Many children are tactile learners.  Consider these fun boredom busters for a hot summer day.

Shaving cream or Cool Whip:
Squirt some on a table, tub, or any surface that can be easily wiped down after the activity.  Spread it out with the palm of your hand and let your child use a finger to “write” each word of a verse you are learning, “erasing” with the palm of your hand in between each word.  If your child can’t write yet, guide his finger to make the first letter of each word as you say the verse.  Little ones may be tempted to lick their fingers, so Cool Whip is a safer choice for them.

 My 4th grader who didn’t want to get her fingers messy!

My 4th grader guiding a 2-year-old friend’s hand to make a heart for “God is love.”  1 John 4:8b

A 3-year-old friend making a happy face for “God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7

Playdough:
Use playdough to make the first letter of each word of a verse you are learning.

Sidewalk Chalk:
Help your child write a favorite verse with sidewalk chalk.  If he can’t write, let him decorate around the verse.  If it’s a verse you are helping your child learn, make a game out of it and hop alongside each word as you say them.  Start slowly and then see how fast you can get at hopping and saying the verse.

 “A friend loves at all times.”  Proverbs 17:17a
Decorated by kids the ages of 3, 7, 2, and 9 (same order below).

Scrabble Tiles:
Use Scrabble game tiles to write out words.  Or, make clues with the first letters of words of a verse your child is learning.

Balloons:  (For older children) Write each word of a verse on a slip of paper, roll it up, and put it in a balloon.  Blow up each balloon, tie it off, and let your child have fun trying to keep all of them up in the air.  After he’s had a chance to play with the balloons, have your child put on tennis shoes or boots and stomp the balloons to pop them and find the word slips.  Then, his challenge is to put the words of the verse in order.  Once correct, he can paste them to a paper to keep as a reminder card or memory help for the verse.

Texting: (For older kids) Each person playing will need a texting device.  One person will start by texting the first word of a verse to another player.  The next person adds the following word, and so forth.

Think of someone you know who needs prayer.  Who doesn’t?!  Find a topical verse that fits and remember to pray those words for that person for several days at meal time or bedtime.  Help your child write and decorate a card with the verse on it.  Mail it to the person with a note added that you are praying it for him or her.  Consider having your child decorate a second verse picture that you can post on your fridge or put by your child’s bedside to help you remember to pray for the person that week.

Cooking with Scripture:
Bake up a batch of your favorite baked goodies with your children.  While they are cooking, pick a verse applicable to whomever you are surprising with the treats.  Your children can write the verse on plain paper, note cards, or even with a permanent marker on the baggies that will hold the treats.  If you have a child that can’t write, let him decorate around the verse.  Some suggestions:

 “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Mark 12:31
We love these treats and hope you do too!  Thankful you’re our neighbor!

Or,

“A cheerful heart is good medicine.”  Proverbs 17:22
…So is chocolate!  Hope these treats bring cheer to your heart!

Have fun delivering these goodies that will bring smiley faces and happy tummies!

Snacking with Scripture: 
Use Alphabits Cereal or Cheez-It Scrabble snack crackers to write out words of verses, or the first letter of each word.  As each letter or word is eaten, see if your child can still say the verse.

See if you know the rest of this verse.  If you need a hint, look up Proverbs 15:1.

Have you ever had the experience of hearing a song and it taking you back to a specific place and time?  Wouldn’t it be neat to create that memory for your kids with Scripture set to music?   Great options for summer sounds for younger children are Hide Em in Your Heart – Volumes 1 & 2, by Steve Green.   For older children, try Seeds of Faith 2, by Seeds Family Worship.  Clink on the links below to order or hear samples.
     

Consider having a theme verse for your summer trip.
I’ll share a couple of examples to get you thinking.

 “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” Philippians 2:14

Vacations may be fun, but often present numerous opportunities for arguing and complaining.  Going into the trip, with the more positive mindset of this verse can be helpful and make the time more pleasant for everyone.  We were tested on this right off the bat with our Disney World vacation.  Everyone had boarded the plane and we were all ready for take-off, when the pilot announced that we would have to de-board and find another flight because of mechanical issues.  It would have been easy for us to complain about the inconvenience, the possibility of missing our character dinner reservations, etc.  However, with that verse on our minds, we focused instead on being grateful that God spared us from a potentially hazardous flight.

“Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”  Matthew 5:16

I love this one because it causes us to think before we act or talk and remember that we are representing Christ wherever we go.  On our way through an airport terminal, we stopped at a Starbucks.  The man in front of him was in full military garb.  My husband, Tim, discreetly leaned forward to the cashier and told him that he would like to pay for the soldier’s order and then thanked the soldier for his service.  Tim’s example was a shining light to our family and I hope the same for the cashier and serviceman.

 Another idea – Thankfulness Vacation Journal:

Another idea is to create a Thankfulness Vacation Journal for the trip.  Before we left for a vacation to Colorado, I made sure to pack several sheets of paper and enough pens for each member of the family.  At the beginning of the trip, each person took a page and numbered up to the total days of our vacation, multiplied by five.  For example, a 7 day vacation would be a list of 35.  Before bedtime each night, we gathered and listed the top five things we were thankful for from the day and then shared them with each other.  My son, who couldn’t write well yet, told me his ideas as I wrote them down for him.  We tried not to repeat anything we had written in the past so we would have unique entries.  It was a special way to end our days and gave us a personalized keepsake for our trip.

It’s nearing the end of the school year,  and if you’re like me, you have a deep pile of your kids’ papers that you’ve saved.
What does one do with all that?  Here are a couple of solutions I’ve found to work well.

First of all, have a tucked away place where you can make a pile of papers, art, certificates, etc. as they come in throughout the year.    The basket is this year’s stuff and the underneath pile is last year’s.  I’m a year behind because of our move last summer.  I used to have separate piles for each of my kids but the move threw that off.

I find it’s easier to make decisions of what to keep when time has given some distance and I can compare their importance to other things in the pile.  At some point during the summer, I sit down with the pile and decide what the keepers are.

I started with this as a file system –

This idea was from Family Fun magazine and the boxes are from http://www.uline.com/BL_1401/Carrying-Cases?keywords=carrying.  It looks like they’ve changed the sizes since I ordered.  Mine are a bit different at 19 1/2 x 12 x 3 inches.  Also, be careful not to lose the pack of handles that comes with the boxes like I did!  I loved the suggestion of putting one of the small school photos on the outside along with the child’s name and date.  In the case of filing multiple years in one box, I taped together long sheets of colored cardstock and laid them flat as separators between the piles.  I even use the boxes for storing keepsakes for me and my hubbie.  That’s the T & K box.  🙂

Then, my aunt gave us these!

This file system is the “My Keepsake Portfolio” from Lakeshore Learning:
http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/ca%7CsearchResults~~p%7CZZ649P~~.jsp

I love these because they don’t seem to take up as much room as the boxes (though they won’t hold as much).  And, they are easier to pull out and enjoy going through than the boxes.

This summer, I’ll have fun spending some time walking down memory lane and picking the highlights to save.

We moms of today certainly aren’t Mary, contemplating her  miraculous son Jesus.  However, we are familiar with treasuring up things about our children and pondering them in our hearts (Luke 2:19).

If you have any ideas or systems that have worked for you, please share!
Happy organizing!

Have you ever been reading a parenting book and been so grateful for it that you could just cry?  That’s the way I felt recently with Christian writer, Robin Jones Gunn’s Gentle Passages:  Guiding Your Daughter into Womanhood.  I stumbled upon this gem a couple of years ago when I was searching online for a new read from Robin’s fabulous Sisterchick series.  I ordered it to help me get to my Amazon free shipping minimum and tucked it away to read later.  Later came last week.  As I sat on the porch, I literally had tears in my eyes as I began soaking up the ideas.  That’s saying quite a bit because I am not typically a very emotional person.  However, my daughter is turning double digits (10!) this summer and my picking up the book could not have been more well timed…Thank you, Lord!  As my little girl heads into her pre-teen/teen years, I had been wondering how to help her transition.  This book has beautiful ideas for how to make passages into womanhood, such as body changes, a celebration rather than dreaded event.  With my pen in hand, I marked up the book with notes and dates for when to implement some of the ideas.  I’m going to mark them on my calendar too so I won’t regret these letting these precious years pass by without having been deliberate in blessing her with “gentle passages.”  If your daughter is anywhere between 6 and 12, I highly recommend this book.  Click on the link below if you are inspired to add it to your Amazon cart as I thankfully was years ago!

We have a young sister. . . What shall we do for our sister for the day she is spoken for?  Song of Solomon 8:8

Last year I stumbled upon a snow cone maker at Bed Bath & Beyond and decided to get it as a “school’s out” surprise!  Was it a hit!  We definitely got our money’s worth through last summer with our record breaking Dallas heat!  This year’s surprise was the card game Pit.  We’re off to a great start of the summer with some family card game fun!  Daddy also treated the kiddos to a cookie cake on the last day of school!  These are becoming our “school’s out” traditions!  I read somewhere that traditions are what your kids most remember when they are grown up and think back over their lives.  I’m hoping to create, continue, and share some fun and meaningful traditions so that all of our children will have special memories.

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be blogging some fun and creative ways that you can do some summer parenting with Scripture.  Stay tuned.

Try these free wallpaper/screensaver downloads of 2 Timothy 3:16 and Deuteronomy 32:2. Click on the picture below or go to the “Download” tab on www.parentingwithscripture.com.

I love reminding my kids that we never outgrow God’s Word.  What better way to help them understand that than by our children seeing us apply Scripture to our own lives.   Here’s a recent example from my life.  My 7-year-old son and I have a chance each week to enjoy some time together while my daughter is at her piano lesson.  It was a beautiful spring day, so we decided to take a stroll through the piano teacher’s neighborhood.  We chatted as we walked hand-in-hand…what mommy doesn’t love that?!   As I listened to him jabber away, my mind was distracted by worries.  I knew what I needed to do and realized that to include him in on it would be a great teachable moment.  I shared with him how I was quite nervous about an upcoming radio interview for Parenting with Scripture.  We talked about 1 Peter 5:7 and how one way we can “cast our anxiety on Him” is to pray.  As we continued to walk, my sweet little guy and I prayed over that interview as I gave those worries to my heavenly Father.

Though the details are different in each of our lives, the general principle remains the same.  Be on the lookout for using yourself as a teachable moment!

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.  1 Peter 5:7

 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.   Impress them on your children.  Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Deuteronomy 6:6-7