why are you posting so many activities?

no, no one actually asked me that question. except, maybe my mom. she would ask me that question. because she would legit want to know why there are so many "activity" ideas and other garbage on this blog. ha! the grams (what we've nicknamed her since she became a grandma), is ALL ABOUT THE DOCTRINE. seriously. when i emailed her to tell her about my super awesome nursery party social media idea, she emailed back with:

"Awesome!  Don't forget Jesus.  Put a lot of Jesus pictures around in nursery."

and then later when we were emailing back and forth about her upcoming winter trip to visit her grandchildren she said...

"Wow!  I'm to excited.   Whatever you decide and however you want done.   Let me see.  Right now you are a little frustrated because you feel alone in what has been going on.   PRAY AND LISTEN!   HE'S RIGHT THERE AND KNOW EVERYTHING!  I know some things and I hope I'm helping you know what HE knows."

guys, now that i am a mom, i am totally obsessed with my mom cause she's a genius. i'll be bragging about her all the time cause she's so great. 

anyways, to answer the self-imposed question of "why are you posting so many activities..." since you talk about teaching the doctrine and keeping it simple is because of this. 

nursery is two hours. TWO HOURS people. some of you have classes that are as small as two kids and they might be your own. some of you have 72! (seriously, 72, see here). and the rest of us i am guessing have everything in between. so with all of those 18 month olds to 3yo in your class and with attention spans of ants, you need a lot to occupy them. you need amo! 

besides, all the lesson help you need, is IN THE MANUAL. (obsession with the manual in this post) that's the best part. is you don't have to rack your brain trying to figure out what to teach, you just have to figure out all the other stuff that takes up about 115 minutes. the manual makes our lives so much easier.

so i hope i answered your question. i want this blog to be more than lesson helps because you already have lesson helps, the Church provided it. i'll just add a few lesson applicable craft ideas for keeping the kids busy post-lesson and other helpful survival tips. 

how YOU who are not called to the nursery can help with the nursery

there is one job that i never, ever, ever want. it's a division one football head coaching job. if you are doing well, then awesome, everyone loves you. but the second you slip up, look like you are failing, then everyone on every form of social media wants you gone. all of a sudden they forget all of the amazing things you did before that one moment of weakness. there are open letters that float around saying how you can do this and this better and why aren't you doing this. tweets and retweets about your terrible lack of character, etc. sometimes, often times, from an outsider perspective, we think we can do better than what the current person is doing. and unlike a head football coaching job where we can't call them up and share with them what we think they could be doing to be better, we can with other things.

enter the point of this post.

i've heard from a few people, "i wish my son was in your nursery class" or "i wish our nursery leaders were like you." we all wish for better things in different areas. i'm flattered, don't get me wrong, and would love to visit (with the nursery guru aka my mom) and teach in all the nurseries of the world, but there are some things that you, as parents of nursery party goers and auxiliary leaders, can do to help a nursery leader out! maybe you have tried to suggest a few things, and they didn't go well. but maybe, just maybe you are the answer to a desperate prayer that a tired, stressed out nursery leader has sent up to the heavens week after week. so...make friendly suggestions without overstepping (you know, like refer them to my blog or instagram ;), let the nursery leader know that he/she can ask you to help in the nursery when they are short-staffed, or even better, ask the bishop for a calling in nursery! oh wouldn't that just be the ideal!

and now...

here are a few ways that have helped us get what we need for the nursery:

UTILIZE OTHER AUXILIARIES
 -The Young Women Auxiliary: ask the YW president if there are any girls who are in need of personal progress projects (like a Good Works value project) that would like to take on a project for the nursery i.e. organizing toy/puzzle/book donations, putting together DIY motor skill activities. Maybe the YW could use a few mutual service mutual activities. If you are in another type of religious congregation that has a youth program, ask their leaders or the youth themselves if you can organize a service activity that will help the toddlers. Or if they need to take on a community service project!
        - The Relief Society Auxiliary: meet with the RS president and ask if they would like to                       organize an activity for enrichment night. Kindly tell her what you need and let them run with             it.
        - The Young Men Auxiliary/Scouting program: Find ways that the boys can fulfill scouting                requirements/service projects that can help with the nursery like cleaning all of the nursery                  toys, repairing broken toys, organizing donations, etc.
        - The Primary: Activity Days girls: Activity days girls love doing DIY projects, so why not                meet with the leader to ask them to help with the nursery?
     
       

[product review] - cheap "wooden" puzzles

a while ago, i posted about some really cute puzzles that i found at "the spot" at target (their dollar section). i hadnt really busted them out cause we lose puzzle pieces so fast here at home and i hate tracking them down. seriously, pull my hair out. in nursery party it's a different story because it's not your house and other people need to use the room so you have to clean. well, i finally let the kids play with them to see how they would like them. and conclusion? the puzzles weren't really that great. the print is adorable, i love robots and i love animals.

but...

they have no guidelines, no helps in how to complete them. toddlers need this. it helps them to feel like they know what they are doing and are somewhat in control and independent. it also makes things easier as a nursery leader/worker to engage but not hover (there are other kids to attend to after all!)

budget wise though, these puzzles were great for us. we needed puzzles and the kids seem interested, so we had to make a few little adjustments. i drew a few dotted lines in to outline the pieces and labeled them 1-whatever on the puzzle piece and the puzzle itself. the kids have actually done pretty well with the puzzles, go kids!

(photo by: ashley so'oto)

tis the season to focus on the savior

i get caught up with a lot of motor skill activities and crafts for nursery. and then i catch myself totally engaged in, well, not the wrong things, but the things that matter less. i am constantly reminding myself that the purpose of nursery "is to help children learn the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and live it. The nursery class should help the children increase their understanding of and love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, have positive experiences in a Church setting, and grow in feelings of self-worth."

so then i feel a little guilty that i'm doing so much research on crafting but let's be real, you can't teach a full on 20 minute lesson to toddlers. it's just not possible. unless you sedate them of course. but you can find ways to have a positive experience in a Church setting and to grow in feelings of self-worth. i feel like crafting and developing skills in nursery help the kids feel that, feel confident, feel accomplished, feel loved. 

that being said, i wanted to find a nursery craft/lesson help that would satisfy my (and maybe your) need to find something different to do outside of the manual coloring page for the christmas lesson. with help from the google, i found these free nativity printables from pretty prudent. i'm probably not going to print fabric just yet, but i probably should for future usage for the nursery peeps or for myself! but for the kids, i want them to be able to each take home a set, so we'll just be doing paper. 

images from pretty prudent

on free play

images via 

or "free time." i know you've probably seen articles floating around on FB or passed through forwarding emails regarding the reduction of "free time." parents are doing it through overscheduling their children, schools are doing it pushing kindergarteners to try to read at first grade levels and all that. i often catch myself surfing through pinterest to try and find "scheduled activities"for my kids to do.

first of all, my kids are TWO and THREE. every thing i've read (like here), especially through charlotte mason homeschooling curriculum, says to just let the kids that age play. there is no curriculum for them yet because they are just supposed to use their senses and explore on their own. this is hard for me. i feel like i'm not really doing anything for them if we don't have an organized activity and then i get upset if an organized activity doesn't go the way the pinterest picture portrays. and then i realized, that i'm trying to distract them instead of interact with them. being engaged in anything really for five minutes is much better than the struggle and frustration to distract them for ten.

for nursery party, don't confuse "free play" with a "lack of schedule." that is a common misconception and feels like it's easier for a nursery leader to just let the kids play for two hours. first of all, that defeats the purpose of nursery, learning the gospel of Christ. second, kids that age in a nursery setting need a schedule. not a rigorous schedule where they are constantly busy, but a schedule to help them feel like they know what is going on, so they know what to expect and can be more helpful. third, it keeps your sanity as a leader. you aren't trying to make up activities when the kids finally get tired of playing with toys. and fourth, it gets them ready for sunbeams. if the kids don't learn how to sit through a lesson (or the concept of sitting, cause getting a bunch of toddlers to "sit" through a lesson is rough but at least they are learning the principle!), or sit through singing time, it makes life more chaotic for the sunbeam teachers and up and up and up.

it really starts in the nursery!!

here are some fun, motor skill building, interactive toys (for cheap!) for the kids that i love:

here