For me, the ideal New Year’s Eve is one that is lighthearted, celebratory, and reflective. The reflection element is what sets it apart from all the other get togethers and with hours together waiting for the new year to arrive, it lends itself well to some deeper conversation. We chose this year to pick one question at a time and all take turns answering the same question. It would also work to have each person draw a different question. It’s all reflection. I’ve typically been drawn more to journaling my reflections and dreams for the upcoming year, and I’m still in the process of working that all out. But discussing…
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Ephesians 3:19 | Memory Verse Collection
I’ve already made about twenty lists to organize myself and my thoughts for the Christmas season: people to see and gifts to buy and cookies to bake and ornaments to make and menus to plan and blog posts to compose and cards to send, etc. I’ve already gone to the craft store far more times than one should and have spent far more time than I’d like perusing Amazon for the perfect toddler gifts. There’s been very little quiet and stillness and it actually has nothing to do with the fact that we have a two year old in our midst. My mind just grows exceptionally chaotic this time of…
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Yogurt Cups for Play Based Learning
Play based learning doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. And much of the packaging for the food we buy can be repurposed for creating some simple learning materials. Yogurt cups are a perfect example of this. I began saving these when Graham was about six months old. I’d throw a stack of them into our diaper bag and we’d have some lightweight building blocks to stack whenever we needed them. (Well, at that point I would stack them and Graham would knock them down. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.) I’ve become a bit of a Chobani purist simply because I’m so grateful for the thought behind their packaging. This post might…
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Free Christmas Cards Printable
My Christmas memories involve a lot of creating and crafting. It felt as if our dining room table was just as frequently a crafting table as it was a place for eating. It was often covered in pine cones and jingle bells and cinnamon cutout ornaments and ribbon. I look back on it all pretty fondly now. We would create amongst ourselves all season long, but it was also something we would casually invite friends to join us in because while cookie decorating is fun, one can only consume so many of those. All of this is simply to say that creativity has become deeply entwined in the way that…
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8 Prayers to Pray with Little Ones
The habit of prayer is something that I’ve been striving to better cultivate in my own life and that I wanted to invite Graham into as well. I value the way that prayer invites us to a place of gratitude and how it recenters us as we request that God work in our hearts and lives to make us more like Him. The prayers gathered here are rooted in these two particular aspects because I think they’re a solid starting foundation for introducing children to prayer. One of the greatest obstacles for me about instilling rhythms of prayer in my own life has been simply remembering to do it. Meal…
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Free Greeting Card Printable
Teaching Thoughtfulness Alongside Creativity As I shared in my thoughts On The Importance of Creativity, creativity does not need to always be about productivity. It’s about the process of creating and what that process does in us. And sometimes the focus on the end product can get in the way of that. That said, it also seems like a waste to have all of our children’s artwork sitting in piles around the house. And there’s only so much space on the refrigerator. There’s a sweetness to children’s art, as if their innocence somehow comes through even there. With my own child and the little one I nanny, we’re currently in…
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A Journey in Nurturing a Whole Child
This series of thoughts on whole childhood began as a real time documentation of our learning process and reflections through our first year with Graham. I felt so overwhelmed from the beginning that I would fail him unintentionally by my simple lack of knowledge in how to nurture his proper development. I knew that I wanted to nurture the whole of him, equipping him with resources early on for connecting with his emotions and creativity and spirituality. I knew that I wanted to instill a love of learning and a heart of compassion. I knew that I wanted him to have an appreciation for nature and the physical world, as…
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Lamentations 2:22-23 | Memory Verse Collection
Our memory verse for November is found in Lamentations 2:22-23: “The faithful love of the Lord never ends. His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh every morning.” It seems appropriate that this month it would be a verse that focuses on abundance. That as we count our blessings, we would intentionally dwell in the abundance of God’s love and mercy. I find encouragement in the reminder of mercies anew each day because on the days that are hard and discouraging, it’s a welcome reminder of God’s ability to break the cycle of darkness and replace it with light. We carry around a lot of expectations…
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20 Questions for Connection
As a society, we exist in an age of paradox where we simultaneously experience both greater connection and greater disconnection than ever before. And since a sense of belonging is one of our fundamental needs as humans, it’s important for us to be aware of where we fall on the connection spectrum and that we be equipped with tools to connect in more fulfilling ways. There’s certainly some complexity involved, because fulfilling our need for connection is somewhat dependent on the reciprocation of others. There’s an element to our connection that is beyond our control. Nevertheless, our intention and initiative can open up opportunities for deeper relationship for ourselves and…
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Free Alphabet Flashcards
Learning through play has become my preferred style of teaching for young ones and so at first the use of flashcards might seem a bit contrary. However, I don’t think that learning through play has to mean the exclusion of flashcards. There are plenty of ways incorporate flashcards to allow the learning to remain playful. During my time as a nanny and now as a mother, I was finding myself writing and rewriting letters on repeat for letter recognition activities, which don’t get me wrong, gets the job done just the same. But I was wearying from doing it over and over. In addition to that, I am always in…
