This is our first year doing a Jesse Tree in celebration of Advent. When we started, I thought we'd make ornaments each day, and put them on our little tree.
But it's worked out to doing some related activity each day instead. And it's been fun (even though our tree is relatively bare. Here's what we've done. (We're using this devotional as a starting place.)
- November 30th: Isaiah 11:19. Got out the Christmas tree, talked about it being a Jesse tree.
- December 1st: Genesis 1:26-31. Celebrate creation in some way. We made snowflakes out of pipe cleaners and beads, (it was our first snow).
- December 2nd: Got out all of our snake toys and talked about making the right choice when we want to be naughty. Hung a snake on the tree.
- December 3rd: Cut a cereal box in to the shape of an ark and played with animals in it.
December 4th: Genesis 12:1-7. Made Abraham's traveling tent out of a blanket and chairs in the living room. We played "Abraham and Sarah" all evening.- December 5th: Genesis 21:1-7. Played with baby dolls, name them all "Isaac".
- December 6th: Genesis 22:1-14. Played "Hide and seek the Ram" with a stuffed lamb. It's currently still hidden behind the computer.
- December 7th: Genesis 28:10-22. Played Tag (the person who was "it" is the problem, others are running from their problem -- a stretch, I know).
- December 8th: Genesis 37: 1-36, 50:15-21. Made a coat of many colors. We used paper bags, cut the front open, made a hole for the neck and two side holes for the arms. Then we turned them inside-out (so they were solid) and colored them. Now the kids are wearing their colorful vests.
- December 9th: Genesis 5:1-22 Wrote messages to each other on rocks. Crayons worked pretty well for this.
December 10th: Joshua 2:1-21 Hung a piece of red yarn in the window.
What activities have you others been doing for advent? If you've been doing the Jesse Tree, what sorts of things make it memorable for your young ones?
For other Works for me Wednesday, visit Rocks in my Dryer
Awww... ( I think most of my comments start out that way, sorry!)
ReplyDeleteI think I have heard about Jesse Tree, however our family never did that stuff.
We celebrate Advent on the 4 preceding Christmas Sundays and Christmas Eve. (Did you come to one of our Advents? We've had a lot of people, so I often don't remeber who has or who hasn't)
Our celebrations include Scripture readings, Singing corresponding Christmas songs/ Carols, prayer, food and eggnog!!
Is there a curriculum or something that you follow with this Jesse Tree?
Oops -- thanks for pointing out that I forgot to paste in my links. I've edited it to add them in. I originally found it through Rocks in My Dryer, and use the devotional at RCA. Ann Voskamp has another great devotional, which I may like better, I'm not sure yet.
ReplyDelete@Veracity -- no, I've never been to one of your Advent celebrations. It sounds super neat though! If we were in town on Sundays, I'd be asking for an invitation :)
ReplyDeleteYou Mom, by the way, hasn't returned my call -- is she overwhelmingly busy?
Sounds like you're having fun with the kids! I think that's great! It also makes them remember the holidays as a fun time, not a stressful time. I wanted to incorporate an advent schedule this year, but didn't do it. Thanks for sharing your ideas.
ReplyDeleteI love your preschool activities! Do you have activities for the remainder of the Jesse tree in another post?
ReplyDeleteThank you Kelly! Here's a link to the remainder of the activities!
ReplyDeletehttp://growingliketrees.blogspot.com/2008/12/more-jesse-tree-activities-for.html