A Summer of Wild Wondering With God

Here are some resources to help you listen, pray, and play!  We’re adding more each week to coincide with each new episode where we marvel and wonder wildly about WHO God is as he reveals himself through Scripture and in nature.

LISTEN AND REST (or get up and dance!) with this playlist.

WILD WONDERING WITH GOD – EPISODE 1 – WIND

do some creative or playful things:

• • gather sticks and string to make a wind chime
  • make a wind sock
  • paint with watercolors using a straw by dropping paint on the paper and blowing the paint with the straw instead of a brush

read with a buddy or by yourself:

• • read Christina Rossetti’s poem, “Who Has Seen the Wind?”
  • read Hurry Up! A book about slowing down by Kate Dopirak
  • read aloud together as a family as you huddle around The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

write about what you are thinking and seeing and experiencing:

• • print these journal response pages as a booklet

share what you have learned with someone else:

• • wonder together with someone else using this guide

WILD WONDERING WITH GOD – EPISODE 2 – MUD

write about what you are thinking and seeing and experiencing:

• • print these journal response pages as a booklet

do some creative or playful things:

• • mix some dirt and a little bit of water and paint with mud
  • make “clean” mud dough
  • make “mud muffins”
  • play “Stuck in the Mud”. It’s just like freeze dance. Sort of. And it’s played without mud. 🙂

read with a buddy or by yourself:

• • read Mud by Mary Lyn Ray
  • read A New Green Day by Antoinette Portis
  • read Yucky Worms by Vivian French — then go dig in the mud for worms
  • read Little Blue Truck with a Gospel perspective

share what you have learned with someone else:

• • teach this to someone using this guide

WILD WONDERING WITH GOD – EPISODE 3 – WATER

write about what you are thinking and seeing and experiencing:

• • print these journal response pages as a booklet

do some creative or playful things:

• • create a water-based sensory bin for younger kids
  • check out these ideas for water play for older kids
  • here are some wonderful ways to explore with watercolors
  • quench your thirst with these infused water recipes
  • have a “leaf race” — toss two leaves into a creek and watch them as they float to the finish line

read with a buddy or by yourself:

• • soak in the glorious illustrations of Water Is Water: A Book About the Water Cycle by Miranda Paul
  • gather your older elementary kids and read aloud together All Thirteen:The Incredible Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team by Christina Soontornvat

share what you have learned with someone else:

• • teach this to someone using this guide

WILD WONDERING WITH GOD – EPISODE 4 – SEEDS

write about what you are thinking and seeing and experiencing:

• • print these journal response pages as a booklet

do some creative or playful things:

• • make some art like Eric Carle, inspired by his book The Tiny Seed
  • grab a little bag of seeds and sort and classify them: How are they alike? How are they different? Use this site on seeds to help you understand more in depth.
  • gather some fallen treasures to create nature sculptures
  • do some sorting, predicting, and sprouting with seeds

read with a buddy or by yourself:

• • read Seeds Move! by Robin Page
  • read A Seed Is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston
  • read aloud together as a family as you huddle around The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

share what you have learned with someone else:

• • teach this to someone using this guide

WILD WONDERING WITH GOD – EPISODE 5 – FLOWERS

write about what you are thinking and seeing and experiencing:

• • print these journal response pages as a booklet

do some creative or playful things:

• • here are some nature play ideas for littles
  • play with colors and textures — and grow independence — as you do a little floral arranging

read with a buddy or by yourself:

• • read aloud together The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden by Karina Yan Glaser — a sweet chapter book about transformation
  • read Lola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn as you follow a seed to flower story
  • check out The Big Book of Blooms by Yuval Zommer with its beautiful illustrations and bits about botany

share what you have learned with someone else:

• • teach this to someone using this guide

WILD WONDERING WITH GOD — EPISODE 6 — INSECTS

write about what you are thinking and seeing and experiencing:

• • print these journal response pages as a booklet

do some creative or playful things:

• • make a bee-utiful craft while also working on those fine motor skills
  • make a dragonfly with a straw and some paper
  • go on a bug hunt to see what kinds of insects you can find
  • stay up late to watch or catch lightning bugs

read with a buddy or by yourself:

• • The Strange Tale of Ben Beesley by Restoration’s own Matt McNeil is a MUST READ. Full of the Gospel and hope in the midst of grief.
  • read Some Bugs by Angela DiTerlizzi with those closest to the ground, able to notice and marvel at the tiniest things
  • read A Butterfly is Patient by Dianna Hutts Aston

share what you have learned with someone else:

• • teach this to someone using this guide

WILD WONDERING WITH GOD — EPISODE 7 — BIRDSONG

write about what you are thinking and seeing and experiencing:

• • print these journal response pages as a booklet

do some creative or playful things:

• • scroll down to capture the instructions and inspiration for creating mixed-media bird nests
  • grab a paper lunch bag, roll down the sides to make a nest, then gather and fill and “feather” your nest with found treasures
  • be inspired to work like a bird to weave your own nest

read with a buddy or by yourself:

• • read Magnificent Birds by Narisa Togo
  • read A Nest Is Noisy by Dianna Hutts Aston
  • read All Kinds of Nests by Eun-gyu Choi
  • read A Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies which is a more text-rich picture book biography
  • gather together for a read aloud of Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White

share what you have learned with someone else:

• • teach this to someone using this guide

WILD WONDERING WITH GOD — EPISODE 8 — TREES

write about what you are thinking and seeing and experiencing:

• • print these journal response pages as a booklet

do some creative or playful things:

• • climb a tree and see how the view changes
  • make a neighborhood tree identification guide using this online tool for help if you need it
  • do a bark rubbing
  • play this game in an area with several trees: In pairs, have one person blindfolded and another person lead the blindfolded person through the wooded area to a tree. Have the blindfolded person touch and feel the tree. Then lead the blindfolded person back to the ‘start’. Have the blindfolded person take off the blindfold and guess which tree they touched.
  • head here for a TON of ideas to have fun outside

read with a buddy or by yourself:

• • read The Things That I Love About Trees by Chris Butterworth
  • study The Magic and Mystery of Trees by Jen Green, a non-fiction lovers book for sure
  • travel to the Rain Forest by reading The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry
  • read Mrs. Peanuckle’s Tree Alphabet by Mrs. Peanuckle, a great concept book that introduces all types of trees
  • gather around to read Little House In the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

share what you have learned with someone else:

• • teach this to someone using this guide

WILD WONDERING WITH GOD — EPISODE 9 — ROCKS

write about what you are thinking and seeing and experiencing:

• • print these journal response pages as a booklet

do some creative or playful things:

• • clean some rocks
  • paint rocks
  • stack some flat rocks to build a cairn

read with a buddy or by yourself:

• • read A Rock Is Lively by Dianna Hutts Aston
  • read Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
  • read Banner In the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman — an adventure story read aloud for older elementary kids

share what you have learned with someone else:

• • teach this to someone using this guide

WILD WONDERING WITH GOD — EPISODE 10 — CLOUDS

write about what you are thinking and seeing and experiencing:

• • print these journal response pages as a booklet

do some creative or playful things:

• • stretch out on a blanket and look up at the clouds in the sky
  • try these experiments to make clouds at home
  • learn how to paint a “happy little cloud” with Bob Ross

read with a buddy or by yourself:

• • watch this read aloud of Little Cloud by Eric Carle
  • read Clouds by Anne Rockwell
  • read this National Geographic book Explore My World: Clouds by Marfe Delano
  • read a biography of Luke Howard The Man Who Named the Clouds by Julie Hannah
  • read Wayside School: Beneath the Cloud of Doom by Louis Sachar for some silly humor

share what you have learned with someone else:

• • teach this to someone using this guide

Resources you may find helpful as you share God’s love with the kids in your life:

Bible Storybooks, Bibles & Devotionals

Nursery (0-2 years old)

The Look and Point Bible is fun because it is interactive inviting the reader to look and point!

The Rhyme Bible is great for developing language skills.

A Child’s First Bible is short and sweet with a question at the end of each story.

The New Bible in Pictures For Little Eyes is a sweet classic.

The Read and Rhyme Storybook looks fun!

Lift the Flap Bible is also interactive.

The Toddler Adventure Bible Storybook looks good, too.

Found is so lovely!

The Baby Believer board book series by Danielle Hitchen is great!

Preschool (2-6 years old)

God’s Story For Me is a good collection of many stories that will enhance children’s biblical literacy.

The Complete Illustrated Children’s Bible has beautiful illustrations and well-told stories.

Jesus Calling Bible Storybook is good for a short devotional and a good way to listen for Jesus’ voice.

Day by Day Bible takes kids through the Bible in one year with a short story for each day.

Early Elementary (6-8 years old)

The Jesus Storybook Bible captures God’s plan for Jesus as our redeemer from the beginning and weaves it into every story.

Shine On: A Story Bible has great wondering-type questions and a variety of illustrators.

The NIV or NIrV Adventure Bible is a full-text Bible written in slightly modified language for early readers and listeners — it’s what we use on Pray & Ponder.

The ESV Big Picture Bible is a full-text Bible with illustrations scattered throughout.

Jesus Calling For Kids is a sweet devotional with Scripture references making a full-text Bible easier to navigate.

Upper Elementary (8-11 years old)

The Action Bible has a format that kids find captivating and it can cover a lot of material, although not in-depth.

The ESV Big Picture Bible is a full-text Bible with illustrations scattered throughout.

Family Devotional Books

Teach Us to Pray is a great book of Scripture-centered family worship throughout the year.

Good Dirt a three-volume set that takes you through the church year.

Additional Books and Resources

The Ology is a good resource for elementary kids to read with an adult or for adult study as a way to help you explain things to kids.

The Bible Story Handbook is like a mini-commentary on teaching Bible stories to kids.

Young Children and Worship is the first of the Godly Play books.

Following Jesus is the second of the Godly Play books.

I Wonder is a good book that has great questions to get you thinking and practical tools to get you “doing”.

Spiritual Conversations With Children  – I cried three times in the first ten pages.

The Religious Potential of the Child is a classic and rich with stories of children engaging with God and His word.

Favorite Websites

This site has an array of hands-on ways of praying and responding to Bible stories.

This site has some of my favorite ways to do art with kids.

This site encourages and models a form of “doodling prayer” called Praying in Color.

Favorite Podcasts

This interview with Sally Lloyd-Jones is inspiring.

This talk by Rebecca Nye is helpful in thinking about the spiritual development and nurturing of children’s spirituality.

Feel free to reach out. I’d love to connect with you! (louise@restorationarlington.org)

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