Water, Water!

Opening Song: Give Said the Little Stream

Lesson: Give each family member a glass of water. Ask them who made the water. We read in Genesis 1:7-8 that on the Second day the water was divided and some was on the earth and some was in the clouds. We discussed why water is important and listed all the ways we use water. (bathe, play, drink, swim, cook, help our garden and animals, wash cars, clean, baptize, etc...)



Activity: We played outside in water! It happened to be warm enough to do so here. However if it had been too cold, I would have brought the water table in the kitchen or garage or used small dishpans to play in. Andrew decided to wash the car, since cleaning was something we talked about doing with water. The evening ended with a huge water fight between Daddy and Andrew.



Learning Activity Outside:
Simple Water Cycle Experiment
1. Give each child a cotton ball to hold. Tell them to pretend that they are holding a cloud.
2. Ask them how does the cloud feel: heavy or light, soft or hard.
3. Instruct the children to place the "cloud" (cotton ball) gently over the cold water. Explain that water that has evaporated has traveled up to the cloud and it is a lot colder up in the sky, so the vapor turns into water, and it is filling up the cloud. Ask: Can you see the "cloud" (cotton ball) filling up with the water.
4. Ask the children to gently pick up the "cloud" (cotton ball) from the pan. Ask: How does the "cloud" feel now? Light or heavy. Warm or cold? What is happening with the water? Yes, the water is dripping from the "cloud". Why? The cloud cannot hold all that water, is too, too, heavy. What do we call when water falls from the clouds because they are too heavy with water? Yes, you are right, rain! It is raining! And what happens to the water? Yes, it is coming right back into the pan, and the pan could be a stream, river, ocean or the ground.



Art Activity: (after we dried off and put on our jammies we did art). We made the second page in our book. We glued clouds (cotton balls) to the top of the paper and water (blue freezer wrap) to the bottom. Ryan went a little crazy with his clouds, and we finally had to cut him off. He loves to glue!



Dessert: We enjoyed blue jello (water) and whipped cream (clouds).
Closing Song: "Rain is Falling"

Jesus Calms the Storm

Jesus Calms the Storm

This is both of our boys very favorite family home evening. We have done it many times. We change it up a little bit each time, but Andrew asks for it whenever it is his turn to "teach." It is really easy to put together on a really busy day. It takes virtually no preparation! (Those of my friends who are immersed in Edward and Bella's world right now might need that this week). This past FHE we really focused on the obedience part of the story and how we need to listen to the things Jesus has taught us to do.

Listening: At the dinner table we read the story from the Children's Illustrated Scriptures, Jesus Commands the Wind and Waves. Andrew actually knows this one by heart, so he tells the story to us.

Pretending: We create a storm in our living room. We use our rain stick, musical instruments, and shake a blue blanket to create a storm on the water. Andrew turns the lights on and off to make lightening. I hold up the picture of Jesus that is shown above. When I hold up the picture, all noise and lightening stops, and the winds and the waves obey Jesus. Both boys enjoy this game and we can make it last a long time. We talk about how we need to obey Jesus, too.

Scripture Memorization: To memorize our scripture we all take corners of the blue blanket and shake it up and down while we say the memory verse over and over again. Luke 8:25 "for he commandeth even the ^awinds and water, and they obey him."

Singing: We sing the chorus to "Master the Tempest is Raging" and then a song of the boys' choice.

Fun Activity: We have included water play at our water table outside with this lesson during the summer.

Snacking: For snack we make Banana Boats . These are fun camping treats we make in the oven. The boys are able to stuff the boats themselves with their favorite treats.