Yesterday I mentioned I'd made three books, but I only showed you one. Here's the other two:
To compile these books I simply looked through all the For Little Friends stories of my past Friend magazines. I didn't use all the stories. Some were set aside for Family Home Evening lessons (maybe one day I'll show you how I've organized that part of my life) and a few others were left in the mags simply because the story and accompanying activity didn't seem like they would captivate Reid or Nell.
After much organizing and sorting I settled on seven stories for each book. I had about 20 to choose from, so there was a lot of slow and thoughtful elimination going on. After I found my final stories, I sorted them by themes. Each book has one story about Grandparents, one about Jesus, one about helping out at home, and then a sprinkling of other stories -- like saying sorry, sharing, etc.
One book has nine activities, the other eight. Each book has two coloring pages, a couple hidden picture games, a maze (or two), and then a few other activities, like drawing, ordering pictures, or counting. After searching through all these For Little Friends stories I must say I wish they did more mazes! The hidden pictures are fun, but mazes are such a valuable preschool skill.
Like yesterday's book about the Savior, I think these will be of interest for many years (whether or not they hold up to the use is another question). Right now I know Reid loves a couple of the different stories (like the gardening one), and as he gets older they'll be a great tool for practicing his reading skills. The enrichment of these stories won't fade away too soon.
All in all this project (three books) only took me a couple hours, most of which were spent sorting through my huge pile of old magazines. I did that during the kids nap on Monday, while I also watched Ten Things I Hate About You. So it was a great 90 minutes! I probably spent another 60 minutes eliminating, sorting, and organizing. Laminating was the easiest part. That only took 20 minutes. All I have left is trimming, hole punching and binding! Can't wait to put them to use this Sunday!
I realize they aren't bound yet, but I'm thinking I might trim them up a bit and put them in binders (they will not fit in a binder without a neat trim). I hope to put two or three quite time activities, or busy bags, with each book (possibly in the pockets of the binder). The goal is to make Sunday mornings easier, not just at Church, but also the rush out the door. We can just grab a book and it's accompanying busy bags and have everything we need to encourage reverence for the seventy-five minute duration of Sacrament meeting.
After much organizing and sorting I settled on seven stories for each book. I had about 20 to choose from, so there was a lot of slow and thoughtful elimination going on. After I found my final stories, I sorted them by themes. Each book has one story about Grandparents, one about Jesus, one about helping out at home, and then a sprinkling of other stories -- like saying sorry, sharing, etc.
One book has nine activities, the other eight. Each book has two coloring pages, a couple hidden picture games, a maze (or two), and then a few other activities, like drawing, ordering pictures, or counting. After searching through all these For Little Friends stories I must say I wish they did more mazes! The hidden pictures are fun, but mazes are such a valuable preschool skill.
Like yesterday's book about the Savior, I think these will be of interest for many years (whether or not they hold up to the use is another question). Right now I know Reid loves a couple of the different stories (like the gardening one), and as he gets older they'll be a great tool for practicing his reading skills. The enrichment of these stories won't fade away too soon.
All in all this project (three books) only took me a couple hours, most of which were spent sorting through my huge pile of old magazines. I did that during the kids nap on Monday, while I also watched Ten Things I Hate About You. So it was a great 90 minutes! I probably spent another 60 minutes eliminating, sorting, and organizing. Laminating was the easiest part. That only took 20 minutes. All I have left is trimming, hole punching and binding! Can't wait to put them to use this Sunday!
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