Coming January 9th

Check out this preview of our upcoming January lesson themes for our Elementary Kiddos!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

From all of us at the KidsCOR blog...Merry Christmas!

May you enjoy the joy of Christ's birth with your family and loved ones.

See you in the New Year!

Family Christmas Eve Service

This service has been specifically designed for children of all ages. There will be a Christmas skit, special music, and a living nativity. In addition, your child will have the opportunity to share your family's special Christmas offering. The 45 minute service will conclude with the traditional Church of the Resurrection candle lighting ceremony. This is your chance to reinforce the true meaning of Christmas in a fun, interactive, and powerful way with your child! Avoid the crowds, make room for visitors at the other services, and enjoy worshipping as a family by attending this special Christmas Eve service. Visit http://www.cor.org/ for additional information.

Service Is Thursday, December 23 @ 4:00 p.m. in the Student Center.

Grow. Pray. Study.

Grow, Pray, Study this week!

Enjoy the Christmas break and doing some of the activities in our guides...for example, drive by and look at Christmas lights as a family and see what the houses focus on...do some show the love of Jesus through their decorations? What do you focus on?

See you back in your normal rooms on January 9th!

Don't forget the younger kiddos (4 and under) can still go to the nursery during worship.

Early Childhood GPS

K - 2nd Grade GPS

3rd - 5th GPS

Your Own Birthday Party for Jesus!

Here are some great ideas for those of you that want to have your own Birthday Party for Jesus!

• First of all, you can find many supplies at this website or you can make your own...think a party station where everyone decorates a brown paper sack with Birthday Party for Jesus stickers to take home their party favors. Party Supplies can be found here.



• Play fun games with your nativity set. Hide and seek with the nativity characters or "I spy" like some of the kiddos have been doing at Sunday School.



• Read the Christmas Story, the birth of Jesus.



• Have the children bring gifts for a family in need but emphasize that the greatest gift of all is Jesus, our Savior.



• A party isn't the same without cake! Make a special cake just for Jesus. I found this great cake idea on a Babycenter blog post...Birthday Cake for Jesus.



• Please share any ideas you have! We love hearing from you!

Advent Caledar Activity-December 16

A Charlie Brown Christmas is one of the most popular Christmas movies on tv. It has been show every year at Christmastime since 1965. Watch the movie together as a family then take a few minutes and talk about the movie. If you need a few questions to get the conversation going try these:

Why was Charlie Brown sad at the beginning of the movie?

Have you ever felt sad at Christmas?

Have you ever been in a Christmas play or musical?

If someone asked you to tell them what Christmas was all about, what would you say?

Advent Calendar Activity - December 15th

What traditions do you do with your family at Christmas time?

Do you do now what you did growing up as a kid?

Some of us are starting our own traditions at home, some have them set already and some need ideas for the future...

Here are some great family traditions...please comment and tell us what you do!

• Buying the kiddos Christmas pajamas that they open and wear on Christmas Eve
• Giving the kids an ornament for each year
• Reading the Christmas story on Christmas Eve
• Going to candlelight Christmas Eve service as a family
• Waiting at the top of the steps before finding out what Santa brought!
• Going to see the best Christmas lights in Kansas City
• Celebrating Advent and lighting the candles each Sunday
• Giving to a family in need or providing Christmas dinner for someone
• Mailing out Christmas cards

Have fun enjoying your new and old traditions!

Advent Calendar Activity-December 14

Today's Advent activity is making a card or a special treat for people who have provided services for your family. Here are some ideas of people who might be blessed that you thought of them during this Advent Season:

Mailman

Firefighters (take some treats to your local firehouse)

Garbage Collectors

UPS or Fedex Driver

Barber/Hairdresser

If you have other ideas of people to thank be sure to leave a comment on this post.

And check out a couple of special treat ideas:

Muddy Buddy/Puppy Chow

Chex Mix

Grow. Pray. Study.

What an AMAZING weekend at COR!

I hope you were there to celebrate with the Birthday Party we had for

J-E-S-U-S!!

Here are the GPS guides for the weekend.

Continue to celebrate at home the birth of Jesus.

Early Childhood GPS

K - 2nd Grade GPS

3rd - 5th GPS

Advent Calendar Activity-December 9th

Today's advent activity is all about thinking globally and how other countries celebrate the birth of Jesus. Click on the link's below to find recipes that are served at Christmas in different countries:

Egypt

France

Italy

Poland

Now check out the language translator see how many different languages you can say Merry Christmas in!

Add the Angels!

Add the ANGELS to your cut out Nativity Set.

Look for the wisemen to come soon!

ANGEL TEMPLATE

Advent Calendar Activity-December 8

Today's advent calendar activity is making 2 birdfeeders one for your yard and one for a neighbor's yard. Here are some easy homemade bird feeders that are fun for the whole family to put together.

Pine Cone Feeder
Coat with peanut butter and cornmeal; add raisins, cranberries, whatever you have around. Roll in mixed birdseed (optional). Hang or place in the yard.

Old Christmas Tree Feeder
Placing the Christmas tree in the yard at the end of the holiday season makes a great birdfeeder. Hang it with cranberries and pine cone feeders (above), spread peanut butter on branches, and because birds in winter need fat especially, hang suet from on it.

Bagel Feeder
Coat a bagel with peanut butter, roll it in mixed birdseed and/or cornmeal, and hang it on a tree branch. Replace when gone.

Plastic Soda Bottle Feeder
You can buy ready-made versions of the soda bottle bird feeder, or you can make one yourself:

Make a hole on each side of the bottle about ¼ of the way up from the bottom of the bottle. Insert a stick through both holes to make perches; use one that’s long enough to stick out a few inches from each side of the bottle. The holes should be just larger than the size of the stick so the birds can get the seeds; or make separate feeding holes slightly above the perches. Fill with birdseed (use a funnel).

You may want to poke small holes in the bottom of the bottle to let moisture drain out. Tie a wire or small rope around the top of the bottle for hanging. You can also make this project upside-down, with the cap pointing down; thread wire through two small holes in the bottom of the bottle, then twist the two ends together to make a hanging loop.

Cheerios Birdfeeder
String Cheerios (or other round cereal with a hole) on a string. Coat with peanut butter. Hang on bushes!

*Thanks to http://life.gaiam.com/ for these ideas!*

Grow. Pray. Study.

Enjoy this week's GPS!

Have fun telling people about Jesus during Advent.

Let us know any ideas that you have about how to share with others about

Jesus during this special time of year.

Early Childhood GPS

K-2nd Grade GPS

3rd-5th Grade GPS

Legend Of The Candy Cane

Read the Legend of the Candy Cane.....What other candies make you think of Jesus....Maybe "Smarties" because following Jesus makes you a smarty or maybe "Now and Laters" which help us remember to thank God both now and later.

A Candymaker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would help us remember who Christmas is really about. So he made a Christmas Candy Cane. He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.

He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolize the virgin birth and sinless nature of Jesus. Hard candy to symbolize the solid rock, the foundation of the Church, and firmness of the promises of God.

The candymaker made the candy in the form of a "J" to represent the name of Jesus. It also represented the staff of the "Good Shepherd".

The candymaker then included red stripes. He used three small stripes and a large red stripe to represent the suffering Christ endured at the end of his life.

The candy became known as a Candy Cane - a decoration seen at Christmas time. The meaning has faded, but still gives joy to children young and old, whom Jesus loves and treasures.

Advent Calendar Activity-December 6

Today's advent calendar activity is taking out your nativity set and talking about the birth of Jesus as a family. Then compare it to the birth of your children. Some questions to talk about are below:

1. Where were you born?

2. Who first visited you in the hospital?
3. What was the first gift your recieved as a baby?
4. What time of day where you born?

Birthday Party for Jesus!

Birthday Party for Jesus and

Toys for Joy!!

~December 11th and 12th~

Our Birthday party for Jesus is this weekend! We will have a big party for Jesus at all services. We will be collecting new and unwrapped toys for children at Welborn Elementary in KCK. The Welborn parents have earned points this year to be eligible to visit our toy store for Christmas gifts. These gifts will be used to stock the store. Don't miss this weekend, it's going to be AWESOME!

Advent Calendar Activity-December 4

Today's Advent Calendar Activity is making a special treat and giving it to someone just to bless them and show them God's Love. Check out the links below for a couple of KiDS COR Staff favorite recipes.


Sugar Cookies

Yummy Dip

Cream Cheese Cut-Out Cookies

Advent Calendar Activity-December 3

Today's Advent Calendar Activity is make your own Christmas ornament as a family or with some friends. Need an idea on an easy ornament to make, then check this out.

Today we made A Christmas Tree out of Pine Cones.

Step 1: Find Pine Cones


Step 2: Come home and put glue on paper plate:


Step 3: Place pine cone on plate with cotton balls (snow) around the base of the pine cone:

Step 4: Squeeze glue all over pine cone then sprinkle glitter over the pine cone.

Step 5: Stand back and admire your tree. After it has dried you can either tie some string onto the cone and hang it on the tree or just place the cone on a branch.

Share any cool homemade ornaments you have done as a family! Would love to hear from you.

Let's Go to Bethlehem

Here is a great activity to do at home...make your own nativity set!

You can print the cut outs from the template, color them, cut, fold

and make your own Holy Family.

Look for more pieces to add to your set!

HOLY FAMILY TEMPLATE

This is what the final product might look like...of course, you can make it any way you want!

Enjoy the Elementary Intro Video to Advent!

Advent Calendar Activity-December 2nd

Today's advent calendar is encouraging us to talk as a family about some great Christmas memories. Use the memory joggers below to help get conversations started. If you have other great questions please leave a comment on this post.

1. What is your favorite Christmas ornament?

2. What is your favorite Christmas carol?

3. What is your favorite snack to eat during Christmas?

4. What is your favorite Christmas Show?

5. What is the best Christmas Present you have ever received?