Play: Can you guess what this is?

Have you voted yet? It's not too late!

Remember, when you vote on Tegu's blog post, you are entered to win your own set of Tegu magnetic blocks!

Here's something that Aly came up with 100% on her own. Can you guess what it is?

Grow: The Fruit of the Spirit is... Kindness

Before reading this post, take a minute to listen to this song about putting on love (of which kindness is of course a part).

As we're putting on LOVE, we put on kindness. How do we do this?

We've been really into super heroes these days (spiderman and fire star, in particular), so I thought, why not "put on kindness" by putting on a superhero cape! Many times superheroes are depicted as saving others from harm, showing kindess to others.

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If I were SUPERMOM, I would have totally made them some real capes (this one is actually a no-sew one from Love & Sugar Kisses). But, I didn't, so we are using small fleece blankets to tie around our necks. When someone thought of something kind to do, they put on their superhero cape and said, "I'm Captain Kindness, here to show you kindness" and then do whatever kind thing they were thinking of. Some things might be helping someone pick up toys even if they didn't make the mess, putting someone's plate in the sink after dinner for them, playing with someone (ahem, a little someone) even if they didn't feel like it, or helping me with making dinner or watching siblings downstairs while I did a chore upstairs. It makes it really FUN to be kind, and helps them to always be thinking about how they can show kindness to others.

Kindness & Goodness: For Adults
For us parents, I'm doing something a little different this week. I'm clumping these two fruits together and shoving nudging you to a blog of a good friend of mine, JR. Forasteros. He's a teaching pastor over at Beavercreek Nazarene Church in Ohio, and he's done a series on the fruit of the Spirit fairly recently. At the beginning of his post, he offers a link to his sermon on this topic for you to listen to OR you can download his manuscript to read. It's insightful and thought-provoking. So skaddadle over there, download it, and listen to it while you work-out/groceryshop/tote kids around in the car. You won't be disappointed.

And for your following along on the scripture memory verses. Here's the next installment!

A little peek into next week: we choose the ORANGE to go along with this kindness. Any guesses as to why? We'll have some fun fruit activities to do on Monday, so be sure to check back!

Play and Review: Tegu Magnetic Blocks

A good friend of mine, Gabe, was reading in Relevant Magazine and came across an article about this great company, Tegu. They make magnetic wooden blocks, and these things are FANTASTIC. They promote creativity, which is one of our values here at Play Eat Grow.

Tegu is a for-profit company that was started in Honduras to address "unemployment, neglected natural and human resources, and the need for entrepreneurship." This company is one of highest integrity- socially and environmentally responsible. It's so good to find a business that creates amazing products while making the world a better place.

Tegu is releasing two new sets - The Explorer set (40 blocks) and The Endeavor set (22 blocks).

Tegu sent us the Explorer set to play around with for a few days, and challenged us to enter The Summer Building Contest to build the best creation we could. Here are four things we came up with. What do you think?

Go to their website, and vote for us! All you have to do is leave a comment on their blog post, giving your name, your email, and that you want to vote for "Play Eat Grow". When you vote, you are entering to win an Explorer or Endeavor Set for yourself too! Also, as a thank you for Play Eat Grow participating in the contest, Tegu is giving us a discount code that we can pass on to YOU: TEGUPLAYEATGROW. With it, you get a 20% discount (through June 30th).

All winners (the winning blog and all the individual winners) will be announced on Thursday, July 5th. You have from today until Tuesday, July 3rd to vote!

Don't forget to vote!

Eat: Pomegranate Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Pomegranate was our fruit of choice for patience, which, if you ever tried eating one, you totally get why we chose this fruit. In fact, we included it among our list of patience building exercises.

But you're here for some cookies.

Play: Asante's Book of the Week

Welcome to Asante's Book of the Week! Each week, Asante will share about a book that he is particularly enjoying.

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Today he's talking about The Magical, Mystical, Marvelous Coat by Catherine Ann Cullen.

What book are you enjoying this week?

Play: Fine Motor "Patience-Building" Activities

Building fine motor skills require much patience and perseverance. The payoffs are totally worth it. Fine motor activities help preschool kids develop the muscles in their hands that they will need for a wide variety of activities- writing, cutting, puzzling, lacing, tying, etc. I was talking to an occupational therapist, and she was discussing how important it was for parents to encourage kids to develop in this area. She sees many kids who are behind in these areas and it doesn't have to be this way!

Sometimes these activities can be frustrating for kids as they start out because they aren't successful at the task immediately. Here are some of our favorite activities and toys that promote fine motor skills while also have a lot of fun!

Review: Seeds Worship Music (and Giveaway!)

When looking for some music for our Fruits of the Spirit Series (love, joy, peace, and patience so far!), I came across The Fruit by Seeds Family Worship. Well, that's fun. I downloaded it, loved the sound and thought-

I must listen to more. 

Soon I put a Facebook post out asking friends if they'd heard of these people (and if so, why in the world hadn't they told me about them?!). Within hours, I got comments of parents raving about this music. 

For those who haven't heard of them, Seeds Family Worship make music that is perfect for Scripture memory. And the music is actually good. Like, really good. If you don't believe me, you can listen to any of their songs here.

Do yourself a favor and go buy these cds. The great thing is that with every CD you buy, they send you TWO (one to give to a friend!). Next, email this to your children's pastors and tell them about it. In fact, how about you give your extra CD to your children's pastor? AND, if you want to do us a favor, if you buy, be sure to buy through our affiliate link!

Seeds has SO GENEROUSLY offered a free sampler CD to one of YOU! Just comment below and I'll randomly choose a winner on Friday! If you Tweet this or share it on FB, be sure to leave an extra comment to give you another chance to win.

EDIT: Congrats to Comment #5- Elizabeth! I'll be emailing about getting the cd to you. Thanks to everyone who entered!

I hope you and your family grow closer to the Lord through this great resource!

Grow: The Fruit of the Spirit is... Patience.

What fruit of the Spirit do I lack most in my life?

You guessed it. Patience.

I used to think I was a fairly patient person. I was never a big road-rager. I could wait in long lines without feeling too frustrated. I rarely was annoyed when something didn't start on time.

Enter- kids.

Eat: Peach Cobbler Pie

Peace...Peach...you get it, right?

But let's talk about cobbler. Okay?

Now there are different types of cobbler out there. There is the cake under fruit. There's the fruit under biscuit topping. And there is fruit under pie crust. While I can enjoy any one of those cobblers any day of the week, my favorite by far is fruit under a pie crust.

And if you can add in another layer of delicious gooey butter but flaky pie crust in, I am all for it.

And that's why this particular cobbler caught my eye.

Yes it looks like a pie. Yes it acts like a pie. But the recipe calls it a cobbler, so who am I to say that it's not. All I can say is that, mmm, it is tasty.

Play: Calming, "Peaceful" Activities

Our family is very.... spirited. And I don't mean in a "Holy Spirit" kind of way.

Well, I take that back. Not all of us are spirited, but 4 out of 5 anyway.

Typically, we do time-outs for situations in which one needs to get themselves back under control. But time-outs for middle child (age 3) doesn't really help in her calming process. In fact, they often get her ramped up even more, to a point where the hope of regaining inner peace is long gone.

Over the past couple months, I've been working on gathering tools that will help middle child in her cooling off process. My ultimate goal is for her to be able to recognize when she is on the brink of "crazy", and choose an activity that she knows will help her to feel calmness and inner peace.

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1. Turtle Massager
The vibrations help calm her muscles and gives her something else to focus her attention on. The kids like to put it on their heads. Sometimes she will go from crying to quiet instantly.

2. Music
Our favorite these days is Andrew Peterson and Randall Goodgame's Slugs and Bugs: Under Where? There's one particular song (Tell It to Jesus) on there that talks about what to do when we feel anger, and how God will help us to chill out.

3. A Cozy Place
We created a little spot for the kids to go to when they feel the need for some quiet time. It's nestled between a corner and the couch, and cushioned with bean bag chairs. We're working on creating some art to go back there that, as well as a little bookshelf to house some of our favorite books on appropriately expressing emotions.

4. Books
Some of our favorites:

When Sophie gets Angry- Really, Really Angry

 If I were a Lion

 Angry Arthur

 Llama Llama Mad at Mama

5. Prayer
Often times I will say a little prayer over the kids (or myself) when they are feeling angry or out of control emotionally. They almost never want to pray when they are in that mood, but hopefully I'm sowing seeds that they will someday remember on their own.

Here's an example of one "specialized" rice bin.

6. Rice/Lentil Bins
We keep two bins- one filled with rice and another with lentils- near our craft closet so that they can easily be pulled out and played in. Inside each are things like measuring cups, empty sprinkle containers, ice cream scoops, bowls, etc. that can be used for dipping, scooping and pouring. If kids are approaching emotional deregulation, sometimes I'll ask if one of them wants to play in the bin. If so, I'll spread out a blanket on the floor (to catch the inevitable rice spills), place the bin in the middle of it, and plop them down in front of it. It's incredibly relaxing to our kids (as long as they are not playing in it together).


7. Swinging
If middle child is in a grumpy, unpeaceful mood, I try to get us down the park (it's less than a block from our house!) and get the girl in a swing. She likes to swing high and pretend she's a butterfly. =)


8. Puppets
Sometimes kids are able to talk about what's bothering with them through puppets more than they are able to talk directly to an adult. I'm not a child development expert so I'm not sure why that is exactly, but we've found it to be true in our house. So, I break out a puppet, bring it to middle child and the puppet asks her why she's crying. Sometimes she'll sniffle for a minute or two and say, "No", so puppet will wait patiently and then she'll eventually start talking. I The Puppet will talk her through it and for some reason the puppet can say so much more to her than I can. Soon she'll forget her worries/anxieties/source of frustration.

Source: from HereWeAreTogether

9. Calming Jar
I have not tried this yet, but it looks genius (also check out Robyn Oakenfold's blog for a great pic and tutorial). Basically, what you do is imagine that the glitter in the jar are your emotions, and if you're angry, you can shake it up and then imagine your emotions settling down as the glitter falls to the bottom. The goal is that within 3-5 minutes (the length it takes for the glitter to totally settle), the child will be calmed down. I think it could also be used as a tool in prayer, praying as the glitter falls.

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 10. Seashell Listening
I haven't officially tried this one either, but it's an idea I had to get a big seashell for middle child to listen to when she's feeling upset. The "sound of the ocean" is quite peaceful, and she will need to be quiet in order to hear. 

While some of these are particularly helpful for kids who have sensory issues (like middle child), I've found that all my kids benefit from these things!

What are some of your family's calming activities? 

Linked up with No Time for Flash Cards' Link and Learn
and Top Ten Tuesdays at Many Little Blessings

Grow: The Fruit of the Spirit is...Peace

When I think of peace, I think of three totally different things.
- I think of hippies (peace sign, dude)
- I think of quiet
- I think of freedom from worry

Now I don't know much about what the Bible has to say about world peace, but I do know that the other two definitions are well talked about in God's word.

1. Peace as in Quiet

God encourages us to "be still and know that He is God" (Psalm 46:10).

It's important for us as parents, and just as followers of Jesus, that we take the time to be still in the presence of the Lord. God often talks through a quiet whisper, so how can we hear it if we are always so loud?

Eat: Pineapple Skewers with Yogurt Fruit Dip

Because aren't anything on skewers more fun to eat? 

The other evening we skewed some pineapple and grapes and dipped them in a delicious, yogurty dip. This would make a good snack at a party or an activity at an afternoon playdate! The most difficult part of this "recipe" is cutting the pineapple. For a good tutorial, see http://www.howtocutapineapple.com (yes, that's really a website!).

After cutting the pineapple into chunks, we got out the skewers and fruit and got to work!

Ada probably at a half of a pound of grapes while the older ones skewed.

After we finished the kabobs, we put little Robot Foam Beads on the end to protect people from getting accidentally poked (and to make them cuter).

Then we made the fruit dip (which I didn't take pictures of, but really, do you need to SEE how to mix 4 ingredients together with a mixer?).

To make, just mix together 1 small carton of cool whip, 1 container of vanilla yogurt, 1 block of cream cheese, and 1 small box of french vanilla (or any flavor, really) instant pudding mix. It makes a ton, so be sure to invite some friends over to enjoy it with you!

Play: Spongey Pineapple

We decided to assign pineapple to joy because, well, what else do you think of when you see a pineapple? :)

This activity is a simple one.

Play: Strawberry Seeds Counting Activity

I know this is a little late to go with the "love" week, but I just finished it last night for my kiddos and I think it turned out really well.

Each strawberry has a number on it, and kids can either use a black dry erase marker to add the correct number of "seeds" or they can use dry black beans. When using the black beans, it's especially good because it helps kids develop the one-to-one correlation mathematical milestone.

To make this, I used this great free printable from FirstPallete (I used template #1). I cut out 10 strawberries from red construction paper and 10 tops from green. I glued the tops on, sent the strawberries through the laminating machine, cut them out, and then put scrapbooking number stickers on top of each one.

Linking up with