Simple Family Home Evenings: Daniel and the Lions Den Lion Masks

While perusing, (yes perusing… you have to slowly wander so you have time to see what is there and what can be done with it) the Dollar Tree a month or so ago I found a wooden lion mask for a dollar. I immediately picked it up because my little ones loves animals and since we are trying to focus on bible stories for our Family nights I thought it would work perfect for that. So simple.

If your local Dollar Tree does not carry them or is out don't worry a simple paper plate will work just as well. 

Look around the house to see what you have to work with and use that. Yarn, construction paper, noodles, crayons and markers, really anything you can glue down for the mane or just have kids color their plate and cut holes in it for them.

Tell the story of Daniel and then have the kids make their own lion. Good luck!

DIY MINI Catapult

Snowed in with either snow or cold temperatures? Make this Mini Catapult with your kids and have some fun launching all kinds of things from balled up pieces of paper, to small candies, to beans, or fruit loops. The best part of this is you most likely have everything you need to make it lying around the house somewhere. Make adjustments if needed.

SUPPLIES:

You'll need a small scrap of wood, preferably a small piece of a 2x4 but experiment. I'm sure a variety of things would work. A large popsicle stick, a clothes pin and a lid from a bottle of juice or a jug of milk. 

BUILD:
Glue the clothes pin to the edge of the 2x4

Glue the popsicle stick to the clothes pin.

Glue the lid to the end of the clothespin.

PLAY:

• Place small wadded up papers, fruit loops or cheerios or other pieces of cereal, dried beans, anything small and light into the cup and pull it down a bit. Let go and watch it fly.
• Test your catapult to see how far it can throw your items and them make targets for your kids to try and hit.
• If you homeschool or use this for a learning activity ask question and have to plates one for yes and one for no have the kids try to land their object on the right answer.
• Make several and build lego cities to go with them. See if your kids can practice getting items over lego walls.

David and Goliath "Stone Throw" activity for Kids

Another week and another Bible Story activity for your little ones!

I purchased a shower curtain from Walmart for $2.97 or less I can't remember the exact price. I then drew a picture of David and Goliath on the curtain. (Don't look too closely I'm not an artist.) 

My plan for a simple family activity is to read the story of David and Goliath found in the Old Testament (1 Samuel Chapter 17). Afterward we can talk about Goliath and his size and how David was able to defeat him. 

For the activity kids can use wadded up pieces of paper or small balls to see if they can hit Goliath as well. Have older kids stand farther back. You can ask questions before they get a chance to throw or you can just let them have a turn. Whatever works for your family.

The shower curtain can be placed over the shower rod in the bathroom, over a stair railing, on the back of the couch, between two chairs. Basically anywhere you can prop it up.

Simple Family Home Evening With Toddlers and Bible Stories: Creation

I have been wanting to start teaching my little one the Bible stories but have not been sure of how to do it as he is still small. So in an effort to do something here is what I came up with for this weeks activity. You could do a variation of this for all small aged children. 

I traced and then cut out 7 circles onto a card stock paper. Wrote the numbers 1-7 on each circle. Then went through my random bag of stickers and note paper to find items that corresponded to what God created on each day. 

I used mainly stickers as my little one cannot draw yet and is just getting the hang of coloring. If you have older children you could let them draw their own pictures to go with each day.

We read over the bible story in Genesis 1 (see below for scriptures) and then placed the stickers on the circle they went with. I'm going to punch a hole in the top of each circle and put them together on a ring to make a simple book. Then my little one can look at it/play with it during church. We may try the activity again when he is older and he can add to it or make another. 

http://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/gen/1?span=1-3&lang=eng

Chapter 1

God creates this earth and its heaven and all forms of life in six days—The creative acts of each day are described—God creates man, both male and female, in His own image—Man is given dominion over all things and is commanded to multiply and fill the earth.

 1 In the ^abeginning ^bGod ^ccreated the ^dheaven and the ^eearth.

 2 And the earth was without ^aform, and void; and ^bdarkness wasupon the face of the deep. And the ^cSpirit of God ^dmoved upon the face of the waters.

 3 And God ^asaid, Let there be ^blight: and there was light.

 4 And God saw the light, that it was ^agood: and God divided the light from the darkness.

 5 And God called the light ^aDay, and the ^bdarkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the ^cfirst ^dday.

 6 ¶And God said, Let there be a ^afirmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the ^awaters whichwere under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

 8 And God called the firmament ^aHeaven. And the evening and the morning were the second ^bday.

 9 ¶And God said, Let the ^awaters under the heaven be gathered together unto ^bone place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

 10 And God called the dry land ^aEarth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it wasgood.

 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth ^agrass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

 12 And the earth ^abrought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his ^bkind: and God saw that it was good.

 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

 14 ¶And God said, Let there be ^alights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for^bsigns, and for ^cseasons, and for days, and years:

 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

 16 And God made two great lights; the ^agreater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the ^bstars also.

 17 And God set them in the ^afirmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

 18 And to rule over the ^aday and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

 20 And God said, Let the ^awaters ^bbring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and ^cfowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

 21 And God created ^agreat whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and ^amultiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

 24 ¶And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his ^akind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

 26 ¶And God said, Let ^aus ^bmake ^cman in our ^dimage, after our^elikeness: and let them have ^fdominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

 27 So God created man in his own ^aimage, in the image of God created he him; male and ^bfemale created he them.

 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be ^afruitful, and ^bmultiply, and ^creplenish the ^dearth, and subdue it: and have^edominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

 29 ¶And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for^ameat.

 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there islife, I have given every green herb for ^ameat: and it was so.

 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very ^agood. And the evening and the morning were the ^bsixthday.