October 23rd - What We Learned

This Sunday, October 23rd, your 2-5 year old children learned that God created us to do good things!  To find out about God's amazing plan for us, we read from Jeremiah 29:11 "For 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 and a future."  And from Ephesians 2:10  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Your children learned that they can fulfill God's plan for their lives right now, and in class we brainstormed ways to do this.  We also discussed the fact that we are sinful people who cannot do good on our own.  We need Jesus' help to do good, but the only way we can have His help is by inviting Him to be in charge of our lives and trusting Him to take the consequences for our sin by dying on the cross for us.

The key words this week were "Keep to the plan!" and "What is the plan?"  We incorporated fun ways to remind the kids that God has a plan for them, and you can do the same at home.  During HANG TIME, play "Good Guys" with your child using action figures, dollhouse people, plastic animals, toy houses, farm sets - anything you can pretend with.  You can also use blocks or Legos or cardboard boxes to build structures for the good guys to climb and fly around.  Pretend to be good guys who are out to do good things, like save the animals, protect the house, build a wall, etc.  Repeat the words "WHAT'S THE PLAN?" "DO GOOD THINGS!" often as you play.  Remind your child that God's plan for them is to do good things with their lives! 

At BED TIME, cuddle up with your child and pray with him.  "Dear God, thank You for making [name of child].  Thank You for making me his mommy/daddy.  I love [name of child] so much.  I know You love him even more!  We praise You, God, for Your amazing love.  It is so amazing that You love everything about us.  Thank You, God, for making us and loving us.  Amen."


Your kindergarten through fifth graders learned that we can use our imagination to do even more good.  The lesson, based on Matthew 5:14-16, highlights the fact that God has called us to be salt and light to the people around us.  Have you ever eaten a low salt/low sodium diet?  If so, then you know how enhancing salt can be in the right proportions, and that is just the added enhancement that our imagination can do for our influence on others.  


During your next DRIVE TIME, talk with your children about the creative gifts that you see in them, and ask them how they can use those gifts to help someone else.  You can also brainstorm together about people or organizations you know of who are already using their creativity to help others.  


Because your child may no longer want to be seen with you at school or to be kissed goodbye at the drop-off line in the mornings, it can be easy to forget how important cuddling with you and being reassured of his continued importance in your life really is to your child.  The BED TIME prayer written above for pre-schoolers can be just as important for your high-schoolers to hear you pray about them (and every age child in-between).

October 16th - In Real Life

Image from NOAA.gov

This article was originally written by Carey Nieuwhof and posted on the Orange Blog on October 11th. It was so good, I had to bring it over here for you to read.  I wonder how Orville and Wilber Wright's mother and father interacted with them when they were children?

See Carey's article below.

When my son Sam was about four, he had a plan. He was a huge hockey fan, and he suggested we build a new house that was entirely underground with a hockey rink inside. There would be no windows and just enough space for the family and a Zamboni.

As far as four-year-old ideas go, he gets marks for creativity. But 11 years later, what I’m focused on is not his idea, but my reaction to his idea. I don’t specifically remember what I said, other than likely laughing with him about it. But then I’m pretty sure about what came next. I dismissed it. It was unrealistic. It was unconventional. And we would never do it.

While it’s true, I don’t really want a windowless, underground house, I wonder whether it would have been better to roll with the ideas of my kids when they were younger, even those that had us living in a frozen bunker. To let them dream. To dream with them.

You know what I think I tried to do in those years? Normalize my kids. I tried to get them to the point where they would stop challenging the status quo and just accept things for the way they were. After all, normal people live in bungalows.

Don’t get me wrong, we had some great moments and conversations. But those moments may have been eclipsed by those we’re-trying-to-clean-up-dinner-so-we-won’t-be late-for-T-ball-practice-and-please-stop-hitting-your-brother-and-pitching-me-endless-ideas moments. In those moments, I may indeed have squashed imagination, curiosity and in the process, creativity.

I remember dreaming as a child, lying under a canopy of trees and imagining what could be. What happened to that? I guess I got normalized too.

Do you ever find yourself battling the innate creativity in your child? If so, think this through.

Having ‘normalized’ our children in their younger years, should we be surprised when on a trip to the space museum our thirteen year old responds with an understated “Yeah,” to our amazement that they actually sent a man to the moon? When you ask your twelve-year-old to come up with a way you can help serve the marginalized in your community, is it such a surprise that she says, “I don’t know”?

So what can you do as a parent to encourage more creativity?

Let them ask questions. Lots of them. And don’t use the nuclear option on them by answering with “Just because.”

Co-operate with their imagination. When they come up with ideas like a windowless bunker for a home, don’t dismiss it. Try to find out what’s underneath it, and celebrate it.

Redirect. I say it all the time in meetings at work–bring on the bad ideas because bad ideas lead to good ideas. Even when their creativity leads them to come up with the implausible, linger there long enough to see if other ideas emerge–ideas that might be doable. At a bare minimum, you’ll have a fascinating conversation.

What have you discovered about creativity? How do you fuel it? What stifles it in your home?

October 16th - What We Learned

This Sunday, October 16th, your 2-5 year old children learned that God has a purpose for creating us.  He made our bodies able to do different special things.  He gave us eyes that see, ears that hear, hands that do, and feet that go.  We talked about the fact that God wants to have a relationship with us, and one way for us to show God how much we love Him is to use our bodies the way He wants them to be used.  Our FEET can follow Him, our EARS can listen to His Word, our EYES can look for people who need help, and our HANDS can help!

Bath time is the perfect time to teach your child about how he was made.  As you bathe your child's little arms, tell him, "God made your arms."  Count his 10 little toes as you soap them up and tell him, "God made your toes."  After you're finished with the bath, hold him up to the mirror and tell him, "God made your hair," as you make it stand straight up.  That should get a smile.  "Oh, and that smile, God made that too!  God made you, and He loves everything about you!"

Discuss with your older child: "Why did God make you?"  He had a reason!  God wants to have a relationship with each one of us.  In class today, that question was asked, and one of our five year olds responded, "Well, there is only one God, so maybe He made us so He could have some company."  Think about it.  There's some deep theology in that thought!  God tells us in John 15:17 "...I have no longer called you servants...instead, I have called you friends..."  Why did God make you?

Your kindergarten through fifth graders learned about King David's last words when he was dying (2 Samuel 23:1-2).  King David lived a full life, and he used his many talents for God's glory.  Help your child discover what talents God has given them and what kinds of things they enjoy doing.  David liked to use his imagination to write poetry about God.  He also used his imagination when he found himself in a tough spot in battle - one time he pretended to be a crazy man so that his enemies would not hurt him! 

Imagine with your child: how can God use this talent He has given you?  Are you good at math?  Maybe you can help tutor someone in your class who isn't so great at math.  Are you good at being a friend?  Maybe you can look for someone who doesn't have anyone to hang out with, and go be that person's friend.  Are you good at drawing?  Maybe you can draw fun pictures and hand deliver them or mail them to people who need some encouragement.  Whatever you are good at, God has given you that talent for a reason.  He wants you to be an active part of the body of Christ, reaching out and building each other up.  Dream BIG!

October 9th - Making It Stick At Home

This Sunday, October 9th, your Reign Forest children (ages 2 - 5) learned that God made our body from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet and everything in between and inside.  They've been working on their memory verse, Psalm 139:14a which says, "I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made!"  If you ask them, "What does God love about you?"  They'll most likely respond, "God loves EVERYTHING about me!"  And they will be exactly right!

The four and five year olds got to see a real live skeleton...uh, a real dead skeleton, I mean!  And they learned how God put their important organs in special places to protect them (like placing their heart behind their ribcage instead of on their knee.)  God is SO super smart!  He made all the parts of our bodies work wonderfully together.

You can use CAR TIME to help make this lesson stick.  Grab a favorite preschool worship CD or sing songs to God without a CD.  One of the things God made people to do is praise Him.  We can praise God by singing songs to Him.  Spend some time singing to God together as you drive from here to there.


Your Land of Promise children (kindergarten through fifth grade) learned that God helped Miriam and Jochabed, Moses' sister and mother, use their imaginations to work through an impossible-looking situation.  Instead of giving up their new baby to death as Pharoah had commanded, they put him into a basket and floated him on the river.  That's not your everyday solution!  They used the creativity that God had given them.

Images from listsoplenty.com

While the weather is still nice (only a few days of it left!), you can reinforce this lesson during HANG TIME with your kids.  Grab some sidewalk chalk and head out to the driveway.  Draw a circle on the ground using the chalk, and color it in.  Then pour a little bit of water on it to turn it into "paint."  (Be careful, too much water will wash the chalk away completely.)  Step into this new mixture with bare feet and swirl your painting all over the driveway, or you can attempt some awe-inspiring artwork like this butterfly.

Talk about the fact that painting with your feet may not be the way people usually approach their sidewalk chalk art, but like this, there are thousands of ways to view at a situation, solve a problem, accomplish a goal.  Teach them to ask God for wisdom when they are feeling boxed in.  He knows the best way to move forward!  And He loves to give wisdom and creativity!

October 2nd - Making It Stick At Home

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says  These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

God said Time Communication Goal "When you get up" Morning Time Encouraging Words Instill Purpose "When you walk along the road" Drive Time Informal Dialogue Interpret Life "When you sit at home" Meal Time Formal Dialogue Establish Virtues "When you sit at home" Hang Time Shared Experiences Create Memories "When you lie down" Bed Time Intimate Conversation Build Intimacy This week's theme for your 2-5 year olds was "God made people, and that makes us special!"  Hang Time:  This is a great time of year to go and take a good long look at all that God has made.  Look at the different colors of leaves.  Search for the perfect pumpkin or fill a basket with lots of yummy apples.  Crunch some sticks and leaves with your feet.  Make a pile of leaves with your hands.  Encourage your little one to LOOK with the EYES God made for him, SMELL with his NOSE and TOUCH with his HANDS.  Remind your child, as you explore, that out of everything God made, He loves people the most! This week's theme for your kindergarten through fifth graders was "You were created, so you can be creative." Drive Time:  Parent to Child - "What is one example of a time you saw somebody showing his or her creativity?" Child to Parent - "If God created the world, and He made people in His image, then what does that say about our ability to be creative?" Want more ideas on how to "impress them on your children"?  The creators of Orange have an app for iPhone or iPad, and it only costs $1.99.  Check it out!

October 2nd - God CREATED!

During this week's lesson (October 2), your 2-5 year old children learned that God has made each one of them INDIVIDUALLY special.  We talked about the external differences in each child: some have brown eyes, some have blue eyes, some have green eyes.  We talked about internal differences like what each child likes and dislikes: favorite colors, favorite animals.  All of these things that make up your child as a unique person - God created them to be that way, and bottom line?  God loves EVERYTHING about them!

I love how the video below describes the importance of this month full of lessons.


FL Preview : Fantastically Made (October 2011) from Orange on Vimeo.



The month of October is all about CREATIVITY for your kindergarten through fifth graders.  I have to admit, I was skeptical about the importance of teaching about creativity.  Then I watched this video, and I caught the vision!  I am seriously excited about the affects these lessons can have on our kids, now and in their future!


Preview: Imagine That (October 2011) from Orange on Vimeo.



Our next post will give you some ideas on how to make these lessons stick at home!