Beeswax Easter Candles

Today I want to give you a closer look at the beeswax candles that the Easter Club children gave to the residents at the Senior Center. This is a very popular nature craft for children, because the candles are beautiful and the smell of beeswax is heavenly.

I won't do a proper tutorial, because there is already a really great one at The Magic Onions that I used. (Thanks, Donni!) But here are a few photos of the process.

First the children dyed the eggshells that their parents sent. I had e-mailed them all a picture from The Magic Onions of how the eggs should be cracked.

Then, we tied pieces of wick to small sticks (left over from another nature craft) in order to keep the wick in place while the hot wax was being poured.

We melted the wax in a glass placed inside a tub of boiling water. Then, we carefully poured the wax through a funnel (one that is only to be used for pouring wax!).

And voila! Lovely Easter eggshell candles.

linked to The Magic Onions

and Sharing Saturday at Crafty Moms Share and Mama Mia's Heart2Heart

Celebrating Lent Link-Up!

Lent is slowly winding down and making way for the Easter joy that will come. Storyteller from Wonderful in an Easter Kind of Way and I have enjoyed this "conversation" with all of you so much. We are thrilled that the ideas keep coming!

If you haven't seen these posts yet, please don't miss:

Diary of a Sower's Stations of the Cross Prayer Gems

 Featherglen's finger labyrinth

Somewhat in the Air's Geometry of the Christian Life 

(for older children)

If you are here for the first time, here is the scoop: for the entire six weeks of Lent, we are inviting any of you with Lenten-themed or Preparing for Easter posts that fit the following categories to share your ideas with us.

• story-based religious activities 
• art projects 
• Montessori activities
• nature-based projects

Please enter your submissions below. All we ask is that you kindly link back to both of our blogs, Explore and Express and Wonderful in an Easter Kind of Way. Feel free to grab the button to the right to add to your blog post.

By participating you allow us permission to use your photos to share highlights. We will be re-posting each week!

Easter Club 2012 - Part 4

In der vierten und letzten Woche der OsterAG besuchten wir einen Seniorenheim in der Nähe von unserer Schule um ein bisschen Osterfreude weiterzugeben. Das gemeinsame Lachen und Spielen von den Kindern und Einwohnern sorgte für eine zauberhafte Stimmung. For our last week of Easter Club we visited a Senior Citizen's Home not far from our school to spread a little Easter joy. Watching the residents and children play and laugh together was absolutely magical. 


Ich muss zugeben, dass ich wenig Erfahrung mit Gruppen von Kindern im Seniorenheim habe. Aber meine Kollegin, Christina-Maria ist oft unterwegs mit Kindern in solche Einrichtungen und wusste, genau was zu tun war. Sie half den Kindern ein schönes Programm auszudenken, das den Einwohnern und Pflegern genossen haben. I must admit that I have no prior experience with groups of children in this setting, but my colleague, Christina-Maria, does this each week with a group of kindergarten children, so she knew just what to do. She helped the kids plan a wonderful program that really blessed the residents and staff.

Zum Anfang hat ein Kind die Christus-Kerze angezündet, die unter den Geschenken auf dem Boden lag. To start things off, a child lit the Christ Candle surrounded by our gifts . . . 

Zunächst haben wir ein Kennenlernen Spiel gespielt. Einer wurf einen Ball und der Empfänger musste seinen Namen erzählen. Einige von den Einwohnern haben auch ihren ehemailigen Beruf genannt. Es war hoch interessant zu wissen, dass wir z.B. eine Kinderzahnärztin und eine Horterzieherin unter uns hatten. Next, we played a "get-to-know-you" game, in which we threw a ball to each other and the person who caught it had to tell us his/her name. Some of the residents also shared with us their former professions and it was interesting to find out that we had a children's dentist and school child care worker among us. 

Danach haben wir die Lieder beigebracht, die wir in der AG gesungen haben. Das Lied im Foto unten geht darum, wie Gott uns umgibt und seine Hand über uns hielt. We also taught the residents the songs we'd been singing at Easter Club. This one talks about how God surrounds us and has his hand over us.

Ein paar tapfere Kinder haben ein Gedicht vorgetragen. 

A couple of brave children recited an Easter poem . . . 

Und ein Mädchen spielte ein paar fröhliche Lieder auf der Blockflöte.

and another played some cheery songs on her recorder . . . 

Unten kann man die Geschenke, die wir die letzten 3 Wochen gebastelt haben, genauer anschauen. Es gab 2 Grußkarten, Ostergras, und Bienenwachskerzen in Eierschalen. Here's a closer look at our gifts: two greeting cards, Easter grass in the shape of a cross, and beeswax candles in painted eggshells.

 

Unten schenkten 2 Jungs die gemeinsame Grußkarte und erklärten, was wir darauf gemalt haben. Below two of our boys present an Easter card on behalf of our entire group and explain the pictures that we drew. . . 

Das Ostergras wuchs schnell und wurde diese Woche zum Dschungel geworden. Wir mussten kurz vorher ein bisschen abschneiden, damit es immer noch schön aussah. Unten im Foto hielt ein Mädchen das Gras auf, damit man die Form des Kreuzes sieht. The Easter grass had turned into a jungle after four weeks and we had to trim it a little beforehand to make it presentable. Here, one of our girls holds it up to show the residents . . . 

Und jeder Einwohner dürfte die sanfte, grüne Gras berühren.

 . . . and she lets each resident feel the cool, green grass. 

Hier verteilen wir die Bienenwachskerzen.

Passing out the beeswax candles . . .

Nach dem Schenken erzählte Christina-Maria die Auferstehungs-Geschichte von Jesu und den Jüngern beim Tiberias See. Die Kinder fanden's toll den See zu "halten". Christina-Maria then shared the post-resurrection story of Jesus appearing to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. The kids loved "holding" the sea . . . 

 Sie haben auch gern die "Fische" (Knabberzeug) verteilt und gegessen.  . . . and got a little tied up with this great story of the miraculous catch of fish. They also had a great time helping pass around and eat the "fish" - fish crackers!

Zum Schluss spielten wir Memory mit den Kärtchen, die wir bastelten. Unten stellen die Kinder das Spiel auf. Last but not least, we played Memory with our homemade cards that we made last week. Below the kids are setting up the game.

Die Kinder spielten gegen 2 Frauen vom Seniorenheim, die würdigen Gegnerinnen waren. Leider (oder vielleicht zum Glück!) haben wir nicht genug Zeit gehabt zu spielen bis jemand gewonnen hat. Ich glaube, alle hätten aber stundenlang spielen können. The kids played against two ladies from the Center who were worthy opponents. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately!), our time came to an end before we had a clear-cut winner. I think everyone could have played for hours if we had had more time. 

Nachdem wir ein kleines Snack zusammen aßen, haben die Mitarbeiter vom Seniorenheim uns die Räumlichkeiten gezeigt. Die Kinder fanden es interessant zu sehen, wie das alltägliche Leben dort funktioniert. Then, we shared some refreshments with the residents and a staff member took several of the kids on a tour of the wing. Our kids really enjoyed seeing some of the residents' room and how life at the Senior Center works. 


Von all den Sozialprojekten, die ich bis jetzt mit den Kindern gemacht habe, fand ich dies am schönsten. Es war ein wunderbarer Weg unsere Zeit zusammen zu schliessen und die Osterfreude weiterzugeben. Of all the social projects I have participated in with children from our school, this one might be my favorite. It was a wonderful way to end our time together and share the joy of Easter. 

(In case you missed the first three exciting episodes, 
here are Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3.)




This post is a part of 

and linked to The Magic Onions

The Story of St. Patrick

On Sunday I told my children the story of St. Patrick from Godly Play Volume 7. I do these stories in English as an enrichment for my own children. I don't have time to do the whole book this year, so I am picking and choosing a few of my favorites to do. I realized recently that my children had probably never heard of Patrick. Though he is huge in the English-speaking world, he is not particularly well-known in Germany, nor is the holiday celebrated. Patrick was always one of my favorite saints, so it is fun for all of us to "wonder" about his story.

My homemade materials for this story:

• a wooden boat (made by our kindergarten teacher)
• St. Patrick peg doll 
• a felt shamrock
• a sheep (made from polymer clay)
• a puzzle piece of Ireland (from a puzzle map of Europe)

I made the Patrick peg doll the same way that I made St. Thomas Aquinas in this post. 

Jerome Berryman does a great job of re-telling the most important parts of Patrick's story such as his abduction and later escape, the call to go back to Ireland, and his use of the shamrock to explain the Trinity. Fortunately, he leaves out the parts that are more difficult to believe and that are most likely legend, such as driving the snakes out. 

As with the story of St. Thomas Aquinas, my 8-year-old son was more interested in the story than my daughter. I am not sure if this is an age or personality difference. During the Wondering, when I asked the question about what we could leave out and still have all we needed for the story, he said that we could leave out the part that Patrick was from Ireland. When I asked why, he replied that the part about Patrick being kidnapped as a boy and forced into slavery could have happened in a lot of other places, "like Uganda". 

 

One of the most fun things about doing the saint stories with my kids has been the creative time after the story. I have not pulled out any art materials, but let my kids spontaneously decide what they want to do. This time, they wanted to make a Patrick figure. Since I didn't have any wooden peg dolls to spare, I remembered that we had some toilet paper rolls in the bathroom that would be perfect for such a project. My son ended up making a figure that he referred to as our family's saint. (A great set-up for the story about each person being a saint!) My daughter made a figure that I think is supposed to be Patrick, although she kept referring to him as a king. The bishop's mitre kept throwing her off, because it looks to her mind like a crown. 

As part of my own further "Wondering", I pulled this book off the shelf that I read years ago to read the chapter about Patrick again. I read it years ago and have hung onto it as a reference book about medieval saints and scholars. 

Have any of you been telling the saints' stories? How have your children responded? Please be sure to leave a comment and a link if you have.

Jonah Printmaking Project

Here is a simple mixed-media printmaking project that can be used with the story of Jonah and the Great Fish. I wanted a project that would allow the children lots of freedom to reflect on the story and not just the part about the fish, because there is a lot more to the story than that!


Below you can see the three examples that I prepared to give the children an idea of how to use the printmaking pieces and collage paper:

Jonah's getaway and the storm.
The waves, fish and sail are made with sponges.
The boat is collage paper.

Encountering the big fish.
The fish is collage paper.
Jonah is a from a stamp,
and the water is from bubble wrap.

Jonah sitting under the vine in the hot sun.
The water and leaves on the vine are from sponges.
The vine itself is from the twine.

Materials needed:
Paint (liquid goauche works well) in separate containers

glue 

scissors

a variety of paintbrushes

bubble wrap
twine
sponges (to cut into leaves, waves, fish, or other shapes)
collage paper scraps

Person stamp made from foam rubber
and a sponge from an earlier project.

Place the different colors of paint in separate containers. preferably on a flat surface like a plate. Demonstrate for the children how to dip their printmaking materials (sponges, bubble wrap, twine, etc.) and wipe off excess paint with a cloth or paper towel before pressing onto the paper. Then, show them the collage paper and talk over what could be done with it.

This was our set-up for this project.

If anyone does this project with the children in your life, I would love to see pictures!

Celebrating Lent Link-Up!

The countdown to Easter continues and the ideas keep coming! In fact, my son asked me yesterday what we were going to do next year for Lent and Easter Club. I told him that I hadn't gotten that far yet, but had a lot of ideas.:)

If you haven't seen these, please don't miss . . . 

Featherglen's simple, but beautiful bean sprouting idea

Tired, Need Sleep and Royal Baloo's free Lenten E-book

and Three Sided Wheel's salt dough crown of thorns for Good Friday

If you are here for the first time, here is the scoop: for the entire six weeks of Lent, we are inviting any of you with Lenten-themed or Preparing for Easter posts that fit the following categories to share your ideas with us.

• story-based religious activities 
• art projects 
• Montessori activities
• nature-based projects

Please enter your submissions below. All we ask is that you kindly link back to both of our blogs, Explore and Express and Wonderful in an Easter Kind of Way. Feel free to grab the button to the right to add to your blog post.

By participating you allow us permission to use your photos to share highlights. We will be re-posting each week!

Easter Club 2012 Part 3

Wir haben diese Woche Ostereiersuche im Kirchenhof gemacht! The third week of Easter Club began with an Easter egg hunt in the church courtyard. 

Die Kinder rannten schneller als Hasen 'rum um die Ostereier zu finden.
The mad scramble for the eggs . . . 

Nichts mehr passt in den Korb? Dafür hat man Taschen.

If the basket is too small, let's try stuffing them in our jacket!

Schaut mal die Schätze an! 

Showing off the treasure. 

Unter den mit Süßigkeiten gefüllten Ostereier gab es eine andere Art von Eiern. Diese hatten Zahlen darauf und etwas drin, das uns mit der Geschichte helfen sollte. Hidden among the eggs with candy inside were 12 special eggs with numbers on them. I told the children beforehand that these would help us tell our story today. 

Die besondere Eier heißen "Auferstehungseier" und haben kleine Gegenstände drin, die die Ostergeschichte erzählen. These special eggs are called "Resurrection Eggs" and contain small objects that tell the story of the events leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection. 

Die Inhalt / The contents:

• ein Esel / a donkey
• 2 Silbermünzen / 2 silver coins
• ein Kelch / a chalice
• betende Hände / praying hands
• ein Stück Leder / strip of leather
• Dornenkrone / crown of thorns
• Nageln / nails
• ein Würfel / a die
• ein Speer / a spear
• ein Stück Leinen / a piece of linen
• ein Stein / a stone
• das 12-te Ei ist mit Absicht leer um den leeren Grab darzustellen / the 12th egg is empty to represent the empty tomb

Wir steckten die kleine Gegenstände auf Jesu Weg zum Kreuz und Auferstehung. Die Kinder und ich haben dann zusammen die Geschichte erzählt. We placed the objects on a path with Jesus leading to the cross and the empty tomb. The children and I took turns telling the story together.

Danach übten wir Lieder für den Seniorenheim und sammelten Ideen fürs Programm. Zwei Kinder wollten ein Gedicht vortragen, ein Mädchen wollte ein Lied mit der Blockflöte spielen, and einige andere meldeten sich die Geschenke zu überreichen. Afterwards we practiced songs for the program at the Senior Center and discussed what else we would like to do. Two children volunteered to learn an Easter poem, one child wanted to play a song on the flute, and several children volunteered to explain the gifts that we will bring.

Obwohl einige Kinder entschieden sich während der Kreativzeit die Auferstehungseier genauer anzugucken, die meisten arbeiteten weiter an die Geschenke für den Seniorenheim, Familie und Freunde. Although several children continued to examine and play with the resurrection eggs, much of the creative time was spent working on gifts for the Seniors as well as for family and friends.

Unten kann man die gefärbten Eierschalen sehen, die zu Kerzen gemacht werden. Die Kinder halfen den Docht in die Schalen zu stecken und den Bienenwachs einzugießen. Der Duft von Bienenwachs ist einfach herrlich! Below you can see the colored eggs shells ready to  be made into candles. The kids helped place the wicks in the shells and pour the beeswax. The smell of beeswax always makes me happy!

Hier mussten wir ein bisschen überlaufendes 

Bienenwachs wegräumen. 

Cleaning up a bit of spilled wax . . .

Da ich völlig unterschätzt habe, wieviel Zeit man braucht für so eine Kerzenaktion, haben wir nur die Hälfte an dem Tag fertig machen können. Meine Kinder haben dann mir mit dem Rest nach Hause geholfen. (Ich bin froh, wenn ich eine Weile kein mehr Bienenwachs sehe!) I grossly underestimated the time it would take for this project, so we only made about half of the candles that day! My son and daughter helped me do the rest at home. (I am fairly sure that I do not want to see beeswax again for a while!)

Hier macht ein Kind eine 3-D Grußkarte.

Making a 3-D greeting card . . . 

Ein ganzes Zimmer voll mit beschäftigten Kinder - so toll!

I love seeing children happily at work!

Was noch sollen wir an den Senioren schreiben?
What else should we write on the card for the Seniors?

Ein handgemachtes Memory Spiel, das wir mit den Senioren spielen können!

A homemade Memory game to play with the Seniors! 

Eine fertige 3-D Karte für die Senioren - seine Idee, nicht meine!
A finished 3-D card to present to the Seniors - his idea, not mine!

Und ein Gruppenfoto nach der Ostereisuche!

And a group picture after the Egg Hunt. :)

linked to The Magic Onions

and Celebrating Lent!