S is for Snow(man) and Salvation

Books: The Snowy Day (by Ezra Jack Keats), Stranger in the Woods (by Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick), Katy and the Big Snow (by Virginia Lee Burton) -- all books we own, so no library trip necessary
Craft: Shiny Silver S
Food: snow ice cream
Bible story: Moses and the bronze serpent
Resources and printables: Read to Me & ABC and Royal Baloo

I really hadn't intended to be doing any preschool in the early weeks of January. I had, of course, expected to be having a baby at the end of December, and to take it easy (translation: dump out all the toys and watch a whole lot of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood) for a while. But January 1 rolled around, all of our celebrating was long over with, we were all bored with being at home, and there was a big snowfall predicted for January 2. So I pulled up my "s is for snowman" packet, and the S page from our Bible curriculum, and threw together a few activities.

The salvation stuff in ABCs for Godly Boys would likely have gone over the heads of my little guys, so instead of giving Isaac the whole page of ideas and Scripture references (as I have in the past), I merely mentioned that that was our theme for the week and asked him to say something (anything!) about it. Brilliant man that he is, he went straight to the story of the Israelites grumbling in the wilderness and the snakes God sent as punishment. I think I probably gleaned more from it than the children: while I know it's true that they will grow in self-control as they mature, I fear that I'm far too likely to simply demand self-control instead of guiding them to ask God for help. Several times throughout the week we (mostly Levi and I) identified some disobedience as a "sin snake" and stopped to pray, asking God to help us get rid of the snakes. I never talked about this with the kids, but it made a great visual for me -- to envision the "sin that so easily entangles" as a bunch of snakes that can only be beaten back by our Savior. (Okay, it's not an exact interpretation, and probably not terribly theologically sound, but I'm doing the best I can with the brain cells I have right now.)

As such, it would have been perfect to do a snake craft, to fit right into our S theme, but I never got that far. Instead, our S craft was super-simple: gluing squares of aluminum foil onto a large S outline. Owen still hasn't quite figured out how to manage glue successfully; he thinks it'll work better the harder he smashes the bottle tip on to the paper. I left the kitchen for just a minute and returned to find Levi trying to teach him how to do it. :)

If you ask Owen what color his S is, he'll tell you "shiny." 

He can't seem to remember the word "silver."

It was waaaaay too cold to play outside on the day it snowed, so we brought the snow in! One bucket of snow + a few measuring cups and assorted plastic bowls = an hour of good scooping fun. Of course it helped that we made snow ice cream and a snowman, too -- and that Daddy was home to play, too!

Picking sucanat crystals out to eat.

Adding the milk -- it really does turn creamy!

(I didn't measure any of the ingredients this time, just dumped some in.)

We took the opportunity to review our five senses by seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting the snow. Unfortunately, I didn't start this until after we made the ice cream, and I'm not sure Owen realized there was a difference between the regular snow and the ice cream snow!

Silas LOVES to stir. Usually in empty bowls with spoons as long as his arms.

Chocolate-chip eyes and an orange peel nose, because that's what was out on the counter at the time.

Fun in the snow without bundling up . . . that's my kind of winter play!