Wednesday, October 16, 2013

From Moses to Jericho in Crafts

The past couple of weeks we have been studying the Israelites slavery in Egypt, the birth of Moses, the Exodus, desert wanderings, and finally conquering Jericho as part of our survey of bible stories through the school year.  It has been a fun couple of weeks with neat crafts and activities I'd thought I'd share.  I referenced any sources for original ideas, otherwise they were ones I came up with on my own.

Birth of Moses- paper basket weaving with nylon babies (this was my inspiration)
For the birth of Moses we learned how to weave construction paper together.  Then we stapled up the sides to form a basket.  Then, I cut of the last few inches of an old knee high, stuffed it with cotton balls, tied one rubber band about an inch below the top to create a head, and then one at the bottom to close, and then drew on a face.  The girls have been playing with their baskets and moses' for a long time now!  I would recommend this craft for ages 7+.


The 10 Plagues- paper plate illustration (Inspiration from an artists palate)
To illustrate the 10 plagues I found inspiration from someone who used an artists' palate.  I figured a paper plate would work just as well, and in fact give them more room to color on.  We took one of the larger white paper plates and I pre-drew the lines to divide the plate into 10 equal pieces.  I also wrote on the back what each one was for my youngest.  Then, after each plague in the story we drew it.  This took us two days.  Some are easier than others to illustrate, but it was more fun for them than putting together the mini-books.  With some extra help this is great for ages 4+

Crossing the Red Sea- blowing paint
I loved learning how to blow thin or water color paint to make neat designs as part of my 'art for teachers' class in college.  So I thought I could apply the same concept to the red sea drawings.  I thinned blue paint ahead of time.  We used heavy white card stock.  The girls pre drew the walking path in the middle.  Then I place a few drops of paint on one side and they blew it around towards the edge.  Then they turned their papers, I placed more paint on the other side of the path and they blew it towards that way.  It was a lot of fun and Lili liked getting in on the action.  They would make great backgrounds if you were using finger puppets to help tell the story.  With help this could be an ages 2+ activity.


The 10 Commandments- Tracing hands
I had the idea of tracing each girl's hands and writing the 10 commandments out on each finger in an abbreviated form.  Like the 10 plagues, I split it into 2 lessons.  Overall, this was a great way to help review each commandment, but they girls didn't have as much fun with it.  They were more interested in wanting to decorate their hands and fingernails on paper.  It would be best for older elementary students.


God's presence in the desert- textile art
This was one of our favorite activities that was super easy and used things we already had on hand.  Our lesson was on God showing his faithfulness in the desert by showing his presence through cloud and fire pillars and by providing the needs of the Israelites through manna and water from a rock.  The girls divided their papers and used cotton balls for the cloud, crumpled tissue paper for the pillar of fire, small brown beads for manna, and then we just drew a rock- but I would have found something different to do that next time.  The girls loved using the different textiles of art and it has been a great reminder for us of God's faithfulness.


Jericho- Edible wall snack
I had a revelation as I was preparing for this lesson.  I remembered making gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and frosting.  I thought- why not make a Jericho wall, knock it down, and then get to eat it!  Each girl got two graham crackers split in two so four squares all together.  We then spread frosting the edges to 'glue' together the corners and make a wall.  We added a peanut butter cup for a gate and chocolate candies as windows.  Our dum-dum Joshua then marched around the wall as directed by the story and we trumpted with our voices.  It was a delicious activity and I like that it didn't require a paper project to hang on display in the school room (we are a little crowded at the moment!)  Any ages will love this activity!

Head over to the Hip Homeschool Mom blogroll hop to see other great ideas (plus you'll see my cuties in the post as we were a highlighted activity from last week about our book character dress up day!)


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Book Character Dress Up Day

One of the things Izzy said she would miss about public school was the random dress up days through out the year.  Easily solved!  We brainstormed ideas and then assigned a few days each month to a 'dress up' day.  Things like pink, princess, crazy hair, backwards, and pajama day were top of the list.  This week it was "Dress like a Book Character Day".  I told the girls I wasn't going to make anything special, so they had to get creative on their own, but that I would help them with finishing touches.  Here is what they came up with this morning!

Lili was Emily from her favorite book Emily's Dance Class- basically a ballerina bunny.

Izzy was Whiskers from Whiskers the Lonely Kitten.  She has enjoyed this series of chapter books.

They did it all on their own except for the makeup for the nose and whiskers and I helped Izzy with her tail.  What a fun way to do school today!

What is your favorite book character or who would you dress up like?

Me?  I'd totally rock an Amelia Bedelia outfit if I had more time :)

Head over to the Hip Homeschool Mom's blogroll for more great homeschool and homemaking ideas!