Busy. Busy. Busy. That has been us lately. It has made me want to discover how to still serve others when you are busy. For us, part of our busyness means that we are helping others. That said, incidences arise where I want to do more for my friends, neighbors and even perfect strangers. I am definitely the type that says to myself, “I could be doing more. I should… {Read More}
An Open Letter to My Non-Christian Friends
An Open Letter to My Non-Christian Friends Dear Friends, It is advised to not speak with friends about politics or religion. I want to break that rule, and I ask for your grace as I do it. It’s hard and not right for me to stay silent about the most important thing in my life. If I saw a fabulous movie, I would recommend it to you in a heart… {Read More}
Your Kid is a Brat
“Your kid is a brat.” I hope it is a phrase you never hear, but what do you do if your kid really is turning a bit spoiled? I want to talk to you today about a way to prevent this attitude but introducing the idea of “Substitution Parenting.” It might be time to travel the harder path in parenting so that your kids can grow in character. Here is… {Read More}
Teaching Respect through Role Playing
Respect, as I mentioned in my last post, comes in lots of different forms. We need to have respect for God’s laws, our elders, our peers, our belongings, this planet, ourselves, etc. One way that children learn is through role playing, so I have tried to incorporate this activity into my character development series in a variety of ways. Teaching respect through role playing is one of the many ways… {Read More}
Books on Love
These books on love are the next addition to my character development series. As a reminder, I have a series on character that can be found as you hover over the character development tab on my site as pictured below: This character series has been written over the past 2+ years and has activities, crafts, verses, “I Will” statements and lessons dealing with 52 different character traits, one for each… {Read More}
How to Turn a Christmas Tree into an Easter Cross
I’m very excited about this post on how to turn a Christmas tree into an Easter cross. This is an amazing way to tie the two holidays together. On Christmas day we are celebrating Jesus’ birth and entry into this world. On Easter we celebrate his victory over the cross. He was killed as prophesied in Isaiah 53, which was written over 700 years before Jesus even walked this earth.… {Read More}
Teaching Kids Thoroughness with an M&M Search
Thoroughness “Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might.” – Ecclesiastes 9:10a Today I worked on teaching kids thoroughness with an M&M search. Thoroughness is the trait we are working on in our character development series. If you are new to the character development series, I really hope you’ll look under the “character development” tab and explore a bit. The first year of my blog (2012)… {Read More}
Faithfulness Shirt Lesson
Faithfulness “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on a table of your heart.” – Proverbs 3:3 (Younger kids can memorize the underlined portion) Here is a lesson in faithfulness that binds your kids together in one shirt. I absolutely loved this lesson in faithfulness, and the kids had a blast. Faithfulness is such an important lesson to teach kids, especially in a… {Read More}
Sensitivity to Other People – Character Development
Sensitivity “…so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” – Romans 12:5 It is important to teach our kids to be sensitive to other people. They need to learn to read body language and then be able to respond based on that body language. Last year we taught the kids how to read facial expressions. We also taught them how to… {Read More}
Easter Basket Giveaway
I am excited to be pairing up with my friend Mackenzie, from Cheerios and Lattes, to bring you a great Easter giveaway. What’s better than a bunch of resources to teach the REAL meaning of Easter. As you begin deciding what to fill your child’s Easter basket with this year, we are sharing some fantastic resources to help bring home the HOPE the real meaning of Easter brings! This Easter… {Read More}
Kindness “I Will” Statements – Character Development
Kindness “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” – Ephesians 4:32 When I first began my character development series, I had not started doing the “I Will” statements yet. Today, I will add in some “I Will” statements for kindness because that is what we were studying a year ago. We made this cute board to highlight the focus phrases. I got… {Read More}
Joy is Contagious Game – Character Development
This idea utterly failed for us today, but I’m going to make that claim that it isn’t becauseit’s a bad idea. Because I believe it’s a good game I’m going to share it, and then I’ll share why I believe it failed for us today. Joy is Contagious GameAs I was reflecting on the fact that joy can be contagious, I decided I wanted to come up with an idea,… {Read More}
Joy “I Will” Statements – Character Development
Joy “Be joyful always.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16 When I first began my character development series, I had not started doing the “I Will” statements yet. Today, I will add in some “I Will” statements for obedience because that is what we were studying a year ago. We made this cute board to highlight the focus phrases. I got the idea for “I Will” Statements from “Character First,” a character based curriculum. Although… {Read More}
The Obedience Game – Character Development Series
The Obedience Game – Character Development Series – Shhh! It’s not really a game. Don’t tell your kids. It’s a teaching opportunity. Slap a few stickers on the name “game,” and you are good to go. If you are working on teaching obedience to kids, you have come to the right place. Is the concept of obedience is out dated? I don’t think so. I would encourage you to consider the points… {Read More}
Obedience “I Will” Statements – Character Development
Obedience “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” – Luke 11:28 When I first began my character development series, I had not started doing the “I Will” statements yet. Today, I will add in some “I Will” statements for obedience because that is what we were studying a year ago. We made this cute board to highlight the focus phrases. I got the idea for “I Will”… {Read More}
“I Will” Statements for Love
Love “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 When I first began my character development series, I had not started doing the “I Will” statements yet. Today, I will add in some “I Will” statements for love since our sixth week of the year is a focus on “love.” We made this cute board to… {Read More}
How do we Show Respect to…? An Activity in Teach Respect
Respect “‘Honor your father and mother’ — which is the first commandment with a promise–‘that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’” – Ephesians 6:2-3 It is respect week at Meaningful Mama. I hope you have caught on to the concept of our character development series. If you are new here, I’ll explain things right now. Last year I committed to 3… {Read More}
“I Will” Statements for Respect – Character Development
Respect “‘Honor your father and mother’ — which is the first commandment with a promise–‘that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’” – Ephesians 6:2-3 When I first began my character development series, I had not started doing the “I Will” statements yet. Today, I will add in some “I Will” statements for respect since our fifth week of the year… {Read More}
Self Control and the Mischel Psychology Experiment
Self Control “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.” Proverbs 25:28 I enjoy psychology. It is fascinating how we humans are designed. I have a degree in education, and I loved taking the classes in child psych as well. One of the experiments I remember learning about in class was the Mischel marshmallow experiment done at Stanford University back in 1972. I have linked… {Read More}
“I Will” Statements for Self Control – Character Development
Self Control “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.” Proverbs 25:28 When I first began my character development series, I had not started doing the “I Will” Statements yet. Today, I will add in some “I Will” statements for self control since our third week of January is a focus on “self control.” We made this cute board to highlight the focus phrases. I got the idea… {Read More}
Day #362 Hope in Scripture – Character Development, Week #53
Hopeful And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. – Romans 5:5 I love Jeremiah 29:11, and I have wanted to highlight it this week with the girls and you. “‘I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE… {Read More}
Day #361 Hope in our Kids – Character Development, Week #53
Hopeful And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. – Romans 5:5 We have hope. We have hope mostly because of Jesus and what he did for us. We also have hope because we have seen God keep his promises throughout all time and have faith he will continue to keep his promises.… {Read More}
Day #360 Hopefulness with Goals – Character Development, Week #53
Hopeful And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. – Romans 5:5 Part of having hope and anticipation for the future is learning to make and accomplish goals. I talked with my kids about having something to look forward to in the future makes us hopeful. We then created some goals of our own.… {Read More}
Day #359 Hopeful About God’s Qualities – Character Development, Week #53
Today I wanted to focus on the qualities of God. The only reason to truly have hope is because of God and who He has proven himself to be. Today, we told them the qualities of God (underlined and in bold). After each quality read, they would shout, “We have hope!” When more explanation was needed, it was given. God is a spirit. John 4:24. God is there even if He… {Read More}
Day #357 “I Will” Statements for Hopeful – Character Development, Week #53
Hopeful And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. – Romans 5:5 We have now adopted “I Will” statements for our character development series. We made this cute board to highlight the focus phrases. I got the idea for “I Will” Statements from “Character First,” a character based curriculum. Although I haven’t used a lot… {Read More}
Day #356 Hopeful Word Ring – Character Development, Week #53 (Yes, I’m off)
Hopeful And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. – Romans 5:5 Definition: feeling or inspiring optimism about a future event Reason Chosen: I love the thought of ending 2012 on the word “hopeful.” God has given us a lot of reason to hope. We want to look to the future with anticipation,… {Read More}
Day #349 Pleasant Word Ring – Character Development, Week #52
Pleasant “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” – Proverbs 16:24 Definition: giving a sense of happy satisfaction or enjoyment; friendly and considerate Reason Chosen: This is somewhat a direct address to my oldest child right now. We have had to spend some time working on attitude. At times she is a sweet as can be, and at times she is acting… {Read More}
Forgiveness Magic Trick
Forgiveness “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” – Matthew 6:14 I grew up with a dad who liked to do magic tricks. Did I gain any of his skills? Nope – not so much. It doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the art, but David Blane I am not. Luckily, I was able to test out my own magic skills on a… {Read More}
Forgiveness is a Gift
Forgiveness “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” – Matthew 6:14 Forgiveness is a gift. With the thought of Christmas presents around the horizon, talking about the gift of forgiveness is inevitable. Today I just wrapped up a plain box. I didn’t want to get their hopes up, so I told them there was nothing really inside. I explained that the… {Read More}
The Weight Lifted through Forgiveness
Forgiveness “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” – Matthew 6:14 Choosing to not forgive acts like a big weight. It’s a burden you put on other people, and it’s a burden you choose to carry around yourself. We used this word picture to show the girls exactly this concept. The back pack was put on. Then, Kenzie would ask, “Will you… {Read More}
Forgiveness and an Explosion
Forgiveness “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” – Matthew 6:14 Ready for a mess and a lot of fun? Stick an egg in the microwave. I love word pictures, and this is a powerful one – literally. The visual is that if we have a heart that wants to hold on to things and not forgive, it starts to grow on itself… {Read More}
Forgiveness with Sins Taken Away
Forgiveness “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” – Matthew 6:14 Before people can understand how to truly forgive, they must experience what it is like to be truly forgiven. Perfect forgiveness comes in Christ alone. We believe that his sacrifice sets us free from our sins. Today, we did an activity to demonstrate this. We talked about sins, and I… {Read More}
Forgiveness “I Will” Statements
Forgiveness “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” – Matthew 6:14 We have now adopted “I Will” statements for our character development series. We made this cute board to highlight the focus phrases. I got the idea for “I Will” Statements from “Character First,” a character based curriculum. Although I haven’t used a lot of their content, I wanted to give them credit for this… {Read More}
Day #300 Different Ways to Worship – Character Development, Week #43
Worshipful “Oh, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker.” – Psalm 95:6 Often times people think of worshipping God as confined to a handful of minutes on Sunday morning while the music is being sung. I don’t believe it was ever intended to be limited to that. Sure, that can be a fabulous time to worship. However, God is bigger and more… {Read More}
Day #299 Worship Music – Character Development, Week #43
Worshipful “Oh, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker.” – Psalm 95:6 We had a little bit of a drive today, so I took this time to focus on worship music. I intentionally kept the worship music on loud, encouraging them to really try and pay attention to the words. Toward the beginning of each song, I’d turn it down and… {Read More}
Day #298 Worship with Instruments – Character Development, Week #43
Worshipful “Oh, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker.” – Psalm 95:6 Today we made paper plate tambourines. They’re easy and fun, and they are a way to worship God. I wrote out a Bible verse about praising God with instruments on the top and let them decorate them as they wanted. We then turned on worship music and played our instruments. … {Read More}
Day #297 Ways to Worship – Character Development, Week #43
Worshipful “Oh, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker.” – Psalm 95:6 I wanted to teach my kids different way they can worship God. The Bible teaches a number of different ways people honor God. Worship is God honoring. Some people in church circles might say, “I didn’t really enjoy worship today.” I fall into that trap too. However, notice the… {Read More}
Day #296 Worshipping God Because of His Character – Character Development, Week #43
Worshipful “Oh, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker.” – Psalm 95:6 Genuine worship comes from really knowing and understanding the character of God. I wanted to focus on his attributes today, and I found a great idea at Ministry to Children. The idea is to make an attribute flip book that gives character qualities of God as well as scripture to… {Read More}
Day #295 Worship “I Will” Statements – Character Development, Week #43
Worshipful “Oh, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker.” – Psalm 95:6 We have now adopted “I Will” statements for our character development series. We made this cute board to highlight the focus phrases. I got the idea for “I Will” Statements from “Character First,” a character based curriculum. Although I haven’t used a lot of their content, I wanted to give them… {Read More}
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next Page »
