Last week Lydia had an Easter party at school. I of course, volunteered to help at it. I volunteer for every party. So, the kids are always exited to see me coming (at least I think they are!)

We did a color-coded egg hunt. I gave each kid a bag with colors on them. They could only pick up those colored eggs and then mark them off when they found them. It actually worked better than I thought and everyone got the same amount of eggs!

For snacks, one of the moms made a cute ‘He is Risen’ tomb cake. How easy is that?!

Then I read the The Parable of the Lily by Liz Curtis Higgs. It’s one of my favorite Easter books because it’s so perfectly about Jesus and the Resurrection–without going to the torture and cross OR the other way with Easter eggs. It’s the story of a little girl who receives a box of dirt and a flower bulb from her father. She thinks it’s a terrible gift and even throws the bulb outside! On Easter morning she goes outside to see a beautiful lily where her bulb landed.

The best part of the book is the Scriptures on the bottom of each page–which clues us into the real gift given by our Father. The gift that didn’t look very awesome, that we threw away and was buried in the ground for 3 days. And the gift, Jesus, who came back to life on Easter morning!

It’s a fabulous story. And to help us remember it, we made handprint lilies! They are so easy–just trace your hand, cut it out, roll it up and tape.

Then push the ends back to resemble petals of a lily. The final piece is a long green pipe-cleaner and a small 3 inch piece of yellow. Attach the yellow to the top of the green and then slide it into the lily for a stem!

Cute, right? (Sorry I couldn’t get better action shots of the craft for a real tutorial–have you ever tried doing a craft with 17 kindergarteners? They don’t pose for blog photos much! *wink*)

This is is a perfect gift for your unEaster basket and would be even cuter if you coupled it with a real lily! Would you like to win a copy of Liz Curtis Higgs’ Parable of the Lily? Tommy Nelson is giving away a beautiful board book–it’s one of the giant lap editions so it’s perfect for classroom use or for sitting on the couch with your own kiddos! Just leave me a comment about your favorite Spring flower (or book, or snack, or just something Easter-y and Spring-y!). I’ll pick a winner Monday, April 2nd! Contest closed!

Don’t forget to come back on Monday because I’ve got a HUGE unEaster Basket giveaway with some of the most fun Christ-centered, faith-filled gifts. You are going to LOVE it!

Disclosure: I’m a Tommy Mommy.

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At church today, one of the tweens I work with in our Large Group preschool environment was making duct tape flowers. I have a soft spot for duct tape and asked her to teach me how to make one. And she did. And now I’m showing you!

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Isn’t that great? Just think of all the fun patterns, colors and shapes of flowers you could do! And I’m super impressed that even though Lydia did 98% of it herself, it still turned out adorable and does not look like a Kindergartner made it. For school, Lydia was assigned to make a Valentine for her principal–and this is what we’re sending! I think she’s gonna like it!

Have you ever made a duct tape craft?

linked to Made by You Monday,  Making the World Cuter and The Southern Institute

Did you have Childcraft books when you were a kid? My favorite one was the Make & Do one. It had all those fun crafts and art projects. I loved flipping through those pages and imagining all those crafts! Well, my friend Marie LeBaron from Make and Takes has released her own craft book! And it’s got that same yummy feel as my Make & Do book! In fact, when we got it in the mail, Lydia sat down and read it cover to cover!

Marie’s blog is one I’ve followed (and linked heavily to) ever since I started blogging. I also consider her a real life friend so I’m totally ecstatic about her first book, Make and Takes for Kids: 50 Crafts Throughout the Year! The kids have looked through the book about 100 times and my husband even commented on how nice the inside design is.

What I like about it is that it’s crafts to do throughout the year—each chapter is a new month. So you have winter crafts for January, summery crafts for July and holiday-themed crafts throughout. Last night I told the kids to pick out their favorite November craft.

They picked the Leaf Rubbing Turkey Feathers. SO CUTE! They ran outside to find leaves, ran back inside and happily went to work on their little turkeys. My husband even helped them–we had a little impromptu thanksgiving family-time last night!

It was an easy enough craft for my 3 year old, but would have been enjoyed by kids of any age, I’m sure. Plus, I think they turned out pretty cute! We might just have to make some more and display them at Thanksgiving dinner!

This would be a great book to get your kids for Christmas! Or maybe a themed gift for the kids’ friends with some craft supplies wrapped up with it? Or a fun book to grab a craft idea for the kids to do when the family gets together for the holidays? However you use it, I know you’ll love Make and Takes for Kids!

And if you’re not following Marie’s blog, Make and Takes, you need to! Go visit her and say hello! Speaking of Make and Takes and turkeys, here’s a guest post I did for Marie a few years ago: Oreo Turkeys!

 

Marie gave me this book to review. But I would have bought it and gushed about it anyway because I love her and Make & Takes!