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Bible Story Props: Joseph and the Colored Coat

2013
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To all my new friends visiting from Growing Home, hello, and welcome! If you’re here for the free scripture story printables, you can find them here. They’re pretty darn cute, if I dare say. :)  But, feel free to get cozy and stay a while! There’s much more to see and do here, and I’d love to be friends!

FREE scripture story printables

Over on the Facebook page we recently hit a big milestone marker (1,000! Thank you so much!) and as promised, to celebrate I created a new {FREE} printable scripture story set. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was one of my favorite musicals as a kid (therefore the Bible story of Joseph became a favorite!), and I was really excited to create this story set.

joseph sneak peek

When my five-year-old asked recently, why do we read the scriptures, one of the things I told her is that the details in the ancient stories may be different, but we can still learn from them as the the challenges and feelings are the same today. The story of Joseph has many examples:

  • Parents still love their children and want to shower them with precious gifts (colored coat).
  • Siblings still experience jealously and fight.
  • Dreams can still be a source of inspiration and vision.
  • Sin (immorality, Potipher’s wife, etc. ) is something we all should continue to “flee” from.
  • Hard work and honesty still reap prosperity.
  • It’s still good to save for a rainy day (famine).

Joseph scripture story printables

This printable set includes all the pieces you need to tell the story of Joseph from beginning to end. After downloading and printing, there are many things you can do with the story graphics, such as:

baker and butler

  • Print on t-shirt transfer paper, iron onto sheets of felt, cut out, and use on a flannel board. (TUTORIAL)
  • Print on cardstock, laminate, cut out, and place a magnet on the back. Use on the fridge, magnet board, or metal cookie sheet. (TUTORIAL)
  • Print on cardstock, laminate, and glue to popsicle sticks for stick puppets.
  • Print on cardstock, laminate, place a piece of rough velcro on the back. Stick to a flannel board.
  • Create miniature shrinky dinks.
  • Make a file folder game.

download Joseph story set printables

Filed Under: Creative Kids, Learning the Scriptures, Scripture Story Felts

Teaching Young Kids the Scriptures with Visual Aids

2013
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Teaching Young Kids the Scriptures by Keeping Life Creative

{Printable scripture story timeline cards}

Teaching our four young kids the scriptures is something my husband and I strive to be intentional about, and one night during our bedtime reading our five-year-old asked:

“Mommy, why do we read the scriptures?”

Simply put, we choose to read our children the scriptures because they are the word of God. We believe teaching the principles will empower them spiritually, and learning the scriptures in their early years will help root their foundation of faith and build an internal commitment to follow them.

We want to teach our kids to learn and love the scriptures so they will have that strength and guidance for the rest of their lives.

learning the scriptures with picture readers

There are many ways to teach young kids the scriptures, but one way is to to familiarize them with the stories. . . .

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Come read more in my guest post at Growing Home!

Filed Under: Creative Kids, Creative Solutions, Family Night, Learning the Scriptures, Reading Fun, Scripture Story Felts

Do You Consider Yourself Creative?

2013
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So very often when encouraging moms to craft with their kids or cultivate an artistic hobby, I hear reluctantly: “But I’m not creative. I can barely draw a stick figure, and my three-year old fingerpaints better than I do!”

And the thing is, I get it. Just a few short years ago I was even on that same team, making those same claims.

creative

In high school and college I watched friends take art classes, guitar lessons, and participate in drama club–and wished for the courage to join them. But making art was for talented people, I thought, and privately doodled and daydreamed in dozens of journals while taking “practical” classes and an after-school waitressing job.

Teaching elementary school helped me rediscover some of the long-lost childhood creativity as my views became tinted with the fresh perspective of first graders. Creating bulletin board displays, student portfolios, and sample art projects were a bonus, not a chore and I loved that part of my “job.”

Then I left the classroom to become a mom. I’d take my newborn baby to the craft store for an afternoon of reading creative magazines and picking out pretty scrapbook papers. Still, though I loved creating pretty things, I never considered myself creative or an “artist.”

life+art

{via}

It’s almost default to feel if we’re not an expert, earning income from original creations, well-known for our innovations, or “abundantly blessed” with that “creative gene,” that we can’t claim the creative title. And so we minimize ourselves and our abilities, cheating ourselves from owning that we (simply because we are living, breathing, human beings) are creative.

I’m saying this because I believe inside every one of us is a spark of creativity. We all have that creative potential because we were made in the image of the ultimate Creator–to be like Him.

My perspective has changed over the past couple of years, and once I got over the fear of creative failure, developing my creative side  began to feed my soul.

If you feel you’re not creative, I invite you to consider why you feel that way.

Is there an experience, or series of experiences that influenced these thoughts?

Continue the conversation by letting me know your thoughts in the comments section (scroll back to the top of the post), or comment on the Facebook page.

Filed Under: Creative YOU, Keeping Life Creative

Teaching Narration with Visual Aids

2013
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teaching narration with visual aids

Narration is important for pre-writers because it lays a foundation for future writing skills by developing a child’s understanding, vocabulary, expression, and storytelling abilities. If a child learns to narrate early on, writing a story, summary, or short essay will eventually be an easy (and even fun!) task.

E writes

One of our favorite ways to practice these pre-writing skills is during playtime with visual aids. Visuals enhance the learning experience and make the narration seem like a game.

How to Teach Narration

Begin by reading or telling your child a story, and then ask questions about what happened. As your child’s abilities increase, ask them to retell the story back to you–summarizing the plot and main points.

My kids particularly like retelling stories during a homemade “puppet shows.”

three little kittens by keeping life creative{FREE Three Little Kitten story printables}

Educator Susan Wise Bauer recommends that kids retell stories using complete sentences and as they do, you should write down their narration and read it back to them. When they hear their “writing,” they may choose to clarify or add more detail. Eventually they’ll be able to write down their own narrations.

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Build your child’s pre-writing skills by exploring more fun storytime visuals!

Filed Under: Creative Kids, Homeschool, Reading Fun

Tell Your Time

2013
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{Our kitchen wall, quote by Annie Dillard}

Jared and I met as freshman in college. He was organized, structured his day in 15-minute increments, and was a strait ‘A’ student. I was messy artistic, undecided on what to do with my life  flexible, and pressed snooze on my alarm most mornings. But I was so cute, Jared couldn’t resist me. (hahaha)

We were two crazy lovebirds and got married 10 months after we met. And then the newlywed shock set in. My creative chaos started to drive him crazy and his anal structure was frustrating. In our 12 years together we’ve had a lot to work out. Marriage is like learning another culture.

{on the Great Wall of China on my 20th birthday}

Every night after we put the kids to bed Jared and I lie on our bed or cuddle on the couch and take 5-10 minutes each to recap our day, chat about the budget, vent a frustration, bring up an “issue,” etc. (Remember in high school you’d have those DTR talks? Yep, it’s kind of like that!)

Frequently “time management” comes up. It’s a bittersweet subject because I’m fascinated with the idea of “time management” yet it’s often difficult for me to stick to a schedule. Even when I have a good routine in place. Sometimes I even fight the routine because I’m afraid it will stifle my creativity.

When Amy Andrews first came out with the e-book on time management I bought it right away. I love her blog so I knew her e-book would be good. But get this. After I downloaded it, I just let it sit on my hard drive because I didn’t “have time” to read it. Yep.

Well, this weekend after a week of many late, late nights designing I had {another} I’m-too-overwhelmed-and-over-committed meltdown. And guess what came up in our nightly “five minute talk?” Grrrrrr.

And so I took a deep breath and scrapbooked a few pages (helps me clear my mind!), and read Amy’s book.

Wow.

Now I’m kicking myself for not reading it right after I bought it. It gave me the sense of direction I’ve been trying to find and {once again} reminded me I don’t need to be a superwoman.

CAN NOT green

And I’m really EXCITED about the simple, PRACTICAL, profound tips Amy shares in her e-book. As she explains, “This book will help you:

  1. Identify the most important things in your life.
  2. Set long-term goals for each.
  3. Determine how you can reach these goals in doable, bite-sized steps.
  4. Manage your time so you can accomplish your life goals and nothing important falls through the cracks.”

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, over-committed, disorganized, stressed, etc. I really recommend you check out Tell Your Time.

Filed Under: Creative Kids, Keeping Home, My Story
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