Zeru in Africa

So- While we are here living in Ethiopia the ideas are still coming but the resources and internet access is very limited!!! I am very happy to report that when we return we will start a product line as well as our free idea area!!! And Zeru is learning Amharic more eagerly.

Stay tuned for more!!

This is David the sheep (which Zeru named) whom he saved from slaughter- the much leaner Max got eaten instead. Zeru watched the whole process. There is nothing like real life experience. I am thankful that he has gotten the opportunity as I know it is unlikely most people have experienced all he has already.

In every opportunity I try to make a learning experience- the other day at a cafe we discussed air pressure with a receipt. today weights and balance at a cafe with a pen and receipt folder. Yesterday we discussed the different reasons for poverty and the social dilemma faced in the country as he tried to make friends with begging street kids and they would not stop following us through town.

fun with fidel! Amharic

Fun with the Fidel! I made a fun little story for the second set (oo/u) of letters in the Amharic alphabet. This is fun for people learning to read the Amharic letters.

save pictures to file and print... then enjoy!

Cheap and reliable

With kids it seems the least expensive things are the ones which get the most use. Sticks, rocks, random objects found on the ground, boxes, balloons... and a favorite of mine, paper!

I found at our local Dollar Tree store that children's lined paper for learning how to write- you know the paper I am talking about? It is made out of newsprint or something, but a whole pack is only a dollar!

While I have mentioned many times that Zeru's favorite activity is not writing, it is still a necessary skill. I also believe it is the repetition of doing the same types of lessons again and again which drives him crazy.

I had recently purchased a rather expensive workbook for him, which the first several days delighted him! It was new and different- but that too got boring.

Back to the lined paper! I love it for many reasons:

Make our own custom lessons (work on words kid's are interested in, add pictures, etc)
Make it for any language (we do a lot of Amharic lessons, like the one pictured)
Not tracing, but "letter drawing" practice
Big enough for crayons, markers, etc. (which adds to the fun)
It's super cheap and easy!

I have found with Zeru that when he does letter tracing lessons the way he writes a letter is not the same as when he writes the letter free hand. And when he goes from tracing to free hand in the same lesson the quality is much worse! I think it confuses him somehow.

But when I give him a letter or word and ask him to write in below, he examines the lines and curves and tries to copy them diligently to see if the final product matches. I personally find this MUCH more practical.

So far I think it has paid off. Many days he is excited to work on something new that interests him, like yesterday when he picked out his own writing lesson. "Ruh roo ree rah ray rih row" and "Muh moo mee mah may mih mow"

memory lesson- Amharic language

I am currently teaching myself, my son, and a friend how to read and write Amharic (one of many official languages of Ethiopia).
I have made work sheets galore, but today I had a little fun. I originally made this project for the friend I am teaching, but found Zeru and myself quite enjoying it too!
I made 2 sets of small flash card style cards. One set had just the word, and the other set had an image with the word typed small beside it.

The original idea was a memory card game, but found that we could also just shuffle and match them, or play a type of "go-fish" with them if other friends were learning (or knew) Amharic.

I hope to get the card templates up soon. This also would be a fun game for English (native) language for pre-schoolers learning to read, or with any foreign language. Just change the words- obviously.

I found myself actually learning and enjoying it- so maybe others will too!

 *open, save images, print*

afraid of the dark

Zeru is afraid of the dark. I think many kids- and even adults- are. But this is a bit excessive to the point of grand inconvenience.

If there is a door open- in the middle of the day- and the light is not on in that vacant room- Zeru insists the door be closed, the light turned on, or he not be anywhere near said room.

During the day I find myself being pulled from various tasks to close doors or "go with me" to get something, etc.

We have talked about God being with us, and why he is afraid, etc. nothing seems to work. He won't close the doors or turn on the lights himself either because that would require him to get near the dark.

So, today I tried to do an activity with the dark... just on paper to start. We took black construction paper and drew "bright" things on it. Things that are good and fun in the dark. Or things that make him happy in general. All these things were drawn "in the dark"

I later took a brighter piece of paper and cut out "windows and doors." I plan to tape, glue, or staple this "door" paper onto the "dark" paper. (I make sure the doors and windows were over the areas with the drawings)

The idea is that we can "open the door" into a dark room and see things we like.

Eventually we will move on from this into actual activities in the dark.

B is for...

B is for... letter writing practice and activity for small children.

B is for...



Babylon

 Bethel

*save picture to computer and print*

Sticks and stones 2

Sticks and stones... we already went to town putting to use all the sticks in the house, so we moved onto the task of removing stones.

Unfortunately for me, Zeru believes all his rock collection contains gold. So, we were not allowed to use them.

But this made for a fun outing!
-we found two baby toads which we played with, found many different animal prints (dog, fox, dear, and raccoon maybe?) huge empty snail shell, prairie dog remains, and much more! 

Before we left home we made little bags from scrap fabric and string (use an old piece of clothing for fabric if you don't have any, or just skip the "making" part and use a lonely sock for a bag).

We cut a circle- a little smaller than a dinner plate- and then sew-wove the string through the edge all the way around. Pull tight and there is your bag!

Next we wrote 1 Samuel 17:37 and 1 Samuel 17:47.

After you read them you can have your own discussion about David and Goliath.

The battle is God's, so we need not fear.

We thought of some ways God has helped us in the past, and we talked about how if God helped us then- he will help us now, and in the future. We talked about the importance of remembering to grow our faith.

After the work was done, we went out to collect some rocks!

Fortunately for us we accidentally found a stream- just like David- to collect our stones from (or at least near).

During our adventure we also talked about the story found in John 8:3-11 and how Jesus tells the people not to judge the woman because they too make bad decisions.
Also the story of Stephen in Acts 7:60. Stephen forgave those who were hurting him, and prayed for them.

We collected 6 stones. Five for our bag, and the sixth we later took home and painted as a forgiveness rock- to remember to forgive, not judge, and that Jesus forgives us.

Nehemiah devotion 2...God's plans

Nehemiah continues... the second children's devotion of Nehemiah is focused on doing God's work. To see the first devotion follow link.

Nehemiah:burden from a far off land

Save the picture to file and print for best results.

My own map.

While studying Nehemiah's burden from a far off land, Zeru and I discussed a burden God gave him. It was for the people sleeping outside in Ethiopia. We did a writing lesson on the word "bet" for house, or structure, and then we needed to find a map.
Since the lesson was on burdens from a far off land we wanted to look and see just how far away the people were.

We used gem stickers to show where important locations were on the map. It was fun to see where other places are also. Like North Carolina, where we used to live and many friends live, and China where many people are from who live in Ethiopia to work.

The amazing thing was he knew exactly where Ethiopia was on the map, but no idea where we live!

We made it big enough to see but small enough to roll up and use for later. Save, print, trim and tape. Then enjoy!

We will be using this map for many lessons to come.

A is for... Bible lessons + writing

I try to apply Jesus and the Bible into our everyday life... and although it is like pulling teeth to convince Zeru learning to write really is important, I still try.

I decided to come up with some activity pages to add or distract him from the writing part of the lesson. While I am multi-tasking why not add God, Jesus, and the Bible?

I hope to do one letter a week or so with multiple pages per letter.

Here's to A.
* Open image and save it to your computer, then print for best results*


A is for...
arrow

ant

Amos

proverbs for kids

Zeru and I were reading the daily proverbs... for a while... till it became evident that a 4 year old can comprehend very little of the wording in proverbs... so we took a very long break.

So, I decided to attempt to simplify the language without watering down the relevant message for little people. Keep in mind I am speaking of really little people, probably too simple for an eight or nine year old.

Here's where we begin.

sticks and stones... 1

Sticks and stones... may pile up in collections, but surely I am determined to find a use for them!

Already I have used two of Zeru's sticks for fishing poles, but somehow he keeps finding more indispensable sticks. So, I decided to come up with more uses for "household sticks" some moms, such as myself, may find lying around their house.

 For our first easy project yesterday we designed and made our own flag. I happened to have some fabric lying around so I let Zeru use his markers on it, then we stapled it to one of the straight sticks. He was pretty proud of it. I had considered printing out some real flag ideas to discuss other countries or cultures, but he was eager to design his own, so maybe for another day! You could just make the flag out of paper and print out a variety of country flags then when the child chooses a flag that could be the country they learn about for that day... maybe we will do that soon!

For our second project all it took was examining the sticks and using my imagination. One was shaped perfectly for a little bow! So, why not? We have a small hand drill lying around so I drilled a hole on either end and found a rubber band. I used wire through the band loop and wrapped the wire around the end of the stick to keep rubber band in place. You could probably staple a rubber band around the loop onto the stick instead.

Another stick was already perfect for an arrow, having a dull point on one end and notch on the thicker back end.

I know it may sound crazy giving my 4 year old a bow and arrow, but he seems interested in archery, so why not? I understand for some boys this may be a terrible idea- so use your own good judgement!

Onto archery lessons!

It took several tries before he could get the hang of it, but by evening we had a target on the wall and he was shooting it! Go figure!

I hope to incorporate some scriptures into a lesson around his new bow and arrow- and his flag too as a matter of fact. I will keep it posted!

Who would have thought sticks could be so much fun?

Amharic lessons

The first thing a child learns in kindergarten is the alphabet. In many parts of Ethiopia that means the fedel. "Hu, hoo, hee, ha, hey, hi, ho"

Since I have been trying to learn the language myself, beginning when I was first in Ethiopia five years ago, I decided learning how to read the language would be a huge step in learning to speak it. I am not convinced I have improved any, but I do impress many of my Ethiopian friends. Whatever the case, I am now teaching Zeru how to read and write in Amharic, so I am sharing some of our lesson pages... maybe just for your curiosity, or maybe, just maybe you will gain an interest in a unique language from a country you may never see!

 My "hu hoo hee ha" lesson posted above is my own unique assosciation Zeru helped me to create so he could remember the order of the letters and what they looked like. Within about two lessons he memorized the row of letters and the sound order of the entire alphabet! (Amharic has twenty-some-odd sets of letters, each set containing seven letters- each letter being a vowl variation of the set: duh, doo, dee, dah, day, dih, doe for example.)

Kid's Nehemiah devotional

The burden from a far off land

I love reading Bible stories to Zeru. And best of all, he loves to hear them! I think he owns at least 3 children's bibles- all different. But none (except the actual "easy to understand" translation regular bible) has the story of the return to Jerusalem: Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah, etc.

They jump from Daniel with the lions to Jesus. 

I happen to think the return to Jerusalem is one of the more important and exciting aspects to the amazing adventure God has with his people. So Here is my child-friendly beginning of Nehemiah with life application.

*save picture above and print for best printing results, do not print from web

Read Nehemiah 1:1-2:8
Main points to discuss:

Nehemiah lived in Susa during the exile from Jerusalem. This was far from Jerusalem.

Like Daniel and his friends, he worked for the king.

Nehemiah heard news about Jerusalem that made him sad. The temple and all the walls were destroyed.

The sad information gave him a burden (discuss this word) and he prayed for many days, very upset.

*Have you ever been burdened by something you hear or see? What about from a far off land, or maybe just some place you do not see often?

(poverty, natural disasters, animal rights, etc.) print map

Nehemiah remembered God's promises. *read Jeremiah 29:10-14

*What was God's promise Nehemiah remembered? (Neh. 1:9)

Why is it important to his burden?

What are some promises God has for you?

Nehemiah asked to help, and he asked for favor(discus this word).

*Other people have volunteered to help: Isaiah 6:8, Ruth 1:16

God moves in the heart of the king. The king provides for Nehemiah so he can help with what burdens him.

*Sometimes God moves walls of water, other times he moves in hearts of people by providing favor. Exodus 12:36, Esther 2:17, 5:2.

Lemon-Aid

Life gave them lemons....
....We give them aid.

Who does not love a good old fashioned lemonade stand? It is a great way to meet neighbors, teach kids business, profits, counting, and responsibility! Hey- and you can enjoy the un-sold product!

But what would be better is teaching the youngsters a little something about caring and reaching out in the world.

I am in the process of working on a kid's devotional of Nehemiah, and the beginning theme is having a burden from God, and specifically teaching kids about what that means.

Kids are sensitive creatures who are eager to do good and help the helpless. This is one way to enable them to do just that!

Print and customize the images to make your Lemon-Aid stand as simple or organized as fits your cause. I even include blank stationary. Be creative!


Along the way encourage the kiddos involved to promote the cause and Lemon-Aid stand "event." It is a good learning experience, but don't forget to have fun too!

Don't forget to check out Club Anbesa to see what Zeru and I use our "aid" for! it is a worthy cause!

 

Template prints

Not feeling crafty? That's ok! Use these templates to print and slap together some fun! Print these fish a couple times depending on how many numbers you want to make. For sturdier fish cards glue onto chip board or print on heavier stock paper. Also print doubles for fishy front and back!

Print these four pages for a quick start to a big road! They are number coded and blank so your kiddos can use their own imagination in decorating. We did not overlap the paper on ours so we could easily fold at the seams. Print on heavier stock paper for a sturdy game that will last.

Looking for more free printable ideas? There is more to come!