I struggle with finding good Bible resources for my three-year-old. Usually, the things I see are beyond her developmental stage or are just really boring!

So, I was excited to come across this site the other day: ABC, I Believe Christian Homeschooling and More. It offers a comprehensive set of activity ideas, lessons, and printables to go along with a Bible verse. Each verse corresponds to a different letter of the alphabet.

This is not simply a “print out a worksheet” sort of site. Each letter has a set of detailed instructions and explanations for various activities in the areas such as penmanship, art, science, math, etc. There are even lists of recommended books that go along with each animal. (You know I love that!)

The lessons are divided into different age groups, so you can focus in on your child’s specific needs and abilities. This appeals to me so much because I rarely do something the way it is suggested in a book. I love having options, taking them all into consideration, and then crafting something specifically suited to my daughter’s interests and abilities. This site makes that process so much easier!

I have to tell you, I was super excited when I first started looking through the site, but then was a little disappointed when I realized that only the first four lessons are free. After that, you have to pay for the rest. The cost is $12.95 which seems to be a bargain for the massive amount of printables, crafts, and step-by-step instruction provided. I don’t know yet if I will buy the rest of the series. I’m waiting to see how Juliet responds to the first four lessons.

At any rate, I wanted to share this great resource with you. Maybe you’ll fall in love with it like I did and buy the set, or maybe you’ll just enjoy the first four lessons! There’s enough in those to keep you busy for a few months, I think!

Do you have any great online Bible resources for kids to share with me?

Today, at the “northern”-most Impress Your Kids household, my boys were not having anything to do with anything I wanted to do.  It didn’t matter to them that I wanted to teach them something special about God – it didn’t matter to them that I wanted to write a blog post about it.  They had their own agenda for the day.  So what is a mom to do when her children don’t want to be impressed in anyway?

Turn on some Seeds Family Worship music and have a dance party!  You don’t even have to have a dance party (in fact, I was the only one dancing – the others were rolled up in a ball on the floor or running away from me) – just turn the music on! The whole Seeds library is great to have on as you go about your day.  While we’ve talked about how great these CDs are, we haven’t really talked about the quality of the songs yet.  They are good.  Seriously – coming from a music background, and thinking that a lot of Christian music is cheesy – I love these CDs.  I have not gotten tired of them yet – and we listen to them a lot!  The lead vocals are done both by a man and a woman on different tracks, and frequently there are children singing in the background or singing the Scripture references.  And even with the children singing, I still don’t think the CDs are cheesy!  They are so well done.

If you do want to have a dance party, might I recommend Seeds of Courage?  Very up-beat danceable music on that one… looking for a more relaxing CD to play on a car trip? Seeds of Faith would fit the bill – nice and melodic, with catchy tunes, but not too bouncy, if you know what I mean…

And my history with Seeds Family Worship?  I got these CDs (volumes 1 through 4) way back when Elias was 18 months old, because I wanted to have songs with pure Scripture playing so he could soak up God’s word.  At 18 months, he started singing along with the CDs – some of the simpler, more repetitive songs.  And now he sings along with most of the songs (of course, not when I try to get some video of him doing it.  Then he stops. And runs away.).

And I’ve learned so much Scripture, too!  The songs are catchy and repetitive (again, not annoyingly so), and I find myself singing them throughout the day.  Today when we had our “dance party,” the song that kept going through my head was “Do Everything in Love,” from 1 Corinthians 16:13-14: “Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be men of courage, be strong. Do everything in love!” And as my children broke down in fits around me, I heard “Do EVERYTHING in love, do EVERYTHING in love, do EVERYTHING, do EVERYTHING, do EVERYTHING… in love!” With that verse ringing through my head, my reaction was one of love – not of rage, as my flesh cried out to force the kids do what I wanted them to do.  I sat down with the child balled up at my feet and hugged him, thinking that we’ll just do my activity later.  Then I got up and danced!

The more you listen to it, the more God’s Word sinks in.  You never know – you just might hear your 4 year old walking by singing, “John eight one, John eight one two, John – eight – TWELVE! Jesus said I am the light of the world...Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have… the light of life, the light of life!”

Music in the background?  It canNOT get any easier to impress your kids than that!

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If you leave a comment on this post, you’ll be entered in our Seeds Family Worship CD giveaway. And if you do THIS activity with your kids, blog it and leave the link on our MckLinky, you’ll get FIVE additional entries! If you have no idea what I’m talking about, see our Ultimate Blog Party intro page!

Picture by peta since my kids would not have their pictures taken today.

So what is a mom to do when her children don’t want to be impressed in anyway?

Being housebound because of snow and sickness makes me a bit stir-crazy, but it also helps me get a bit creative.  I had seen these cool dry erase calendars online for a while (like this one and my other inspiration one that I cannot find a link to), but because I thought I didn’t have any spare frames around, I wasn’t planning on making one any time soon.  But then I remembered… in my life before kids (actually, before marriage), I was an opera singer and a voice teacher, and I had three huge opera prints framed for my voice studio.  Luckily, they were stored in my parents’ attic and were still in great shape!  I dug them out and went to work…

The frames themselves are 20″x28″ wood frames painted black – and instead of glass, they have plexiglass, which makes the frames nice and lightweight!  To make our family calendar, I used a piece of foam board that I got at Michael’s (2 for $2.50!), a ruler, a pencil, a permanent marker, and scrapbooking stickers.  Other tutorials that I saw online told you to draw with permanent marker directly on the glass in reverse and use vinyl cut-out stickers in reverse, too.  However, the thought of drawing on the glass (plexiglass, in my case) seemed a bit too permanent, and I don’t do well in reverse, period.  I also did not have the extra money or time to get vinyl cut-out stickers of what I wanted to put on my calendar, so I used what I had on hand.

And the scrapbooking stickers I had on hand?  A little secret – they were pink and purple! yes!  I don’t typically get a chance to use pink and purple stickers in my scrapbooks because of my boys, so I had all these extras left over, and I just went over them with a coat of black acrylic paint.  It made them all dry and crackly, and I would not recommend doing that to stickers that are going to be touched in a scrapbook or anywhere else, but because these are under a sheet of plexiglass, they are absolutely good to go!

So, as I said, I had 2 inspiration calendars to go from: this one and one that I cannot find the link to.  I loved the calendar part of the first one, and the second one did not have a monthly calendar part to it – it just had a weekly calendar and places for lists and chores and menus, etc. (does anyone remember seeing that as well?  I even remember it was in a red frame, but I cannot find a link anywhere!  if you remember it, let me know, and I’ll link to it!).  I loved the looks of both of them, and because my frame was so large, I could combine the two!

Here are some close ups for you:

The Bible verse is not done in stickers… it is in my scribbly handwriting – the neatest I could get it.  That is in permanent marker, directly on the foam board.  And it’s verse that was shared on in our wedding (from Colossians 3:12-17), so it has always had special meaning to us.

All of the other handwritten stuff (month, dates, lists, etc.) are on top of the plexiglass and are easily erased with a bit of water and cloth… You can definitely use dry erase markers on here, but with little hands smudging everything in the house these days, I’m using wet erase markers for a bit more permanence.  But not too much – because at the end of the month, I just wet it all down, wipe it all away, and start fresh!

And I’m sorry I didn’t clean up the “Chores” area before I took some pictures.  It’s been smeared for a couple days, and I think it was a little wet hand that did it…  The boys like seeing their chores up on the calendar, and we also put our memory verse in the “Remember” box.  I can see me doing much more with the “To Do” and “Chores” boxes as the kids grow up and can actually read.

Our new family calendar is hanging on the door that goes from our kitchen into the laundry room/pantry, so it gets used ALL the time (but it gets terrible lighting- sorry about the dark pictures).

I used these nifty Command Picture Hanging Strips from 3M – very cool! 6 sets total – one each on top and bottom, and two on each side!  No nail holes in my hollow-core door… completely removable and repositionable if I wanted to move it to a different place.

This is so easy to do with whatever you have on hand – small frame, large frame, calendar, fabric… Look at these other ones here, here, here, and here, and I know there are more out there.  Try it with a small frame and some pretty paper and use it for your memory verse or to leave love notes for your family on it!

I’m linking this up to Kimba’s DIY Day…

Continuing on our theme of respect, we are learning to respect God’s word!  I have a couple verses we will be sharing about God’s word, and we started with a new memory verse… Do not merely listen to the word.  Do what it says.  James 1:22

I really want to impress on Elias that God’s word is truth, and we need to not only listen to the word (stories, rules, promises, etc), we need to actually do what it says.  I want this to help lay the foundation for respect and obedience to God.

So in the spirit of doing, we did a memory verse activity game – something to get Elias moving and doing…

To prepare, write and cut out 2 sets of the individual words in the Bible verse… we’re doing another matching game, so the different colors for the words help a lot.

Then we placed one set of words at the far end of our living room, and I sat at the other end and handed Elias the words of the Bible verse in order, having him run to the other end of the room to match up the words and bring them back.  I have a video to illustrate (and some words to say about the video: see note at bottom of post):

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Elias had a lot of fun doing this – and despite Donovan’s fussing in the background, he had fun, too – once I made sure he had 2 pieces of paper in his hands, just like Elias.  If you have a chance, double check yourself with the words – I was missing a couple words on the coffee table, so the nice little edit you see in the middle of the video was actually me running to the other end of the room to figure out what I did wrong, tripping over both boys in the process, and generally creating mayhem.  Ehem…

After the activity, we strung the words together to hang our verse up – this is so easy!  I’ll be making banners like this for everything in the future!

All I did was punch a hole in each top corner of the word and string them on some yarn – WAY too easy!  Not as pretty as some of the bunting that is out there right now, but a quick and fun alternative!

I really like that this is out in the main rooms of our house for everyone to see – I already have it memorized, and it is a constant reminder for me to set a good example for the boys, and really work on obeying God’s word in all I do.

**Note on video – a quick apology for the state of my living room – you get a far away view of my sewing corner… and the coffee table is pushed over to the side like that to prevent the boys from playing with my sewing stuff.  It’s just how our home functions on a daily basis, and it’s not the showcase I’d like it to be… and now I know why Josh thinks I talk too loud.  Man – I am loud!  OK – enough apologizing about the video – I’m just nervous because it’s my first time to post one… and now I’m over it!

He is more awesome than all who surround Him.  Psalm 89:7

I’ve discovered something that applies to me when memorizing Bible verses – “out of sight, out of mind.” It applies to so many things in my life, but when I’m trying to memorize a verse, if it’s not in front of me, I’m not thinking about it.  And I’m finding the same is true for Elias.  When he sees the verse, he can repeat it, but if I ask him about the verse when it’s not in front of him, he cannot.  So until he can, I’m putting it all over the place!

It’s already in our den, so I wrote it on our little chalkboard sign in the living room, right above where the boys park their ride-on cars for the night.

I also wrote it on a notecard and put it on my bathroom mirror, and then we started on a poster to put the verse in Elias’s room.

First, I wrote out the verse on some butcher paper and left plenty of room above each word… and I wrote out each word of the verse on different colored construction paper.

Then, as I held up each construction paper word, Elias matched it up with the word on the big poster (this works on pre-reading skills, too!).

Elias practiced “a little dot will do ya!” with his gluing skills – and for a glue-crazy 3 year old, he did rather well!

We hung up his poster in his map room on his new art gallery wires (curtain wires from Ikea that I’ve had for years, but just hung up along one wall to make an art gallery for the kids’ art projects!).

And now we are surrounded by our memory verse!  As I hung the new poster up in Elias’s room, he repeated the verse to me, and said, “Do you know what that means, Momma?  It means that God is awesome! and do you know who is the coolest?  God!”  Praise the Lord that this is sinking in!!!

How do you and your kids work on memory verses? I’m looking for more ideas for verses to come!

God didn’t give us a spirit that makes us weak and fearful. He gave us a spirit that gives us power and love. It helps us control ourselves. 2 Timothy 1:7

Our first verse for the Fruit of the Spirit is 2 Timothy 1:7 from the New International Reader’s Version. I made up some motions for the verse and Lydia memorized it immediately!

In the video you’ll see she misquotes it a little but the thought is still the same. I did a “take 2″ but Asa was crying during the whole thing. Kind ruined the mood, you know?

(You’ll also notice she says the reference before and after. I read somewhere that for really good recall you should memorize it that way. Seemed like a good idea…)

Seriously, if you are not helping your kids memorize scripture, you are missing out on the PRIME time. Kids memorize quickly and it will stay with them forever! The motions helped her stay focused and memorize it, too.

Do you have any other memorization tips?