Tuesday's A Good Day To Be A Kid

Preschoolers are their own breed and really just need to play because playing is learning!!  Building with blocks or playing with any of their various toys, playing grocery store (get creative and pull out some of what's in your pantry and let them shop with your re-usable grocery bags), house (you may be recruited to play a part - maybe a person or maybe the dog!), jumping, running, twirling outside, dressing up, role playing anything and everything are all appropriate activities and the list goes on and on. Kids love being in the kitchen, too, with whomever is cooking so talk about what you are doing and let them "help" in any way possible. This play dough is great to make for kids; it's soft and lasts a good while. Children can help measure and do some stirring until you are working over the heat. Then they can help knead. Be sure to talk about how the ingredients come together and what the heat does to the mixture. Science right there in your kitchen!

THE VERY BEST PLAY DOUGH RECIPE EVER!
2 C flour
1 C salt
4 tsp. cream of tartar
2 C water
4 Tbsp. oil
20 - 30 drops food coloring
scents optional
Combine dry ingredients in a large saucepan. Combine water, oil, and food coloring in a large measuring cup and blend well. Over medium heat, add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients, stirring constantly. Add scent here if you wish, like vanilla. Ball will form. Remove from heat, pour onto wax paper and knead until smooth. Store in airtight container.

MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC
And, we know young children love, love, love music and movement. I want to share some links that are great for preschoolers. Bigger kids would really love some of these, too.

Wiggy Wiggles Freeze Dance-Hap Palmer

https://youtu.be/DA63mbCkJ24

Roger Day Is doing some live stream shows and has posted lots of videos

https://www.facebook.com/RogerDayMusic/

     
          Groovy Joe: Ice Cream and Dinosaurs
          https://youtu.be/yPjoUcTDBoM

          Toddler Tunes Live Stream
          4:15 PM EST Sundays
          11:15 AM EST Wednesdays
          Toddler Tunes from New Haven

          Toddler tunes on iheartradio    

Feed the Birds

The birds are back! We are big bird watchers at my house and have several different bird feeders that help attract them to our yard. We also plant particular flowers that the birds like, too. Start watching the birds and teaching your children their names. Look for nests being built in trees and feathers that may be on the ground. And, make a bird feeder.

PINECONE BIRD FEEDER
All you need is a pinecone(or toilet paper roll if you don't have a pinecone, peanut or nut butter, birdseed and a ribbon or string and your child can do almost every step of this. First, take a ribbon or string and put it around the pinecone toward the top and wiggle it inside as much as possible. Next, spread the peanut butter on the pinecone with a plastic spoon or knife. Then roll the pinecone in birdseed, coating completely. Hang it outside by the ribbon and watch for birds!

CHEERIO BIRD FEEDER
This feeder is really simple and a fantastic activity for improving fine motor skills. Get a pipe cleaner and have your child string cheerios on it, leaving about 1 inch at each end. To make it easier, you can tape around the bottom end so cheerios don't fall off. When little fingers have completely filled the pipe cleaner, bring the ends up into a circle and twist the ends together. Find a branch to hang it on!
                                                                                    

Allelujia! Christ Is Risen!

                                                        

Thanks to my grandsons for sharing their handiwork. Happy Easter!

Be sure to share your alleluia's today and please join us for our Independent Presbyterian Church's Easter service being live-streamed at 11:00 AM if you do not have a home church. The readings and sermon will be live, but the moving music from our full choir and organist and all the beautiful Easter lives will be streamed from last year's Easter celebration. It should be amazing.

If school was in session we would have shared this story as a lesson and at the end of our service, and we would have filed out joyfully singing, "Christ the Lord is risen today, Allelujia!" It would have also been presented in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atriums. Instead, I am sharing the story as it appears in our Lenten Boxes. It is a glorious story to share with your children.

As we recall the story of Mary returning to the tomb, only to find it empty, she stood weeping outside. Looking into the tomb, she saw two white angels sitting where Jesus had been lying, one at the head and one at the foot. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they had laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!"
(which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and she told them that he had said these things to her.              John 20:1 - 18

Spend  today thanking God for the resurrected Christ and celebrating the gift you have been given. Also thank God for your family and enjoy spending this special day with them. Eat together. Relax and have fun. Be thankful. Be sure you have hung your Easter Art in your windows so your neighbors can enjoy your work as they walk by. And hunt Easter eggs!

Jelly Bean Easter Lesson from Miss Betsy and More!

Miss Betsy, our Social Studies teacher, shares a great lesson using the colors of jelly beans to tell the story of Easter. I want to share the poem in case there is any technical difficulty.

An Easter Promise

Red is for the blood of God's own Son

Black for the sins we have all done

Yellow is for the morning sun so bright and the day he rose and made all things right

Green reminds us that He is risen!

White is for the forgiveness we find in Him

Purple is for Jesus' throne

Pink reminds me that I am never alone.

A bag full of jelly beans, colorful and sweet

A prayer and a promise and a big Easter treat!

Miss Betsy also goes outside to find things in her yard that match those colors. Can you do the same in your own backyard? If you cannot find everything outside, I bet you can inside your house. 

Bare Feet
I invite you, the parents, to take time to listen to David Seamon's sermon, "Bare Feet," from our IPC Maundy Thursday service. He is one of IPC's pastoral staff, and this sermon was amazing and challenging.  I know you will enjoy what he shares. "Bare Feet" begins at minute 26:56 https://youtu.be/kBRCfm8L5wY, but you may enjoy watching the entire service. Along with Good Friday, it sets the scene that leads up to the resurrection we celebrate on Easter Sunday.

I also invite you to listen to Friday's IPC daily devotion by Lucy Turner; she reads a Psalm in the Chapel. Your older preschoolers might love spending some time in the chapel they visit every week. It is just over 4 minutes long.  https://youtu.be/pDSkbd94dvY Ask them to listen for the word "Light" and to notice the candles burning. We talk about the lit candles representing God's love for us and we they are snuffed out and the children leave chapel, God's love lives in their hearts and goes everywhere with them. 

Children could draw something they think of when they remember the chapel or draw anything that makes them think of God's love. 

Resurrection Rolls

I wanted to share this today so you have time to get the ingredients you need to make these on Easter Sunday. Resurrection Rolls or Empty Tomb Rolls are a great visual for the Easter story, and they taste delicious. Allow about 20 - 30 minutes to complete. This is most meaningful if you let your children help. If you picked up one of the Lenten Boxes for families that we created at IPC, this recipe appears on the Easter page.

RESURRECTION ROLLS

Bake these on a cookie sheet or in a muffin tin using cupcake liners. If you are baking with children, share the Resurrection Rolls Easter Story with them.
Ingredients:
8 count Refrigerator Crescent rolls or Refrigerated Biscuits
Large marshmallows
Melted butter
Cinnamon
Sugar
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and take out 8 marshmallows
      The marshmallows represent Jesus' body.
2. Dip the marshmallows in melted butter.
      This represents the oils of embalming.
3. Dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar.
       This represents the spices used to anoint the body of Jesus.
4. Separate the Crescent Roll triangles or flatten 8 biscuits.
       The dough represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.
5. Wrap the coated marshmallow tightly in the dough. Bring the sides up to seal the marshmallow    inside, otherwise the marshmallow will leak out.
       This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after His death.
6. Place in a 350 degree oven for 10 - 12 minutes.
        The oven represents the tomb.
7. When the rolls have cooled slightly, you can open up the rolls and discover that Jesus no longer there, HE IS RISEN! The marshmallow melts and Crescent Roll is puffed up, but like the tomb -
IT IS EMPTY!

Maundy Thursday, Good Friday & Easter Sunday @ IPC

Good afternoon! What a beautiful day here. As we reflect on Holy Week, we realize what is ahead for Christ, but tonight we can share with Him and what occurred on that Thursday so many, many  years ago. This is the evening that Jesus shared the Last Supper with his disciples before being arrested and crucified on Good Friday. Participating in the different remembrances that led up to the resurrection makes Easter all the more glorious. We hope you will join us and click on the link below that will take you to our upcoming Holy Week services:

Maundy Thursday @ 6:30

Good Friday @ noon

Easter Sunday Service @ 11:00

IPC Livestream Services

Birmingham's Own Iron Man

I hope all of you who live in Birmingham have visited the amazing Vulcan Park. And, if not, I urge you to go once parks re-open. It was one of my family's favorite destinations when I was growing up. We actually raced up all 159 stairs that wind up to the top through the statue every time we visited the beloved statue. There is a great view of Birmingham from the top, now accessible by elevator. Now the park has expanded and there is a museum. A great family destination right here in our town.

Some fun facts:

• Vulcan was named for the Roman god of fire and forge - a forge is a place where metal is heated and hammered into different shapes)
• Birmingham wanted to share something at the St. Louis World's Fair to highlight our iron industry, so they decided to have an enormous iron statue be built by sculptor, Giuseppe Moretti.
• Vulcan stands 56 feet, tall and added to the 124 foot pedestal he stands on, rises to a height of 180 feet. 
• Vulcan weighs 101,200 pounds.
• Vulcan is the largest cast iron statue in the world.

Vulcan Park and Museum

CLICK HERE for at home STEM activities, coloring pages, and Birmingham history