This week, we’ve been taking a look at the classic verse John 3:16. Last week, while I was at the Gathering conference, I heard an inspirational story from a preschool teacher who was also in attendance. She told me that the 2 year olds in her program all knew John 3:16 and could recite it from memory. When I remarked how it incredible that was, she explained, “Yeah, we start when they are in diapers. Every time we change them, we say the verse out loud or when we’re rocking them to sleep. Most of them can say it before they are walking!” Inspired by her story, I decided to step up my game a little when it comes to learning memory verses around here! Of course, if you’ve got older kids, Kelli’s memory verse printables are perfect for this venture! Handwriting practice and Bible learning all in one! Check out the free printable for John 3:16 right here!
Let’s get started!
What You Need:
- Paper Plate
- Green Paint
- Blue Paint
- Paint Dotters (optional)
- Paint brushes (optional)
- Red construction paper
- Heart puncher or scissors
What You Do:
If you are opting to use the paint dotters (don’t know what I’m talking about? check it out here!), fill them up with blue and green. The manufacturer’s website says you can fill them with tempera paint, but I found that to be a little too thick. I watered it down a bit and it worked better, but I bet liquid watercolor would be perfect!
The idea was to have them dot the whole globe so it would take a little longer and enhance fine motor skills, but the kids quickly became frustrated with the bingo dotters and I had to put big globs of paint on the plates to smear around instead.
Of course, by this time, I had run out of green paint, so we had to use some brown… not exactly the effect I was going for. It’s about the process, right? Isn’t that what they say these days?
Anyway, we’ve been talking a little bit about the planets lately — one of the day care kids introduced me to this little video about planets — so we discussed how planet Earth is our home.
After the “Earth” is completed, we took our pre-punched hearts and stuck them on the plate. Our paint was still wet, so we didn’t add any glue, but I did spray the whole thing with Spray Adhesive once they were done. Just to be sure.
Lots and lots of hearts! After Chipmunk was done with the hearts, I wrote the beginning of John 3:16 at the top and the Scripture reference at the bottom.
The 1.5 year old’s work. Pretty cute!
Finished!
More Questions to Ask As You Work:
- What is the blue for? What is the green for?
- What kinds of water are there? What bodies of water do we live near?
- What are some other planets in space?
- Do you think God loves all the planets?
- What did God do because he loves us so much?
- What are some things you can do for those you love?
What About You?
What crafts are you doing this week? Leave a comment and tell me all about it!