Ff Is For Father's Day and Fun

     Ever had plans to get back into things but you find God has plans for you to spend your attention and energy towards something else entirely? The last several weeks that is what happened to me. A family emergeny/loss happened for my family, and most significantly for my baby brother.  Ok so my brother is twenty-five years old, but let's be real.. as an older sister our youngest siblings still tend to be babies to us in so many ways, but especially when we hear they are hurt. This particular family emergency ended up requiring me to be on the road for 16 hrs. altogether in a week. A lot of driving back and forth. With all that being done I ended up doing less stuff with my own kid educationally than I wanted. I did do a little review each morning where I had my child practice tracing one letter from Aa-Ee. Thankfully it is Summertime here, so in some ways it was easier to put it off. It definitely put me behind on my blog posting, as those of you who stopped by have noticed.
      Because of the craziness I ended up focusing kind of on two themes that sort of gp well together as well as the letter Ff.  We did a fun week of learning all about camping as well as the importance of Father's Day. Camping tends to be a father/child bonding experience so I thought they would work-out nicely together.

Letter Ff Books We Read Together:
My F Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
Tiger Flowers by Patricia Quinlan (this book ended up being about a boy who loses his uncle to aids... i kind of skimmed over the parts that felt to mature for my 3.5 yr old...did not look closely enough at it when I borrowed it).
Alice the Fairy by David Shannon
Finders Keepers by Will and Nicolas
About Feelings by Richard L. Allington and Kathleen Cowles

Camping Themed Books We Read Together
Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer
Monster and Mouse Go Camping Deborah Underwood
Curious George Goes Camping by Margaret and H. A. Rey
A Campfire for Cowboy Billy by Wendy K. Ulmer
A Bunny's Night Out by Roni Schutter

Father's Day Books We Read Together
Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer
Just Go to Bed by Mercer Mayer
Meeting Trees by Scott Russell Sanders
Froggy's Day With Dad by Jonathan London
Happy Father's Day by Steven Krall

Songs We Sang This Week
I Can Be Your Friend from Veggie Tales
Five Green and Speckled Frogs
Funny Fish
I Can Fly from Peter Pan
Firework by Katy Perry

Home On the Range
A Camping We Will Go
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
When We Camp
Campfire Pokey

Our Father by Michael W. Smith
I've Been Watching You by Rodney Atkins
I See A Hero by Shawna Belt Edwards
Father's Love by Gary Valenciano
Handprints On the Wall by Kenny Rogers

Activities We Did This Week

Intro Practice Tracing letter Ff
Ff picture vocab review
Play Mr. Fix-it with tools
Play food master with play kitchen
Play with flashlight
Play follow the leader
Firefighter dramatic play
Fun with foam shapes and foam blocks
Play with toy farm
Fingerprint art fun
Fun with fruity pebbles
Play outside in the grass with flour.

Prepare/gather necessities for camping
Set-up tent/campsite out on backyard
Make binoculars. Use two toilet papet rolls. Paint them then glue then together.
Hike around the backyard/neighborhood.
Marshmallow fun
Outside pic-nic lunch with camping foods.
Tye-dye t-shirts
Play camping games like egg toss or other racing games...
Make s-mores


Work on Father's Day surprise. I will try to go into more details about this next post as I do not want to ruin anything for my husband on the off chance he decides to check-out this post.

Some Weeks Off to Get Back On: Week 2

 

     Hello beautiful readers. I hope yall have gotten to enjoy a beautiful sunny week. Our's has been fun for my kid, but filled with mixed emotions for myself. Couple different things going on here this past week, but still educational.

     We started our week off with a bang as a zoo day. With my kiddo being sick last Thursday he missed his with the fun fun fun fun fun, and kefest are pt asking for the zoo all week-end. I wanted to wait until we were sure the stomach bug was not gonna pass on to hubby and I before going anywhere really public. Thanjfully we did not catch whatever it was that got my kiddo sick. I love zoo days! Blessedly we live close enough to one it makes more sense to get the zoo pass, and I try and utilize it well since it is a bigger cost. It has helped foster a curiousity for life sciences ib my child at an early age. He has his favorite animals, but some are different each time. Depends on which ones are the most active during our visit. Lately giraffes, penguins, orangatans, and gorillas tend to be at the top of his list.

     Tuesday was park day. It turned out to be an emotional park visit for this momma.
I witnessed a family (I learned from the seven year old girl) that their family has DCS apparently several times a week come to her house and her baby brother was taken away from them and today was their visitation...  I did not ask for any of that info, she just casually shared it with me...from the looks of her and her siblings and how non attentive the three adults were who were with them I can see why. They were all in thin tank tops, shorts, or over grown t-shirts... no shoes on any of them except the girl who told me this info. In hot weather or at home that is not usually a flag raiser for me, but in 55 degree weather??? She was in a leg brace. She had these red spots on her legs which I only noticed because she asked me what I thought they were. I answered that they looked like old mosquito or spider bites to me. She said no, I only get them in the bath tub... on the inside I shuttered because i immediately jumped to some scarey stuff. Googled healed cigarette burns when i got home and what I saw looked exactly like the marks on this girls leg, later on a friend of mine said hopefully it was bed bug bites that get aggrivated in the tub. I really hope that is what they were honestly. The cigarette burn though sickens/angers me....The adults were no where near the littlest one who kept asking if i could push him because he was watching me push my kid. He had on the fewest clothes of the group. After the fifth time I said ok because the adults kept ignoring him or snapping at him for bugging them. They did not seem to care that a stranger was pushing their young one. At one point during the hour I was there the father figure came out to see something with the older boys. Looked and saw me pushing his kid in the swing then moved on. No words were exchanged at all. It was as though he could not care less.  I would have been freaking out, and going over to assess the situation if it were my child.... I felt awkward enough pushing the little guy cause I did not know the parents. Then how they reacted to the 9 yr old boy who got sick all over some playground equipment was like whatever. No giving comfort, no saying ok time to go. My kid and I were out of there, but watching it all just hurt my heart. I prayed my rosary for them. I hope I do not get whatever that bug is for helping push what appeared to me to be a neglected three year old. Being a daycare/pre-k teacher child neglect/abuse has always been close to my heart, but even moreso now that I am a momma. I am sharing this because I know nothing more than I witnessed so there is obviously more to this family's story. Maybe yall could say some prayers with me for this little family? I am not sure what more to do since DCS is already involved. This just broke my heart.

     Wednesday was a fun chill at home day. We rode in the wagon around our neighborhood. We practiced putting together my child's abc floor puzzle together. We ran, we read books, we colored, cooked, and enjoyed home.

    Thursday out of nowhere my boy woke up with a bery noticeable limp. After observing him still struggle with it for a couple of hours I made an appointment with his ped. After checking my child out my ped believes he is dealing with growing pains since he is not upset while putting weight on it. The thing is he still has this limo this morning. Not worse, but not better. My ped said if he is worse to come back today but I think if it keeps like this over the week-end I will bring him back in Monday. Because of the limp we have been doing things but in slow motion.

      Today has been a fun time running errands and grocery shopping. We have my in-laws visiting tomorrow. Lots of cousins equals lots of playmates for my kiddo which hopefully may see how this limp will affect his time with them. Hopefully tomorrow he will have it less than today. Waiting and seeing is not so easy as a momma.

Some Weeks Off to Get Back On: Part One

     After nine long weeks of focused lesson planning I figure both my kid and I were ready for a lengthier break. The days are longer and warmer, the best time to be kid as far as lesson planning goes and allowing some free-play to reign. The first half of this week was filled with fun educational adventures away from home, and ended with pajama and tv days thanks to a nasty stomach bug.

     Monday was a fun day spent at The Indianapolis Children's Museum. Early rising, a lengthier drive, no quiet rest time, and late bed time was all worth it for this field trip. If you have never been to this museum, but find yourself in Indy looking for something to do with kids you canmot go wrong with this place. One of the yop five largest children's science and history museums in the world is something not to miss out on. Five levels of kids appropriate hands-on adventures. Fun for the whole family.

     Tuesday was a nice day for me as it was my birthday. We explored outside our neighborhood and had a fun birthday dinner out after watching my kid receive a hair cut. Getting a hair cut for young kids is an adventure for sure.

     Wednesday was park day. We spent all morning at the park and it was fun watchimg my child maneuver new playground obstacles he was not so sure about even just a month ago.

     Thursday was going to be our zoo adventure day, only about an hour after waking up my child got sick to his stomach... zoo adventure day has been put on hold while all of us wait and see if we catch the bug or if we will be lucky and not come down with it too. Lots of snuggling was had as my kid felt awful all morning. Thankfully by bedtime he was holding thimgs down.

     Friday was going to be a fun family week-end with uncles, aunts, and cousins, but due to the stomach flu we had to cancel to avoid spreading it around.

     It is nice to have lesson plans, but equally as nice to leave all learning up in the air through active play. Kids are kids for so long, and Summer time is almost here.

"Hey Mama, I love you just the way you are, to the moon and past the stars..."

   

     Mother's Day week-end is here! The day us mother's envision in our heads of mornings of sleeping in, children happily getting along while following directions and picking up after themselves without being asked. The week-end we imagine that we do not have anything but the highest standards of what we believe a clean home looks like without going through the fights or freak out moments to get our home as close as possible to a better homes and gardens look and having it magically stay like that forever. The day we picture ourselves  looking outside to see a happy husband grilling food while overseeing the kids putting together little mother's day surprises while you get a quiet house to yourself for a bit...the little things like having the family all dressed in their Sunday best and out the door to church on time without fighting or rushing at the last minute. It is all about the little things. I mean they are not that much to ask for, right? Maybe some of you lucky mothers out there will get all of that and more, but realistically mother's days like these tend to not happen at all in the ways we envision. Well unless we ourselves get all the house deep cleaned the week before mother's day while threatening (threaten is such a strong word...maybe strongly encouraging) that whoever undoes what we have done before mother's day is over there will be strong repercussions (ok so threaten is definitely more accurate, but hey mother's day is only once a year......). I know there are mother's out there who know what I mean, right??? Or in my case my husband is not a great baker. He is great is SO MANY ways, but he will be the first to admit baking is not one of them, so if I want something sweet snd tasty and homemade until my kid is old enough to bake on his own it will be me figuring out something tasty for mother's day. Yet, even though mother's day does not yet happen in the way that it would be nice, mother's day still ends up being special and perfect and sweet and memorable for me.

     When workimg at daycares we would always do activities with emphasis put on the children'sThis motgers. It seems a little odd for me to do that with my own kid, so I decided to have us focus a lot on Mary, Jesus' Mother and our spiritual mother. There are also some things in jere for my kid and I. This week is a mother's day themed week that will melt your hearts and if you are anything like me, bring some tears to your eyes, so keep the kleenex nearby.

    We also focused on tracing our letter Ee and had fun exploring with the color turqoise.

Monday:Practice Tracing Uppercase E/Intro Mother's Day
Book: My e Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney
I Love You Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt
The Annunciation story

Songs:
Eight Piggies In A Row by Raffi
More Than Enough by Shawna Belts Edwards
Immaculate Mary

Activities:
Review Ee vocab words. Practice tracing the letter E.

Paint a planet Earth using to paper bowls and blue and green paint and tape.

Intro Mother's Day. Talk about why Mary is special to us.

Color picture depicting the Annunciation story.

Zoo Day

Tuesday: Intro Turqoise/The Nativity
Books: Eeyore Be Happy by Don Ferguson
The Cat In the Hat by Dr. Seuss

Songs:
Eagles Wings church hymn
A Mother's Love by Jim Brickman
Hail Mary Gentle Woman

Activities:
Review Ee vocab words

Ee phonics work page

Play with plastic earthworm toys in dry beans for sensory play. Seperate the worms into groups of color and count out how many are in each color group.

Intro color turqoise. Make a turqoise paint collage

Intro Nativity story. Color a picture of Mary and baby Jesus.

Wednesday: Practice Tracing Lowercase e/The Finding Jesus At the Temple
Books: Eat Your Peas, Louiseby Pegeen Snow
Just Me and My Mom by Mercer Meyer
The story of the Finding of Jesus at the Temple

Songs:
Letter E song by abcmouse
Hey Mama by The Hound and The Fox
Mother Mary dressed in blue poem

Activities:
Review Ee vocab and practice tracing lowercase e.

Exercise together at the park

Play in turqoise water

Intro the story of finding Jesus at the temple. Color picture depicting the story.

Thursday:Matching and Sequencing/Wedding Feast at Cana Story
Books: Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Blueberries For Sal by Robert McCloskey

Songs:
Everything Grows and Grows by Raffi
Baby Mine by The Hound and The Fox
Hail Holy Queen

Activities:
Review Ee vocab.

Work on sequencing/matching work page

Elephant handprint activity

Play with turqoise playdough.

Intro Wedding Feast at Cana story. Color picture depicting the story.

Friday:Ee Tracing Review/The Crucifixion story where Jesus says Mary is now our mother
Books: An Evening At Alfie's by Shirley Hughs
Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
Just For You by Mercer Mayer

Songs:
Head Shoulders Knees and Toes (for eyes and ears)
You'll Be In My Heart by Kenny Loggins
Ave Maria

Activities:
Review Ee vocab. Do tracing review work sheet.

Make paint with egg whites and food coloring

Intro the part of the crucifixion story where Jesus says Mary is now our mother too. Do a little May crowning.

These are the ways I tried to help celebrate Mother's Day for Our Lady. What ideas do you have that could be helpful for Mother's Day?

How Does A Garden Grow?

 

    It is springtime, and also the best time of year for us to add some new flowers around the outside of our home. With this going on I believe there is no better time than now to introduce the concept of gardening. Gardening is a great sensory activity, but also a great life science experiment for pre-k children. Having them join in and take some ownership in this family activity will help them emotionally, cognitively, and physically as well.
     Growing up my parents made sure we had a vegitable garden of some sort every year. Also we helped plant flowers in the flower bed. My parents knew the importance of the experience of growing some of our own food. It was always fun to go out to the nursury to pick out our plants for the year. Watching my mom and dad take care of them with us helping only every so often. Us kids had more fun harvesting the food to be honest.  There is no sweeter a tomato that a fresh one handpicked from a garden.
     This is the first year we are hoping to get some veggies and flowers planted. Unlike my parents, I do not have a green thumb, so this is very experinental. I tend to somehow accidentally kill any plant given to me. Maybe I just gotta start it out from the beginning to see some plants thrive. Honestly,I have no clue. I do hope my little guy has fun watching what he helps plant grow.
      This week I chose to live in the monent with my kid. I had to get my hands dirty so i did not bother with photos. Some of my Dd activities were also used in my other Dd labeled activity, so if you are curious to see some photos you can click on the Dd activities label.
     Along with a gardening theme this week we focused on practicing tracing the letter Dd and color pink.

Monday:Practice Tracing Uppercase D/What A Garden Needs to Know
Books: My D Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
The Giant Vegitable Garden by Nadine Bernard Westcott

Songs:
Day-O by Raffi
Mr. Sun by Raffi

Activities:
Practice tracing uppercase D. Review Dd vocabulary

Play in the  with flashlights

Play with duplos

Intro the concept gardening... play with waterbeads.

Tuesday:Intro Pink/Prep Garden Area
Books: The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith
Piggy Pie Po by Audrey and Don Wood

Songs:
Six Little Ducks by Raffi
The Green Grass Grows All Around

Activities:
Review Dd vocabulary words.
Dd phonics activity

Free drawing time

Play doctor with stuffed animals

Intro pink. Make a pink paint collage

Prep garden area and go shopping to pick out some seeds to plant together.

Park Day

Wednesday: Practice Tracing Lowercase d/Plant Garden Seeds
Books: Dumbo by Walt Disney
We Planted A Tree by Diane Mukdrow

Songs:
If I Had A Dinosaur by Raffi
In My Garden by Raffi

Activities:
Practice tracing lowercase d. Review Dd vocab words

Play with dinosaurs

Work on dinosaurs puzzle

Play in pink colored water

Plant our flower garden seeds together

Thursday: Matching/Sorting Day/Garden Chores
Books: The Ugly Duckling by Polana Lovsin
Grandma's Garden by Elaine Moore

Songs:
Water Dance
The Changing Garden of Mr. Bell by Raffi

Activities:
Review Dd vocab words

Work on our "which picture is different?" Activity

Have fun getting dirty with left over potting soil

Dress up fun with play costumes

Sort out pink pom poms

Practice watering the flower seeds while introducing other gardenibg chores.

Friday: Dd Tracing Review/Ways Plants Change As They Grow
Books:David and Goliath  by The Clever Factory
The Enormous Carrot by Vladimir Vagin

Songs:
Hey Diddle Diddle
Everything Grows by Raffi

Activities:
Dd vocab words review. Practice tracing uppercase and lowercase Dd.

Play with drums

Dab paint with watercolors

Pink playdough day

Work with egg carton garden activity. Take cardboard egg cartons and poke holes in the bottom off each egg section. Make little veggies out of pipe cleaners. Have the little veggies fit in and out of the holes in the egg carton.

Zoo Day

Down On the Farm

      What a week we have had in our little home. We have had a sweet and playful visitor with us. A cute schnouzer dog named Roanie. She has definitly been a fun addition for us. Also without a fully fenced in back yard, having her here with us has made me be even more active to make sure she received the exercise and attention she needed.

     Wednesday happened to be my husband's and kid's daddy's birthday. Spending a much deserved week trying to focus on him too made another added layer to our week. He is a strong, loving, sweet, funny, dedicated, honest, loyal,  faithful, God-loving man and much more than these words describe. We love him so much!

     This week, with it being spring and just finished celebrating a beautiful Easter week-end (for those readers of mine who celebrate Easter I prayed you all had beautiful week-ends too), I thought, why not do a farm week? It is that time of year farm animals are having babies, and farmers are getting things prepped for planting. All sorts of new life can be witnessed on a farm. Also there are so many tactile activities to go along with this theme that make it so much fun for kids to learn with.
     Along with a farm themed week we are focusing on the lovely letter Cc and color grey.

Monday: Practice Uppercase C/Intro Different Kinds of Farms
Books: My C Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
A Visit to the Dairy Farm by Sandra Ziegler

Songs:
Cowlit Night by Raffi
We're On Our Way to Grandpa's Farm

Activities:
Intro Tracing Uppercase C/Review Cc vocab words

Play with chalk

Intro differnt types of farms
Play with dry oatmeal

Park day

Tuesday:Intro Color Grey/Farm Machinery
Books:Corduroy  by Don Freeman
Eeyore Be Happy by Don Ferguson
The Rusty Tractor by Joy Cowley

Songs:
Can You Count the Stars nursery rhyme
Old MacDonald

Activities:
Review Cc vocab words

Play with toy clock

Play with cars and car track

Intro farm machinery
Play with toy tractors

Intro Grey. Grey paint collage

Wednesday:Practice Lowercase c/Farm Crops
Books:Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault
Maisy's Morning On the Farm by Lucy Cousins

Songs:
Pat-A-Cake
The Farmer and the Dell

Activities:
Practice tracing lower case c. Review Cc vocab words

Daddy's birthday card making

Daddy's birthday cake baking

Intro farm crops. Corn/carrot/cucumber print painting

Play with grey water

Thursday:Sorting/Matching/Farm Chores
Books:Clifford at the Circus  by Norman Bridwell
Chicken Little by George Bridge
Farmyard Beat by Lindsey Craig and Marc Brown
Elephant Crossing by Toshi Yoshida

Songs:
Pussy Cat Nursury Rhyme
B-I-N-G-O

Activities:
Review Cc vocab words. Work on sorting/matching page.

Play with corn kernals.

Play with shaving cream.

Intro farm chores...make our own homemade butter. 1 pt of heavy whipping cream, 1/4 cup sugar, 1tsp cinnamon. Blend in a food processor until butter is formed. About 5 min.. we started trying to shake a little of the heavy whipping cream in a baby food jar. We got impatient with that as we kept shaking, but nothing was happening after five minutes of heavy shaking. Put it in a food processor and was done in five minutes.

Coloring with grey coloring crayons and grey chalk

Friday:Tracing Cc Review/Farm Animals
Books:The Berenstain Bears and the Gift of Courage by Jan and Mike Berenstain
Cock-a-Moo-Moo by Juliet Dallas-Conte
Click-Clack-Moo by Doreen Cronin

Songs:
C is for Cookie
Cluck Cluck Red Hen by Raffi

Activitues:
Review Cc vocab words and tracing letter Cc.

Bake cookies

Sensory play with fruity pebbles cereal

Intro farm animals... farm mom/baby animal matching game.

Zoo Day. Spot all the grey animals.

These are the fun ideas I found that worked well for my child. What activities can you think of to go along with a farm themed or letter Cc themed week???

Making Holy Week Accessible For Little Ones

     

     To all my reader friends who celebrate Holy Week I pray you have all had a prayerful one. For those of you who happen to not have a clue what I mean by Holy Week it happens to commemorate the days of Jesus life and death leading into Easter. Out of respect for Good Friday I decided to wait until later today to post this so I could spend the majority of my week focused on Jesus and His suffering. I still wanted to get it up though in case you might be interested in mqking the handprint activity book together over the week-end.

     To help bring the ideas down to a pre k level all my Holy Week ideas actually were taken from Catholic Icing's blog post about Holy Week in Handprints. I am writing this here so I do not have to repeatedly write Catholic Icing after each activity. I am also using my phone, as I do not actually own a computer or laptop, so figuring how to put the link to that specific post is tricky for me. That blog pops up pretty easily though when googling the post I mentioned above. Since my kid is just shy of 3 1/2 I stuck with her abbreviated page choices.

     Along with focusing on Holy Week we also worked more on the letter "Bb" and the color white. Also, I hardly took any photos as a lot of these activities were done in my previous "Bb" acrivities week, with only a few changes, and because when you google the handprint activity you will see photos ecplaining the crafts on that blog.

Monday: Practice Writing Uppercase "B"/ Intro to Holy Week and Easter 
Books: My b Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
Jack and the Beanstalk by The Clever Factory
Easter by Lynn Peppas

Songs:
Baby Bumblebee
The Palm Sunday Song

Activities:
Intro Uppercase "B". Review Bb picture vocab words. Practice tracing uppercase "B."

Play with wood blocks

Play with dry beans

Easter donkey handprint activity

Tuesday: Intro Color White/ Jesus Teaches That Church Is A Place for Prayer
Books:
The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone
Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban
White by Nancy Harris
The Easter Surprise by Janet McDonnell

Songs:
Bathtime song by Raffi
What Wounderous Love Is This?

Activities:
Review Bb vocab words

Bubbles

Foam blocks

Intro white. White painting on black construction paper.

Holy week handprint activity.

Zoo day

Wednesday: Practice Writing Lowercase "b"/ Spy Wednesday
Books:
Busy Wheels by Peter Lippman
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
The Berenstain Bears and the Real Easter Eggs by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Songs:
Wheels On the Bus
At the Name of Jesus

Activities:
Review Bb vocab words. Practice tracing lowercase "b."

Lego blocks

Bus puzzle

Play with shaving cream for color white activity

Intro spy wednesday. Do the spy wednesday handprint activity.

Park Day

Thursday:Sorting/Matching/Holy Thursday
Books:
Jonah and the Big Fish by The Clever Factory
Stop That Ball! by Mike McClintock
The Story of Easter by Patricia A. Pingry

Songs:
Baby Beluga
At That First Eucharist

Activities:
Review Bb vocab words

Work on matching/sorting activity page

Balloon fun

Bocce ball fun

Play with white playdough

Intro Holy Thursday and why it is so special. Explain a little about the different things that will happen during Mass so that the child will be looking for them to happen during Mass later in the evening. Work on Holy Thursday footprint activity.

Friday: Bb Tracing Review/Good Friday
Books:
Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Robert Southey
Curious George Rides A Bike by H. A. Rey
The Easter Angels by Bob Hartman

Songs:
Five Little Monkeys Jumping On the Bed
Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?

Activities:
Review Bb vocab words. Practice tracing both uppercase and lowercase Bb.

Practice making the bed

Play with water beads

Play with cotton balls for color white

Intro Good Friday. Explain why it is a sad day, but also why it is still good. Explain the special things that will happen at church service today so the child is more interested in the service and more willing to participate. Work on Good Friday handprint activity.

These are just some ways to bring Holy Week more to a 3 1/2 yr. old's level. What activities can you think that can help young ones actively participate in the holiest week of the year?