I decided to make a St. Patrick’s Day art project with the girls today. There are so many amazing ideas on Pinterest…I thought instead of just pinning things online, it was time to actually do them!
We painted using bell peppers and potatoes! It was fun and not terribly difficult.
We used bell peppers and potatoes to create art projects!
The supplies:
1 bell pepper
2 potatoes (one for each girl)
plates
paint
knife
cookie cutters
The peppers were easy…just cut it open and paint! We used a sponge brush at first but it was much easier to slap it on with our fingers.
The pepper painting finished product!
The potatoes were a bit more tricky, but still not too bad. First I sliced the potato long ways to create the biggest area to use. Then I used a shamrock cookie cutter. I pressed down pretty hard. Then cut around the cookie cutter. When I took the cookie cutter off, there was a perfect shamrock shape…NO artistic ability needed! (My kind of crafting!)
The potato finished product!
My kids had fun with it. I didn’t spend a fortune on supplies and they thought it was SO COOL to do something a little different than plain old paining.
If you are looking for a delicious St. Patrick’s Day cake recipe check this one out that I did last year….here is the link.
Try it out, have fun and enjoy! I know we did.
It has been a while since I posted…but I felt this was important. I got great feedback from the posts about teaching the bible with Elf on the Shelf. (click here to read that!) I wanted to do something similar with Valentine’s Day.
We kept is simple…we made a Valentine’s Day garland to hang up in our kitchen.
First, I read the bible to the girls. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. I had to stop as we read and explain what the words meant to the girls. I wanted to break it down to their language. I was sure to teach them the correct words, patient, envy, boast, arrogant, irritable, resentful, bears all things, endures all things, rejoice and so on. I think this is important, when we discuss the bible later, I always use the biblical word as well as an easier synonym.
I cut strips of red construction paper. On each strip I wrote something from the bible that love is. I was sure to add the word love on to each of them.
Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy or boast. Love is not rude or arrogant. Love does not insist on it’s own way. Love is not irritable or resentful. Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing. Love rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Then I had the girls tell me examples of how we can show love in that way. Kares wrote her own, I wrote for Kailani. Some of the answers were great! “Love is sharing my special toys” “Love is taking turns” “Love is being a good friend” and so on!
Then I just folded the strip in half and stapled to the bottom of the previous heart. We made a chain that hangs in our kitchen/living area.
The best part of this was later in the day when the kids were acting out. One wasn’t waiting her turn, the other was insisting she was first. I said wait girls…”Love is patient. Love doesn’t insist on its own way. Do you think you can show love here?” Then we talked about how to take turns, let others go first, and really LOVE each other according to the bible.
I hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day and I hope you also incorporate some of the bible into your activities.
Day 19- click here for kindness elf day 19
Today’s verse is from Ephesians 4:31-32
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
This verse was great for the kids to hear. I have reminded them about it often this week. As they start to argue about who had the toy, or whatever, I remind them, that God wants us to let our anger go away from us. I explained that slander is really name calling. That God said all of that, if we do it, or if someone does it to us, needs to just go away from us. To change our attitudes and be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving.
Elfie also asked the girls to buy flowers today and deliver them to the neighbors. It was another act of kindness that the girls could do. I got a bunch of daisy flowers at the grocery store for 4 dollars. I used the tags from the ornaments and tied it on with a ribbon. It made 9 stems of flowers. We chose 9 different houses this time.
Kailani in her Christmas pajamas ready to deliver flowers to the neighbors.
Day 20 click here for kindness elf day 20
We are going out of town for the holidays and won’t be back until after the new year. We decided to take our Christmas tree down. In the spirit of kindness, we had Elfie take it down for us.
Today’s bible verse is also about being clean…not a clean house, but a clean heart!
Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
This verse means that everyone sins, but God can help us to make our hearts pure and right! When you say your prayers tonight, ask God to create a clean heart in each of you!
Elfie explained to the girls that he cleaned up so we didn’t have to! It was his act of kindness to help out a friend. You could do this with toys, shoes, or whatever. The girls were sad the tree was down, but thought it was pretty neat that Elfie recruited some elves to help him do it.
I have been a little behind updating the blog! So I am going to update rather quickly today. I apologize that my writing is about quantity verses quality today. I just want to share the bible verses and explanations that we did daily for our elf on the shelf.
Things are getting pretty busy in our house, as I am sure they are for you too. I hope you can use the ideas and resources. I also want to let you know that these explanations are purely my own interpretation of the bible verse, it is my way of explaining it in ‘kid language’ so my girls can better understand.
Day 17- Elfie was laying in a baby doll stroller since this verse is about children. Here is the verse and explanation the girls received. Click here for kindness elf day 17
You have had a lot of bible verses about kindness, and that is important, but today’s is about behavior.
Proverbs 20:11 says,
Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright.
What does this mean? Well, conduct is another word for behavior, and pure and upright mean good, innocent, and right. So this means that EVERYONE’S, even children’s behavior is a reflection of themselves. Our actions show what is in our hearts. We are all sinners and all make mistakes, but God forgives! Is your heart good? Do your actions show this? Spend today thinking about making good choices in your actions and in your heart.
Day 18- This one was about gifts. We get so wrapped up in the gifts that I wanted the girls to know that God gave them special gifts too…the most special things are not usually THINGS at all. Click here for Kindness elf day 18
Elfie was dressed up in Daddy’s fancy tie today!
Today’s verse is from 2 Corinthians 8:7
“Since as you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.”
What does this mean? Faith is very important. Learning new things is also very important. But we should also try to be honest, loving, and generous. It is said that we should show our honesty, love, and generosity by the way we live.
Remember that grace means gift. We should be really good at giving. This doesn’t mean we have to buy presents for people all of the time. It means we should give ourselves, we should share. Sharing toys is a great thing, but also sharing a smile with a stranger. Sharing a sweet conversation with someone can even be a gift!
The girls had a chart to fill out today. They had to think about ways that they could share with others. We tried to focus on personal gifts rather than material things. I wanted the girls to know they are special, God gave them gifts, they can make a difference too.
Day 15
1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
This verse means so many things. Love is patient and kind, just like God wants us to be patient and kind.
Love does not envy or boast- this means that those who truly love are not jealous of others.
It is not arrogant or rude- arrogant means you think you are better than anyone else.
It does not insist on its own way- sometimes things are hard, you don’t always get your own way!
It is not irritable or resentful- irritable is cranky, resentful is when you blame others for things
It does not rejoice in wrong doing, but rejoices in truth- this means that love means always doing the right thing, even when it is hard
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things- This means that love lasts through it all! No matter what love is most important and will make it through anything!
I tried to break this one down into words my young children could understand. They were told today to make a list of people who loved them and people they loved. We found out very quickly that is a very long list! We talked about being patient, kind, and so on to show love.
Elfie was in a Barbie car with Barbie. We discussed how we love our friends too! What joy loving one another can bring.
Click here for kindness elf day 15
Day 16
Matthew 19:14 says,
But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
(Message from our Elf)- This verse tells us that Jesus loved children so much! Do you remember the bible story where Jesus teaches the little children how to pray? Today I want you to go to Sunday school. I want you to be one of the children that Jesus taught how to pray. Have fun with your friends and show tell them that Jesus loves them too!
When you get home, sit down, open your Storybook Bible and read that story together. Read all about how much Jesus loved the little children!
Click here for kindness elf day 16
Anyone with children can appreciate the bible verse from today!
It is from Philippians 2:14
Do all things without complaining or disputing.
Elfie was in some pretty interesting spaces and didn’t complain once! He was on the kitchen light and then on the stairs banister. (we had this verse two days in a row)
This is a GREAT one! I know that both kids and adults complain…but the bible says we shouldn’t. When explaining this verse, I referenced the fruits of the spirit again. I explained that joy was one of them. In order to have joy in our lives, we can’t complain. We don’t have to like it, but we DO have to change our attitude and how we think about things.
Elfie told my girls to memorize this verse because it was so important. Well, they didn’t memorize it, and honestly they didn’t really live by it that day. SO they got it again the next day! Elfie told the girls this verse was SO important they needed to hear it twice and NEEDED to memorize it. Kares and I have talked about this verse a lot. We made a deal that whenever we hear the other one complaining…we will just say, “Philippians 2:14” and then the other will recite the verse. I am hoping this helps keep both of us in check! Even though I try not to, I complain too.
We also finished our ornaments that day. They were SO easy and very inexpensive. Kares wanted gold balls and Kailani wanted bells. So we did both! I got 5 balls for $1 and 9 bells for $1 both at the Dollar Tree. We chose a clearance ribbon at Michaels for $0.99. Then we took them home and strung them together with our tags that Elfie left us. At $4 for all 10 of them (one was without a bell) I think it was a great way to show kindness and not break the bank!
Ornaments we made for our neighbors.
The girls had so much fun delivering them. We talked about how true acts of kindness is doing something nice without anything in return. We talked about how anything even meant a thank you or acknowledgement of the act itself. So we put ornaments on doorknobs and didn’t ring doorbells. It was a lot of fun.
She wanted to carry them in a Christmas stocking.
Delivering ornaments to our neighbors
Here are the daily notes!
kindness elf day 13 Kindness Elf day 14
I hope your kids have as much fun with this as mine did…AND I hope they do it without complaining and disputing.
Day 12 was about singing! The bible verse is from
Psalm 68:4 says,
“Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the Lord; exult before him!”
Our elf was in our surround sound and DVD player! I thought this was fitting for the verse about singing. He told the girls that one of the best ways to praise God was to sing to him. That day was so much fun. When we were out running errands, I blasted the Veggie Tales CD in the car and the girls (and me too) were singing bible songs at the top of our lungs. They had so much fun, they sang praise to God! As we were singing Kares asked me what some of the words meant. I realized that she has been singing all of these words, but never really knew what the song was about. So it was nice to turn down the music an explain the songs to the girls. I hope it will be more meaningful the next time we sing them.
Elfie asked the girls also to do some random acts of kindness today. He suggested going to the store to find some inexpensive ornaments. Then to hang an ornament on the doors of our neighbors. He even left a little tag to attach to the ornaments.
Click here for Kindness Elf day 12 and for the kindness elf day 12 tags.
Okay, I am going to be honest again. We were able to go to the store to get the ornaments. But it was such a busy day and a little bit rough dealing with a cranky kid or two! So we did not get the ornaments finished and delivered. So I will post our finished product next time. I explained to the girls that things happen, we tried, and we are sorry we didn’t get it done today. It was priority number one the next day!
Okay I am going to be honest here…I am tired. Tired of moving this silly elf, tired of staying up way past my bed time to research new bible verses. Then finding the time (usually in the morning before the kids get up) to update the blog about it. That being said, I find it all WORTH IT. Teaching the bible is so important! I am glad that my kids (and hopefully yours too) are responding so well. They are listening to it, talking about it, and even LIVING it. So it makes it all worth it! So if you like this blog, please share it! Share with others, so that maybe everyone will teach the bible with the Elf on the Shelf, rather than just have it be a naughty elf.
Day 11 the bible verse was about the fruit of the spirit. Our elf was in a fruit basket of course! (I am going to be honest, I did not think of this idea. I got inspiration from an amazing Mommy friend of mine. She is also teaching the bible with her elf and she shared this with me!)
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
This verse teaches so much! Rather than doing something for someone else today, Elfie asked the girls to create a chart saying how they have the different fruits of the spirit. How they can show these things. We also discussed how some are easy, like love and gentleness, but some are very hard, like self-control.
I am attaching our note and the chart that I created to have the girls discuss the different fruits of the spirit. They are all in the same word document. Click kindness elf day 11!
I am updating again! My kids are really enjoying the elf, are yours? My little one, Kailani asks each day, “What message did Elfie send today?” and I love hearing that! Kares likes to read them too. Our elf is never really naughty, just silly. I don’t want to teach my kids to be naughty, but I do want them to have fun. Our elf was in the fruit basket, hanging from the light, in the bathroom…nothing to crazy, but fun still. I want the focus to be Jesus, not the silly elf. Here are some hilarious blogs about some people who go over the top! Click here for 1 Click here for the other
Day 9 We were still on vacation. Elfie was hiding in my suitcase. (Smart there, he stayed in my suitcase so that I didn’t forget to bring him home!)
Luke 16:10
If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.
Sometimes the smallest little acts of kindness and love can make the biggest difference. Today they had to try to hold the door open for someone. Let them go through first (and do it with a smile)! Sometimes the little things, turn into big things. The more you do kind and loving things, the more you act like Jesus!
Click Here for Kindness elf day 9
Day 10
Elfie was hiding in the bathroom. He drew the girls a Christmas Tree on the mirror. It was really cute.
Today’s verse was from Acts 20:35
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’
Today Elfie asked the girls to donate some food to those in need. We talked about helping others and how we are able to help others. We can help by donating some food from the grocery store and not expect anything in return.
Christmas has turned into a focus on presents, that I wanted my girls to GIVE than RECEIVE.
I am so glad that we are doing this bible study. My girls are learning the bible, focusing on Jesus, and doing kind things for others. They have really enjoyed it too. Are your kids liking it? Leave a comment and let me know! Do you have suggestions for a bible verse? Let me know!
Day 7 is from from John 15.
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
My girls have had a hard time getting along lately (as all siblings do). So I thought this was perfect. Elfie explained the bible verse, saying that God loves us NO MATTER WHAT. Their act of kindness today was to tell each other how much they loved one another.
Click here for Kindness Elf 7
Day 8
We went away for the weekend. Elfie met the girls at the hotel in the morning! What a great surprise! This verse is from Proverbs 16:24
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
Elfie brought the girls a sweet treat for this sweet bible verse! I wanted them to have the experience of kindness too. Elfie was doing random acts of kindness for them. They were instructed to use sweet words just like Jesus today.
Click here for kindness elf day 8
Only Little Once 