27 Fun and Unique Holidays to Celebrate with your Kids in April

We have loved using our March holiday calendar during our time at home. It breaks up our week and gives us something to look forward to and celebrate.  To be honest the past few weeks have been hard at times and we are still figuring out our new normal. It has also been a wonderful time to slow down and spend time together and I am so grateful to have this extra time with my kids.  I knew I needed to make a holiday calendar for April-also my kids have been asking for it.  This month has so many fun holidays that we are excited to celebrate.  We don't celebrate all of them and the ones we do are often a small craft, treat, or game.  It's just a small thing but it makes me pause from the daily to-do list and just be present.

This month I found 27 fun holidays to include on our April Calendar (most I didn't know existed).  Pick a few or all and have fun :)

Download a copy of the calendar, print, and display.  After that have fun creating some special memories with your little ones.

Download your copy here

I'll be posting ideas as I finalize my plans and also as we celebrate some of these holidays.  My hope is that this will be something fun for your family and a way to create some special memories.  I'd love to hear your ideas and see pictures of your celebrations! My Facebook page is a great place to share :)

Here are a few fun ideas we've done in the past that would work with some of these holidays.

For Easter: Match game

Preschool Crafts and Activities

Earth Day: Recycled Egg Carton Flower Craft

National Dandelion Day: Flower Stamping

World Penguin Day:

Letter Craft

Feed the Penguin Counting Mats

Penguin Number Hunt

Holiday's came from here and here. 

Come Follow Me: Preparing for General Conference (March 28-April 5th)

"Immerse yourself in the glorious light of the Restoration. As you do, general conference next April will be not only memorable; it will be unforgettable." 
-President Nelson

With General Conference next Sunday I decided to use this week to prepare for conference using the quote above as inspiration for our study and activities. This is from President Nelson's closing remarks last General Conference (found here) There are 5 days planned with the suggestion of watching one of the videos (found here), suggested scriptures, and an activity or two to go with the topic.  We are going to watch this movie (it's also on the church website but I can't get it to open) on Sunday and then start day 1 on Monday so we finish on Friday and are ready for Conference on Saturday.   I did not include specific clips because there are a few different options for some of the topics-pick the one that works best for your family :)

Here's what the schedule looks like.  I also included parts of President Nelson's talk that I plan to share with my family...I thought it may be useful to someone else :)

 Day 1-Story sequence.  There is also a black and white option included.  To use leave the page with the numbers as is.  Cut out the pictures and use them as you share the story of the first vision.  You can use cardstock and velcro or glue them to the board.

Day 2: Has 3 different game options.  You will need the 2 pages of cards for all three.

The first is an I spy game.  Hide the cards around the room and let your children find them.  Use the "I spy" mat to cross off as you find them.  As the cards are found use them to tell the story.

 Option #2 Print two sets of the cards on cardstock and use as a match game.

 Option #3-Bingo!

 Day 3-We are going to talk about some of the blessings of the priesthood and play a match game.  Print 2 on cardstock-if you do not have any you can glue it to some construction paper.

 Day 4-We are going to practice the 6th Article of Faith and then make cards for either the Bishop or our primary teachers.

 Day 5-Draw, paint, use play-dough, legos, blocks, etc to make your favorite temple.  I did include some pages that can be used if they are drawing or painting.  Even if they are building these pages are a great way to have them "plan" their build.  They also make great journal pages.

That's all I have for this week.  I did have a request for the videos I'm using and will link those below.  If you have any questions or trouble with the download please let me know :)

If you are looking for something else to study this week this is one of my favorite talks (found here)

 Click Here to Download the Free Printables

Video clips I'm planning on using

Day 1 First Vision

Day 2 Angel Moroni Appears

Day 3 Restoration of the Priesthood 

Day 4 Organization of the Church

Day 5 Temple 

Come Follow Me: Enos-Words of Mormon (March 23-29)

First I just want to know how all of you are doing?  It has been a crazy, unpredictable, and at time a little scary.   I hope you and your loved ones are doing well and are healthy. I have a few ideas to help you teach the next chapters/books this week.

We are going to watch one of the following video clips about enos

New Book of Mormon Videos here

Animated version here

Then we are going to talk about prayer.  We have done quite a few lessons on prayer and this time we are going to talk about making our prayers more meaningful by praying for specific things.  You can find more on this in the Ensign's Family Study Fun...this one is my idea I submitted :)

Next we are going to play a little game.  Pass out the paper below (or use a blank one) and a pencil to each family member.  Set a time for 1 minute.  Quickly write as many things as you can think of that you can thank or ask for during your prayers.  You can either share your anwers OR use them to play pictionary or charades.  Take turns picking something from your list and let your family guess what you are drawing or acting out.  Another option is to use these pages as a journal page-little ones can draw their answers.  Black and white options are included.

Next up is a match game for the younger members in your family.  I picked a few things that we pray about.  Once they find a match they can tell you if it is something we thank Heavenly Father for or ask him to bless.  Many can go in both categories.  *You will need to print two copies of this page preferably on cardstock or back with construction paper.

Ideas from the Friend:
Enos craft found here
Enos story and coloring page here

Another thing I wanted to talk about this week was being able to pray when we are scared.  My kids have been asking question and have some fears about things going on around us.  I went looking for some stories in the Friend and found some great ones.
prayers in the attic 

prayers at the market

elevator prayers & chicken coop
a prayer in the night
Just a prayer away
prayer in the storm I decided to focus on this one because it also shows that parents can be scared too.  I love the little girls example and how deciding to pray didn't just comfort her but also her dad.
I made some cute story cards to go along with this one that you can show as you tell the story.  *Print and cut.

For this activity you will print, cut, and hide the airplanes around the room.  Once the airplane is found have them fly it safely to the ground.  Read the phase and discuss a few things you may add to your prayers when you feel that way.

Finally we are going to make prayer rocks.

I can bless others when I listen to the Holy Ghost. (Words of Mormon 1:3–8)

I am going to share this cute story from the Friend.  It's about a little girl that listens to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and bless her family.  You can find it here

The we are going to read Word's of Mormon 1:3-8.  Then use the puppets below to tell the story of the lost 116 pages and how we are blessed because Mormon listened to the Holy Ghost.  (There is a great summary in the Individual and Family manual)

The primary manual suggests singing a song about the Holy ghost a few different ways like slow, loud, soft, etc.  When you sing it soft discuss how the Holy Ghost speaks to us in a soft voice.  I decided to use this song found here.  It may be a new one for you...it will be for a few in my family.  I made some visuals to help remember/learn the words.  We are going to sing it one time through.

Then we will use our song dice and sing the last couple of lines from the 2nd verse in different ways.  When we land on the quiet we will talk about ways the Holy Ghost speaks to us.

Alright that is all I have for this week.  If you have any questions or trouble with the download please let me know!  Also if you have any questions about sharing these files with primary classes or family members please let me know-I've received a few emails about this and know there may be others with questions regarding this :)

Download Free Printables Here

First Day of Spring Activities

Tomorrow is the first day of spring and here are a couple of activities from my blog that we plan to do.  You can find these printables in a free download at the end of this post.

Roll a flower:  Just print the page and grab a dice.  You can do one for each player or just share the main page and use your own blank paper.  The first player will roll a dice.  If they get a 2 they will draw a flower pot.  Then then their turn is over.  If they already have rolled the number they do nothing and it moves to the next person.  Continue taking turns until someone has finished their flower.

Nature Scavenger hunt you can use this page and check off items as you see them.  Another fun thing I've done in the past was to give each of my kids a paper bag and let them gather different items from outside.  We brought them in and made a collage with their collections.  I think we are going to take a camera and take pictures of the items as we find them.  After we will download and print and make a collage.

Our final activity is to make graham cracker bird houses.  You can find my post for this here.

Download Here

Amazing activity for your Church Bag

I am always looking for something to add to my church bag that will keep my kids happy and quiet during Sacrament Meeting.  With 5 kids and my husband in the bishopric this is a must for me. These adorable books from KangaToys are perfect!  Right now she has a Book of Mormon and New Testament addition. They are so, so cute and fun!  They are requested every single week during church and often at home.  My kids absolutely love them.  These would be amazing to use as a quiet activity during General Conference or a great Easter gift.

Have you tried aqua brushes before?  They are absolutely mesmerizing. My kids kept yelling "wow" and "look at this!" Good thing we tested them out at home first :)  Another really cool thing about these books is there is a find the picture game.  My kids love hunting for the different items.

The pictures are so cute and once painted the colors are so vibrant and gorgeous!  I love that they are reusable (they dry quickly).  Also that its a very clean activity-No mess at all!  You just use water. For church I fill the brushes a head of time and toss both books and brushes in a gallon sized Ziploc bag. Super easy!

A huge thank you to Michelle from KangaToys for sending us these books to try.  After testing them out for a month I can safety say these books are amazing!  I am hoping she comes out with some more books so I can purchase them for our collection.

You can find them here

20 Fun March Holidays (Free Printable Calendar)

March is full of some fun and kind of quirky holidays. I am kind of excited about Dr. Seuss Day and Napping day haha. This free calendar is full of kid friendly ones that I think will be perfect to incorporate into our preschool plan and use it as a fun way to connect with my kids. My older kids love to join in too!  Simply download a copy of the calendar, print, and display.  You do not need to celebrate all of them (we probably won't) just pick and choose what works for you and your family.

I'll be posting ideas as I finalize my plans and also as we celebrate some of these holidays.  My hope is that this will be something fun for your family and a way to create some special memories.  I'd love to hear your ideas and see pictures of your celebrations!

Holiday's came from here and here. 

Download your Free calendar here!