GIFT 2014/15: Family Faith Detectives!

October Lesson: Mystery of Creation
This month, we kicked off a brand new theme for GIFT: Family Faith Detectives.  I have lots of fun spy-themed projects and activities for the families to do this year, and to start us out, every child got a "decoder ring."  I found some foam decoders at Oriental Trading Company, which as of the date of this post are still available.  But it would be quite easy to make your own!  You just need a symbol for each letter of the alphabet.  (With the OTC version, I pre-assembled just the ring part, saving the clip & magnet for some future project and discarding the pre-printed clue.)  Here's the photo and link from their website:


http://www.orientaltrading.com/agents-of-truth-clip-magnet-vbs-craft-kit-a2-13647851.fltr?Ntt=agent

I also made "Detective's Guide" booklets for each grade, which they received with their textbooks.  In the Guides are there homework schedules, the clue page for each month (to go with the decoder ring), and an extra activity page in case they need more to do while waiting for the program to begin.  For October, we learned about Creation, so the clue spelled out: "All Life Comes From God."  After letting one of the children share the answer, we talked about the 2 Creation stories in the Bible, and then I showed a fossil sample and talked about what science has told us about how the Earth was formed.  So here was our first mystery for the year: Which of these 3 stories is true?  The answer - they all are!  The Biblical creation stories are myths that teach us some very important Truths about God, Life, and humankind's place in the world and in relation to our God.  We talked about how being made in God's image means we can all "show" God to others through our actions, and we can look for signs of God in the people around us.  We started doing just that in our own little GIFT community, playing the game "Getting to Know You BINGO"

Click here to download a pdf of Getting to Know You BINGO



Security Badges with a Secret Message

As everyone arrived, they made Security Badges for each family member at GIFT.  These are basically just clip-on name tags that they wear each month, so I can call on people by name.  But I like to make them fit the theme, so this year they are Security Badges.  After playing the BINGO game, I asked the kids to take a closer look and find the "secret message" hidden on their badges!

Click here to download a pdf of the Security Badges



Progressive Craft
A progressive craft is one that we begin at our first session, and then we add to it each month.  By the end of the year, the project is complete.  This year, we are making Braided Bookmarks.  We made the braid and added the first charm - the globe - this month.  We will add the other charms as the year goes on, for a total of 6 charms.

Hands of God/ Fruit of the Spirit

For our April GIFT Session, the last of this school year, we wrapped up our "Family Faith Under Construction" theme with the verse: "You are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus..."  We talked about how everyone is created by God's hands, and then we learned about the "Fruit of the Spirit" (from Galatians 5).  Families played a board game that I found at this link:
http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/Pages/FileFolderGames/FruitoftheSpirit.html

In the game, kids get to practice sharing the Fruit of the Spirit by answering "What would you do" morality questions suitable for children.  We had 2-5 kids per game board, with parents helping, and they used wrapped LifeSavers candy as game pieces.

For art, kids made a "paintbrush person" as a reminder of the message that each of us is uniquely created by God to love and serve through the Holy Spirit.  I found inexpensive brushes in 15-packs at Home Depot, and we used eye stickers, paint pens, and foam shapes to decorate.  Here's a picture of one that my son made:

We also used finger-paints to create a mural of how kids share the Fruit of the Spirit in their homes, schools, and community.

Lastly, for prayer, I asked kids to examine and think about their hands, and to compare them to their parents' hands.  We noted that although all hands are different, they have 2 things in common: they were given to us by God, and we can use them to share God's love with others.  We ended the session by handing out clappers - on one side, they say "Made by God's hands..."  On the other side: "...to be God's hands!"

Last Supper Wheel

This is a project I used for children preparing for First Eucharist.  It goes together very quickly with just a little cutting and a brad.  I pre-punched the holes in each piece with a Crop-A-Dile tool before giving them to the kids.  They also had the option of coloring the top piece.

The top piece is supposed to look a little like a plate.  As you turn the wheel, information about different elements of the Last Supper show in the cut-out space.  The 4 sections of the bottom piece are: Eucharist, Passover, Upper Room, and "Only Human" (about Judas betraying Jesus, and Peter denying Him 3 times.)



Here are the links to the pattern pages:

Top Page

Bottom Page w/ Instructions

Family Creed Tiles

At our February GIFT Session, we learned about the Apostle's Creed.  We played a ball-toss game in which each group of 6-9 people attempted to toss multiple balls across a circle to each other.  Done randomly, this was quite a challenge.  But when we set some guidelines for everyone to follow - establish a pattern of who throws to whom, and say the person's name and make eye contact before tossing - the groups were able to get up to 3 balls sailing fairly smoothly through the air.  Then, we talked about how helpful it is for a group of people trying to accomplish a task together to have a strong foundation, or to all be on the same page about things.  In the case of the Church, we are trying to accomplish the mission of spreading the Gospel.  One of our shared foundations is the Creed, our statement of basic beliefs for everyone in the Church.

After taking a closer look at the text of the Creed, I shared with families a wall-hanging I had noticed at a friend's house that said, "In This House..." and went on to list things like "We do I'm sorry," "We do grace," and "We do loud really well."  The list reminded me of a creed.  So I asked our families to think about: What does your family believe in?  What's important to you?  How do you choose to live?  They took these ideas and made "Family Creed Tiles," using basic white 6x6-inch tiles and acrylic paint pens.  This was a very popular project, so I wanted to share it here.  Here are some samples I made for the class:

GIFT Families: If you missed this session and would like to pick up a tile and some paint pens, please contact Dez

Bible "Catcher"

At our November session about the Bible, kids made these "catchers" to share Biblical messages with friends and family:

 

 

In case you're like me and (shockingly) never learned how to fold these, there are very specific instructions included on the pattern page.  Click here to download the pattern.

 

 

 

To Play:

Player picks a word from the outside, and the "operator" of the catcher opens & closes the "mouth" alternate ways while spelling out the word.  Next, player chooses a number from those showing inside the catcher.  Operator opens & closes alternating ways that # of times. Player picks another number, and the operator opens the catcher to read the message under that flap.  The messages are:

 

Forgive others as God forgives you.
Take care of God’s creation.
  Share what you have with those who have less.

Believe in miracles!
Love others as Jesus loved.
Trust in God at all times.
You are the light of the world!
Use your talents well.

 

One last note: I never understood why these toys were called "catchers" until one of the moms at GIFT this month said, "Oh!  We're making a cootie catcher!"  Somehow I missed this part of junior high!

 

 

Solving the Problem of "What Now?"

One of the biggest challenges in planning a session for a large group of kids with an age spread of four years is managing what we call "Art & Snack Time."  This is the "free time" of each session, when families have snack and complete art projects and other tasks related to the lesson at their own pace.  And that's what makes it so hard to plan - each child has their own unique pace.  Some children will spend copious amounts of time coloring a flower until it is "just right."  Other children will slap on a little color, call it done, and ask, "What now?"  As in, I'm done with that, what can I do now?  For the past few years, I've answered that question with what I called "optional worksheets."  I would just have an assortment of puzzles, mazes or word finds for kids to pick and choose.  It worked fairly well for a lot of kids, but this year I decided to step it up a notch and offer a better variety of activities that would not just fill the time but would to some extent support the lesson of the day or the general concept of living our faith.  Since our theme for the year is "Family Faith Under Construction," I created The Workshop.

 

Kids can visit The Workshop after completing their main "Art & Snack Time" tasks. 

Certain items will be the same each month, like these Share Sticks:

Kids take a stick from the paint can back to the table to stir up a fun family "What If" talk

 

 

Other items will change from month-to-month to fit both the theme of the lesson and whatever season we are in at the time.  These items include books, activity sheets like mazes and word puzzles, and a simple crafty activity.  Kids choose just the things they want to do, and if they run out of time, they can take something home.  Here's a photo of The Workshop for our October session:



 I'm looking forward to coming up with fun new items to add each month!  Got a great idea?  Leave a comment!

October GIFT: Join the Crew!

Our theme for GIFT this year is "Family Faith Under Construction," and our October session is called "Join the Crew!"  As we gather for the first time this year, we focus on these points:

Ø  Our families help us put God first and build our faith

Ø  The Saints were people who put God first and built up the church

Ø  Families commit to building faith together

Each month, we will find a tool in our tool box that symbolizes our lesson for us.  This month, it's a ruler/tape measure.  This is a very important tool in construction - ask any carpenter, and they will tell you - "Measure twice, cut once."  When we are building our faith, we too need to consult our ruler - God!  Our Bible verse for this lesson is from Psalm 127: "Unless the Lord builds the house, the work of the builders is useless."

To get kids thinking about the session theme, we begin the lesson with this handout for parent/child pairs to work on together:

We talked about building strong families and about families building their faith together.  We also talked a little about the Saints - holy people who built both things we can see & touch (like schools and hospitals), as well as things we can't touch (like faith, hope, and charity).  Parents and children were asked to discuss what "untouchable" things they wanted to build on or "grow" in their families - things such as love, kindness, together time, being closer to God, and knowing more about their faith.  After sharing their ideas with other families and in the large group, we went on to discuss the "how" - what are the concrete things families can do to build up their family and their faith?  Some ideas were: going to Mass, reading Scripture, doing their GIFT textbook homework, praying together, and eating meals together.  They used those ideas to write a "Family Covenant" in the space at the bottom of the page.  Kids could choose to cut it out & glue it to card stock to make a bookmark keepsake to use this year:

Click here to download the My Family Rules page.

Progressive Craft:
Each year, I have a "progressive craft" for GIFT - this is something the kids make at the first session, and then they add on to it at future sessions.  This month, we made a tool box that will hold the things we make in future months (I can't tell yet what that will be - tune in in November!).  The toolbox comes out looking like this:

You can download the pattern and directions for the toolbox by clicking here.  Remember to print it on card stock to make it sturdy!

Thanks to all of our great GIFT families who made our first session of the year so much fun!