Dr. Seuss Baby Shower

My Mom, Sister, & I threw a baby shower this past weekend for a friend of ours.  We decided on a Dr. Seuss theme.  With a little inspirational help from the oh-so-awesome Pinterest this is the result:

 My gift - blanket & crib sheet I made

I also did the onesies :)  I loved the bulletin board cutouts & the goldfish.

Found this memory game at Target - PERFECT for decorations & my boys love it.

 Made the new mommy a maternity shirt I found at Joanns

 More decorations

 Fish in a pot :)

 Aren't the truffula trees amazing?

 Close up of the onesies - I used this generator to make the image, flipped it horizontally in my computer's Paint program, printed it onto iron on transfer paper, and ironed it on.  Simple, yet so cute!

 Downloaded a Suess font for these.

 My favorite one

 Peach juice with mango chunks.  Lorax pumpkin carving template from the Lorax website :)

I was SO proud of how it all turned out.  Just goes to show that Pinterest can be really useful!

5 Little Speckled Frogs

We used straws, dental floss, construction paper, tape, and these printable puppets from Picklebums to make a super fun craft today!

Don't you just love the bugs my son drew?

Jesus Chooses His Disciples

The theme night for this AWANA was "All Star Night". The kids could come dressed up in a sport uniform if they wanted. So I thought we would talk about Jesus' "team" of friends he chose. I introduced the story by talking about being on a team and getting picked for a team and then explained Luke 5: 1-11 and Matthew 10:1-4 using felts. I also talked about how the word "disciple" meant "friend" - at least for our purposes :)

For our craft we did "following Jesus foam feet". I got this craft idea from Mumx6, although I modified it a little for our use.

Basically what we did was trace each child's foot on craft foam and write "Following Jesus" down the center. Then I let the kids go to town and decorate the feet with stickers, glitter glue, etc.

Ghana Night

(image credit)
We had a missionary come speak for our themed "Ghana" Awana Night. Since I didn't have to do a story for that night I had some extra activities to reinforce the Ghana theme. I got some simple books from our local library on Africa, the desert, and animals that lived there. I set up the felt board for kids to play with African animal felts and desert scenes and for our craft we made Animal Masks.

Typical Cubbie Night

I realized that I never posted our typical schedule for a night of AWANA. Since the Cubbies are only 3/4 our schedule runs a little bit differently from other clubs.

6-6:10 - Opening Ceremony. All clubs participate in Opening Ceremony, even the Cubbies. We are the first ones dismissed back to our room.

6:10-6:30 - Book Time. Since memorization is such an integral part of AWANA we make sure we have a good chunk of time set aside for reciting. I also have coloring pages available for children who are finished with their verses and a small area with toys (typically for the boys who have trouble sitting still) to keep the kids quiet and non-disruptive for the children who are still reciting verses.

6:30-6:45 - Story Time. This is my time in the spotlight :) Just kidding. I get seriously excited about sharing the Bible with my kids. After all, for 3/4 year olds with short memories it's like telling them a story they have never heard before! If I am really excited about the lesson - they will usually mirror my excitement.

6:45-6:55 - Bathroom/Drink Break. After sitting for story time preschoolers need some time to move around so I usually have each leader take their "team" of kids to the bathroom or water fountain to allow the kids to wiggle and keep the kids who don't quite have the whole potty training thing totally down a chance to empty their bladders :)

6:55-7:15 - Craft Time. I always try to have a craft that not only reflects the story, but is interesting and on a level that the Cubbies can participate and help create. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's always a fun time!

7:15-7:30 - Games/Song Time. Depending on how energetic (wild) the children are on a particular night, I might sing some action songs with them (Zacchaeus, I'm in the Lord's Army, Cubbie Song loudly then softly, etc) to allow them to move and be noisy. Or we might play a game to go with the story (this is one area I REALLY struggle with - I can never come up with good games). One of our favorite games that a former brilliant director created is called the "Animal Game". Basically you make all the kids lie down on the ground and turn out the lights (works best when it's still light outside so the kids don't get scared) and tell them when the lights go on they need to be ____ nonviolent animal. Turn the lights on, give them a couple minutes to act out the animal, turn the lights off so they lay down quietly again and think of another animal. I suggest NOT asking the kids for ideas as the boys in the room come up with the most violent animals possible. Or maybe that's just my children :)

7:30-7:45 - Snack Time. I have a sign up sheet at the beginning of the year and parents bring a simple snack (no drinks or nuts) for our 3 dozen or so kids and leaders.

7:45-8 - Award Time and Review the Story. Pretty much what it sounds like.

And that's it! Then I go home and CRASH from all the energy I expend with the children. I am always amazed at how much energy preschoolers have!