Remembering and Mourning

I just returned from my week in Holland at the Godly Play Trainers' Training, but before I tell you about all the things I experienced there, I would like to pause a moment to remember the 20 beautiful children and their six courageous adult caretakers at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Since our training was in a monastery, we had limited access to internet and I first learned of the terrible tragedy on Saturday morning. I wept as I saw pictures of these precious people and listened to President Obama's response to it. 

Charlotte, age 6

Daniel, age 7

Olivia, age 6

Josephine, age 7

Ana, age 6

Dylan, age 6

Madeleine, age 6

Catherine, age 6

Chase, age 7

Jesse, age 6

James, age 6

Grace, age 7

Emilie, age 6

Jack, age 6

Noah, age 6

Caroline, age 6

Jessica, age 6

Avielle, age 6

Benjamin, age 6

Allison, age 6

Rachel, age 29

Dawn, age 47

Anne Marie, age 52

Lauren, age 29

Mary, age 56

Victoria, age 27

Please continue to remember these families in prayer during the holidays and in the days to come. I think of the words of the baptism story that I told this week in Holland: "The Holy Spirit . . .  comes to us when we need comfort and strength." Those left behind need this deep comfort and strength. 

And for some solid advice in speaking with your own children about this tragic event, please read what Carolyn at Worshiping with Children has written on the subject.

Exploring Advent and Christmas Link-Up

Well, I'll be signing off for about a week as I leave today for the Godly Play Trainers' Training in Holland today. I am very excited about the training, but it is hard to leave my family for a whole week during Advent. Please pray for them and me this week if you think about it.

In the meantime, please link-up your wonderful Advent and Christmas ideas below. I'd love to come home and read lots of new things!

Please feel free to share all your ideas for Advent and Christmas with us! 

I'll be posting each week until New Year's. We all love to have a pool of ideas to gather from, so please share old or new posts. 

If you participate, please link back to Explore and Express. Feel free to grab the button above or in the side bar. 

By participating in the link party, you give me permission to share your photos in weekly highlights.

Please do not link giveaways or advertisements for commercial items. Thanks!

Advent Club Week 2

Diese Woche beim Advent Club ging die Geschichte um die Bedeutung der 4 Adventsonntage und Heiligabend.  Ungefähr die Hälfte der Kinder im Club haben diese Godly Play Adventsgeschichte schon dreimal gehört, und ich fragte sie vorher, warum ich nochmal etwas erzählen würde, das sie öfter gehört hatten. This week at Advent Club, we focused on the actual Christmas story and the meanings of the four Advent Sundays and Christmas Day.  About half of the children in the room have heard this Godly Play Advent story 3 times already, so I prefaced it by asking why I would tell them a story that they had already heard before. 

Ein Kind meinte, "Vielleicht weil es etwas Wichtiges ist." One child answered, "Maybe because it is something really important."

Ein anderes Kind sagte, "Vielleicht weil wir etwas Neues darüber lernen." Another said, "Maybe because we can learn something new from it."

Dann als ich das Material für die Geschichte holte, erkannten die Kinder es sofort und ein ältere Junge sagte aufgeregt: "Ich liebe diese Geschichte!" Wie schön zu wissen, dass diese Geschichte ein bedeutsamer Teil seiner Adventserfahrungen geworden ist. Then, when I pulled out the story, one older boy exclaimed, "I love this story!" How wonderful to know that this simple Godly Play story had become an important part of his Advent experience. 

Hier ist ein näherer Blick aufs Material: 

Here is a closer look at the story materials:

1.Advent: Die Propheten zeigen den Weg nach Bethlehem. 

First Advent: The Prophets who pointed the way to Bethelem.

2.Advent: Josef, Maria und der kleine Esel machen sich auf dem Weg nach Bethlehem. Second Advent: Joseph, Mary and the little donkey make their way to Bethlehem.

3.Advent: Die Hirten haben ein besonderes Erlebnis und hören von einem sonderbaren neugeborenen Kind. 

Third Advent: The Shepherds have a very unusual experience and hear that a special child is born.

4. Advent: Die 3 Könige folgen einem ungewöhnlichen Stern und finden einen neugeborenen König. 

Fourth Advent: The Three Kings follow a star and find a new king.

Heiligabend: Das Christuskind, das Geheimnis von Weihnachten, ist geboren. Aus der ernsten Vorbereitungszeit kommt die reine Freude.

Christmas: Jesus Christ, the mystery of Christmas, is born and everything changes. Out of the waiting comes pure joy.

Am Ende der Geschichte reichten wir jedes Kind eine Kerze als Errinerung, dass das Licht vom Gott in uns bleibt, auch wenn Weihnachten längst vorbei ist. Wir können dieses Licht  das ganze Jahr bei uns halten und überall mitbringen. At the end of the story, we gave each child a light to remind them that the light that God puts in our hearts at Christmas stays with us long after Christmas is over. It is something that we can carry with us the rest of the year.

Für die Kreativephase ergänzten wir die Stationen von letzter Woche mit einer neuen Station. Da die Geschichte such um Gottes Licht ging, hat jedes Kind die Möglichkeit bekommen die eigene Adventskerze mit Verzierbienenwachs zu gestalten. (Hier ist eine Einleitung, die wir's gemacht haben.) For the Creative Phase, we added one new station in addition to the ones from last week. Because our lesson ended with thoughts about God's light, each child had the option to decorate his or her own Christmas candle with colored beeswax. (For a closer look at how to do this, click here.)

Die wunderschöne fertige Kerzen! The lovely finished candles!

In der Godly Play-Pädagogik ist es wichtig, dass die Kinder Raum und Zeit haben zu reflektieren. Spiel und Kunst helfen Kindern nachzudenken und Fragen zu stellen, die sie vielleicht noch nicht mit Wortern ausdrücken können. Meistens machen die Kinder sich Gedanken über Sachen, die sie vor ein paar Wochen gehört haben oder vom Alltag, und nicht gleich darüber, was sie gerade gehört haben. Unten gestaltet ein 2.Klässler etwas mit Farben. In Godly Play, it is important that children have the option to express whatever they want through the art materials. This is a way to help them process thoughts and questions that they may not necessarily know how to do with words. Most often, children do not immediately make art about something they just heard. They return rather to things that may have heard weeks ago or something from their everyday life. Here a second grader creates with the paints.

Weiterhin haben wir Weihnachtslieder mit dem Gemeinde-Kantor und seiner Akkordeon gesungen. Mit einem kleinen Fest und dankbaren Herzen haben wir unsere Zeit zusammen beendet.  We also had a visit from the church's music director, who led us in Christmas songs on the accordion. We ended our time together with a small feast and thankful hearts.

For more Advent Club fun, see:

Week 1

Weeks 3 + 4

Exploring Advent and Christmas

Hope your First Advent was peaceful and joyous!

Our family tradition is to have coffee and cake together on each Advent Sunday. As we enjoy the goodies, we talk about the meaning of each Advent Sunday and pray together. 

Since we talked about remembering the prophets on First Advent in Advent Club this week, I decided to try Cheryl's Isaiah 9:2 meditation that she posted on the link-up last week. Before we lit the candle, we discussed darkness and light and how each of these things made us feel. Then, we showed the children a picture of Isaiah and read the verse, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." We then wondered about who the people could be and who or what the light could be. 

Thanks, Cheryl, for such a wonderful idea! I have learned so much from Cheryl over the past two years and been inspired by her. Be sure to check out her blogs, Diary of a Sower and Guiding Masha.

And now, once again, I'd like to invite you to link-up and share your ideas with us!

Please feel free to share all your ideas for Advent and Christmas with us! 

I'll be posting each week until New Year's. We all love to have a pool of ideas to gather from, so please share old or new posts. 

If you participate, please link back to Explore and Express. Feel free to grab the button above or in the side bar. 

By participating in the link party, you give me permission to share your photos in weekly highlights.

Please do not link giveaways or advertisements for commercial items. Thanks!

Advent Nature Table

Today, we began to make our home ready for the King who has already come, but comes again each year. It is a mystery and Advent allows us the time to explore this mystery. (For a lovely meditation on this idea, click here.)

My 9-year-old son and I began to work on our Advent nature table together. As I looked around at the things we had to work with, the idea of making an Advent calendar with stones came to mind. Since my son is an avid rock collector, he thought this was a great idea. 

We selected 24 stones, and my son decided that the last three would be special stones to represent the gifts of the Three Wise Men. The wooden nativity figures are from our Godly Play set, but we used the Baby Jesus from our nature nativity that we made last year. 

Each day we remove a stone and the shepherds and Wise Men move closer to Bethlehem and Baby Jesus.

My son added a this tower of blocks here to represent Herod's palace that the Wise Men will visit along the way. He first learned about the terrible slaughter of the innocents last year. It reminds us of the real danger that Baby Jesus was in soon after his birth, and how God used his wise parents, Mary and Joseph to protect him. 

Have a wonderful First Advent tomorrow!



Linked to Sharing Saturday at Crafty Moms Share

and Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now

and Waldorf Wednesday at Seasons of Joy

and Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted's Art Blog

and Friday's Nature Table at The Magic Onions

and Eco-Kids Tuesday Link-Up at Like Mama - Like Daughter

Art Project: Decorate Christmas Candles with Beeswax

A great way to help children reflect on the Christmas story is to have them decorate their own candles with beeswax. Decorating candles is a beloved activity in Germany. I first became aware of it three years ago when a Godly Play colleague was making a candle for her godson's baptism. It is a pleasurable, tactile experience as well to mold and shape the beeswax between the fingers and smell its fragrance. 

You  will need a wide candle for this activity so that the "canvas" is big enough for small hands to work on. The height is not so important, but the wider, the better. 

In Germany, Stockmar sells what is called "Verzierwachs", which are thin sheets of beeswax for decorating candles. It is like modeling wax, but much thinner. If you can't find this, modeling wax like this here will work, but you may need to warm it a little at first so that small hands are not frustrated by the hardness of it.

It is important to tell the children to begin by kneading very small pieces of wax. The tendency of the children is to take a large piece, but larger pieces do not adhere to the candle as well. We actually cut the long strips of wax into smaller pieces before giving it to the children at Advent Club.

I made this simple candle to use as an example at Advent Club. I purposely made it very simplistic, because I find that when I do more elaborate things, the kids simply copy my work. If you are doing this with a group, it may help to ask them some "Wondering" questions, like "I wonder, what your favorite part of the Christmas story is?" or "I wonder, what part is the most important?" You are sure to be surprised by some of the answers you get to what the children put on their candles!

Here is some of the children's work from Advent Club:

Wishing you a joyous and meaningful First Advent on Sunday!


Linked to Friday's Nature Table at The Magic Onions

and Grünzeug at Naturkinder

and Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now

and Waldorf Wednesday at Seasons of Joy

and Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted's Art Blog

Advent Club 2012 - Week 1

AdventsAG 2012 fing letzte Woche an! Unser Thema ist "Die Hoffnung von Weihnachten" und wir werden gemeinsam entdecken, was für eine Hoffnung man in Weihnachten findet, und drücken unsere Gedanken durch Kunst und kreatives Spiel aus. Wir freuen ins auch über die Möglichkeit diese Hoffnung weiterzugeben bei einem Projekt im Seniorenheim. Advent Club 2012 began last week! Our theme is "The Hope of Christmas" and we'll be exploring what sort of hope we find in the Christmas story and expressing what we learn through art and imaginative play. We'll also have the opportunity to share what we find out about hope with others at a Senior Citizen's Home just before Christmas.

Nach einem Gespräch über die Bedeutung vom Wort "Advent" - es ist lateinisch für "Warten" - und auf wen wir warten, fingen wir an über Geschenke zu reden. Gerade weil dieses Thema so aufregend für Kinder ist, habe ich ihnen ein Geschenk an uns von Gott gezeigt. Dieses Geschenk ist sehr alt und würde an uns geschenkt, sogar bevor wir geboren sind. Und auch wenn wir nicht genau verstehen, was es ist oder was wir admit tun sollen, gehört es ganz uns. Diese Geschenk ist nämlich win Gleichnis. Es gibt mehrere von diesen Geschenken und heute hörten wir "Die kostbare Perle". After discussing what exactly the word "advent" means (Latin for "waiting"), and who exactly we are waiting for, we turned our attention toward the subject of gifts. During Advent, there is a lot of talk about gifts. So our first story was about a gift to us from God. It's a very old gift, one that was given to us before we were born. And even if we're not quite sure what it is or what to make of it, it is still our gift and belongs to us. And we can come back to it at any time. This gift is a parable called "The Parable of the Great Pearl".

Jesus erzählte dieses Gleichnis, als er gefragt wurde, "Was für ein Reich ist das Himmelsreich?" In der Geschichte machte ein Kaufmann sich auf und suchte nach einer wirklich kostebaren Perle. Er entscheidet sich für eine Perle, die nicht die größte oder schönste ist. Dann tauschte er alles dafür ein um sie zu besitzen. Jesus told this parable when asked what the Kingdom of Heaven was like. In it a merchant searches long and hard for the perfect pearl. The one he finally chooses is not the biggest or most obvious choice. Then, he trades everything he has, even his house, to get it.

Die Reaktionen der Kinder im Ergründungsgespräch danach waren herrlich! Einige Kinder hielten den Kaufmann für verrückt. Einige dachten, er ist doch glücklich mit seiner Perle. Andere haben überlegt, wie er weiter leben wird, und ob er die Perle für etwas Besseres tauscht. Ich fragte noch, was so kostbar seine könnte, dass man alles dafür abgibt. Eine 5.Klässlerin meinte, dass die Perle vielleicht für Gott und seine Nähe stehen könnte.   The reactions of the children were highly animated during the Wondering at the end. Some children thought he was crazy. Others think he is content with his pearl. Some think he will keep and treasure his pearl. Some think he will trade it for something bigger and better. When asked what the pearl could be and what could be so valuable that one would give up everything for it, a fifth grader slowly made the connection that being close to God might be what the pearl stands for. 

Im Ergründungsgespräch betone ich immer, dass es keine richtige oder falsche Antworte gibt. Das Ziel mit den offenen Fragen ist den Kinder Raum zu geben selbst die Antworte zu entdecken. Gibt es überhaupt eine "richtige" Antwort? Was die Gleichnisse betrifft, glaube ich nicht. Wenn es nur eine Interpretation gäbe, hätte Jesus uns stattdessen nur ein Lehrbuch gegeben.: ) During the Wondering, I always tell the children that there are no right or wrong answers. The point of these open-ended questions is to allow the children to work out their answers with God, rather than be told what the "right" answer is. And is there a right answer? I don't think so. If there was only one interpretation or answer, Jesus would not have told a story.: )

Nach der Geschichte kommt die Kreativphase, wo die Kinder durch Kunst u. Freispiel die Möglichkeit haben mehr über Advent und die Geschichte nachzudenken. Sie konnten eine von den Aktivitäten unten aussuchen:  After the story came the "creative time" and this is where the children have opportunities to think more about what they have heard or what is on their hearts through art and play. The children had an opportunity to choose from the following activities:

Station 1: Freispiel mit Geschichtenmaterialen / Imaginative Play with the Stories

Im ersten Foto oben sieht man einen Tisch mit Holzspielzeugen und Geschichtenmaterialen hinter mir. Die Kinder dürfen die Sachen ohne zu fragen nehmen und mit ihnen spielen. If you look closely at the first picture in this post, you will see a table filled wooden toys and story materials behind me. The children may take the things on the shelves and examine them more closely through play. 

Here three boys check out "The Mystery of Easter" materials.

Station 2: Malen / Painting

Hier dürfen die Kinder mit Farbe ihre Gedanken über alles Mögliches ausdrücken. Da Kinder das Leben als nichtverbalen Wesen beginnen, "reden" sie öfter mit Bildern statt Worten. Diese Station soll diesen Prozess unterstützen. At this station, the children may paint whatever they wish about whatever they happen to be thinking about. Because children begin life as non-verbal beings, they often express deeper feelings and thoughts through pictures rather than words. This station is designed to help them explore how to express what is inside.

Station 3: Weihnachtsanhänger / Christmas Ornaments

Basteln zur Advent macht einfach Spass. Hier haben die Kinder symmetrische 3-D Weihnachtsanhänger gebastelt: einen Stern, das Christuskind, oder einen Tannenbaum. Creative crafts are part of what makes Advent so much fun. Here the children made symmetrical 3-D Christmas ornaments. They could choose from a Christmas tree, a star, or Baby Jesus. As always, they are encouraged to make the craft their own and not simply copy my examples.

My co-teacher, Melinda, gives instructions on
how to make the ornaments.

This child is glueing Baby Jesus into an oval "manger".

Some of the finished ornaments.

Station 4: "Was ich Gott schenken möchte . . .  /  "What I want to give God . . . "

Hier konnten die Kinder schreiben oder malen was sie gern Gott zu Weihnachten schenken möchte oder was er ihnen schon geschenkt hat. Dann konnten sie es in einen Umschlag einpacken und eine schöne Schleife darum binden um unter den Tannenbaum hinzulegen. At this station, the children had the opportunity to draw either what they want to give to God or what he has given them. Then, they could "wrap" in a pretty envelope and tie a ribbon around it.

Station 5: Ideen für den Seniorenheim / Ideas for the Seniors' Home

Hier haben wir Ideen fürs Programm beim Seniorenheim gesammelt. Wir werden sie dann nächste Woche besprechen. Here the children could write or draw ideas for our time at the Seniors' Home. We'll discuss them next week and start to make concrete plans.

Jede Woche werden wir eine neue Station einführen. Und wenn eine nach einer Weile nicht mehr interessant ist, dann lassen wir sie. Each week, we'll add and take away stations to give the children plenty of opportunities to think about the mystery of Advent and Christmas.

Es wäre nicht Advent ohne Musik! Wir haben Spasslieder wie "Weihnachtsbäckerei" sowohl wie ruhige Lieder, z.B. "Macht hoch die Tür" gesungen. What would an Advent Club be without Advent and Christmas songs? We started out with some of the more fun songs and slowly moved toward more serious songs like "Macht Hoch die Tür", which speaks of opening a door for God in our lives during Advent. 

Unsere Zeit wird immer mit einem kleinen Fest beendet. Die Kinder finden's immer toll und wollen es nie verpassen. Heute gab's Butterkekse, Rohkost und Multivitaminsaft. Our clubs always end with a small feast. The kids love the part and never want to miss it. We sit in a circle and laugh a lot while we eat. Juice, butter cookies, and chopped veggies were on the menu this week. 

Bis nächster Woche! See you next week!

For more Advent Club Fun see:

Week 2

Week 3 + 4

Week 5




linked to Friday's Nature Table at The Magic Onions

and Grünzeug at Naturkinder

and Montessori Monday at Living Montessori Now

and Waldorf Wednesday at Seasons of Joy