The Christmas Adventure Box ~ Kid-friendly Advent

December 1, 2013 by stultsmamaof4 22 Comments

The Christmas Adventure Box

~ an easy, kid-friendly advent for the whole family!

*This post makes use of affiliate links. For more information, please visit Being Confident of This’s About page. Thank you for supporting this blog!

My husband and I purposed to combat the commercialism of Christmas and cultivate true Christmas spirit in our home many years ago. We looked for resources to use for our young and growing family.

We invested in Veggietales dvds about the true meaning of Christmas and a kid-friendly nativity set. We participated in Operation Christmas Child, and we worked at local outreach events. We read the Christmas story from the Bible on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning.

But we still felt like our children needed to be better educated about why we do some of the traditional things we do at Christmas time. Enter the Christmas Adventure Box – a family Advent activity.

My friend and fellow blogger Lana introduced us to the Christmas Adventure Box, a family advent activity/program that she developed for her own family. The idea of the box is to complete daily (or several times weekly, for us) advent activities to help us remember the Greatest Gift of All, Jesus.

It was an immediate hit with our oldest two boys, especially with the word “adventure” in the title!

I know the last thing we all need during the Christmas season is yet another item for our “lists” of things to do (so please, please don’t feel pressured).

However, this family advent plan takes literally less than an hour to organize and the activities can take as little as five minutes or as long as 20-30 minutes depending on how involved you wish to make it (or how long your four year olds will sit still…)

It really is a simple, but fun way to focus on the reason for the season! 🙂

Update: it’s even easier this year because I’ve added FREE printables that you can attach directly to the items in your box! Just click the link. 🙂

Lana has created a blog specifically for the Christmas Adventure Box which you can find here. If you want a full 25 day advent list, then I recommend visiting her site. It’s very detailed and even has a lesson-plan type of format that would be particularly helpful for those who homeschool, teach children’s church, etc.

However, for our family, I’ve found that it’s less stressful to schedule only a few nights a week of kid-friendly advent activity. So with permission, I’ve modified the Christmas Adventure Box to fit our schedule and even added in a few items that were important to us, such as spending one day on global missions.

That’s the beauty of this family advent activity – you can tailor it to fit the needs or even the traditions of your family! 🙂

Here’s how to get started:
Choose which activities you’ll be using (from the list below or from Lana’s site) for your family advent and wrap the according items. Don’t forget to download and print the cards to attach to each item! Put all of the items into a large box (The Christmas Adventure Box) and wrap it as well. Each day that you plan to use the Christmas Adventure Box, you’ll unwrap one (0r more) of the items and complete that day’s devotional/activity.

The Greatest Gift – read John 3:16 – unwrap the Christmas Adventure Box.

This will be the first activity on the advent list because it sets up the whole idea of the Christmas Adventure Box. However, once you’ve completed this day, you can do any of the following days in whichever order you choose.

First, bring out the large, wrapped Christmas Adventure Box. Explain to your children that you will be unwrapping an item a few times a week in order to learn more about Jesus this Christmas season.

Read John 3:16 and talk about how Jesus is the greatest gift of all. You can also read prophecies from Isaiah about the Promised Deliverer. Feel free to share the full gospel with your children and pray together as a family.

Joseph and Mary – read Luke 1:30-33 – unwrap Joseph and Mary from your nativity set.

We purchased a fisher price little people nativity set several years ago when our twins were born, which makes it easier to let them “play” with the figures. If you have littles in the house, be sure to choose a non-breakable set to work with.

On this day, you’ll read the story of Jesus’ parents learning that Mary was with child! Discuss the prophecies fulfilled by Mary and Joseph found in Isaiah 9:7 and Isaiah 7:14. Talk about promises God has kept for your family and pray together.

Baby Jesus – read Luke 2:6-7 – unwrap the baby Jesus figure from your nativity set.

Today you can discuss once again that Jesus was a gift, not only to His parents, but to the whole world. Talk about the birth stories of each one of your children – how you planned for them, waited for them, and the joy of experiencing their birth.

Ask your children to find similarities and differences between their births and Jesus’ birth. Pray together as a family, thanking Him for each family member and most of all, for the gift of a Savior.

Shepherds and Angels – read Luke 2:8-20 – unwrap the shepherd and angel figures from your nativity set.

Discuss a time when your family had exciting news to share. Think about how the angels and shepherds must have felt sharing such important news.

Talk about how important it is that we continue to share the story of Jesus with anyone who hasn’t yet heard and pray together, especially for any unsaved relatives or friends.

The Wise Men – read Mt. 2:1-2, 10-11 – unwrap the wise men from your nativity set.

Talk about how the wise men had never heard about a Savior being born, but they still knew to follow the star. Discuss the ways that God reveals himself to us today. Pray together as a family that your knowledge of God’s ways would increase.

Light of the World – read Mt. 5:14-16 – unwrap a notecard that says “Christmas Adventure!” on it.

Discuss light and dark. Ask your children how Jesus is the Light of the World. Then, pile everyone into your vehicle and go on an adventure to see some Christmas lights! (You can continue discussion as you travel). Be sure to pray together as a family.

*I try to schedule this night on a weekend so that we can allow the children to have sleepover by the Christmas tree. It’s one of our boys’ favorite traditions.

Legend of the Candy Cane – read Isaiah 53:5 – unwrap a candy cane.

Read your children a brief version of the legend of the candy cane and discuss why we use them in our Christmas decorations. And yes, Pray together.

Joy to the World – read Mt. 28:19-20 – unwrap a small globe or picture of the world.

Tell your children about things we have in America that help us to know who God is (a Bible in our own language, churches we can attend, freedom of religion, etc.). Discuss how other countries may or may not have these items. Explain the importance of reaching the whole world with the Good News about the Greatest Gift.

Pray as a family for most unreached people groups of the world (if you need an easy way to pray for the most unreached peoples, use the T.H.U.M.B. method here.)

The Legend of Saint Nicholas – read Gal. 2:10 – unwrap socks or a stocking.

Read a brief version of the Legend of Saint Nicholas to your children. Talk about ways your family can pass on the gift of Christmas to others by being generous. Watch the Veggietales video, Saint Nicholas: The Joy of Giving. (Hint: many Veggietales videos can be found on Netflix. No need to purchase!)

Pray together for a generous spirit during this season rather than a coveting spirit. *This would be the perfect place to include a service project such as Operation Christmas Child or serving at a local soup kitchen.

Christmas Caroling – read Rev. 5:12 – unwrap a note that reads “Christmas Adventure!”

Talk about the importance of singing God’s praises. Take the whole family for an adventure in Christmas caroling and spread some cheer to your neighbors or even shut-ins from your church. Local nursing homes usually welcome carolers, as well!

Pray together as a family.

The Baker’s Hand – read Isaiah 64:8 – unwrap cookie cutters.

Make and decorate sugar cookies (if you have small or impatient children as I do, it’s a good idea to make the dough ahead of time).

While you are working, discuss how God shapes us according to His purposes and how we are each uniquely created and uniquely gifted by Him. Pray as a family, asking the Lord to help each one remember that they are fearfully and wonderfully made.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas – read Thessalonians 2:15-16 – unwrap a nativity story dvd or a “Christmas Adventure!” notecard.

We have two different takes on this day’s advent activity. In the past we have used one or the other, or sometimes both! The first is to watch a dvd about the Christmas story, such as The Nativity Story. The second is to attend a local candlelight service, if you have one near you.

Both options will work to help you review what you have learned throughout the month of December and to celebrate this special evening. Our family also has a tradition of an evening meal of summer sausage, crackers, cheese, and hot cocoa.

I know it sounds weird, but most of those items were obtainable when we lived in Papua New Guinea during my MK years. I have such fond memories of making the most of Christmas in a tropical country that we decided to continue it once we were married. 🙂

Christmas Day – read Luke 2:1-20 and unwrap a Bible

(Shhh – don’t tell, but this year we plan to get preschool Bibles as gifts for our twins!).

Read the Christmas story together. Today, enjoy family and gift-giving and fun all within the context of celebrating Jesus’ birthday! 🙂

That’s it!

The Christmas Adventure Box is a simple, kid-friendly advent activity to emphasize Christ in your home this Christmas season.

The best part? It doesn’t cost a dime! Just pick the days you wish to use or even add a few of your own, wrap up the necessary items, and you are ready to go.

Remember, I’ve only included my favorites here, so if you want a full list, visit Lana’s site. Don’t forget to print out the free printables!

Enjoy!

Jen 🙂

Also sharing with: Beauty Through Imperfection, Missional Call, Mom’s The Word, Wholehearted Wednesdays

The Pumpkin Gospel

October 20, 2013 by stultsmamaof4 70 Comments

A few years ago, I was searching for a fall-themed object lesson for our group of AWANA kids. I found a lot of great Thanksgiving craft ideas and even Halloween ideas, but nothing that really struck me, until I ran across the Pumpkin Gospel, also known as the Pumpkin Parable.

Although traditional pumpkin carving is associated with Halloween, this object lesson is all about the Light – how Jesus changes us from the inside out. When children learn this lesson, they will remember it year after year during the Fall season.

You see, I’m learning that perhaps even pagan holidays like Halloween can be redeemed!

Kids love holidays. They love pumpkins. They also love stories. Additionally, they need to be exposed to ideas over and over again for information to take root. The Pumpkin Gospel is a perfect Fall fit!

Preparations:

You will need a table to stand at and a medium to large sized, prepared pumpkin. To prepare the pumpkin:

cut out a hole in the top and clean out the majority of the goo, but save it.
Next, cut out a face with eyes, nose and a smiling mouth, but save the pieces you remove.
Then, put the removed pieces back into place so that the pumpkin looks uncut.
Set aside a few of the cleaner seeds to use at the beginning.
Then, put the rest of the gooey seeds and pulp back in the middle of the pumpkin and replace the top.

The idea is to have the majority of the work done ahead of time so that you don’t have long pauses in your story/object lesson while you’re teaching the Pumpkin Gospel. You will also need a cookie sheet or tablecloth to contain the pumpkin mess during your story, and a candle and matches.

Pumpkin Gospel Story:

Once there was a Gardener who planted seeds in His garden (show clean pumpkin seeds). Each day the Gardener cared for the seeds. He watered them, pulled weeds from around them, and sheltered them from the heat of the sun. The seeds grew into seedlings, which developed into plants, until one day, they produced fruit – pumpkins! The pleased Gardener looked out at His garden and said, “It is good!”

The Pumpkin Gospel

One day, the Gardener went out into his field and picked a special pumpkin (place pumpkin on the table – on top of a cookie sheet or tablecloth, etc. with the uncarved side facing the audience). It was a bit dirty from laying in the garden, so he brought it inside and gently wiped it off (wipe off exterior of pumpkin). Now the pumpkin looked clean on the outside, but what about the inside?

The Gardener took a knife and cut open the top of the pumpkin (pretend to cut open the top again and take it off). And what did He find? A bunch of slimy, yucky goo! (show kids the goop – maybe even let them touch it if you have a small enough group). The Gardener wanted His special pumpkin to be beautiful, so He carefully scraped out all of the goo inside until the pumpkin was as clean inside as it was on the outside! (Remove goo and throw away. Show children the clean interior)

But the Gardener still wasn’t satisfied with the pumpkin. He decided it needed a face! So, He carefully cut out two eyes, a nose, and a big smiling mouth (Turn the carved side of the pumpkin to face the audience. Poke out the eyes, nose and mouth you carved out previously). Now the Gardener’s special pumpkin looked clean AND happy.

But the Gardener still wasn’t satisfied with the pumpkin. So, He put a light inside of it (insert candle and light it). The pumpkin glowed so beautifully! The Gardener’s special project was complete.

When friends and neighbors saw the Gardeners special pumpkin, they marveled at how He took something ordinary from His garden, cleaned it inside and out, put His light inside, and made it something extraordinary!

Explanation of the Pumpkin Gospel:

We are like pumpkins and God is the Gardener. God creates us and cares for us. He “chooses” us from all of the other pumpkins, but inside we all have the yucky goo – sin. (Read Rom. 3:23 and Rom. 6:23)

Just like the Gardener cleaned out his pumpkin’s goo, God wants to clean out all our sin, too. So, He sent his Son Jesus to die for our sins, to take the punishment we deserved. (Read Rom. 5:8, John 3:16, and 1 John 1:9)

Just like the Gardener gave the pumpkin a new face, God makes us a new creation! (Read 2 Cor. 5:17)

Just like the Gardener put His light into the pumpkin to make it shine, so God gives us His light to shine through us! (Read 2 Cor. 4:6 and Mt. 5:16)

So, when we let God clean out our sin, by believing that Jesus died to pay the punishment that we deserve, He turns us into new creations that can shine for Him! And when others see our light, then they might want to learn how to have a light of their own, too!

Religion vs. Relationship Pumpkin Gospel Alternate

In an alternate version of the Pumpkin Gospel, you can also demonstrate the difference between being saved by grace and trying to “earn” salvation through works. All you will need is a second pumpkin with a face that is painted on (rather than cut out). The story about this pumpkin is along the lines of wanting to be “chosen” but not allowing the Gardener to clean out the inside.

So, the pumpkin wears a painted face (tries to make itself acceptable on the outside), but inside, it’s still full of yucky goo. Without removing the goo, there’s no room for the Gardener’s light, so the pumpkin cannot shine.

Many people try to make themselves acceptable to God in their own way ( just like Adam and Eve in the Garden). They might go to church and act like Christians, and they might even believe in God. But unless they trust that Jesus paid the price for their sins, then the sin remains on the inside. They cannot become new creatures without allowing Christ to remove their sin. So, the light of Christ cannot be in them. (Read Eph. 2:8-10) This alternate pumpkin gospel object lesson would work especially well with older children, perhaps even youth age.

Make the most of Fall and the fun opportunities it brings!

Use the Pumpkin Gospel to build your family’s faith. You could even go beyond that – host a fall party, invite your neighbors, and make this fun pumpkin activity part of the experience. It’s a fun, no-pressure kind of way to share your faith with your neighbors!

*This post makes use of affiliate links. For more information please visit the About page for Being Confident of This. Thank you for helping to support this blog!

Note: I have recently learned that there are a variety of books available to help with this object lesson. This one seems closest:

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And Here is one for little hands:
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So, if you’re looking for a fall family activity or even an object lesson for your church or homeschool group, consider redeeming a little bit of Halloween and using the Pumpkin Gospel. Year after year when children see pumpkins lit up, they can remember the story of Who put the light inside of them!

If you have other ideas or stories for redeeming Halloween, I’d love to hear them in the comments!

Jen 🙂

Pumpkin Gospel FREE Printable

This year I’ve added a special bonus for newsletter subscribers. Just fill in the information below to access the free printable version, which includes preparation instructions and the Pumpkin Gospel parable for you to read! You will need to confirm your subscription before you receive access to the library of printables. (Hint: Look for it in your Welcome email!)

Also sharing this post with: The Mommy Club at Crystal and Co, Salt and Light Linkup

Halloween Redemption?

October 18, 2013 by stultsmamaof4 11 Comments

I’ve seen it in the gentle coloring of the trees outside of our home, that yearly reminder that Fall is here. Right along with Fall comes the harvest season: cornstalks and hay bales and apples and pumpkins… and the “holiday” of Halloween, possibly one of the most controversial holidays for those who are in Christ.

I’m not sure about you, but the Halloween issue is something I’ve always struggled with as a Christ-follower (it’s right up there with what to do with Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc.). What to do with Halloween is one of those be-in-the-world-but-not-of-the-world gray areas that seems to so often divide Christians.

Yes, I’ve researched both the pagan roots for the holiday and it’s Catholic counterpart, All Saint’s Day. And I’ve read a few articles lately about what Christians should or should not do in regards to this day. I’m just not sure I agree anymore.

When I was growing up, my family did not dress-up or trick-or-treat, but we did hand out candy from our house during the years that we were not in missionary training (before we went overseas). However, my husband (who also grew up in a Bible believing home) and his siblings donned costumes and went door-to-door up through their teenage years! 🙂

So, when our firstborn came along, we weren’t sure which path to choose. We had the desire to please the Lord in our parenting choices, but we honestly weren’t really sure where to draw the line between freedom in Christ and being “set apart” in this area.

At first, we decided to participate only in our church’s fall festival, a Halloween alternative which was held on the same evening as Halloween, without costumes, but with games and candy. It was so much fun for the whole family!

However, my philosophical brain rejected the idea that it would be somehow “acceptable” to participate in a candy-oriented event on the same night as Halloween as long as we called it by another name and held it at a church yet “unacceptable” to dress in a costume and go trick-or-treating. Weren’t we still celebrating the holiday, just in a different way?

And what about our other “Christian” holidays, like Christmas and Easter. Weren’t those dates and even many of our traditions borrowed from pagan holidays as well? (I know I was shocked when I researched the origins of Christmas in particular.) Yet, over the centuries, we’ve managed to bring Christ into the center of those holidays.

Furthermore, what exactly does the Bible have to say about such celebrations? In the Old Testament we find many yearly festivals celebrated that always served as reminders to God’s chosen people, such as Passover, etc. But after Christ, the only command to repeat any such “celebration” for the purpose of remembering was that of what we now call communion – “do this in remembrance of me.”

In Galatians 5, Paul advises:

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.

Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

He’s talking to the Galatians specifically about circumcision and how futile it is now that Christ has come. In fact, in verse 2 he warns that if they allow themselves to be circumcised, then Christ will not be “of value” to them. Why? Because they are trusting in the Law rather than a Savior. Then, in verse 6, he offers this truth:

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”

The outward acts that made up so much of the OT Law no longer matter! What matters is that faith relationship we have because of Jesus. When we read even further on in this chapter, we find once again that the only thing that matters is love:

13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.

But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

It seems to me that in gray areas that the Bible doesn’t specifically address, there is grace. Because of Christ, we have freedom from human regulation. The most important thing is not what we “do” in that regards, but in how we love, through faith – each other, as well as the lost.

Since the Bible does not take a crystal clear stance on the celebrating of specific holidays such as Halloween, Christmas, Easter, and so forth we finally decided to err on the side of grace in this gray area.

So, for a few years, we allowed our children to trick-or-treat at select locations, usually church events around town (for safety reasons).

We took the opportunity to discuss why Halloween can be an evil day, depending on how it is celebrated. We talked a lot about good vs. evil and how the spiritual realm is real and present, but that we need not fear it because “God is bigger than the boogeyman” (to steal a line from the Veggietales tune).

Then, a few years ago, my husband decided to return to full-time ministry as the pastor of a small, country church.

And one of the things we decided to do as an outreach event in our new-to-us, small-town community was to host a trunk-r-treat event. If you haven’t heard of trunk-r-treats, people line up their opened car trunks, decorated in various themes, in a parking lot or downtown, and hand out candy from their trunks instead of from their homes. For our small church, it was a big deal!

The big night arrived, cold and wet.

We drove to the downtown parking lot we had chosen for the event, spirits high in spite of the bad weather. The sprinkling slowed a bit to a slight mist and trunks began to open as we set up our decorations. We had Star Wars themed trunks, farm trunks, and even one trunk that looked like a giant mouth with razor-sharp teeth!

Then the costumed families began to arrive, and for an hour and a half, we had a steady stream of trick-or-treaters. We smiled at them. We gave them candy. We served hot drinks in the unseasonably cold weather.

We told parents about our children’s program and youth group. We laughed at inventive costumes. We invited them to fellowship with us. We handed out gospel literature. And eventually, we actually ran out of candy!

In the weeks that followed, we saw very little tangible results from our first trunk-r-treat. No new families stopped by our church to visit. Some might even call it a failed outreach event.

But that event marked the beginning of a slow change in that church, a willingness to start thinking outside of the “church” box. They began to see, with fresh eyes, the lost in our community. They realized that even small churches can serve in big ways!

This year will be our second attempt at the trunk-r-treat event. I hope we will reach even more of our community. We plan to utilize the Pumpkin Gospel object lesson to demonstrate the gospel in visual form (kids love stories!). Whether or not it’s the best way to deal with a historically evil holiday, I know the Lord sees past the exterior to the desires and the motives of our hearts. I hope what our children take away from this in the future is that Halloween is a day to remember that we live in a fallen world. Evil is real, but so is God. We have a light to shine in the darkness!

So, maybe, just maybe, making the right choice for Halloween is not so much about the details of how we “celebrate” but the why behind it. And any day with Jesus as the focus is a good day, in my opinion.

I just have to wonder what satan thinks about a bunch of Christ-loving people hijacking his evil day in an attempt to demonstrate the gospel to an entire community?

If sinners can be redeemed, and Christmas can be redeemed, and Easter can be redeemed…..

then maybe Halloween can, too?

And if the best way for you to overcome evil is to follow convictions about abstaining, then by all means, follow your own convictions! It’s okay for the Body of Christ to disagree on how to best glorify the Lord on this one day, really it is. 🙂

Perhaps the best way to be a light in the darkness is to quit biting and devouring one another and focus on loving each other instead.

Romans 12:21

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Jen 🙂

Work-in-Progress Parenting: The Angry Child

October 6, 2013 by stultsmamaof4 18 Comments

Last night, our second-born, strong-willed, ball-of-energy-and-strength-and-passion son was showing me a few of his latest “tricks.” I watched somewhat half-heartedly and made the typical distracted mom comments.

“Wow!”

“That’s crazy!”

“How do you DO that?”

When suddenly he made this horrible grimace.

He effectively described it as “putting pressure” on his face. To me it looked an awful lot like his angry child face.

Curious, I asked him why he would put pressure on his face. He matter-of-factly explained that it helps him get his anger out when he’s frustrated or feeling angry.

Then he showed me another of his typical angry child poses (fisted hands clenched tightly at his sides) and told me that putting pressure on his body helps him get anger out, too.

Once he was done with the demonstration, he sauntered away, like it was no big deal for a seven-year-old to have such knowledge of his own emotions and body.

I sat there stunned…

This post now has a new home! Click here to read the rest. 🙂

Hands-on Color Activities

September 22, 2013 by stultsmamaof4 11 Comments

As promised in last week’s Mama Mondays post on Pre-K resources for homeschooling, I have some color learning activities to share with you today. 🙂 I did not spend a penny on creating these activities and probably only spent an hour or two of my time. Unfortunately, the laminating machine and I did not get along at first, so it took a little longer. If you do not have access to a laminating machine (I used our church’s), check with a local church or library. And learn from my mistakes – practice on some scrap paper first. Also, you might consider using clear contact paper as an alternative.

Here are the color learning activities we made this week:

Color Go-Fish

On pinterest, I saw an idea for cutting activities using paint chips from the store, similar to this color matching activity. So, the next time my husband went to the hardware store, I asked him to pick some up. Instead of the variegated kind, he brought home solid colors, but he did remember to get several of each. Since they weren’t the kind I wanted for cutting practice, I decided to make a Color Go-fish game out of them. The samples themselves were pretty flimsy, so we glued them onto card-stock. If you don’t have card-stock on hand, try using index cards. The twins were happy to practice using their glue-sticks, and I was glad for an adhesive that dries quickly. If you don’t plan to laminate them, I would use a better adhesive, though.

I was already planning on doing some laminating, so I decided to laminate them as well. Now they’re practically indestructible, which is good for our son. 🙂 Our daughter picked up on this color learning game rather quickly, but our son is still learning the rules and the right questions to ask. They both really enjoyed it, though, and have asked to play again since the first time we played. Color Go-Fish is a really fun, hands-on way to learn colors, and we’ll probably use it for shapes, numbers, and letters as soon as I can make up more cards.

Color/Shape Hop

Our son lacks interest for much table work, so I’ve been searching for some more active ways to practice shapes and colors. One neat idea I found on pinterest was to use masking tape to make shapes on the floor. However, since I want to work on colors, as well, I decided to cut out large shapes from colored card-stock and laminate them. Then, we put them out on the floor and say, “Hop on red!” or if you want to include the shape as well, you could say, “Hop on the red heart!” Since we have two preschoolers, I’ll probably give each child his or her own turn so that they don’t fight over the shapes. Once we practice colors, then we use the same activity to practice shapes.

Color Sorting Mats

My husband picked up enough paint chips that I had extras once I made the Color Go-Fish game. I decided to laminate the extra set and use them for color sorting. At the moment, all we had to sort were some colored pom-poms and some beads, so I had our second-grader use one of my scrap-booking paper punches to punch out stars from the leftover shape paper scraps. He had a lot of fun using the punch and now I have stars for our preschoolers to color sort, as well!

I also plan to use our Hi-Ho Cherry-O game for some color sorting. Our twins love to play with the game pieces, so I figure it’s the perfect opportunity for some hands-on learning. We’ll probably practice counting while we’re at it, too. 🙂

For more ideas on Color learning activities:

http://www.childcareland.com/teach10.html

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/59532026297549568/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/59532026297549599/

Last week we focused on the color green, and this week we plan to focus on the color blue. For our daughter, who already understands color, I’ll do more patterning activities to give her more of a challenge.

That’s all for this week!

Jen 🙂

You may find me linking up at any of these lovely blogs.

Top Free Preschool Resources for Teaching at Home

September 15, 2013 by stultsmamaof4 26 Comments

Do you have toddlers or preschoolers in the home? I’m planning to teach our two preschoolers at home this year, for reasons like teaching the faith and values that our family upholds as true and also for financial reasons.

While I’m really excited to exercise my teacher muscles by homsechooling our preschoolers, I’m also feeling a little overwhelmed since preschool is not exactly my specialty.

So, lately I’ve spent a good deal of time on Pinterest and Google trying to gather up the best free preschool resources out there – from curriculum, to themed units, to printables, to hands-on activities, and more.

So, on today’s Mama Monday, I thought I would share these free preschool resources with you so that you don’t have to spend all of the time I did on collecting them! 🙂 I won’t have room to mention everything I’ve pinned while searching, so if you want even more material to consider, look at my Learning at Home board on Pinterest.

God’s Little Explorers Curriculum

Motherhood on a Dime offers this FREE, faith-based preschool curriculum online for homeschoolers, and it looks to suit our family’s needs. The free curriculum includes basic plans for daily instruction (based on a four-day school week) as well as printables. I plan to use the free version of this curriculum as my foundation and supplement it with some of the activities and ideas listed in the categories below. Note: the creator of this program also has a paid option format that includes better graphics and more printables. The paid option is still very inexpensive (less than $15 )for an entire school-year’s worth of plans!
Seasonal/Themed Printable Packs

I plan to use this free fall printable pack from Homeschool Creations as a supplementary material for this season along with the curriculum mentioned above. Homeschool Creations offers many other printable packs as well. 1+1+1=1 is another amazing printable packs resource with everything from princesses and my little pony to solar systems and star wars. These two free preschool resources make both teaching and learning fun! 🙂
Writing Skills

My children are not yet coordinated enough to form actual letters (although our daughter is close), so we’ll be working on some pre-writing skills before anything else. I picked this floral printable for my daughter and these printables will work well for both children as well as these from 3 Dinosaurs . I love the idea that this mom had to put the printables or workbook pages into sheet protectors in a binder so that you can use dry erase markers with them. You could even let your preschooler decorate the front of his or her binder to personalize it. Use them over and over again! 🙂 Once they grasp the concept, I plan to introduce alphabet letter formation. The Measured Mom offers these writing stations as homeschool alternatives to using printables alone. You could use the same methods with shapes and numbers, as well.
Letter Recognition

I love the idea of starting out with my children’s names as well as other names in the house. You can read about name kits at Fun-a-day. If you’re intersted in a montessori method for introducing letters, Living Montessori Now offers excellent advice. Hands on as we grow has a list of 50 fun activities for learning both upper case and lower case letters. At Crystal and Co. you can find instructions for fun letter-of-the week crafts, too, as well as other free preschool resources.
Number Recognition

DLKT offers a number of counting and number worksheets here. Turtle Diary offers these printable options. What I think will most appeal to our preschool boy and girl will be more hands-on activities like this paper tube one from Learn With Play at Home and a method using easter eggs from Reading Confetti.
Shape Recognition

Although our preschoolers already know most of their shapes, we still need to do some reviewing in this area. Hands on as we grow demonstrates how to be hands-on when learning shapes. Shape puzzles are another great resource as children can both handle the shape itself and also learn how it fits into the board. I also like this crafty approach to shape matching from education.com. Creative Family Fun offers 12 fun ways to learn shapes. Also, you can find printables for shapes here at Aussie Childcare Network. Printables are one of my favorite free preschool resources! 🙂
Color Recognition

Although our daughter is pretty solid on her colors, our son could use more help. So, we’ll be continuing to practice our colors through the preschool years in our homeschool. I’m working on a home-made version of Go Fish using colors for our preschoolers, so when it’s done I’ll be sure to share with you. 🙂 Toddler Approved provides these hands-on learning methods for colors. Inspiration Laboratories has a great idea for creating a color rainbow that I think our preschoolers would love. We also plan to sort buttons, pom-poms, beads, etc. by color and create patterns, as well as learn colors through reading some books we have about colors.
Music/Rhymes

I plan to use youtube for much of our music, but I also like these printable nursery rhymes from Aussie Childcare Network. DLKT offers these printables for making nursery rhyme characters to use as puppets or for a felt board.
Bible Literacy

I plan to incorporate Bible lessons into our home preschool, but I’d like to save this topic for a future post as I plan to review a few options in detail. So, check back later for those options. 🙂
Letter Formation

Here are more free preschool resources – printables for the alphabet:

One large letter per page with an accompanying object to color

Bingo/Dot markers or you could use pom-poms

Q-tip painting

Rainbow writing or play-dough mats

Other free (or nearly free) preschool resources to consider:

Pinterest – while I already knew of some of these free online resources, much of the additional material I found on pinterest. 🙂

Library books – the best way to teach your children (aside from play) is through reading to them. You can find books on almost any theme or subject you plan to teach. Libraries are great resources for supplementing the books you already have at home.

Youtube – a quick search for alphabet songs, shape songs, days of the week songs, and more reveals that the options on youtube are endless… and best of all, free! 🙂 You can also teach nursery rhymes and other preschool favorites such as “Five Little Speckled Frogs.”

PBS/Netflix – Leap Frog, Word World, and Super Why are all educational animated shows that focus on letter learning, although Leap Frog has some that focus on numbers and shapes as well. We have a subscription to Netflix’s online streaming service, so I plan to use many of these programs through Netflix. The advantage to using Netflix over PBS is that I don’t have to wait for an episode to air. Instead, I can hand-pick episodes to coordinate with themes we might be exploring that week.

Online learning – the internet offers a wealth of free online resources for learning games. Check out our top ten educational websites – many are suitable for preschoolers.

Dollar Store Deals – I wrote a whole post on items you can find at the dollar store to use in teaching preschoolers or toddlers, complete with ideas on how to use them!

Toys – we have a few toys that I have set aside specifically for our preschool use (I do not keep these toys in their regular toy box, which makes them special since they can’t play with them whenever they want). Any toy that says a letter’s name aloud and repeats the sound the letter makes can be a good tool to use when your preschooler just doesn’t want to sit and work with paper. You probably already have a few of these “educational” toys laying around the house, so don’t feel the need to go out and buy new ones. 🙂

Additionally, much of the time spent during preschool should be free play, when children have time to pretend play using blocks, legos, dress-up clothes, kitchens, etc. You can also use toys you already have at home to enhance themed lessons. Finally, puzzles can be great resources for learning shapes, colors, letters, and numbers, etc.

I hope this helps to get you started on planning for your toddler/preschool years, whether you intend to teach formally by homeschooling or just as your children are interested.

Jen 🙂

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Practicing Patience with Preschoolers

August 26, 2013 by stultsmamaof4 24 Comments

It’s the longest hour of the day, that chaotic stretch of time when naps have ended but supper isn’t ready yet and Daddy won’t be home for another sixty minutes.

In our home, it’s often a time of crankiness and whining and neediness and hunger and all too often, a time of mom’s frustration.

The older boys are home from school, so the seven-year-old needs help with homework and the teen needs a permission slip signed. The twins are rubbing sleep from their eyes and asking for snacks or juice or just to be held. I’m trying to find the motivation to start supper preparations, but one twin is clinging to my leg and the other is crying for some unknown reason in the next room.

What’s a mama to do?

I’m ashamed to say that this mom’s reaction can often be a sharp, “Everyone. BE. PATIENT!!” followed by a mini-rant of my own about how I only have two hands and they are both full and can’t they just wait for a few minutes because I can’t help everyone at one time!

Why is it that a request to be patient or wait creates the exact opposite effect than what parents desire to see in their children?

I think most children who hear “be patient” or “just wait” see it as an immediate no.

They feel we have not acknowledged their needs and are, in effect, just ignoring them. So, they ask again…and again…and again…almost infinitely.

As an adult who sometimes (ok, maybe often) struggles with impatience herself, I feel for my children when they have to wait. However, I know that they need to learn patience in order to survive in the real world, and preschoolers are the perfect age to start practicing patience.

The reason I say “practice” is that patience, like any other virtue, takes time to learn. Patience is also something we must intentionally teach to our children, not something they will magically acquire on their own.

And in this day and age, I think we can all agree that patience seems to be lacking in our society!

7 Ways to Practice Patience with Preschoolers:

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1. Model patience yourself.

I know you saw this one coming! 🙂 Young children are excellent imitators, and unfortunately sometimes that backfires on us parents. Our middle child was a very impatient little guy, even from birth. During his toddler years, I spent many days questioning my ability to parent him to adulthood, seriously.

One day, he was even more impatient than usual, and I found myself throwing a little fit right back at him, asking why he couldn’t just BE PATIENT. As soon as the whiny words left my mouth, I realized I was being just as impatient with him as he was being with me. How could he possibly learn to be patient when his mama was not?

Another way to provide models for your children is to read books about being patient with them. This one is a favorite with our youngest two children!

2. Change your speech.

When multiple children (or even just one particularly persistent child) make requests at the same time and you already have your hands full, what is your response? As you read above, my first response is typically frustration over my inability to help all four children at the same time. What if, instead of a frustrated command to be patient, my children heard me talk excitedly about an opportunity to practice a new skill?

What if instead of frowning or scowling, I smiled at them (even if I’m not smiling on the inside) and said, “Let’s practice being patient! Who can do a really good job waiting quietly for mommy while she finishes this job? We’ll use our words instead of whining, and we’ll wait until mommy’s hands are free. Who can practice patience for me?”

Or, what if we used the word “choose,” especially with children who are older. Instead of a pert command to be patient, I can remind them that they have a choice about their feelings. They can choose patience rather than frustration. (And so can the mama!)

3. Distract them.

Although preschoolers are experts at wanting things, they are also fairly easy to distract (in comparison to older children). Ask your children to find another activity while they are waiting. Although you might make a few suggestions, put the responsibility for occupying themselves on their shoulders, not yours.

When I’m cooking supper, I might say something like, “Why don’t you practice patience by coloring while you wait for mommy.” If they don’t like my suggestion, then I let them know it will be up to them to find something to do.

4. Give young children a timeline.

While preschoolers are beginning to grasp the concept of time, they really can’t understand what minutes or hours or days are yet. In their minds, ten minutes might as well be two hours, and that feels like a long time for a preschooler!

Even worse is the indefinite response of “Just wait.” However, if you relate those minutes or hours to scheduled events they are already familiar with, then they can understand how long they will have to wait.

For example, if we are going to the playground later in the day, but one of my children wants to leave now, then I would tell them we’re going after nap-time. Use phrases like after this song, when you wake up from sleeping, after snack, when I finish this basket of laundry, and so forth, that give them more tangible ideas of the time frame they are dealing with. If it’s going to be a particularly long wait, I give them multiple time markers, as in: first mommy has to vacuum the floor, then we’ll pick up toys, and then we get to go to the park.

I wish I would have known about this kind of kid-friendly timer when our children were younger, but I’m considering purchasing one still for our youngest boy, who has some special needs. I like how it gives a visual cue (other than numbers) as well as an auditory cue, and it would save me from answering repeated questions about “How many more minutes?” 🙂

5. Remind them.

Let’s see if this scenario sounds familiar. “Mommy can I watch cartoons? Can I have more milk? Can I have a cookie? Can I? Can I? Can I?” Preschoolers have many wants. As a mom, I know it’s not healthy for me to indulge all of those wants.

So, while I’m imposing limits, instead of just saying no or wait (for an indefinite amount of time), I like to remind them of what they have already had. “You already watched cartoons. Now it’s time to play.” “You already had a glass of milk, but you may have water.” “I already played with you this morning, but I’ll play with you again after nap-time.”

6. Sing the “Have Patience” song.

I don’t know who wrote the “Clean Up” song, but that person deserves an award! It’s like magic! You don’t even have to tell children to pick up toys because when they hear it, they automatically know what to do. The lesser known “Have Patience” song (by Music Machine) can have a similar effect if you use it consistently.

First of all, singing in general, tends to lighten the mood. Second, the song reminds children of the behavior you would like to see. You can find the “Have Patience” song here. I only sing the chorus with the kids (and it is fun to speed it up as you repeat!).

You can also buy your own copy for use at home, in the car, etc. It’s currently on my wishlist!

7. Praise them lavishly!

At this age, children are often eager to please, so positive reinforcement usually works more effectively than negative. If you see your children actively practicing patience, then tell them how much you appreciate their hard work (because it IS hard to wait, isn’t it?)! Praise often enough that they are encouraged to continue practicing patience up to the very end.

For example, if halfway through a waiting period, I notice my daughter growing restless or whining, I will praise her for the good job she has done so far and ask her to continue. I might even draw her attention to how little time is left. Many times, the magic is in the phrasing!

Patience is a virtue worth instilling in young hearts, but it’s not an easy task. Learning patience takes time and consistency. It also takes a mama who is willing to look at herself and ask, “Am I a patient person?”

Of course, we cannot expect perfection. I’m going to suggest that we learn to be content with imperfect progress in the area of patience (to borrow a phrase from Lysa Terkeurst’s book Unlgued).

As long as we are consistently moving forward in the bigger picture (even if sometimes we move back), then we are progressively working toward patience in our homes.

And in my opinion, a patient family is a peaceful family!

Jen 🙂

When is it most difficult for your children to have patience?

Firsts Lead to Lasts

August 23, 2013 by stultsmamaof4 17 Comments

Due to my recent injury at Buttkill Falls, I’ve had extra time to ponder life, and when that happens, I tend to get a bit nostalgic. 🙂 Maybe it’s because I’m currently medicated, or maybe it’s because I’m missing out on some family life lately. For whatever reason, when I’m separated from my people, I tend to think about them more. I miss them. I appreciate them.

I miss them. I appreciate them.

I appreciate them.

As I’m resting and pondering, and thinking about how quickly the first day of school came this year, I realize that we’re about to enter a new season of life as parents. We have just one more year left with littles at home, and one year before our oldest enters high school. For thirteen years now, I’ve been a mostly stay-at-home mom, but what will I do when all of these firsts lead to lasts?

First smiles and first steps.

First days of school and first solo bike rides.

First baby food and first big kid beds.

First instruments and first crushes.

So many firsts that we’ve been blessed with.

But these firsts lead to lasts, and what will a born-to-be-a-mama girl do when all of her children are at school for the day? It seems like these lasts come oh-so-quickly.

It seems like these lasts come oh-so-quickly.

Last days of kindergarten and last days of twin high chairs.

Last days of baby clothes and last days of soccer on Saturdays.

Last days of sweet toddler cheeks and last days of bedtime stories.

The truth is, the lasts stink. I know I’ll miss them. But those firsts that led to lasts will once again lead to firsts. Firsts like driver’s licenses and shaving and so much more independence.

But those firsts that led to lasts will once again lead to firsts – firsts like driver’s licenses and shaving and so much more independence.

And while my children are enjoying a whole new world of lasts followed by firsts, I’ll be opening up to a whole new world of firsts, too.

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

Jen 🙂

It’s Five Minute Friday again! We gather together over at Lisa-Jo’s blog and free-write for five minutes on a single word prompt. No planning, no editing, just writing. It’s glorious freedom! If you want to know more, join us at: http://lisajobaker.com/five-minute-friday/

Why Families Should Play Games

August 18, 2013 by stultsmamaof4 31 Comments

We love games! Perhaps this love of game-playing stems from my MK (missionary kid) roots – no tv, no electricity, but we did have board games! Perhaps the love for games also comes from many years of working with youth groups. Perhaps the teacher in me just loves being able to engage young brains in learning activities that are fun and entertaining for the whole family.

I’m sure all of those reasons come into play in one way or another. Over the years family game night has been something we all look forward to, and I think more families could benefit from it as well! Even those who don’t have their own families can enjoy similar benefits by playing games with those they have relationships with (friends, neighbors, other relatives, church family).

Quality family time. We play games together and laugh together. Sometimes, we even get mad at each other. 🙂 Often family game time results in more than just playing a game to win. While we play, we relate to one another and focus in on one another. Playing games together leads to a lot of good conversation and sometimes even leads to family jokes that last well beyond game time. Years later, whenever I hear certain phrases, like “rooooo-aaaaaaddd,” I’m instantly taken back to some awesome family memories. Some games have even become part of our family identity (Settlers of Catan, for example, is simply known as “The Game” in our household). Why not build game-play into your family identity?
Media-free entertainment. Yes, I’m one of “those” moms. Even before our children were born, I knew I didn’t want them to spend a lot of time in front of the tv. My husband and I have compromised by allowing tv, but with time limits. So, we try to find other ways to encourage our children to entertain themselves when they are bored. On rainy days, wintery days, or long summer days of boredom, why not break out a board game or card game?
Frugal entertainment. Other than the initial cost of a game, and perhaps some snack food, you can entertain a whole house full of people for very little. In fact, we’ve entertained guests with games that you don’t even have to pay for, such as Mafia (a story-telling, role-playing, whodunnit? type of game). Family Fun nights are often game nights when the budget doesn’t allow for taking out a family of six. Also, My husband and I even have mini-dates at home on occasion when the kiddos are sleeping by playing Battleship or other two-player games.
Learning new skills. Playing games is not only entertaining, but it can also teach your children new skills, such as counting, matching, planning, developing strategy, problem-solving, and more. The bonus? It’s so much fun, your children won’t even realize they are learning. 🙂
Learning sportsmanship. Children have to learn how to be good sports, whether they are winning or losing. We have one child in particular who is extremely competitive and really struggles with emotions in general. What a perfect opportunity to model good sportsmanship for him and his siblings during family game night. Additionally, playing together as a family gives children multiple opportunities to make mistakes and grow in the safety and comfort of their own home.
Learning about others. Whether with family or friends, playing games with others is a great way to get to know them better! When people are relaxed, they are more open and honest about who they really are as people. One thing our guests are sure to learn about us when playing games is that some of us are more than just a little competitive and that we all like to laugh! I especially enjoy playing games with my husband. It brings out the silly side in each of us and gives us an opportunity to tease each other, much like the flirting of our early dating relationship. Game playing fosters a feeling of friendship between us that is important for two busy parents who sometimes end up feeling more like business partners than soul mates. 🙂

I’m certain there are other reasons for playing games together, as well, but these are our favorites. I’m happy to know that my children enjoy playing board games just as much as they enjoy playing video games. Although, I have to also admit that on occasion, family game night does revolve around the wii (Mario Kart, anyone?). 🙂 The main idea is just to take time to play together. It’s an investment in your relationships that will multiply endlessly. As our children grow older, we enjoy family game time more and more!

Be sure to check out Our Big List of Favorite Games for ideas on great games for the whole family. The list is even organized by age and group size!

The family that plays together stays together…..or something like that, right? I’m putting family game night on the schedule for this week or next.

Will you join me?

Jen 🙂

How does your family enjoy games? What are your favorites?

12 Tips for Surviving Twins

July 24, 2013 by stultsmamaof4 20 Comments

If you haven’t visited this blog before, you might not know that we have a set of twins (boy/girl) who are now four years old. I never imagined myself having twins, and in fact, I had mixed feelings at first (read the story here).

However, our twins have brought a doubled joy to our lives that I could never expected. There is something so precious about watching them sleep side by side or hold hands as they walk down the sidewalk. Observing their unique bond has been a true privilege.

I hope they will always be best friends of sorts even though they are different genders!

Along the way, I’ve learned some methods for dealing with the not-so-cute moments of what can easily become twin madness, and I’d like to share them with you today. These methods would also work with children who are close in age to one another! 🙂

12 Twin Tips for Survival

1. Divide and conquer. Whatever task you face, it can be much easier to handle one at a time. For example, I read many success stories from mamas who simultaneously potty-trained their twins. It seems that for these blessed mothers, what one twin did, the other followed.

However, for us it wasn’t quite as simple. Our son was just not ready, but our daughter was! She insisted on using the potty even though I wasn’t trying to train her. So, I decided one at a time might actually be easier, and it worked! Not everything must be done in pairs. 🙂

OR….

2. Kill two birds with one stone. Some twin tasks are just easier to do together, such as diaper changing (one right after the other, of course), nursing (huge time saver if you can get the hang of it), going to the doctor, bathing, and feeding snacks or meals.

When you already have all of the “stuff” out, you might as well get it over with for the other twin, too! I even learned such talents as double burping, which only lasted a month or two.

Part of finding my groove with our twins was learning which technique worked best for which tasks – either #1 or #2.

Sometimes it even makes a difference which twin you do first! After a while, I learned to always put my twin son’s shoes on last because he would try to take them off if we didn’t leave the house immediately. My daughter didn’t seem to mind the shoes, so I could count on her to leave hers on while I wrestled with her brother. 🙂

3. Set up stations! When the twins were infants, this was a lifesaver when it came time to prepare a meal, or work with an older child, etc. I had a rotation of baby devices for them and when they grew weary of one (after about 10 minutes), I would quickly rotate them to the next thing in line.

Instead of having two of everything, we found we only needed one of most things and thankfully, many of these devices were given to us. So, at one point in time we had out an exersaucer, a jumperoo, a bouncy seat, a playmat, and a walker (before the walker days, we had a swing).

4. Identify the tough times. We definitely had specific times of the day that were much more difficult than others. Meal times, bedtimes, and late afternoon seemed to be the worst for us. Once we identified those tough times, we were able to problem solve to cut down the stress. If all else fails, then….

5. Enlist helpers! By far the best thing we ever did was to accept the gracious offers of friends and family to lend a helping hand. Many ladies from church took turns helping me with afternoon feedings (my husband worked second shift at the time) even when the twins were quite small. I would either pump ahead of time or I would take that opportunity to nurse one infant at a time and the company could burp or entertain the other twin.

We also are blessed to have a very helpful oldest son. He often rocked a fussy baby while I cooked supper or helped our middle child with a problem! Additionally, for a few

For a few months I also enlisted the help of one of our teenage nieces. I was able to pay her very little, but she loved coming over to help with the kids. It was totally worth the expense.

Twin mamas, do not be afraid to ask for help, especially in the early months – it will save your sanity!

6. Schedule, schedule, schedule. I wasn’t a very schedule-oriented mom when it came to nursing or even napping our first two children. Our firstborn sort of fell into a schedule all on his own, and our middle child fought any sort of schedule from day one!

However, by nature I’m a planner, so I like at least a loose form of organization. And after struggling with our strong-willed middle child, I was determined to start off right.

With two babies at once, I knew that I was going to need to be a little more of a tough mommy in order for us to survive. 🙂

Since our twins were born prematurely, they spent time in the NICU and came home already on a strict feeding schedule. So, we were already off to a good start. However, our infant son was not always happy to keep to the same schedule as his sister.

It was hard work to find a happy medium, but I knew I wouldn’t handle feeding and napping at different times very well. Persistence paid off, and the majority of the time, they ate together and napped together.

Find a sort of schedule that works for you!

The best pattern to follow for those first 6 months or so is: eat – wake time- then sleep, which is the complete opposite of what many babies naturally do. However, this pattern sets your infants up not only for feeding success, but for sleeping success as well!

You may be tempted to let sleeping babies go undisturbed, but it will be worth working to keep them awake when they reward you by sleeping for longer periods of time. Trust me. 🙂

7. Invest in the gear that makes your life easier. Being a parent is hard work. Being a twin parent is sometimes doubly hard work! Some baby gear makes that work a lot less difficult and is worth every penny.

For example, my husband and I debated about whether or not to purchase a double snap-n-go stroller. It’s basically a metal frame stroller that the infant carrier car seats can snap right into. Thanks to some generous gifts, we had the necessary funds and decided to go ahead and purchase it.

Next to my twin nursing pillow, it was the best purchase we ever made for the twins!

It made outings much easier, especially those I had to navigate alone – going to church, going to the store, going to the library, going to the doctor. I was no longer confined to the house, which made me and our two older children very happy!

Later we switched to a Schwinn double jogging stroller, courtesy of my father-in-law’s fabulous auction skills, and the last stroller we owned was a double sit-n-stand, which I highly recommend for the toddler to preschool years. When one is tired of sitting in the front seat, you can switch them out to standing, kneeling, or even sitting in reverse in the back seat.

8. Keep your older children occupied. Sitting down to nurse or feed two infants isn’t an easy task, especially if you also have an active three-year-old on the loose. Sometimes our middle child would escape into another room and I would just pray that he wasn’t destroying anything of value! 🙂

I wish I had known back then about busy bags! If you don’t know what they are, you need to find out. Just look up busy bags on Pinterest or Google and find a variety of ideas for quiet play. I have quite a few pinned on my Learning games and activities board. Books worked well for us, as well as singing. Sometimes I would even ask him to perform tricks for me while I was sitting. And when all else failed I turned to Netflix or PBS Kids. Did I mention that

Did I mention that having twins also taught me to lower my standards a little?

9. Remind your older children that they are special, too! Sometimes older siblings have jealousy issues, and then sometimes they have twin fame issues. 😉 Twins not only require a lot of extra attention from mom and dad, they also attract a lot of attention when you are out and about. People love to look at them and ask questions about them, which might leave your older children feeling a little ignored or neglected.

Going on one-on-one dates really helped our older children when they were exhibiting signs of attention-deprivation. Also, relatives stepped in often and took one or both of them for special activities or sleep-overs. Sometimes it’s as simple as mentioning something special about your older children when people are ooo-ing and aaahhh-ing over the twins.

10. Remember that it does get easier! Those early months are oh-so-tough. I well remember the sleepless nights, the double diaper blow-outs, the duets of screaming banshees, the illness multiplied by two in winter months, and sometimes it felt like there was no light at the end of the tunnel. But there is!

Those twins will grow up and while you’ll always have two at the same stage, rather than one, as they grow older it feels a lot less like double duty and a lot more like having two children very close in age.

Believe it or not, our twins are so different in looks and personality that sometimes I momentarily forget about their special bond!

Focus on one day at a time, until you can focus on one week at a time, and eventually one month, and before you know it, you’ll be thriving instead of just surviving!

11. Count your blessings. On those really rough days, the ones when you barely limp across the finish line that we mamas like to call bedtime, try to let go of the challenges and remember the blessings of having twins.

There are many difficulties in raising twins, but there are equal, if not more, unique blessings wrapped into those challenges. So when the days are dark, count those blessings. Remind yourself of the things that you enjoy about your double gift, how one baby catches the other’s eye and both faces light up, how they “talk” back and forth to one another, even answering one another’s cries. Remember those good things; cling to them!

12. Pray. It sounds simple and everyday, but it’s not. Prayer is powerful! Some days I woke up after a sleepless night asking the Lord for supernatural strength because I just didn’t have it in me. He literally carried me, not just mentally but physically, through many of those early weeks or even months. I know others were praying for me, too – the power was almost palpable at times.

Don’t underestimate the Power of the Spirit; pray for the things you need to raise those twins – for finances, for strength, for wisdom. I even consulted the Lord on such mundane things as “Should I pick up this crying baby or would it be better to let him cry it out?”

While I didn’t get a direct answer to that question, I was overwhelmed by the peace of His presence. And suddenly, I realized that maybe it didn’t even matter as much as I thought it did.

Maybe there is no perfect way to parent, no perfect way to potty train or sleep train or breastfeed or, or, or… That peace set me free. 🙂

Proverbs 3

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

If you have young twins or are about to have twins (or even children very close in age), I hope you find this post helpful. And if you are already a twin mama and you have some advice to share, please feel free to share in the comments! I love finding out what works for other moms and seeing if it will also work for me.

Enjoy it while it lasts!

Jen 🙂

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The Christmas Adventure Box

*This post makes use of affiliate links. For more information, please visit Being Confident of This’s About page. Thank you for supporting this blog!

The Greatest Gift – read John 3:16 – unwrap the Christmas Adventure Box.

Joseph and Mary – read Luke 1:30-33 – unwrap Joseph and Mary from your nativity set.

Baby Jesus – read Luke 2:6-7 – unwrap the baby Jesus figure from your nativity set.

Shepherds and Angels – read Luke 2:8-20 – unwrap the shepherd and angel figures from your nativity set.

The Wise Men – read Mt. 2:1-2, 10-11 – unwrap the wise men from your nativity set.

Light of the World – read Mt. 5:14-16 – unwrap a notecard that says “Christmas Adventure!” on it.

Legend of the Candy Cane – read Isaiah 53:5 – unwrap a candy cane.

Joy to the World – read Mt. 28:19-20 – unwrap a small globe or picture of the world.

The Legend of Saint Nicholas – read Gal. 2:10 – unwrap socks or a stocking.

Christmas Caroling – read Rev. 5:12 – unwrap a note that reads “Christmas Adventure!”

The Baker’s Hand – read Isaiah 64:8 – unwrap cookie cutters.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas – read Thessalonians 2:15-16 – unwrap a nativity story dvd or a “Christmas Adventure!” notecard.

Christmas Day – read Luke 2:1-20 and unwrap a Bible

Also sharing with: Beauty Through Imperfection, Missional Call, Mom’s The Word, Wholehearted Wednesdays

Pumpkin Gospel Story:

The Pumpkin Gospel

Explanation of the Pumpkin Gospel:

Religion vs. Relationship Pumpkin Gospel Alternate

Pumpkin Gospel FREE Printable

God’s Little Explorers Curriculum

Seasonal/Themed Printable Packs

Writing Skills

Letter Recognition

Number Recognition

Shape Recognition

Color Recognition

Music/Rhymes

Bible Literacy

Letter Formation

Other free (or nearly free) preschool resources to consider:

Why is it that a request to be patient or wait creates the exact opposite effect than what parents desire to see in their children?

7 Ways to Practice Patience with Preschoolers:

1. Model patience yourself.

2. Change your speech.

3. Distract them.

4. Give young children a timeline.

5. Remind them.

6. Sing the “Have Patience” song.

7. Praise them lavishly!

12 Twin Tips for Survival