Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Angel Breakfast

Ever since I first read about a church that held an Angel Breakfast, I wanted to do one...as an outreach. It was never to be though. So, we held one during Sunday School instead. And now with Covid-19, even a small one probably isn't a good idea. But who's to say you can't adapt this and use it for Christmas breakfast in your home. 

Why not add something different this year. When you can't go to the great events, why not bring one to your home. So here is everything you need to know, including downloadable printables. I hope you have a great family celebration this year.

Invitations

If you are doing this at home, you can skip the invitations. If you are able to do an event, used pictures of my centerpieces for the invitations. I designed them in Canva, a great online tool that has a free version.

Decorations

I used paper angels I purchased on Etsy here. I used 20 pound paper rather than card stock so that the tealights would shine through better. I had to enlarge the angels. They are designed for place-cards. I opened it in Adobe PDF and copied the angel by taking a snapshot of it with the snapshot tool. Then I pasted it into a Word doc and enlarged it. You could also use it as intended and make darling place-cards for everyone.

We used Buffalo Snow to make "clouds" down the center of our table. You can use any sort of fiber fill or even cotton batting for this. We added other angel figurines people lent us.


 

The Meal (Breakfast)

The main part of this breakfast is angel shaped pancakes. We made large round pancakes and cut them with an angel cookie cutter. If you are doing this for a large group, you can make and cut the pancakes ahead of time and then freeze them. When it's time to eat, reheat them in the microwave.

We added a "cloud" of whipped cream under the angel. Syrup, fruit cups and juice rounded out the meal.


Craft 

You can find plenty of angel crafts online. I have a number on my pinterest board entitled Kid's Events - Christmas Angel Breakfast for Children. We used one from Jesus Without Language. I liked this one because the angel actually looks like it is moving and it came from the Biblical story of the angel that appeared to Joseph in a dream. 


The instructions for this one are here.  You can purchase a huge Christmas pack that will include this craft at Teachers Pay Teachers. You can contact Kate at Jesus Without Language to see if this angel craft can be purchased individually.

Story

What a great opportunity to share with your children some of the truth of Christmas. God used special messengers to help prepare the way for his entrance into this world. The angel appeared to Mary, another to Joseph in a dream, and then to the shepherds. There were other appearances as well, but these are three major ones that occur within the 9 month period of God's entrance. You can find a children's book, or use some of the wonderful, free resources on line. My favorite site for visuals for telling a story is Free Bible Images. The page that has all of their Christmas stories is here.


Above are two sample pictures from one of the many stories you can find at Free Bible Images. They come with story planners if you need help telling the story. I print the pictures on cardstock.

Photo Op

You can make this as fancy or simple as you want. We went with simple. 


Please contact me if you have any questions.


 

Monday, December 7, 2020

DIY Gaucho Belts

 


This is a low cost craft to help children learn a little about the culture and geography of Argentina. Long before grass fed beef was being touted in the U.S., thousands of cattle were grazing on the grassy plains of the pampas in Argentina. These prairies extend for almost 300,000 square miles. This seemingly endless, mostly flat land in a humid, temperate climate create perfect conditions for growing cow friendly grass. 

From the mid 18 century to the mid 19th, Gauchos (the equivalent of our cowboys) ruled the pampas. They mustered cattle, chased down runaway livestock, and performed odd jobs for wealthy estancias (rural estates). They were nomadic peoples who wandered from estancias to estancias to find work. 

Gauchos are still in Argentina today. They are skilled horsemen as in days past, but they live more settled lives often as ranch hands on estancias. 

A Gaucho always wore a belt, to tuck their knife in. Like many of our western belts, they may have had a large buckle with their initials on it. This craft is perfect for introducing the Gaucho to children.

You can view the complete instructions in this presentation below. 

 
 

Supplies:

  • heavy duty foil
  • hole punch
  • scissors
  • cardboard (from a cereal box or similar)
  • jute 
  • yarn or twine (2 four foot pieces) 
  • double sided tape
  • packing tape (about 2 inches wide)
  • craft stick and or Q-tip

 

Step by Step Instructions:

  1. Cut out a 4" by 3" oval from cardboard. Use a hole punch to put a hole on each side of the oval.

  2. Draw guidelines on it (see above).
  3. Letter your initials on it in large block letters or script. The key is that is needs to be large, leaving plenty of open space around each letter.
  4. Put 2 pieces of double sided tape and put them on either side of your initials
  5. Tear off a 3" piece of packing tape and adhere it to the double sided tape with the sticky side of the packing tape FACING UP (see picture for #2 and also below).



  6. Lay the jute down along the initials you drew, cutting it at the end of each line (see pictures above). 


  7. When all the initials are outlined in jute place the square of foil over the top and wrap it around the back of the oval as pictured above.

  8. Using a craft stick or a Q-tip tool the foil all around the jute until the letters stand out nicely. Do this slowly and gently trying not to make any tears in the foil.


  9. Use a blunt pencil to push through the foil where you punched the holes in the oval.

  10. Fold each length of yarn in half and push one loop through each hole.


  11. Put the ends of the yarn through its respective loop and pull both sides tight.
  12. If you want to add an antiqued look to the buckle, put black or brown liquid shoe polish over the surface. Let it sit for a minute of two and then gently wipe off with a paper towel. 

This idea came from the book, Around the World Art & Activities. It is no longer in print, but many libraries have it.

 


 A "real" gaucho belt buckle:



 

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