News with Naylors

One of my focus' as a mom at Christmas time is to teach my children of the true meaning of Christmas, which is Jesus Christ. One of my friends, Annie, told me about this advent idea - from Housewife Eclectic - last year and I've been waiting the past year to do it with my children (ages 3, 1). Starting December 1, and each night until Christmas, children learn a new story of Jesus through: A PICTURE - I love that the majority of the pictures were in our Gospel Art Book , although some nights I pulled them up online on my laptop for my kids to look at. We pointed out different details in the pictures before reading the scripture selection OR simply summarizing the verses for their attention spans. My kids also loved watching a few video clips of the stories, so I will include links to this option as well. SHORT SCRIPTURE SELECTION - these verses go along with the picture/video each night.  A SIMPLE ORNAMENT - the ornaments also go along with the picture and script

Don't forget to check out how we made Frozen Dinosaur Eggs in our  10 Days of Dinos  unit! I want to start by saying how much fun my boys (ages 3, 1) had playing with icy insect eggs!  NOTE : You'll need to prepare these a day in advance as it takes time for the eggs to freeze. It's snowy and cold outside, so we decided to do this activity in the bath tub. I placed all the eggs in a plastic bin and my boys tried to get the insects out with their hammers and tools, salt and warm water. The colored eggs colored our tub water, which just added to the fun. Don't forget to check out our other Letter I Activities !   Supplies:  12 Plastic Insects (I found ours from The Dollar Tree).  12 large water balloons Food Coloring (optional) Salt (optional) Directions: 1) Place the insect and a drop of food coloring, if desired, inside the water balloon. I found it was easiest to put my index and middle fingers inside the balloon and slide them down

Here's what our week looked like for Letter I:  Read, Read, Read . I love reading to my kids on a daily basis. I checked out our Letter I Booklist  at the library a week in advance. The picture above were our very favorite books, but you view more great Letter I books by clicking on the booklist link.  Read Letter I Book . We also love to read these  Little Letter Books  from The Measured Mom. There are only eight or so pictures in each booklet. I pointed out the uppercase and lowercase I's (since we are focusing on both this year) and we talked about the pictures.  Letter I Songs & Rhymes . This year, I'm putting together an interactive set of songs & rhymes for each letter of the alphabet. I know this series is focused on my almost three, but my one year old had so much fun doing the Letter I Songs & Rhymes  with us this week. If you're looking for something more simple without props, take a look at