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Flanders Family Freebies

FF #123: ✂️ Fun & Inexpensive Craft Ideas for Kids

Published 12 months ago • 3 min read

Welcome to the 123rd issue of Flanders Family Freebies, a weekly themed link list of resources designed by me, Jennifer Flanders, in hopes of helping you build a strong, happy, healthy home. Thank you for giving me a place in your inbox! Was this newsletter forwarded to you by a friend? Want your own? Subscribe here.

Tyler, Texas
Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Hello Reader,

Seven of our grandkids ended up staying at our house for four days over Easter break, with five more popping in and out to visit while they were here. We didn't get a lot of chores done, but we did create a lot of wonderful memories together!

Of course, no visit to grandma's house is complete without a craft project or two. Sometimes these crafts take the form of art kits I review for Timberdoodle. But you don't have to buy elaborate kits to feed a child's creativity.

I suspect there are probably a bunch of great crafting supplies in your cupboards or trash bin even now. Take a look at this week's link list to learn how to recognize and transform them into some fun and fancy projects with your kids or grands!

Free resources for you this week:

What we're reading this week:

While the grandkids were here, we started a new read-aloud, George Müller: The Guardian of Bristol's Orphans by Geoff and Janet Benge. You may already be familiar with this great man of faith. Stories of his total reliance upon God to provide for the hundreds of orphans under his care have been told for decades.

Yet George was quite the trouble maker in his teen years. He would lie, cheat, steal, and gamble without the slightest remorse for any of those misdeeds. On the rare occasion he got caught, he would chastise himself, not for committing the sin, but for failing to keep it hidden.

These character flaws followed George even into divinity school, where as a young adult he was preparing to become a Lutheran pastor. When the provost of the school charged the students to give as much attention to developing good character as to making good grades, Muller focused on doing things that would make him appear more godly while continuing to indulge his sinful heart.

It wasn't until he met a group of earnest believers who read the Bible with a fierce desire to live by its truth and who prayed expectantly, as if God were standing right there in the room, ready to answer, that George Müller's eyes were finally opened to what he had been missing: a personal relationship with Jesus and a newfound delight in reading -- and doing -- His Word.

What we're watching this week:

We saw Freaky Friday with the grandkids over the weekend -- the version with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lyndsay Lohan. We call it the "new" Freaky Friday to differentiate it from the 1977 original, even though the "new" one has been out for 20 years now! 😂

At any rate, we love the lessons this mother-daughter team learn and the genuine empathy they develop when they mysteriously wake up one another's body and are forced to switch places for the day.

Progress on last week's goals:

Between last week's rains and my grandchildren's extended visit, I got zero work done on my wall mural, but I did find time to ✅ empty several more boxes from our garage, ✅ move a bunch of books to the new floor-to-ceiling bookcase I bought for our coat closet (only $12 at the CCC Sale), ✅ transfer our power tools to a second CCC-purchased shelving unit now stored in the garage, and ✅ relocate the children's unfinished scrapbooks to a third currently stored sideways on the floor of my closet to make them more easily accessible when I'm ready to update them.

Personal goals for this week:

  • speak at Thrive
  • order graduation invitations
  • pare down my email inbox
  • catch up on written correspondence
  • shelve one more box of books

Another poll for you this week:

Judging by how many fellow dumpster divers are evidently subscribed to this newsletter, I'm anticipating a big response to this week's questions: 1) What's your favorite way to reduce, reuse, and recycle? and/or 2) What item(s) do you find yourself regularly throwing away that you wish you could find a better use for?

Flanders Family Freebies

A happily married mama of 12, I am passionate about faith & family and love sharing ideas, fun resources, and free printables to help you build a strong, healthy, happy home.

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