I have been so out of touch with my normal life the past few days! I was in California for a vacation/bloggy event/family renunion. My kids are wonked (is that a word?) by the time zones, our house is a mess and still the first thing Lydia says to me when we get home is, “I want to make a craft!”.
So, we jumped right back into our Fruit of the Spirit activities yesterday. I randomly picked an orange to remind us of KINDNESS.* It seemed like a fruit you might share, so orange it is!
I was googling Fruit of the Spirit a few weeks ago and ran across some little books called The Bird With The Word Talks About…by Harvest House Publishers. There are 9 books each covering one of the fruits of the Spirit. The website I found it on showed no pictures whatsoever but the books were only $1, so I bought them all!
I was surprised when the books arrived because they are almost like little pamphlets. They are mini-sized with no color pictures. But Lydia thinks they are so fun. The books aren’t amazing or have some unbelievable insight but they do a good job of introducing and giving a solid definition of each Fruit. The Kindness book was about a clown that invited the animals (the main characters of the book) to a Be Kind To Animals Day at the circus. The animals are excited except for the snail. He feels left out because no one will like him. The other animals get ticked that he is ruining their fun. Then the Bird reminds everyone to be kind and nice to snail and to each other. (Really, it was a little more clever than THAT!) Lydia enjoyed it.
Then we picked out Colossianss 3:12 as our scripture verse:
You are God’s chosen people. You are holy and dearly loved. So put on tender mercy and kindness as if they were your clothes.
I love this one because it lends itself to so many great activities (I’m thinkin’ collages of clothes, dress up time, dress up an orange day and more!). As we read the verse, Lydia was already confused. She said, “What are they wearing? What are they wearing?”
So, I asked her to get a costume out of her costume box. She of course, brought me a tiara. I asked her what we do when we get out our crowns.
Lydia: I don’t know.
Me: We look at it and say, “Oh! How pretty! A beautiful fairy princess crown!” Then what do we do?
Lydia: I don’t know.
Me: Then we put it on and say, “Oh, Lydia! You are a beautiful fairy princess!” (I put the crown on her.) Then what do we do?
Lydia: (stands up straighter, smiles and pretends to be a fairy princess)
Me: We pretend to be a fairy princess! We talk to all our fairy friends! We say hello to all the princesses!
Then I took the crown off her head and said, “Now, let’s pretend this is our KINDNESS CROWN.” Then we went through the entire conversation again…
Me: What do we do when we see our KINDNESS CROWN?
Lydia: (in awe) I don’t know!
Me: We look at it and say, “Oh! This reminds us to be kind! And nice to everyone we meet.” What do we do next?
Lydia: (shyly) Put it on?
Me: That’s right! Put it on and say, “Oh, look! Lydia is wearing a KINDNESS CROWN. She is so kind!” Then what?
Lydia: (still in awe and puts her arms out again like a fairy princess)
Me: That’s right! We use kindness! We are nice to everyone we meet. Lydia helps people and gives to others.
Then I handed her a few of her stuffed animals. We pretended the animals were having a bad day (they were mean, or someone was mean to them) and I asked Lydia what to do for them since she was wearing the KINDNESS CROWN. She usually came up with an idea like, “Let’s play a game with him!” or “I’ll give you a hug!”
But she was getting it! She was being kind with the same excitement as when she pretends she’s Snow White! Later on when she started playing Doctor or some other game, she ran up to me and said, “Mommy! Mommy! I need my KINDNESS CROWN!” because one of her animals needed some kindness.
I honestly could not have planned this better. She was totally acting out the verse and getting the idea behind PUTTING ON KINDNESS. It was awesome. I can’t wait to do more with this Fruit of the Spirit!
*a word about the Fruit of the Spirit. Some translations give the following nine fruits: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. I’m using the NIRV with Lydia, so we are doing: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, good, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
laura says
Great idea! You’re so creative. I love how you were able to help them grasp the concept of “putting on kindness”. What a great message.
Thanks for your comment on my blog! I love hearing feedback, getting to know you, and finding another great blog to read. 🙂
.-= laura´s last blog ..Apple Picking =-.
Jill says
I found your site from googling about Bird with the Word Fruit of the Spirit. I can’t seem to find where to order them. Can you tell me where you got yours?
Thanks!
ohamanda says
Ohh…I cannot remember. It was a teeny tiny website. I’ll have to look around but it was a long time ago. 🙂
Jill says
Thanks for your reply. When I find it on Amazon the price is $200!! Crazy! We have three out of the nine, so I know they are not worth that much! Thanks again. We are getting ready to study this in our children’s church, so I thought they would be a fun little extra story to read.
Amy says
Amanda, that Galatians reference is Colossians 3:12. This is the one we did tonight!
ohamanda says
Oops! I *did* have it linked to the right book anyway! 😉 Fixed now.
Sher says
That is such a great idea. I think kindness is such an important principle to teach our children.