Friday, April 15, 2011

Plans for Holy Week

The first section of our Easter lap book.

The second section of the lap book

Teddy Bear working on his "stained glass" cross

"Stained glass" crosses drying in the sun

Princess working on another "stained glass" craft

A beautiful sunset that I thought I'd share
Greetings to all! What a beautiful Friday we're having here in the Green Mountain state. It could be a bit warmer, but I won't complain. The snow banks are nearly gone, the daffodils are soon to bloom and the air is filled with birdsong.

As promised in earlier posts, I'm sharing the links and some tips I used to make our Easter lap book. In the first section, I typed and printed out John 3:16 to head it. Then using this page I made an activity using Velcro dots. The original is a bit small, so I scanned it and enlarged it to use in the lap book. I covered the pieces with clear packing tape to make them more sturdy and cut Velcro dots in half so that the kids can look up the Scripture verses and place the pieces in the right order. I also used this map, which I printed on card stock so that it could be folded open and closed. I thought it was interesting.  I made a puzzle (of sorts) from this sheet that I printed and covered using clear contact paper. Then I cut it into pieces. I made a little pocket for the puzzle pieces that closes with a Velcro tab. There are a couple of matchbooks in this section on why we use Easter eggs and more.

For the second section I typed out some of the prophecies from Isaiah and then the corresponding New Testament verses where Jesus fulfilled the prophecies. Then I printed out this book, assembled it and glued the back page to the lap book. I then typed out my own timeline of the last week of Jesus' life (from Palm Sunday to the Resurrection) and added the Scripture references. I used the table application from Microsoft works to make it nice and neat! So that's our lap book. I think it needs more, but for now, I think it's a great start.

Onto plans for the coming week. My visions of this Lenten season have not been realized due to my working outside of the home, numerous bouts of the stomach bug, and well, life just seemed to get in the way! I wanted this season to be filled with Scripture readings, meaningful craft times with the kids, new traditions, etc. Didn't happen; however, I can start fresh for Holy Week! With some planning and research, I think I can have a simple craft project for every day, as well as something special to eat for dinner or dessert. To start this process I made up a sheet on the computer (I am very visual- I have to have charts, lists, calendars, etc. on paper so that I can SEE them!) using the tables application, again. I have a column for every day from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, with a row for each day to hold my dinner menu, Scripture readings, craft project, what we have going on that day (Monday our church is hosting a  Northern Lights Youth Choir concert, Weds. evening Daddy and I have Alpha and Thursday afternoon Teddy Bear and Princess have knitting club). I also have a blank row for notes and reminders for that day.

Here is what I have so far:

Palm Sunday
 Peace Cakes (or Pax Cakes) : white cupcakes with white frosting, hand print palm frond craft
Monday
The day that Jesus cleared the Temple, Silver Coin pancakes (the money changers were driven out) and paper doves for a craft (people were selling doves for sacrifices and you can talk about the dove as a symbol of peace)
Tuesday
I've got nothing so far for dinner/ dessert! Water color painting on rocks (Jesus tells about the capstone being rejected)
Wednesday
Again, not sure about dinner/dessert
A prayer box or a potpourri craft (this is the day that Jesus was anointed with the nard from the alabaster box)
Thursday
A homemade bread (I have a recipe for pita bread) , a garlic infused olive oil to dip it in and grape juice to drink. A picture of the Last Supper for a craft.
Good Friday
homemade hot cross buns (They'll be different, as I don't care for the traditional recipe) and a magnet craft with foam crosses and flowers.
Saturday
No clue for dinner/dessert!
Hand print Easter Lilies


That's all I have so far. If you have any ideas or traditions you have in your family, I'd love to hear from you!

We worked on some "stained glass" crafts both Wednesday and today. I cut some pieces of colored tissue paper and we used watered down Elmer's to glue it down to tracing paper. I cut "frames" out of black card stock in different shapes. (Wheels had a race car and an egg, Princess had a heart. ) Today we did they glue, tissue paper thing and then glued it to the back of some small wooden crosses that I got at Michael's. The crosses were just so lovely, that I had to use them for a craft for the kids. It was fun and easy, and the crosses are beautiful. When we're done trimming the excess paper, I'll hot glue a ribbon to the back to make a sun catcher.

Phew! My hands are starting to cramp and no doubt your eyes are starting to burn from reading this (or you've fallen asleep because of the length!). It's time to get busy on dinner, so I'll sign off for now. Have a blessed weekend and Palm Sunday.
Blessings,
Kelly

2 comments:

  1. What about the Easter Cookies that are hollow when they come out of the oven one night? We do those at church every year on Palm Sunday, but most people make them the night before Easter I think. Lots of great ideas for this week! Can't wait to do some of them! Thanks for the ideas.

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  2. Beautiful blog, Kelly. Makes me almost wish my children were small again so we could do this all again. Love your lap book ideas and the way you have woven everything together for this week. You are such an inspiration!

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