I made these...
In one naptime!
I used fabric scraps that I already had. The only cost was a box of crayons to split between the two rolls.
I used them to entertain the kids (along with coloring pages of Jesus I just printed off the internet) during church today. And guess what!?! It worked! It kept my kids (age 2 and 3) entertained for the entire meeting (30 minutes -- I think).
For the instructions I used to make the crayon rolls check out "chocolate on my cranium."
Know that I didn't follow the instructions exactly. I didn't have interfacing so instead I used a piece of all-natural cotton batting to go inside. And if I had not had the batting on hand, I would have used felt.
We've had a battle with keeping the kids quiet in church. Until now, we've always loaded the diaper bag up with books, toys, snacks, you name it -- sometimes we even packed two bags. (I hang my head in shame.) I didn't understand why when we had so many things the kids still fought over toys. By the end of church there were toys spewed all over the bench and crumbs on the floor. The culminating event was a tantrum by my two-year old daughter over us bringing enough snacks. (She had just eaten an entire sandwich bag stuffed full of grapes!) Enough was enough! There had to be a change because these kids were out of control and I was getting nothing but stress out of church.
I scoured the internet for ideas about teaching your young ones reverence at church. Just about every mommy blogger out there said to take away all the toys and snacks. Once the children are over 18 months it just isn't necessary. My husband and I were apprehensive, but decided to give it a try the following Sunday. We went cold turkey with the toys and the reverence level increased dramatically. We weren't the best examples that week so we decided to try it a few more weeks. The reverence improved, but I still wanted my children to be able to learn about Jesus and feel of the sweet Holy Spirit during the meeting so that they too would get something out of it.
My plan: reintroduce appropriate things for the kids to do during church.
Rules: 1. It has to be church related -- to encourage reflection.
2. There has to be two identical copies -- to discourage fighting between by two kids.
3. We would wait until after the sacrament to get the activity out.
4. One activity a week (in hopes of finding 4 different activities to rotate through each month).
Today was coloring the internet pictures with their oh so cute crayon rolls.
Next week, two copies of picture scriptures?
Hopefully I'll get two more brilliant ideas for the rest of the month...
Stay tuned.
In one naptime!
I used fabric scraps that I already had. The only cost was a box of crayons to split between the two rolls.
I used them to entertain the kids (along with coloring pages of Jesus I just printed off the internet) during church today. And guess what!?! It worked! It kept my kids (age 2 and 3) entertained for the entire meeting (30 minutes -- I think).
For the instructions I used to make the crayon rolls check out "chocolate on my cranium."
Know that I didn't follow the instructions exactly. I didn't have interfacing so instead I used a piece of all-natural cotton batting to go inside. And if I had not had the batting on hand, I would have used felt.
We've had a battle with keeping the kids quiet in church. Until now, we've always loaded the diaper bag up with books, toys, snacks, you name it -- sometimes we even packed two bags. (I hang my head in shame.) I didn't understand why when we had so many things the kids still fought over toys. By the end of church there were toys spewed all over the bench and crumbs on the floor. The culminating event was a tantrum by my two-year old daughter over us bringing enough snacks. (She had just eaten an entire sandwich bag stuffed full of grapes!) Enough was enough! There had to be a change because these kids were out of control and I was getting nothing but stress out of church.
I scoured the internet for ideas about teaching your young ones reverence at church. Just about every mommy blogger out there said to take away all the toys and snacks. Once the children are over 18 months it just isn't necessary. My husband and I were apprehensive, but decided to give it a try the following Sunday. We went cold turkey with the toys and the reverence level increased dramatically. We weren't the best examples that week so we decided to try it a few more weeks. The reverence improved, but I still wanted my children to be able to learn about Jesus and feel of the sweet Holy Spirit during the meeting so that they too would get something out of it.
My plan: reintroduce appropriate things for the kids to do during church.
Rules: 1. It has to be church related -- to encourage reflection.
2. There has to be two identical copies -- to discourage fighting between by two kids.
3. We would wait until after the sacrament to get the activity out.
4. One activity a week (in hopes of finding 4 different activities to rotate through each month).
Today was coloring the internet pictures with their oh so cute crayon rolls.
Next week, two copies of picture scriptures?
Hopefully I'll get two more brilliant ideas for the rest of the month...
Stay tuned.
You're a good mom Melissa! So thoughtful and creative!
ReplyDeleteI have these too and my kids love them! We are always struggling to make it through church as well. If you have any more ideas, I'm interested! Hope things are going well for you guys. Your kids are so cute.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Sam only has a few toy items in her Sunday bag that I think need to go because she is making up too many stories with them and the stories are starting to get louder....although, she has such a fast metabolism that her tummy is growling a couple hours after church (and she has lunch before we go!!) I think if we had morning church, she'd be fine, but every other day of the week she has an afternoon snack around 3. Which is "ta da" when our sacrament meeting starts (our stake does it backwards with sacrament last). She does have to wait until after the sacrament, though. I also have it a bit easier, she doesn't have anyone to fight with over things yet :-)
ReplyDelete