St. Patrick's Day Edible Fun

Our older preschool kiddos (ages 4-5) got to have little "pot of gold" snacks on St. Patrick's Day. Michelle found this idea on familyfun.com, though she used bowls instead of limes--much more practical, I say! The "gold" is just lemon-flavored Jell-o cubes (Jigglers). The kids loved these, and some even ate Jell-o when they previously wouldn't touch the stuff! :)

Our younger kids got to load up on some super sugary Froot Loops while they made these fun little rainbows, courtesy of http://www.kidssoup.com/. They had a lot of fun matching up the colors...and eating the goods! :) You can get this rainbow sheet HERE.

Shape Books

In addition to our church group, I also help with a home-rotating preschool. On St. Patrick's day, our little guys (2-3 years old) made these fun shape books. They love being able to see their names on the title pages.

The text is predictable, so they can "read" their books to everyone! They enjoyed being able to put the appropriate number of shamrocks on each page (we did numbers 1-5).

This is a great project for any holiday, or any other time of the year! Pick a shape or a theme, and run with it! Kids love having ownership, and they love to show off a book that they've made.

To download a copy of the templates we used for this book, go HERE. Thanks to http://www.abcteach.com/ for the shamrock shape!

Easter Coloring Pages

The past couple of years, the Easter Bunny has begun leaving coloring pages in the kids' Easter baskets to help them remember what Easter is all about. Here are the ones he's left so far:

I wonder what he'll bring this year!

Note: Clipart used in these pages and other wonderful LDS clipart can be found HERE.

Yummy Easter Object Lesson

Thanks to Michelle for this wonderful idea!

Resurrection Rolls: Great Object Lesson for Easter
Ingredients:
1 (10 oz.) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
8 large marshmallows
1/8-1/4 cup melted butter
1-2 TBLSP cinnamon
1-2 TBLSP white sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Separate crescent rolls into 8 individual triangles.
In a small bowl, mix together cinnamon & sugar.
Dip a marshmallow into melted butter, then roll in sugar/cinnamon mixture. Place marshmallow in the center of a dough triangle.
***Be sure to pinch all seams together tightly to seal in marshmallow as it melts.
Place on baking sheet. Bake until golden brown - about 15 min.

Share how the marshmallow represents His body.
The butter/sugar/cinnamon represents the oil & spices used to prepare His body, which was laid to rest in the tomb (dough).
The tomb, like the roll, was found empty, for He had risen!

Number Of Servings:8 * Preparation Time:20 min.

Fun Easter Lesson

Here is a lesson (great for Family Home Evening) about the last events in the Savior's life, leading up to the Resurrection. Label twelve plastic eggs with #1-12 (mine are labeled with masking tape--you could use small labels, or just write on the eggs themselves...whatever!). Each egg contains a scripture and an object. We look up the scripture, read it, and discuss what the object has to do with the scripture. The kids really like finding out what is in each egg, and it is a fun, interactive way to review what happened in the life of our Savior before He died and was resurrected. The last egg, of course, is empty like the tomb (except for the scripture), and I use a bigger egg just to make it a little extra special.

If you use all small eggs, these can be stored nicely in an egg carton. Mine just stay in a plastic bag all year! :)

Below is the info on the scriptures and the objects you'd need to make your own set. For a .pdf file of this info, click HERE; for a Word file, click HERE.

Placemat Totes

Also made these last spring. Inexpensive, especially when you find placemats on clearance (or use one you already have!). Great for mommies who need a small handbag but not the mega-diaper bag; great for kids for scripture totes, "treasure" bags, etc....lots of uses! We also made awesome little tri-fold scripture pockets--but I didn't make one and don't have a pic. If someone has a pic of theirs, email me and I'll put it up!

I don't really sew very well, but here are some basic instructions. If these confuse you, just Google "placemat totes" and you'll get some great instructions from others who are better at this project than I am! :)

Go get a placemat and some ribbon, and you're halfway there. (The wider ribbon makes for more comfy handles, I think.) If you're going to sew any handles that show in the front (as opposed to just sewing the ribbon on the inside, which is the way my BACK handles are on the brown and pink ones), sew those on first. Sew on any decorative ribbon next. Turn placemat inside out and sew up sides. Turn right-side out and, voila! Done...unless you want the extra seams on the bottom (like the one with the multi-colored ribbon). Basically you have to just pinch the corners (while still inside out) and sew one straight seam (perpendicular to the ones you did to close the sides--you will cross those seams).

The multi-colored ribbon handles are just one, continuous ribbon--start at one end, stitch across placemat (lengthwise), form handle, stitch across again, form other handle...

Enjoy.

Peek-a-Boo Books

Last spring we made "peek-a-boo" books. I did a religious one and a secular one (thanks to my sister for helping me put the samples together!). They're a lot of fun and are very adaptable: text or no text, large "windows" or small, simple pictures or complex, themed or non-themed, etc. You can use old magazines, calendars, etc. for pictures. Here are a couple of scans from that project: