Making Valentines

I love Valentine's Day.  I think it's tied with Thanksgiving for my second favorite holiday, after Easter.

I never saw it as a day to put pressure on anybody to do any particular thing.  I never hated it when I was single because nobody gave me a valentine.  I just see it as a fun day to show your affection in whatever measure you choose to whoever you choose.

So, I'm trying to pass that along to Cooper.  Fun.  So we made Valentines.  And we had fun.  I've never seen him get into a craft quite so much.

 

I stole the idea from Pinterest: http://www.buildingourstory.com/2014/01/heart-sun-catcher-valentines-day-craft.html.  It's really pretty simple.  I just cut heart outlines freehand out of red paper (1/2 sheet of 8-1/2 x 11) and wrote a little message on each one.  Then I laid them onto contact paper, two at a time, and gave Cooper some sequins, glitter and paper-punched hearts and teddy bears and let him put them inside the hearts.  I then pressed another piece of contact paper on top and cut around the outside edges of each one.

Presto!  They were done!  And he is really proud of them! He was totally bummed that he had to give them all away, so I let him make an extra one for himself, which he's been carrying around all day.  I found some 5-3/4" x 8-3/4" envelopes at Wal-Mart which fit them perfectly, so we will get them in the mail this week. 

Teaching Children about Christ's Resurrection

Besides reading books about Easter (or "Resurrection Day," as it is known to many Christians), I have used two other fun methods to teach Cooper about it this year.

The first is Resurrection Eggs (which I picked up at a garage sale last year for $1).  It is a set of twelve plastic eggs, each containing some sort of token which tells a part of the story of Jesus' death and resurrection.  The last one is empty, representing the empty tomb.  There is also a book to go along with them that explains what each token is for.  We did one each day for twelve days, and he could hardly wait from day to day to open the next one.

This morning we made Resurrection Rolls, which give you a chance to tell the gospel story while you are making them, and then you have a delicious treat to eat!

I have never done this, but I saw a recipe recently that I may do next year, Empty Tomb Cookies. 

Easter is my favorite holiday, and while I enjoy egg hunts and other frivolity, it is truly the holiest day in the Christian calendar, the day Christ was raised from the dead after dying on the cross for our sins.  While young children may not understand the full implication of this, it can't hurt to begin building a foundation of these wonderful truths.

Easter Eggs for Toddlers

I’m having our annual family Easter egg hunt this weekend.  This year Cooper, age two, will participate.  I got him some larger-than-normal eggs to distinguish his from everyone else’s, since he really can’t compete with older children and adults.

Which brings about a dilemma.  What do I put inside those eggs?  Everyone else’s eggs are filled with candy, money and toys.  I am not encouraging too much candy for him at this age, though I am putting that in a few of them.  He wouldn’t know what to do with money except, perhaps, eat it.  Pretty much any toy that is small enough to fit inside an egg is labeled with, “Not for children under 3.”  Hmmm.

So, I’ve thought about it and made a list of things that might be suitable:

Foods: Teddy Grahams, Goldfish, raisins or Craisins, pretzels, grapes.  I even found some “Cuties” (oranges) at Wal-Mart that are small enough to fit inside of these larger eggs.

Other: stickers, balloons (use caution), Play-Doh (the party favor size fits), and tiny bottles of bubbles.

Of course, be sure you save these eggs and “recycle” them for next year.  The only problem with that is that I’ve been doing it for years, and my collection keeps growing as we attend egg hunts or other people donate theirs to me.  Then I have more eggs to fill the next year.  Oh well.  No one who attends my egg hunts really seems to mind.