T is For Thankfulness! (Day 6)

Last week the kids and I made a short trip to visit my folks. I love it when Evan gets to play with his cousin! Oh, and a few days before that, we got Evan's stitches removed, only to have him fall and bump his head later that same night and split open his forehead again! This time, they glued him back together (I was told that mother's of boys would make a lot of trips to the ER, I just didn't think they would happen all in one night). Then Tuesday, Evan was down with the flu, so I was down to only one more day-Wednesday- to wrap up T is for Thankfulness! (What with  Thanksgiving being Thursday and all). So I submit one final day for the Thankfulness Tree:

Daily Thankfulness Theme: Thank you God, for the Bible, your words"
Scriptures: 2 Timothy 3:15-16 & Psalms 119:11
Memory: "In everything, give thanks"
Prayer: "Dear God, thank you for your words of love and instruction, the Bible"
Song: "The B-I-B-L-E" and "Give Thanks"
Craft: Mini Book "Bible"
Thankfulness Activity: "Bible" leaf for Thankfulness Tree

We prayed and read aloud our verses. I expounded a lot more than I usually do, trying to explain to Evan how amazing, comforting, instructive, and relevant the Bible is to us. Sadly, many things go over a 2 years-old's head, but it was important that I spoke the words to him (for his sake and my own practice/reminding).

One of the highlights of the looooooong car trip to see my folks, was hearing Evan spontaneously repeat his memory verse for 10 minutes! What a joy! So I did not belabor the exercise, I just had him repeat the verse once. Our singing did not last long either because Evan was too excited for "craft".

Supplies: Since the Bible was our theme, I wanted to make a mini book to represent the Bible. First, I took one sheet of white computer paper and cut it in half, then I folded both of those pieces in half again to make book pages. You can use any color for the paper leaf and Bible cover, I happened to grab brown. You'll want to cut the construction paper in half, and take one of them for the cover. I had alphabet stamps and a blue stamp pad for filling in the pages, glue for the binding, and tape for the leaf.

This project leaves a lot of room for variation, so feel free to tailor it to your needs or supplies. I spent 10 minutes searching for our stapler and couldn't find it, so our book had to be glued together. I do not recommend this, haha. Another binding idea is to take a single hole puncher and punch two holes in the binding of the cover and pages. You can then use yarn or a pipe cleaner to fasten the pages together. An older child could even sew the pages together with a needle and thread. But, if you have none of the above supplies, then using a glue stick will work.

Glue down the center line and add one page, then glue down the center line of that page and add the second set of pages. You can continue and add as many pages as you would like, we only did two.

Here again, is a place open for variation. I gave Evan the entire stamp alphabet and let him go. I helped him stamp "Bible" on the front cover, but otherwise let him play. You could write down the verses previously learned on the pages. Or you could print them out beforehand. Because this is only symbolic of a Bible, I was not concerned that letting Evan stamp in this "bible" would teach him disregard for the real Bible. But if you think your (probably older) child might make that kind of connection, go for the verse option. Or, do you remember the Wordless Books? Click here for a link that describes how they work and make one of these instead.

Meanwhile, I stamped the leaf.

Here is the finished Thankfulness Tree. We made it through 6 themes in the last several weeks, but for a 2 year old, I think these more general themes actually worked well. As my kids grow older and understand the concept more, it will be fun to do this theme again and ask them what they are thankful for. Then I can add those specific things to the list of broader themes.

I would love to see a picture of your Thankfulness Tree or hear about how yours worked out? Please link me to your blog, or detail your thoughts in the comments.