Who Loves you, and Whom Do you Love?

“Hide My Word in Your Heart.”

February is the month for talking about love. Whom do you love and who loves you. At circle time we talked about all the people in our lives who love us very much and everyone we love too. Three of my children said they love their dogs, cats and Morris the tortoise. In a little basket beside my chair I had small items for each of the children. I asked if they had little treasures and they wanted to put them some place safe where would you hide them right now so they would not get lost. I gave them each a small toy and saw where they put them. Most put them in a pants pocket, shirt pocket and one in her shoe.

We talked about the Word of God and our Bible verse. To keep it safe we hide the word of God in our hearts by memorizing our Bible verse each week. Our Bible verse is “Love the Lord Your God with all Your Heart”, Matthew 22:37.

We talked about color patterns in our shirts and our pants. I gave them a cut out of a pair of pants or a shirt and let them decorate them as they liked. They had their choice of anything that was in the art center to use. Some used markers, paint, stickers and the girls loved the sequins and glitter pens. After their article of clothing was dry I gave them an outline of a heart and they cut it out and glued it to their shirt or pants. On the heart I wrote-I Have Hidden Your Word in My Heart… After we recited the Bible verse they tucked the piece of paper into the heart pocket. We hung our shirts and pants on the walls for about a week and after we had memorized the verse, they took them home.

Hiding small items from the science center, cars and trucks area, and small animals is all part of the preschool experience. Hiding the Word of God in their hearts is part of their growing experience.

Have a joyous February.
Lynn

Teaching Children About Praying

This time of year is so appropriate to teach children about praying.

Last week I asked each child to bring a shoe box or similar sized box to class because we were going to do something very special with it. I also made sure I had extra boxes for the children that forgot their box or didn’t have one.

We read the story “This Little Prayer of Mine” by Anthony DeStefano. Anthony explains this "It just shows children that prayer is simply conversation with God. It's as simple as that, it's just talking to God -- children telling God their fears, their hopes, their concerns. It involves humorous, funny pictures. I think it's just a very inviting kind of a book that parents and children will like very much." I couldn’t agree with him more. The children really enjoyed the story and it really helped to convey the message of praying.

We had a great discussion about praying and how it is just isn’t about asking God for “things”. We talked about praying for peace, health, friendship and love.

I told the children that we were going to make a “Prayer Box” to put our prayers in it and so that others in our family could do the same.

I put out lots of jewels, sequins, glue , markers, crayons and colored pencils and let the children decorate away. While they were decorating their boxes I cut a slit in each of their lids.

We made special prayer cards using index cards, colored pencils and stickers. Each child dictated to me what their first prayer would be to God. I wrote it on their special card and let them insert it into the slit on the lid.

It was so much fun and believe it or not they didn’t ask for “things.” Many of them asked for God to watch over them, love them, their family and to feed the poor and hungry 

I made one too. I think the children really like it when we participate in the activity as well.

Have fun and Happy Holidays!
Barb

P.S. These would also make a great gift for the children to make for their family if you are looking for a gift for them to make in class.