Easter is coming!

Hello everyone!  He is Risen (He is Risen indeed)!

I will not be posting my usual weekly Cubbies post as I don't have much to put here about the actual bear hug 23 this week.  I stuck pretty 'by the book' except for one little thing...

Resurrection Buns!

Since Good Friday and Easter are fast approaching, I really wanted to make something special with the Cubbies that would help them visualize a little more about the Resurrection of Christ.  Every year for the last three years I have done Resurrection Buns with my own kiddos.  I even made a video this year for you all!  You can see it below.

 

 

 

The kids love this!  They were asking to do it early this year (which is why we have this video done already).  So, I bought my ingredients and got them ready for Awana today... and we did this with the Cubbies! 

 

They certainly enjoyed them!  And they did so well, too!  I am so thankful my mom and a friend were able to join our group to help us wrap the dough and bake them while we did our handbook time.  It certainly made things run a lot smoother.  A tip if you wish to do this with your group... make sure to write the kids names down on the parchment paper before putting their specific bun above their name.  You can see exactly whose is whose then!  It works great!

 

I didn't even need to worry about washing the dishes in the kitchen!  My mom and my friend were lifesavers!

 

Anyway, in addition to these, I was hoping to do some other fun things with my kids this year to help solidify what Easter is all about in our house.  I do love chocolate bunnies and colored eggs, but they get a lot of that stuff from their grandparents, so I'd like to do something different.  So, I've been looking up Resurrection Eggs as well!

 

I've kept so many of the little plastic eggs around my house (put them all in a box as I planned to craft with them.  Instead, we made Easter Egg hunts for some friends of ours and thus used up a bunch of them, which I actually preferred to a wreath as I initially thought of doing).  Therefore, I want to use them this year to make an egg hunt with my kiddos again... only this time they will be hunting for the real meaning of Easter.  I found all sorts of cute ideas I could use.  Here are a few of my favorites.

 

 

Resurrection Eggs Ideas with Printables at teachingheart.net- with eggs you can color and match up.  A bit of fun crafting for the kids in this one that I'd love to do in addition to another of these that use the plastic eggs.

 

 

Benjamin's Box Resurrection Eggs at thelifeinbloom.com - I love that they have a little mini story book that you can make to go with, and that it uses a Benjamin's Box book.  I don't have this book, but it is still really nice!

 

 

Homemade Resurrection Eggs Printable at thissimplehome.com - For this one you collect things around your home to put into the eggs that go with Bible verses listed.

 

 

Resurrection Eggs at therealhousewife.com - Similar to the one above where you make or collect things from around your home that coordinate with verses.  Some of these are slightly different, though, and make for some great ideas in addition to the one above.

 

You can see some of the other ideas for things I like on my Spring/Easter pinterest page.

 

Hope you all have fun this Easter.  I love your comments, and would love to hear about what you like to do for Easter with your littles (or even if you don't have littles, that is fine, too!  We all enjoy Easter!).

God Bless!



Cubbies Bear Hug 22 - Happy Birthday!

Hello again. 

Welcome to a series I'm doing on Awana Cubbies!  I hope you enjoy your time here.  If you'd like, you can visit my previous posts, or dive right in!

Introduction
How I started down the Appleseed Trail
Bear Hugs 3-6:  God is Creator
Bear Hugs 7-10:  God's Word is Truth
Extra Cubbies Fun - Gingerbread Nativities
Bear Hugs 11-14 - God is Faithful
Bear Hug 15 - Story of Abraham
Bear Hug 16 - God is Mighty
Bear Hug 17 - Valentine's Day
Bear Hug 18 - Crossing the Red Sea
Bear Hug 19 - God is in Charge

Bear Hug 20 & 21 - God is in Charge

 

This week was the review week for the 'God is in Charge' unit.  It was also the last week where Cubbie and friends were talking about Timothy's birthday!  And so, we celebrated all our birthdays together!  Hooray!

 

I had a lot of fun putting this all together!  I made a bunch of stuff for the birthday party.  Some of it we never used as I bought some things instead, but I'll post it at the end anyway for anyone who wants to use it for their own Cubbies party (not for resale.  I do not own the rights to the Awana clipart).

 

First, I made an extra large birthday card by folding white paperboard in half, printing and cutting out some of the black and white clipart images, and gluing them into place.

The kids were each to sign their names (or we would for them if they didn't know how) on the inside of the card as they came in.

I also made a party table centerpiece.  This was fun.  I just took the one image, made it as large as I could for a regular sheet of cardstock, and then made one flipped.  Also made 'Happy Birthday' images times two for two strips.  The Cubbie and friends pictures were going to be used as extras for decoration that are not necessarily for the birthday party.  Didn't want to waste paper.

Step one - print your sheets on cardstock.

Step two - glue the two Cubbie Bear's together.

Step three - Cut out Cubbie, then cut slits in the top of both the 'Happy Birthday' strips, and the bottom of the Cubbie bear about 1inch long.

Step 4 - Slip the birthday strips into the slits on the Cubbie picture so that they make a circle.  Done!  Take it apart to store flat.   (I want to laminate this to make it last longer).


Next thing I made were cupcake toppers... because cupcakes are so much nicer for serving kids than cake is.  Easy... no cutting!  And the toppers were such a huge hit!

Here they are!  I printed enough for 25.

Step 1 - First you need to print one sheet on cardstock, and then the mirrored sheet on regular paper (so it will fold around the toothpick easier).  Glue the two sheets together lightly with a glue stick.

Step 2 - Now you can rather easily cut out each topper, and it is already double sided!

 See?  And the edges are even!

Step 3 - Now we open the bottom...

 ... add a bunch of glue...

 ... put in the toothpick...

... and press down.  Doesn't Katie Collie look lovely?  So simple for on the cupcakes, too.  Just push in the bottom of the toothpick.

One down, 24 to go.

The kids loved these!  They were asking for their favorite characters when they saw all the cupcakes.  And I heard a few of the kids exclaim 'this is the best birthday party EVER' when they opened the door to this room.

I couldn't resist decorating!  The tissue paper flowers were some I made for my daughter's birthday.  I kept them around in case I wanted to use them again, which has been great!  The table cover, plates, and napkins I found at a Dollar Tree.  Made for easy cleanup.  Cupcake wrappers also from a dollar store.

Doesn't Cubbie look thrilled to be surrounded by friends and cupcakes?  :)

 

I used my go-to vanilla cupcake/cake recipe called Butter Sponge.  It is so tasty!  The icing recipe I use is different from the one I have listed there, though.  You can find it in the first bit of this video of Disney Princess Cupcakes, here.  I only needed 1/2 the recipe to ice 24 cupcakes as seen above.

 

The birthday party was a big hit!  The kids loved it!  The hats were fun, although they kept coming apart (Dollar store hats... what can I say).  And the party blowers were so much fun (no noise version).  They each got some popcorn in some reusable cups with lids that most of the kids took home.  We also had some really small cups (4 oz, probably) that we used to serve water to the kids (no juice needed... lots of sugar here already).

 

 

And now, just for fun, here are a few things I made for the party!  Feel free to use them for your own Cubbies Birthday Party celebration!

 

For the invite below, using the print image program do 4 to one sheet of paper.  The line is blank for you to put the date in yourself.

 

 

Below I have two versions of the birthday party hat I designed using a blank template I got online (I can no longer find the original, but there are a lot of blank templates you can find online through google or pinterest).  The first version is one the kids can color themselves as a coming in craft.  The second is one you can whip up before Club night and put together at home.  Print on cardstock.

If you want to download the pdf file for the cupcake toppers and the table centerpiece, you can get the free download below!

Free Download for cupcake toppers and table centerpiece
Free Download for the party hats and invites

Enjoy!  Please let me know if you used these files or found this post useful!  I love making these things and hope to make more available in the future!  God Bless!

NOTE:  All images of Cubbie and Friends are Trademarked Awana.  You can find them at awana.org.  None of these things may be sold or reproduced for sale in any way.  For personal/club use only.  Thank you.

Cubbies Bear Hugs 20 & 21 - God is In Charge

Hello again. 
Welcome to a series I'm doing on Awana Cubbies!  I hope you enjoy your time here.  If you'd like, you can visit my previous posts, or dive right in!

Introduction
How I started down the Appleseed Trail
Bear Hugs 3-6:  God is Creator
Bear Hugs 7-10:  God's Word is Truth
Extra Cubbies Fun - Gingerbread Nativities
Bear Hugs 11-14 - God is Faithful
Bear Hug 15 - Story of Abraham
Bear Hug 16 - God is Mighty
Bear Hug 17 - Valentine's Day
Bear Hug 18 - Crossing the Red Sea
Bear Hug 19 - God is in Charge

I decided to pop two weeks in this one. 

Bear Hug 20 talked about how God chose David to be the new King.  David had a heart that loved God and wanted to obey Him, and Saul did not, even though he looked like a king, and David was only a small boy.  God looks at the heart.

The verse for the week is Mark 12:30,  Love the Lord your God with all your heart.

The craft suggested was a paper crown.  I saw something on pinterest a while back that used paper plates to make crowns, so I went with that.  The kids could color them and decorate them with gemstone stickers.  I made and colored one at home to show the Cubbies before they would make theirs.  (pinterest pin is here)

My daughter modelling the crown.  She so badly wants to join the Cubbies already!  She keeps walking around in the old vest we have from my older two, grabbing the bag, and walking around with them.  Next year she is going to have fun.

 

To make the crowns, do all the cutting prior to club night.  Take your plates, fold them in half, and then cut perpendicular to the fold.

 

 

Next, fold along the cut, and make three more cuts after that, so it resembles a pizza.

 

That's all!  Get your stickers and crayons ready and the kids will have a great time!  You'll need to fold them upright after they are decorated.

 

Bear Hug 21 was about the story of David and Goliath.   You can bet there was fun to be had with this story!  And the verse for this week was Psalm 56:11.  In God I trust; I will not be afraid.

 

I don't have pictures, but I made a 'sling' out of some felt and string, using a crumpled piece of taped up paper as the 'stone'.  It was a nice little visual to use during lesson time, but it doesn't work very well.  The string kept getting tangled in itself and wouldn't release as it is meant to.

 

I also drew a mega sized Goliath on a roll of paper... he was nine feet tall!  Our ceiling in the Cubbies room is not nine feet tall, so his feet dragged on the floor a little, but that was ok.  The kids had fun coloring him in 'coming in time', and throwing bean bags at the target we put on his head (rather than using the-sling-that-didn't-work-anyhow).  Great idea for games time.  I just made a little target, put some sticky tack on it, and then when games time came around, we popped it on his head.

 

 I managed to roll up the giant after club night was over, and hope to use him again in the upcoming years.  He was so big, they didn't get to color much of him. 

Well, that is everything for this week.  Next week will be exciting, as we are celebrating all our birthdays!  It is Timothy's birthday in the Cubbie handbook, and since bear hug 22 is review, it is a great time to have fun with our own birthday party! 

If you want, I've set up a Facebook page for our church Awana group.  You can see it here, or search for CFC Awana.  You can also visit my Cubbies pinterest board.  Feel free to check it out.

Cubbies Bear Hug 19: God is in Charge

Hello again. 
Welcome to a series I'm doing on Awana Cubbies!  I hope you enjoy your time here.  If you'd like, you can visit my previous posts, or dive right in!

Introduction
How I started down the Appleseed Trail
Bear Hugs 3-6:  God is Creator
Bear Hugs 7-10:  God's Word is Truth
Extra Cubbies Fun - Gingerbread Nativities
Bear Hugs 11-14 - God is Faithful
Bear Hug 15 - Story of Abraham
Bear Hug 16 - God is Mighty
Bear Hug 17 - Valentine's Day
Bear Hug 18 - Crossing the Red Sea

This week was about how God is in Charge.  The main focus was Moses story about getting the tablets with the 10 commandments.  We didn't go through each separately, but we discussed how the first 4 are about loving God, and the last 6 are about loving others.  And if you think about how Jesus answered the Pharisees in the New Testament about God's greatest commands being to Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, it makes sense.

I didn't do too much extra this week.  Our church has a storage area with so many costumes and props and things, so I was able to use the tablets from there to show the Cubbies.  It is always nice to have as much visual teaching tools as you can.  It really helps the kids to connect it to the story more.   Another bit of fun was having a poster to draw the mountain where Moses goes to get the 10 commandments.  The kids also had a lot of fun marching around the room while pretending to be the Israelites marching around in the desert.

I love the resource disk!  I used it to make a 10 commandment game.  Basically, you have 10 cards with the same number of hearts as the number showing.  Then you have the two 'tablets' with spots on it that the kids can use to match the cards to the numbers.  They were quite a lot of fun!  I made one set for each of the handbook groups so that when they weren't coloring or reciting verses, they could play a matching game.  Another fun thing to do with the cards is to scatter them and ask the kids to find a specific number, then they can put the card they find on the tablet.  To help with verses, you can then say the verse with them (which was Psalm 47:7 For God is the King of All the earth, sing to Him a song of praise).  Repetition is the key in helping the kids remember the verses.

I've been having fun planning out what we'll be doing in BH 22 and for Easter.  I look forward to sharing that with you as well.

So yeah!  This coming week is Grandparents night (the Grandparents are invited to come join the clubbers this evening).  I love how the Awana Commander and Secretary work on extra fun nights for all the Awana clubs to do together.  We have had Parent night, Silly Hat night, Animal night (the kids come dressed as animals... usually around the end of October), Red night (this one is around Valentine's day), Hockey night (we invite some Hockey players from a local team to come and talk to the older clubs.  It doesn't really apply to the Cubbies group, but the others LOVE it), and Grandparents night.  In the past I remember there being a 'layers' night where kids tried to wear as many layers as possible (I remember helping my sister dress in over 50 layers).  These are always so much fun for the kids.  Do you have any fun nights that you do with your Awana clubs, or any suggestions that you'd like to see as well?  Please leave them in the comments!

As an aside, I've set up a Facebook page for our church Awana group.  You can see it here, or search for CFC Awana. 

If you'd like, you can also visit my Cubbies pinterest board.  Feel free to check it out.

Cubbies BH 18 - Crossing the Red Sea

Hello again. 
Welcome to a series I'm doing on Awana Cubbies!  I hope you enjoy your time here.  If you'd like, you can visit my previous posts, or dive right in!

Introduction
How I started down the Appleseed Trail
Bear Hugs 3-6:  God is Creator
Bear Hugs 7-10:  God's Word is Truth
Extra Cubbies Fun - Gingerbread Nativities
Bear Hugs 11-14 - God is Faithful
Bear Hug 15 - Story of Abraham
Bear Hug 16 - God is Mighty
Bear Hug 17 - Valentine's Day

This week was the last one for the 'God is Mighty' unit, and was basically a review of the previous three weeks, as well as the story of crossing the Red Sea.  I basically followed what was suggested in the Cubbies handbook and we did the review portion of the lesson by using the picture cards, leaving out some key words to the story, and ringing a little bell instead.  The kids would shout out the word that was missing!  We had one little boy who really knew his stuff!  A few of the others joined in, but many of the kids just didn't want to shout out answers at all.  And that is ok.  Each child is so different, and it is such a joy to see each one's own personality!

To add a bit of fun to the lesson, I made the 'red sea' using some blue tablecovers in the 'Awana Fair' bins, and some fish decorations that were made in previous years and that I used for the creation series for day 5.  I really wanted to avoid using tacks in the walls, but tape doesn't stick to this type of plastic well at all, and they fell down within a few hours.  Tacks it is!  Hide those so the kids don't find them!

 Had to make a little 'school' of fish.  The tape held ok for the fish.  I suppose it is because they aren't very heavy at all.

This is where we came in.  I brought along my husband's freshly washed housecoat, grabbed a broom handle 'staff', and had Mr. P, one of the leaders, play the part of Moses.  My other two leaders held up two more of the blue plastic sheets in front of the hallway, like a large door, barring the way through.  Then, when 'Moses' raised his staff (with all the little Cubbies crowding around behind him), the 'water door' opened up, and they could follow him through!  It was great fun!  I ended up being Pharaoh and the army.  When I tried to go through, the leaders with their 'water sheets' threw them on top of me (I had to work hard to not say 'I'm MELTING' and stuck with 'Oh NO' instead, as I 'drowned').  The kids loved it!  Nothing like play acting and visuals to help the story come alive!

The previous week we had biscuits for snack, to represent the Passover bread that had no yeast.  Some of the kids remembered that in the lesson, too.  This week's snack was Teddy Grahams.  We made a 'crossing the red sea' craft (picture to follow... when I take one of it) that was inspired by this pin.  The teddy grahams crossed through on dry ground... into the Cubbies tummies! 

I hope you are enjoying this little series on Cubbies.  I can hardly believe we are down to the last two units already! 

I've been pinning all sorts of fun things over in my Cubbies pinterest board... although it is branching into more Awana based and Sunday School based ideas as well.  Feel free to check it out and enjoy some of the crafts and snacks with your own little ones!

Until next week!  God bless!