Review & #Giveaway: Christmas Love Letters from God

CHRISTMAS LOVE LETTERS from God:

Written for children ages four to eight, Christmas Love Letters from God cleverly combines both prose and poetry as the story of Jesus’ birth unfolds. The book includes seven stories, beginning with Isaiah’s prophecy and ending with the visit of the wise men. Following each story, the child will find his or her own letter from God, folded into a small envelope attached to the page. Each letter begins with a space in which to write the child’s name, so each one can be specially addressed to the child.

Written as if God is speaking, each personalized message gives the young reader a sense of wonder as they discover anew the Christmas holiday and the birth of Jesus. A very special Bible verse, entitled God’s Perfect Promise, also accompanies each story and letter as God’s personal words of love, promise, and hope.

My Thoughts:

This beautifully illustrated book is so sweet and dear!  It truly makes the scriptures more personal on a child’s level.  I didn’t show this to my children yet, as it will be part of our Christmas Book Advent, but I can’t wait!  It’s just lovely!

SOCIAL – CORNER

Glenys Nellist

https://twitter.com/GlenysNellist

https://www.facebook.com/GlenysNellistAuthor/

https://www.instagram.com/glenysnellist/

Zonderkidz

https://twitter.com/Zonderkidz

https://www.facebook.com/Zonderkidz/?fref=ts

“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255:  “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”):  Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway.  Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation.  I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller /FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days, you are not eligible to win. Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: The Familyman–Christmas Treasury (TOS Review) #hsreviews #Christmas #Audio #audiobook #digital #familymanministries

It’s hard to believe that Christmas is just around the corner!  We got a chance to have Christmas a little early here, by taking a look at The Familyman’s Christmas Treasury – Audio Collection, Digital Downloads (I also received one CD from the collection.) from The Familyman. 

The Digital Downloads collection has 8 stories (6 of which are included in the CD collection). 

My children really enjoyed these stories!  They are great way to bring the true meaning of Christmas into your home!  Christ is often forgotten during this time of year, during the hustle and bustle of the commercialization of this sacred holiday.  This would be a great gift for any Christian family.

All the stories included in the set are great, but my kids picked out their 3 favorite for me to talk about in this review (maybe because these are the first ones we listened too, not sure, because I had trouble picking!).

The first is titled Cootie McKay’s Nativity.  This story is about a mentally handicapped man who was asked to rebuild the town’s nativity set.  They were really nervous about asking him, he is a tinkerer and collector of junk, and they weren’t quite sure how it would turn out.  Cootie was not even familiar with the story of Jesus’ birth.  Therefore, they educated him about it, and he was so excited to learn about this story and about Jesus and what He means in our lives.  He made a great nativity set, much to the surprise of the whole town!  It was a very heartfelt, feel good story…the kind that brings some tears to your eyes when you hear it. 

The second story they voted on was Captain Chaos and the Manger Blaster.  In Captain Chaos the main character gets a taste of what Christmas would be like, if Jesus had never been born.  He gets in a spat with his sister, over playing with the nativity, and wishes that there wasn’t such a thing.  When he wakes the next morning, no one in his family knows who Jesus is, what a Christmas tree is or anything that relates to Christmas.  What a sad day that would be!

Gladys Remembers Christmas was the third favorite.  Gladys doesn’t like Christmas.  Her mother died when she was young, and she doesn’t have very pleasant memories of growing up with just her father.  But, after her father’s passing, she remembers the good memories associated with Christmas as she clears through her his belongings.  She has flashbacks of good memories she had at Christmas time in her home, when she was younger, and her mother was still alive. 

These may be our favorites, but every story is just as good as the first!  All gentle reminders that Jesus is the reason for the Season!  Keeping Christ in Christmas is so important.  This wonderful Christmas Treasury helps to do just that!

Two of the digital downloads, are actually Easer stories, but another great holiday that is a result of Jesus in our lives, and a great reminder to the true meaning of the season!

The digital downloads are available for $3.99 each (with the exception of It’s Called Christmas, which is $4.99).  The CD collection of the Audio Treasury (6 stories) is available for $25.  An 8 pack of books is also available for $58, or books can be purchased separately for $10 each.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ToddWilsonFamilyman/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/youdadad
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/toddwilsonthefamilyman/
Pinterest:  https://au.pinterest.com/familymantodd/
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/107435990705080484154
Blog: http://familymanweb.com/blog/

Educational Gift Ideas for the Holidays!

In some ways I dread the holidays…it’s just more stuff!  I don’t need anymore stuff in my house, do you?  This year I’m really trying to focus more on educational items.  Not just stuff that will cause more clutter!  I’ve also been searching for good deals on items.  Here is a great list of educational items, for all ages and they come at great prices!  This year my kids will be receiving blocks, books, games, and outdoor equipment!  I love to get them stuff that I know is helping build brain cells as well as enjoyable entertainment! 
  Tegu Blocks - Give your kiddos the opportunity to defy gravity! These wooden blocks are embedded with magnets so that kids can build structures they have only dreamed of!
Magformers Challenger Set - With this 112-Piece magnetic building set, kids ages 6 to 12 imaginations are guaranteed to run wild! This is a great gift to give to siblings to share. It can also be a generous addition to a classroom or after-school program!
Frozen Puzzle Pack - Winter is the time of year to celebrate the very popular Disney movie, Frozen! Keep the Frozen fun going after the movie is over with these four Frozen puzzles.
Veggie Tales Floor Puzzle - Little ones can put together this fun floor puzzle with their favorite Veggie Tales characters! This 3-foot puzzle will keep your little learners thinking and laughing as the faces of Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber begin to appear piece by piece. Coloring Books for Everyone - Coloring is not just for kids anymore, it's for everyone - making this a great gift for an entire family! These six coloring books are filled with mesmerizing designs. Gift these coloring books to a family, classroom, or split up the books to give to six artists who you love!
Frozen Etch a Sketch Jr. - The classic and creative tool we all grew up with has been updated with your child's favorite characters from Disney's Frozen. Elsa and Olaf can watch your little one draw on the Etch a Sketch as they are inspired by their favorite Disney movie. Then Elsa's magical snow will wipe the canvas clean, ready for another masterpiece.
Holiday Coloring Book Freebie - If you’re looking for a low-cost way to say “thinking of you,” this coloring book is as easy to give as 1-2-3. Just download it for free, print it, and add a nice card to your envelope. Slimy Squishy Polymer Set - Give the gift of science exploration! This fun, hands-on experiment only requires water, adult supervision, and creativity! What a fun way for kids and parents or older siblings to learn together!
Science Experiment Subscription - Science experiments require a lot of planning. Let the scientific FUN come to you with a 1-year subscription to the award-winning Young Scientist Club!
Life of Fred Beginning Reader Set - Children who are learning to read will love listening to mom, dad, grandma, older brother, or anyone else read the Life of Fred stories aloud! Read these silly stories together and learn basic concepts about math, the English language, colors, and science!
Berenstain Bears Books - Read these books over the holidays to encourage family values like cleaning up, the joy of giving, saying “I’m sorry,” and more! The book bundle includes Thanksgiving and Christmas stories too!
A set of The Velveteen Rabbit, Corduroy, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and other classic books! Add these classic titles to your little one’s library, or distribute the books to a handful of little ones who love to read!

What are you shopping for this holiday season? The gift of learning a new language? Picking up a new talent like playing a musical instruments or stargazing? Discover amazing gift ideas that promote education on Educents!

Disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post and contains affiliate links.

#HeisTheGift #ShareTheGift

Have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

I’m taking the rest of the week off!  Workbox Wednesday and Field Trip Friday will return after the New Year!  Links are still live from last week if you want to link up!

Please Vote For Me - You can vote daily now through Dec 29th!

Christmas “I Spy” Bottle for Tots and PreK (or for the bigger ones as well!)

I used the Christmas Toobs (minus two pieces that wouldn’t fit in the bottle, it needed a tad wider of a mouth).  Threw in some rice and tada!   Leave some space at the top for the rice to be able to move around to show the pieces.

Using the above print as a check of list.  Put into a cover sheet or laminate and they can use a dry erase marker to check off as they find!

Easy game for little ones!

Please Vote For Me - You can vote daily now through Dec 29th!

Workbox Wednesday–FREE Printables for 3rd Graders

<center> <a href="http://chestnutgroveacademy.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Chestnut Grove Academy" src="http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o281/jaltman25/bf498a5a-35f7-4be0-b916-c4e4e47b1f3e.jpg"/></a></center>  

Welcome to Workbox Wednesday!  If you use workboxes, tot trays, or anything similar, feel free to post a link to your blog post or a picture (pictures can be from facebook, but please make sure they are PUBLIC so we can see them, or use a host like photobucket.com to get a URL for your photo) that shows WHAT IS IN YOUR BOXES!

Please visit my co-host at Tots and Me and Line Upon Line Learning

Visit others that link up, leave comments, follow, etc.  The favors will be returned!  Feel free to grab a button too, so others can find the link up and join in the fun!

Last week I posted some great Montessori based workbox activities for younger kids.  This week I have some great links to FREE printable worksheets for older kids that are Christmas themed.

My son will be having these colorful multiplication sheets in his boxes!

You can search the site Education.com for all grades and subjects!  It’s FREE to register, you must register to download.

You can search PreK-5th grades in subjects such as Math, Social Studies, Writing, Reading, Art and more.  Searching by Holidays or Seasons!

It’s a great FREE resource that I’m so happy to share with you!

Here are some more FREE Christmas Themed items for older elementary age -

Christmas Themed Puzzle Pages
Christmas Printable Pack for Grades 1-3 
Christmas Math Games Grades 1-3
Christmas Literacy Puzzles Grades 1-4
FREE Christmas Analogy Worksheet with Answer Key
FREE Christmas Break Scavenger Hunt
Christmas Game/Writing Prompts
Christmas Matrix Puzzle
Christmas Santa I Can Draw Fun Pack
Gingerbread Center (Greater Than/Less Than)
Christmas Dictionary Dig
Free Holiday/Christmas Sudoku Page
Shake-a-Bottle for December Holidays
Gingerfolk Freebie (Story and Questions)
FREE Addition Gingerbread Bump
Olive the Other Reindeer Vocabulary Worksheet and Test
Christmas - Subtraction Stockings – Math
Search for Santa- Open-Ended Gameboard
Illustrating Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker
FREE Elf Hunt Game for Christmas
In all You do – Handwriting practice and more

Just to list a few!

Most of these are from Teacher’s Pay Teachers you need an account (it’s FREE) to download. 

Happy Workboxing! 

Please Vote For Me - You can vote daily now through Dec 29th!

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

K is for Kalikimaka: Hawaiian Christmas Books

Living in Hawaii calls for some Hawaiian themed Christmas books.  If you are not in Hawaii, why not bring a bit of ALOHA to help make your Kalikimaka Mele and bright!

The traditional story of ‘Twas the Night before Christmas, told with a Hawaiian twist.  This book does not include pronunciation (it has a lot of Hawaiian words)…but once you get the hang of Hawaiian, it is not too difficult.  Mele Kalikimaka to all and to all ALOHA!!

This is a fun book!  It’s based on the fact that the humpback whales migrate to Hawaii every winter from Alaska.  So this is not only a fun story, it’s can spark a great unit study on humpback whales! 

What is difference about Christmas in Hawaii?  This is a cute story about an elf named Merry that finds himself in Hawaii, where he meets an elf named Mele.  Merry learns that even though Christmas in Hawaii doesn’t have snow, it has ALOHA! 

*We don’t actually ‘do Santa’ in our house, but the kids still enjoy these fun stories.  On the note of not taking in part in Santa tradition, we have this book

This is a great book to explain the history behind the tradition of Santa Clause, and the true purpose of the holiday…celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

J is for Jesus - Keeping Christ in Christmas

I was hesitant to go ahead with my J is for Jesus post since Ben and Me Blog did it already…but, it is the season of His birth; so what better way than to honor him?!

We try really hard to remember that the TRUE meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the amazing gift of Jesus Christ from our Heavenly Father.  Some ways we have found to this are:

1.  Limit gifts to 3 per child, Jesus Christ was brought 3 gifts at his birth from the wise men.  Make sure your children understand the symbolism of the 3 gifts.  Discuss the story, read it from the Bible, have nativity scenes they can play with and see the 3 wisemen, etc..

2.  Focus on giving and service.  Give whenever possible, toys for tots, angel tree, Salvation Army bell ringer, make/give gifts to family, friends and neighbors.  Go Christmas Caroling, visit the sick, etc…  Involve the children in these events.  This year we are making several batches of cookies to give to a list of people that my children helped make.  We have friends with food allergies, so we researched and found recipes that they could eat as well.  I’ll post more about this in the near future.

3.  Advent Calendars – There are many wonderful ways to celebrate advent, read a scripture a day, read an inspirational story a day, give a gift of service a day, so many to choose from.  Check out my Christmas Advent Board on Pinterest. We do several advent activities…this year one of them is the 12 days of Christmas Carols and Ornament Crafts. 

Proverbs 3:6 “In all thy ways acknowledge him…”

12 Days of Christmas Carols

This is a curriculum I wrote sometime ago, but life got busy and it got put on the side burner.  I’ve pulled it back out and put some finishing touches on it.  Now it’s ready to provide to you!

*The link to the Santa color page on Day 1 is not working, use this one instead. The link to the Christmas Tree color page on Day 4 is also not working, use this one instead. Also the link for Rudolph and Frosty videos will not play on mobile devices…I will work on fixing these two items in the actual document.  Sorry I set this up awhile ago and am finding the kinks as I implement it with my kids.

The curriculum is available FREE of CHARGE for you!  Each set contains 12 carols, some information/history on each, words to song, coloring pages and or other activities, link to listen/watch the carol, book suggestion.  The Ornament Craft kits are available for $15 each (shipping included).  I only have 10 kits of each set available for sale. Priority mail is available for $3 more per kit.

The craft kits are not required to enjoy the curriculum, but they add to it.  You can get by with one kit per family or you can purchase one per child.  Most kits include small parts, so best for children OVER age 3, skill wise most of the ornaments are suited also for that age, but some are best for 6+, ages 3-6 would most likely require assistance.

I know Dec 1st is HERE already (where does time go??)…but since this curriculum is only 12 days of Christmas there is still time to get them shipped out!  Email me your requests, I accept payment via paypal.  Please put in the subject line “12 days of Christmas Carols”  Thank you!

Here are some ornaments we did last year….the ornaments for this curriculum are NOT THE EXACT SAME, however it gives you an idea of what they are like. 

We will be starting the religious set on Monday and will posting pictures on the Facebook page daily and on the blog each week.

Our Christmas Ornaments and other Christmas fun!

We made several ornaments this year to go with our Christmas curriculum that we were using (we added the ornaments in ourselves). If you follow me on Facebook, you've already seen them, but I wanted to post them together....there are 4 more we didn't get around to doing, but here is what was made

   

 




We hung them all up on a little tree in our school room!

We also made our own wrapping paper


C finished his lego club build

 
Put on our Santa hats and went caroling at a nursing home with our friends from church

And made a gingerbread house!!

I'm working on a 12 days of Christmas curriculum to share with all of you next year that will include ornament craft kits like the ones made this year. I also have the ones we made this year available for sale! Just email me (or leave a comment).

Hope everyone had a very MERRY Christmas - Hopes to a Blessed New Year!!

Posted with Blogsy

Mele Kalikimaka!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Christmas Science

CHRISTMAS CARDS
We marbled some paper to make Christmas Cards, it’s a simple craft and very beautiful.
Simply fill a cookie tray with shaving cream, then dribble paint or food coloring (we used paint in red and green) over the top.  With a toothpick you can swirl it around a bit.

Then place a piece of paper (we used white cardstock) on top of the shaving cream mixture.  press lightly over the paper, then remove.

Scrape off the excess shaving cream (we used a ruler) and then dry.

This card project is one of many things you can find at schoolhouseteachers.com, you can read my review of their site HERE
SNOWY TREES
Another fun project we did was growing snowy trees
What you need – Water, Salt, Ammonia, Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing (I found it at the drug store)

Dissolve 6T salt into 6T water, add 6T bluing and 1T ammonia in a shallow dish.
Then you can do 1 of 2 things, place a sponge (cut into the desired shape) in the solution OR cut an object from cardboard.  (we used cardboard).  Place either object into the solution and wait, within a day crystals will have started to form. 
To add color to your crystals…drop food coloring onto the object.  We kept ours to be white, like snow.

This is after about 2 days.

I found this project HERE