit
by opening up our lapbook...

...and getting out the
Fruit of the Spirit Memory Match Game.

We played it just like Memory...

...in order to find...

...spiritual fruit matches.

What a GOOD start to the morning!

(Doesn't Little Wild Man remind you of
Popeye in this picture?)

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So, what say you?

How have you made the Bible come Alive! for your
kiddos this week?

Please link up your fun below...

Bible Alive! Tuesday: I'm Back...with a Lapbook

I'm Ba-ack!

I am SO SORRY about not posting
Bible Alive! last week without
any explanation of my whereabouts.

I was "assistant-deaning" a week
of church camp,
and the camp is in the middle of the mountains,
with no internet access.

(I know, I know, I SHOULD have
set up a post to "air" while I was gone,
but I honestly was running around the week
before camp
like a chicken with my head cut off,
so it didn't happen...
*SIGH*)

Now that I am done with my excuses,
let's get to the
Bible Alive! fun...

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I wanted to share the lapbook
the kiddos and I have been using
during our
"Fruit of the Spirit" Summer Bible Study...

The cover...

...is a giant pear I created out of scrapbook paper.

Inside the lapbook...

...I also created an apple out of scrapbook paper
to fill up "dead space."

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When the lapbook is completely open...

...you can see the mini books we use
for each of the fruits.

You can download these booklets
by clicking HERE.

The Bible verses which I typed up to use with the kiddos
you can download by clicking HERE.

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The inside of the lapbook also contains a spot...

...for the
"Love Is and Is Not" Game...

...the Joy Treasure Hunt cards...

...and a Fruit of the Spirit matching game,
which you can find by clicking HERE.

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On the back of the lapbook...

...is a giant basket full of the
Fruit of the Spirit,
which is attached to the basket with Velcro.

It is just another fun way to let the kiddos
review the fruit...

You can find the fruit and the basket
by clicking HERE.

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Well, I hope y'all are enjoying the
H-O-T Summer
with your kiddos-
and if you are keeping the kiddos entertained
with any fun Bible Alive! type activities,
please link 'em up below....

Bible Alive! Tuesday: Kindness Gives Us Warm Fuzzies

This morning the kiddos and I discussed
what KINDNESS is
after reading
Jeremiah 9:23-24:

This is what the Lord says:

"Let not the wise boast of their wisdome
or the strong boast of their strength
or the rich boast of their riches,
but let the one who boasts boast about this:
that they have the understanding to know me,
that I am the Lord,
who exercises kindness,
justice and righteosness and righteosness on earth,
for in these I delight,"
declares the Lord.

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We discussed ways that we can show kindness to others,
like doing chores for our siblings
or giving unexpected hugs to each other.

I then told the kiddos how when you do something kind
for someone else,
you are giving them a
"warm fuzzie" feeling...

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So, to encourage acts of kindness
between my kiddos,
I had them create...

..."Warm Fuzzies" Jars.

(I was inspired by THIS post over at
Spell Outloud...)

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I gathered up three old Parmesan Cheese containers
from our recycling bin and labeled them with
stickers.

Then each of the kiddos continued to decorate their jars...

...with other labeling stickers.

I then set out...

...a huge bowl of "warm fuzzies"
(aka cotton balls)
on the dining room table.

Throughout the next few days,
whenever the kiddos "catches" a sibling
performing an act of kindness...

...he/she can put a "warm fuzzie"
in their jar.

Hopefully, by the end of the week...

...their jars will be full!

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So, how have you been making the Bible come
Alive! for your kiddos this week?

Please link up your ideas below...

Bible Alive! Tuesday and Science Sunday: Have Patience

Well,
thank you to all of you for being
PATIENT with my lack of a post
last week,
so without further ado,
here's what the kiddos and I did
to learn more about being
PATIENT...

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Around Christmas time,
I found...

...these "Grow Your Own Crystal Tree" kits
at the Dollar Tree.

I snatched up a few,
not knowing exactly how I would use them.

So when it came time to talk to the kiddos about
Patience during our
"Fruit of the Spirit Summer Study,"
I just thought these kits would illustrate
the virtue perfectly.

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After I set up...

...the trees' "bones,"
I read
Colossians 3:12-13
to the kiddos:

"Therefore, as God's chosen people,
holy and dearly loves,
clothe yourselves with
compassion, kindness, humility,
gentleness, and patience.
Bear with each other and forgive one another
if any of you has a grievance with someone.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you."

We discussed how patience is
most DEFINITELY
not a natural trait,
and how the Holy Spirit is teaching us
daily how to have patience with one another.

It can really be difficult to
HAVE PATIENCE and
WAIT for certain things,
like for our trees to grow crystals...

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Now, exactly how do the crystals
grow on the tree forms?

After pouring the Magical Crystal Solution
around the bottom of the tree,
and waiting 24 hours,
the tree will form crystals.

What's in the solution that makes the
crystals grow?

Water and Potassium Nitrate,
which remains in the solution as little tiny
solid particles.

When the tree begins to absorb the water
in the plastic base,
it is also absorbing those tiny solid particles.

As the tree sits for a while,
the water, now absorbed by the
tree's trunk and branches,
starts to evaporate.

The salt crystals are solid and can't evaporate.
After the water is all gone,
the once invisible salt particles will crystallize,
creating beautiful "leaves" for the tree!

(Make sure to check out
other fun Science activities over at
Adventures in Mommydom's
weekly Science Sunday link-up...)

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After setting up the experiment,
I had the kiddos begin work on their...

...Fruit of the Spirit mini-scripture books...

...which you can find by clicking HERE.

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Thank you for PATIENTLY
waiting....

...for today's Bible Alive! linkie!

Feel free to post your
fun Bible-based activities below....

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CRYSTAL TREE UPDATE:

After a couple of hours...