Teaching Kids Art Through Picture Books

It was the very first summer of Storygalorey. I was nervous, but as I opened the front door, I was greeted by a smiling friend who had kindly supported me by bringing her daughter. I relaxed and took a deep breath. Nothing to be anxious about here! I glanced at her T-shirt and quickly took in the words printed on them. It was a shirt from her church, and it read: 

Every name has a story. Every story matters to God.  

Those words grabbed me. "Wow!" I thought, "that's kind of what was in the back of my mind with starting this new business. Stories, art, loving people, pointing to God..."

All I said out loud was, "I love your shirt!" 

Imagine how I felt when she came to Storygalorey the next time, thrusting a small grey bundle of fabric into my hands. "It's the T-shirt you liked! I had an extra!" I felt so loved and seen. That feeling--of someone seeing you and recognizing you in the moment, is exactly the message the shirt meant to convey, and she had acted it out. 

Every name has a...

As  a follower of Jesus, I love thinking about how to incorporate our faith into everything we do as parents and grandparents. Since children are always watching and catching and observing, it's important to take every opportunity to share the wonderful truths we believe with them. Today in keeping with the "Space" theme,  I wanted to reflect on what a peek into the heavens taught me this month.

As I observed that amazing total solar eclipse--the moon covering the sun completely--for 4 rare minutes in Indianapolis on April 8, I was overwhelmed with awe at our Creator and His creation. One of my takeaways from this experience was that I could actually see the sun gradually disappearing behind the moon, and yet...it was still mostly light outside!

Here the sun is almost covered by the moon--but--look how light is still is!:
On the left below, the sky is still blue but the sun is mostly covered (my camera didn't capture well) and on the right, the sky got dark.
We were struck silent when ...

It's Holy Week! I love sharing the book The Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt with kids during Holy Week. It's a great way to get the conversation going about what this week means, and to help your child grow spiritually. 

When you connect kids' learning in different areas, it helps them to remember. I love to tie words from the Bible to the art we are learning about. Drawing connected to reading is a way that you can help form your kids into not only great artists, but great people, using the wisdom of Scripture.

When our kids were growing up, we incorporated the Bible into morning and bedtime routines. We had a passage to read to each of them, which we called their blessing, every night as we tucked them into bed.

Our son's was about trees. Our prayer was that he would grow strong as God helped him make good decisions in life…like a tree gets strong by being planted by streams of water.

Today I'm sharing his blessing verse plus some simple questions to help get your kids drawing ...