Crafts – Preparation Education

Paper Plate Fish

October 16, 2014October 15, 2014prayingmother

I’m loving having a preschooler around again to make crafts with. I think I have as much fun with her crafts as she does.

We decided to make fish the other day, because we have been enjoying this great music album for kids called God’s Treasures Under the Sea. (And yes, I paid shipping from Australia to the USA for the CDs. It was very worth it. I’ve ordered more to give as gifts.)

Here you are fishy-fishy!

And I’m not the only person in the house who is having too much fun with preschool crafts, so are my older kids. This next fish was made by Ace.

Armor of God

October 7, 2014prayingmother

Recently, Ace attended a Bible class about the Armor of God. At the end of the three-day class, his class put on a presentation for the parents, which included: marching for us, describing Roman armor, and also explaining the meaning of the fiery darts. He really enjoyed himself and learned a lot about the practical application of Ephesians 6, but the best part was the armor that he made. He was very proud of his armor and strutted around in it a for quite awhile at home after the class was long finished, and even went on to make some for his little sister and his big brother.

Cheers to his very excellent teacher (my cousin) for teaching a class he will never forget!

Miscellaneous Arts and Crafts

September 30, 2012prayingmother

I’ve been doing some cleaning out of stuff. Part of the agreement that I made with my kids was that if I tossed some of these crafts, I would post photos on my blog for the world to see, so they will be saved for a life time now. Fortunately some of the things I came across are just too good to toss, but I still wanted to take pictures of them to share with you. So this is just a hodge podge of arts and crafts that my kids have done over the last few months. (One of them is over a year old, and that’s one of the ones that has to go.)

The first two pictures are of a nature journal that we made out of paper bags. Kind of a fun idea. You can stick all the treasures (i.e. dandelions and rocks) that you gather on your nature walk into the paper bags. We did this with our Adventurer Club at church when studying backyard habitat.

Next up is a really great illustration JD Boy did in his nature journal when we went to the desert last winter. I couldn’t find his nature journal for awhile, so wasn’t able to post this with our other posts about that trip. (See, it is good to clean house periodically.)

The gecko watercolor painting is also by JD Boy. This is definitely one of the keepers. He did this when doing a watercolor class with his grandpa. I think he did a mighty fine job.

The last two are things that we did with a couple of different unit studies. The first one is a primer/reader that we made when studying about Colonial America. It has the alphabet and the Lord’s prayer on it. The last one is a talking stick that each kid made when we were studying about American Indians. Both were fun. Both came from Hands and Hearts kits.

Last but not least is a picture showing how much better the area looks where I was cleaning. I should have taken a before picture, but I was too embarrassed that you could not even see the counter for all of the stuff that was stacked on it. Now everything that was on it has found a permanent home whether it be in a cabinet, trash can or thrift store.

Knit for Charity

September 13, 2012September 13, 2012prayingmother

Last year, when my oldest decided that she would like to learn to knit and crochet, we decided to see if we could find any charity knitting projects that was our level. We were very excited when we found this one, called Knit-a-Square. You can either knit or crochet the squares, which are to be 8×8. That’s a small-size project, that even my nine-year-old can tackle without feeling overwhelmed.

The squares for Knit-a-Square are mailed to South Africa. The volunteers there take all the squares from all over the world and assemble them into blankets for little AIDS victims–orphans, children of AIDS mothers, and children who were born with AIDS. We feel privileged to be part of something that is helping orphans.

Today we are all excited to be packaging up our first package to send off.

Our stack of squares.

Our designs with the face of our resident monkey in the picture.

Knitting Projects

May 22, 2012September 13, 2012prayingmother

This is an overdue post. A lot of my posts become overdue before they get posted, but since blogging isn’t my whole life, sometimes life gets in the way!

I have been busy knitting ever since November or so of last year, when Zippy asked if I would teach her how to crochet and knit. Anyway, I’m just a little proud that I’ve managed to knit so many things and learned several new techniques too. Here are pictures of some of my completed projects.

First up is five of six matching scarves that I knitted. The missing one was in Germany when this picture was taken. I started out knitting these for Zippy and her three very close friends from church, then I ended up knitting two more like them, because I thought the yarn was so pretty.

Then two matching scarves for two brothers.

And a scarf for my six-year old, who thought he needed to have a scarf that didn’t match anybody else! He just wanted to make sure that I thought he was special, I think!

Then a hat for Baby. This was the first project that I knitted in the round, so even though it looks kind of beginner, I’m rather proud of it. I also crocheted the purple flower so that it would match her coat.

And last was a hat for G’tums, who picked out this yarn himself.

I have found that knitting is a hobby that I really enjoy. I can throw it in whatever bag I’m hauling around, i.e. the diaper bag. I can knit while my husband reads stories to the family in the evening. I can knit in the car. I can knit during the midweek Bible study at church. I can knit while watching videos with the kids. Knitting goes everywhere. Right now I’m working on a knit-for-charity project, but that will be a future post, probably a way in the future post.

Mother’s Day Service Project

May 15, 2012May 16, 2012prayingmother

Zippy and I have been working at developing a new hobby–card making. We purchased a few things from Stampin’ Up and dug out some stuff out of the garage and away we went. We’ve been having lots of fun, even though we’re beginners for sure.

We came up with an idea to turn this hobby into a service project to bless others with. We made Mother’s Day Cards for all the female residents in an assisted living facility.

And here are some of our favorites.

JD Boy and I went around and delivered the cards to each of the residents in their rooms.

Boys Can Do Handicrafts Too

April 11, 2012April 11, 2012prayingmother

Who says that girls’ projects are only for girls to do and vice versa? JD Boy has taken an interest in several of the handicraft type projects that Zippy and I have been doing together. He’s tried his hand at knitting and crochet. He knitted this scarf that he is wearing in this picture. He was quite proud of it.

He especially took a fancy to this embroidery machine that I got. Maybe it was the machine part that was interesting to him, since he’s a boy, I don’t know; but he had fun making this present for his grandparents.

If you’re curious about the machine, here is the link to the Easy Punch Machine.

p.s. Sometime I will post about my daughter learning about small machine repair. I thought that was a good thing for girls to learn. Like I said, who said only boys can do boys’s things and vice versa.

A love note

March 12, 2012March 12, 2012prayingmother

What more can I say?

Happy Valentines!

February 14, 2012prayingmother

I just love these kinds of things. They make my day!

I don’t know if you can see the mommy and daddy kissing in the above card. That’s my favorite part.

I’m always impressed with my daughter’s creativity and artistic eye.

It’s just so special when your children do special things like that!

Knit and Crochet

February 3, 2012September 13, 2012prayingmother

My oldest wanted to learn how to knit and crochet. I am not at a pro at either, and I hadn’t done knitting since she was a baby (around ten years ago) and I hadn’t done crocheting since I was a child (won’t say how many years ago.)

We started with crochet, I guess because that one had been the longest. I couldn’t remember how to even single crochet. I could still do a chain! We found the best tutor, you could imagine–YouTube.

So here are some of our most recent projects that we have completed. We had lots of fun and we are working on more projects now too.

These are my first two crochet projects. One single crochet washcloth and then a Granny Square Washcloth.

These are from a washcloth crochet pattern that I just love. It is a free one from Raverly.

These next ones are actually some washcloths that I learned how to knit on, (around twelve years ago), but they had never had the loose ends tied off. So I got that done and gave them away for Christmas presents.

This is a free knit pattern and a free crochet pattern that were given to me by one of the ladies from the Adventist Home Educator. See, I learn about all kinds of things from my fellow homeschooling friends.

As you can tell, I decided to get my knitting needles and crochet hooks warmed up by doing some washcloths. I now am working on some scarves, actually I’m working on my ninth scarf since Christmas. I hope to take pictures of some of those soon to share.

My kids also are learning how to knit and crochet. Zippy successfully knitted two matching scarves in garter stitch, one for herself and one for her cousin for Christmas. Here she is working on one of them.

John Deere Boy has been working more on crocheting, although he is working on knitting too, so we’ll have one of those to showcase soon too. Here is his first crochet project, a washcloth, that I am now proudly using in my kitchen.

I am so thankful that my daughter got me inspired to start knitting and crocheting. I’ve been spending many happy evenings, when I’m too tired to think, knitting away on the couch, while we either watch nature videos or my husband reads mission stories to us. I have found it to be a great destresser. I hope she learns to enjoy knitting and/or crocheting too, but she has definitely done a big favor to me.

I also think some focus on handicrafts has been a great addition to our homeschool. We have made lots of crafts over time, but more the kid’s craft type projects that eventually you have to take pictures of then throw away, because they will overrun your house. Knitting and crocheting, however, are some hobbies that my kids, if they so choose, can enjoy for the rest of their lives. I don’t know if my son will choose to do that or not, but he’s having fun at it now.