The Letter N: Nest

I had a few snippets of scriptures floating around in my head for N this week…

Never become tired of doing good. Galatians 8:6

Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Romans 8:38-39

And my own personal fave, that I found online while searching “abc bible verses”:

No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God. I Corinthians 6:10b

SERIOUSLY?

Anyway, neither of those verses actually start with N, nor are they short enough (in my opinion) for a 2 year old to master. So, we did the old slice & dice and came up with:

Nothing at all can ever separate us from God’s love… Romans 8:39b (NIrV)

It’s kinda wordy with that “at all” and “ever”, but I put a little cadence to it and I think she’ll get it quickly.

Now, onto the craft!

I wanted to do a nest. She is enthralled with nests! We found one in a tree once and every time we pass that tree–even six months later, she still wants to look for the nest.

Cute, huh?

So, I drew an amazing nest with a Sharpie. *swoon*

Then squeezed some glue out on an index card, grabbed a q-tip for applying…

Cut up some yarn. (The same yarn I’ve had ever since I learned to use a knitting nobby at camp in the 3rd grade. Seriously, I need to do some culling…)

She spread the glue out and we stuck the yarn on!

Next we grabbed some cotton balls, glued those onto the nest. They’re supposed to be eggs. (I know, it kinda looks like spaghetti & meatballs.)

Then I had a flash of brilliance!

Lydia got the best book for her birthday! It’s called The Noisy Egg. And she loves it! Well, it’s about a mama duck who makes a nest, lays some eggs and then waits for them to crack. Her favorite part is when a tiny beak pops out of the egg first.

So, we added a little orange fun foam beak to each cotton ball egg. (They were just little fun foam stickers I had in an assortment box I bought at the craft store.)

I thought our collage was beautiful! But after reading The Noisy Egg, Lydia decided we needed a mommy duck, too. So, we scrounged around for some mommy duck pieces. I found a few big shapes, a strange little pipe cleaner thingie and a couple of googly eyes–so there’s our mama duck!

On a super-spiritual note, I think the verse and the mama duck with her eggs kinda go together. God even describes himself as One that will cover us with his feathers, so we can find refuge under his wings. Just like a mama duck, God won’t let us be separated from His love!

Additional “n” or nest-y type books

Best Dad in the Sea (all about NEMO who gets caught in a NET!)
Are You My Mother? (a little birdy hops out of his nest looking for his mother)

What We Usually Do

Each week, here’s what I try to do. I’m not “homeschooling” her every day or anything. I just try to integrate our verse & letter into about 3 different activities across 3 different days. If I actually get all 3 of these things done I feel VERY VERY accomplished. Each post following this one will showcase one or more of these segments:

Day 1:

First: Find a Verse

We read the verse from the Bible, write it down on paper and then repeat it a few times. I try to pick verses that actually begin with the letter we’re focusing on. That doesn’t always work. Some verses are inappropriate for a preschooler…

“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— ofr your love is more delightful than wine.” Song of Solomon 1:2

or they just don’t mean much…

“Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself.” Deuteronomy 23:12

I want to put scriptures into my children’s hearts that will be helpful to them (DO NOT BE AFRAID!) or that show some great quality about God (GOD IS LOVE!).

I usually look at the New International Reader’s Version first. It’s on a 3rd grade reading level and is in short sentences. However, I also use BibleGateway.com to look at several versions, in case something is written a little bit easier (or to make it start with our letter!)

Second: Go to Starfall.com

This is seriously my favorite thing ever. It’s a free site for parents and teachers. It’s got all kinds of computer “games” that teach letters and reading. The ABC portion is so cute. You click a letter and then it goes through all sorts of words that begin with that letter–they’ll show pictures, animations and even games. But the best part is it says the letter’s sound every time you click. I love listening to my daughter repeat the sounds with every page.

Third: Find a craft

I try to find a picture or craft that can be on our same Bible verse page. We display it all week…mainly so I can remember to say the verse with her. So, we’re not talking big honkin’ craft here. Just something more than coloring is all I’m after. We’ve done stamps, fun foam, feathers, yarn…whatever just happens to be laying around the house. Seriously, I have NEVER bought anything for this crafty endeavor.

There are tons of great sites out there. You can view them all on my sidebar.

Fourth: Letter Recognition
I usually print a Capital & Lowercase letter and let Lydia trace it. I found a great site that has the printable letters with the directional arrows on each one. Not that my daughter uses or understands the directional arrows. But still, it’s fun for her.

The tracing of the letters, the computer game, craft and Bible verse MAY take us a half an hour to a full hour. It’s not structured. I don’t make her do the craft the way I want. (Wait till you see the elephant she made for E. yikes.) It’s just about introducing the letter and saying the verse as many times as she’ll do it!

When our crafts and coloring sheets are done, we hang them up in the living room. She loves looking at her “abc verse” all week…especially if someone comes over, that’s the first thing she wants to show them.

Day 2: Activity

I try to find something else to do that goes with our letter.

C? Are you making chicken for dinner? Let your preschooler help.

A? Going grocery shopping? Let your son pick out three things at the store that begin with A. (uhm…apples, apricots and artichokes)

K? Go fly a kite!

E? Tivo a show about elephants.

F? Make an American Flag from tissue paper and let your child display it in their room.

Just whatever I can find online, remember from doing as a kid, or can just make fit into our letter.

Day 3: Library Books

We go to the library and look for books that begin with our letter. Or are somewhat about our letter. Or about the craft we did.

For example, the letter A; I found books about Johnny Appleseed. Then I just searched our card catalog for anything that had to do with apples. For B, we got Berenstain’s B Book. For C we looked for books about cats and caterpillars. For E I found Elmer the Elephant. You just have to search around.

Hope this helps! Please leave comments or questions!