A few millenia ago when we started our Y verse, I wanted to do something that would help Lydia understand what it means to be a light. It’s a hard concept to articulate. Finally I decided on the old stand-by: a Christian Tshirt! Ha!

Supplies:

• tshirt
• fabric paints (I just got all the clearance ones at Michael’s)
• foam brushes
• contact paper
• scissors
• cardboard to put inside shirt (we actually used a file folder)

Directions:
1. Decide on your picture. Lydia and I talked about all the different kinds of light: lamps, lightbulbs, the sun, flashlights, lighthouse, etc. She decided she wanted to paint a  sunshine.
2. Cut a stencil using contact paper. I cut a circle out contact paper, threw the inside away and stuck the contact paper to the shirt.

contact paper stencil

3. Paint inside stencil. We used foam brushes because they are the easiest and apply the most paint.
4. Remove stencil.
5. Let dry. (Or you can reverse those two steps.)

Then we used our foam brushes to make the rays of the sunshine. It took everything in me to not correct her imperfect rays. But of course, they ended up looking adorable!

let the sun shine

Finally, I cut out some more contact paper stencils—in the shape of the word SHINE.

shine!

And here’s our finished product!

voila!

I asked Lydia what she would say if someone asked her why her shirt said shine. She said, “This little light of mine. I’m gonna let it shine!” Good for her!

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So, I’ve had big plans for the letter “w”. There are so many awesome words, Lydia and I have been making a list all week. (It includes walrus and Wall-E.) Anyway, the main thing I wanted to do was “WEEK” and learn the days of the week.

I had it all planned out. I asked one of my bff’s, Becky, who is a kindergarten teacher if they sang a days of the week song. And they do…to the tune of The Addams Family. (I found several videos online if you are a glutton for punishment.) Perfect! Lydia loves to sing.

Then I bought The Very Hungry Caterpillar and was going to read that because the caterpillar eats something new every day.

Then I found some days of the week printables at First School that go along with the Very Hungry Caterpillar. I was going to print those and let Lydia color them. Then we could display the day…every day.

I mean, how creative am I? A song, a book AND an activity! I just knew Lydia would quickly learn the days of the week and continue to be the child prodigy that she is. All thanks to her creative and attentive mother.

Well, we tried singing the song one day for about five minutes. I bought the book and it sat on the end table for about 3 days. After we finally read it, I tried to print off the aforementioned pictures, but our printer didn’t work. Then I decided to wait until Monday so we could start at the beginning of the week. Well. It’s Tuesday and I just remembered all of this.

Oh, well. Better late than never, right?

***
FYI: I’m going to take a break from ABC’s in December because Lydia and I are doing a daily Advent craft. I’ll post more about it on Wednesday when we begin a new monthly carnival called (are you ready for this genius?) Christmas Impressions! Joyful Impressions (Leigh had a better title than me!) See you then!

It’s time for W! WOW. I can’t believe we’re getting to the end of the alphabet. (Finally. I won’t even tell you how long it’s taken us!)

There are so many great “w” words. Besides the ones I expertly drew to the left, we also thought of several more. Most of which are escaping me right now.

The first idea that popped into my mind for a verse was something that had to do with “wait”. Goodness knows that Lydia needs to learn a thing or two about waiting. But the only thing I could really find was about waiting on the Lord. And really, I need her to wait on me. Ahem.

So, I looked up “WIN” instead. And I found the jackpot of all W verses:

With your help we will win the battle. You will walk all over our enemies. Psalm 108:13 NIrV

Can I get a WOO-hoo?! That’s six w’s in one verse! I was a little concerned about it’s obviously pro-fighting tendencies. I even emailed Leigh to see what she thought. (Of course, she’s the mother of 2 boys so…)

However, when I read it to Lydia today, I like the way our converation went:

Lydia: What’s battle?

Me: It’s like a fight.

Lydia: What’s ememeies?

Me: It’s someone bad who might try to hurt you.

Lydia: No one hurts me.

Me: That’s true. But sometimes other things can be our enemies. Like this: With Jesus’ help Lydia will win the battle. Jesus will walk all over her fear.

***

Lydia has a tendency to be shy and fearful. I think this verse is easily seen as big battles and fights. But for my 2 year old, fear is her biggest battle. I hope this verse buries itself deep in her heart.

Now, our awesome craft. I wanted to do a walrus. And I found a cute printable walrus craft on First School. But of course, our printer wouldn’t work. (And why? Because ONE of the THREE cartidges was LOW. grrr.)

So, we made a whale instead. I cut out a (very true to life) outline of a whale. I let Lydia piece it together and then color it with chalk. This was a hit! She absolutely loved it! And then I showed her how to smear it with her thumb. And that made it even cooler.

I’m looking forward to the rest of W. I’m thinking about doing something for “week” because Lydia is really interested in the calendar. And maybe even Jonah and the whale (I know, it was really a big fish, but still…).

Happy W!

***

Don’t forget about our Fall Impressions carnival tomorrow! Link up and show off your creative Thanksgiving stuff!