Once Upon a Book ~ Tell Me the Christmas Story

 

 

Tell Me the Christmas Story

by Joni Walker

Summary:  In a round about way, Tell me the Christmas Story, shares all the events that pertain to our celebration of Christmas, when Christ was born.  The main gift is Jesus but sheep, hay, stars, presents, and song all serve to remind us that Jesus is the reason for Christmas.

Bible Verse:  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:11)

Honestly, Tell Me the Christmas Story, only briefly dips into the true meaning of Christmas.  This sweet board book is perfect for a 1-2 year old.  Naomi (age 1) would delight in the book and I should have targeted her rather than Gabe (age 3).  The images are sweet and the content is simple, so while I enjoyed reading this book to Gabe . . . we needed to add some meat to our reading.  That meat showed up through our daily “devotion” using  Truth in the Tinsel.  The scripture and crafts compliment Tell me the Christmas Story quite well. 

I haven’t taken pictures of all of our crafts, but here are a few:

 

In case you were wondering, these blue men represent Zachariah . . . as demonstrated by the tape covering his mouth. 

Followed by, Elizabeth . . .

 

I could tell you how to make these crafts, BUT these ideas came from Truth in the Tinsel . . . so I am just going to have to direct you to Amanda’s great ebook.

While I read the book, Gabe enjoyed his Christmas sensory tub . . .

I grabbed most of the items you see from the dollar bins at Michaels, all for the exception of the fake snow.  (NOTE:  I do not recommend the snow unless you enjoy sweeping multiple times a day . . . and even several days after you have hidden the snow from your Toddler.  Just warning you!)

 

Other ideas:

• wrap a Christmas present for Jesus
• sing Christmas carols
• pretend to be animals in the manger (soon after Jesus was born – unless you are a homebirthing family {grins} then be present for the birth of Jesus)
• make a crown for Jesus, decorating it with a picture of your child and many jewels
• go on a walk, pretending to be either the shepherds or Wise Men

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!

Little Hands-on ABCs and 123s ~ Addition with the Duplo Montessori Number Rods

In my last Little Hands-on 123s post, I talked about using Duplos to make Montessori number rods.

The traditional rods can be used to introduce addition facts to ten.  The Duplo version can be used for addition facts up to your longest rod.  The longest rod in the photo is five, but hopefully you have more Duplos or Legos than we do and can go all the way up to ten!

I'll present for the addition facts to make a five rod:Move the five rod down and place the 4 rod (it's backwards in the photo - I put the 1 first but should have put the 4 first) up against it.  Then place the one rod against the four rod so it is equal to the five rod. Run your finger along the two rods and say, "four plus one equals five."  Then move the three rod under the four rod and place the two rod next to it (still backwards in the photo).  Run your finger along that row and say, "Three plus two equals five."The Montessori table number rods comes with two sets so you can show the cummutative law of addition (that the order of the addends doesn't matter).  If you had enough rods, you can proceed to put a two rod below the three rod and line up a three rod next to it.  Then run your finger along that row and say, "Two plus three equals five."  Now place the one rod below the two rod and line up the four rod next to it.  Run your finger along this last row and say "One plus four equals five."  Thus demonstrating the cummutative law of addition.  If you didn't have enough rods, just remove the rods you placed and repeat under the five, this time in the order shown in the photo.

You can do this presentation of addition facts with any of the rods.  In the photo above, I show it with the four rod.

Another use of the number rods is to teach one less than and one more than, as well as two less than and two more than.Choose a rod, lets say the 4 rod and show it to your child, asking her to name the rod.  Then ask her to find a rod that is one less than the rod you are holding.  Once she can do one more and one less with ease, for any number rod you choose, begin to ask for a rod that is two less than or two more than.

Mommy Made Printables ~ Christmas

We are excited to share some Christmas printables for you to use with your tots as you explore together!

Mr Willoby’s Christmas Tree Learning Pack {from Homeschool Creations}

Christmas Pack {from Confessions of a Homescooler}

Nativity Printable Pack & More {from 1+1+1=1}

J is for Jesus {from Confessions of a Homeschooler}

Christmas Grid Games {from Mama Jenn}

Christmas Trees, Nativity, Christmas Symbols {from 2 Teaching Mommies}

  

 

Christmas ABCs and more {from Musings of Me}

Do you have any free Christmas printables {free} YOU have created {and share}? If so, leave a link to your blog post in the comments below!

Touch, Feel, Learn ~ Melting Ice

Its time to explore the world around us and have some fun melting ice.

We recently had a storm that brought a mixture of snow and freezing rain, so snowplows were out putting chemicals on the roads.   Aiden asked me what they were spreading and why.  I explained that it was chemicals/salt that helped the ice and snow melt faster.  To demonstrate we decided to do a little experiment to see if we could melt ice faster using some kitchen items. 

You’ll Need:

• four small containers
• ice cubes
• water 
• salt 
• sugar
• paper and pen

We started labeling the containers our ice cubes were in and what we were putting on them.

Aiden then predicted which ice cube would melt the fastest and how long it would take.  He thought it would take 20 minutes and the plain ice cube would melt the fastest.  We set the timer and waited to see what would happened.

Note:  Be careful leaving your experiment unsupervised as a cat might sample the water/ice.

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After 20 minutes we discovered that the ice cube in water and the ice cube covered in salt were melting the fastest. 

 

    

Aiden loved looking at the ice cube in salt and the designs left from the salt melting the ice cube.

Touch, Feel, Learn is a fun feature that focuses on science and nature activities for little ones.  Click here to see past Touch, Feel, Learn ideas. the

Treats 4 Tots

Here are some more cool giveaways for tots/moms of tots, check them out below and let us know if you win something we told you about!!!!

• Birth of Jesus Bible Study for Kids…ends 12/11/11
• Birth of Jesus Study {another}…ends 12/10/11
• Pick and Draw…ends 12/11/11
• Mattie Grace Gifts…ends 12/11/11
• We Choose Virtues…ends 12/14/11
• All About Reading Level 1…ends 12/13/11
• Kimochi…ends 12/16/11
• Plasma Car…ends 12/20/11

Bolded are items we personally own and love!  If you are hosting a TOT friendly giveaway you are free to leave a link in the comments section!

Once Upon a Book ~ J is for Jesus

J is for Jesus

by Crystal Bowman

Book Summary: “The candy maker has come up with a new candy that not only tastes good, but has a message everyone should hear. Set in rhyme, this story explains to small children how one of their favorite Christmas treats, the candy cane, is a symbol of Jesus’ birth and gift of salvation.“ (from book cover)

Bible Verse: Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. John 14:6

Counting: The boys lined up and counted some candy canes.

Game: The boys played the Candy Cane Grid Game. They used our homemade puff ball magnets (along with a magnetic cookie sheet) and our Education Cubes (with the Candy Cane Counting insert cards).

Do-a-Dots: We switched it up a bit and rather than using our homemade puff balls, the boys used Do-a-Dot markers on their Happy Birthday Jesus page.  We added in a bit of patterning by using both red and green markers.

Craft: The boys made a '”J” and then decorated it like a candy cane.

Motor Skills: Using sparkly pipe cleaners, the boys twisted up a few candy canes to hang on our Christmas tree. I reminded them to think of “J for Jesus” every time they look at them!

 

Matching: They did a bit of candy cane alphabet matching with the Christmas Candy Cane matching cards.

Ornament: Use life saver candies to make a Christmas Candy Cane ornament.

Reading: After we had read through the story a few times together, I later caught my son lounging in our bean bag chair “reading” J is for Jesus to his twin brother!

Snack: Enjoy a yummy candy cane cookie!

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!

Now I Know My ABC’s ~ Yy is for Yellow

The Little Yellow Leaf  by Carin Berger

Summary: A little leaf  just is not ready to let go from his branch. All the other leaves have gone and blown away, except for little yellow leaf. When winter settles in, little leaf finds that he is not alone, and with the help of a friend, he is able to let go.
Theme Ideas:

We made a letter Y craft as a way to retell the story. Trace a Y onto brown paper and cut out. Glue onto blue cardstock. Add details with a pen if desired. Then cut out a yellow leaf and a red leaf. Glue onto the tree. While we were making this craft we talked about why the little yellow leaf did not want to let go. How come it was easier once he had a friend? Good friends help make hard things easier.

This was the perfect opportunity to pull out our fall jewels. We did some patterns, but mostly my toddler liked to scoop them up with a large ladle and put into various sized bowls.

Yellow Do-A-Dot marker and worksheet. She loves these markers.

Before the snow hit, we had gone on several nature walks looking for various fall things. Click the photo above to download the Fall I Spy cards.
 
We read our Letter Y poem and colored the worksheet.

Totally Tots has a ton of fall/leaf-related activities in the archives if you need more yellow leaf inspiration.
Other ABC Resources
ABC Printables from Homeschool Creations
Letter of the Week Curriculum from COAH
ABC Flashcards and More from 1+1+1=1
ABC Letter Crafts
Songs for Saplings ABC Verses