All About Compound Words

We had so much fun learning all about compound words and I hope your child enjoys these activities and projects as much as Savanna has!

One of the neat things I love about compound words (other than the fact that it's usually two totally random words that you put together to make another word! I mean, who would've thought to create the word butterfly?) is that you'll continue to teach them throughout your child's education. It's something they start learning in early elementary and just keep adding to their vocabulary as the years go by. So check out these activities that are great for elementary students 1st-5th grade...

Seek & Find


Simple, yet effective. Print a list of compound words, cut them between the words, separate and place them in random order, and have your child find the matches. Easy peasy. I have a List of Compound Words that you can use for this activity and for others listed.




Picture Flap Diagrams

Savanna loved this activity and it takes very little prep work. Take a sheet of white construction paper cut it in half (length-wise). Then fold in each side to the middle so you are left with 2 front flaps that open to reveal a center square. I did this with about 8 sheets of paper so she had 16 picture flap diagrams to do.
Using the compound words that you already printed and cut for the Seek & Find activity, have your child pick their favorite compound words. Savanna chose words like butterfly, cupcake, daylight, fireman, football, snowman, etc. She enjoyed picking which ones she wanted to do because we posted them on our bulletin board :) 

Have your child glue the first word on the left front flap (ie. "foot"), and the second word on the right front flap (ie. "ball"). Then have her illustrate each word. On the inside, have her illustrate the compound word. For example, Savanna drew a foot and a ball on the front two flaps shown here, and then football players on the inside center square shown.

Front of Picture Flap Diagram
for "football"

Inside of Picture Flap Diagram
for "football"

Her cupcake :)

 

Compound Word Mix-Up with Plastic Eggs

 

This is FUN! See my blog Egg-Citing Activities for greater details on how to make these eggs. In short, write the first word on the top half of the egg and the second word on the bottom half of the egg, separate them, mix them up, and have her find the matches. It's easy, fun, and a great way to practice those wonderful compound words :) 

 

 

Compound Clothes Pins

You can buy a bag of 100 clothes pins at Wal-Mart for about $2 and it will be well worth it (I will be posting another blog soon about the fun learning activities you can do with clothes pins). For now, I took 24 clothes pins to write 12 compound words on. I wrote the first part of each word on a pin with the opening facing the right and the second part of each word on another pin with the opening facing the left. Do this for all 12 words (or however many you choose to do). Set the first words in random order on the left side of a ruler and the second words in random order the right. Have your child match up the words and clip them to the ruler as shown below. This is VERY simple and a fun way to practice!



Here is a Compound Word Addition worksheet I created where your child can add two words together to create a new word. I left this in a word document form so you can change out the words and reuse this as often as you'd like.

We also try to notice whenever we hear a compound word in conversations and we make note of it. Savanna has really enjoyed this study and I hope your children do as well :)

Bye for now,
Kristina

Why Dinosaurs are Essential to the Gospel

I love dinosaurs! My kids love dinosaurs! And I am so excited to share with you resources and teaching tips about these amazing creatures! But let me start in the beginning.

Literally.

"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). Before we can teach our children about these fascinating beasts, we need to have a firm grasp on what we believe. So many Christians today have been deceived by the Evolutionary theories that are being taught as fact and they have forgotten the foundation of our faith... CREATION. Do you believe the Bible is the Word of God? Do you believe it is infallible and inerrant? If you can't trust the first few pages of our sacred Scriptures, can you really trust any of it? God has given us a complete guide to the questions of life. All we have to do is study it, understand it, and TRUST it. So for those of you that think Creation is just a nice story to teach the kids in Jr Church, think again! Creation is a vital part of the Gospel. If we don't believe the Creation account, how can we believe the crucifixion? The Words in Genesis about our Creator are just as true and holy as the Words in Matthew about our Savior. "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). So with that, let's take a quick refresher course on Creation:

Day 1- God said let there be light (This is not the sun; many scholars believe this refers to the light of His glory)
Day 2- God separated the waters from the heavens (basically he made the atmosphere and the sky)
Day 3- God separated the water and created land, then filled the land with plants and vegetation
Day 4- God created the sun, moon, stars, and space
Day 5- God created the winged things and sea creatures
Day 6- God created land animals and humans
Day 7- God rested

Ok so what does this all have to do with dinosaurs??

Well, among other falsities, Evolutionists teach us that dinosaurs lived millions and millions of years ago and that they never coexisted with humans. They teach us that dinos all evolved over millions of years from one "prehistoric" (FYI there's not such thing as prehistoric. You can't have pre-history!) dinosaur called the Plateosaurus that supposedly lived 230 million years ago. They theorize that from this one dinosaur, it evolved and changed over time and became the over 500 DIFFERENT species of dinosaurs we know of today. That this one dinosaur evolved itself into carnivores, omnivores, herbivores, grew to 100ft long and shrunk to 50cm tall and every size in between, became both male and female, had large brains and highly intelligent, as well as tiny brains and dumb as rocks, and the list goes on. It's really quite ridiculous if you really sit and think about it.

The point I'm trying to make is this: doesn't it make much more sense that DINOSAURS WERE CREATED? That a great and powerful God thoughtfully created each species of dinosaur, giving each species specific traits and characteristics to help that dinosaur survive. That He did EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID... He created the sea creatures and winged things (including dinosaurs that lived in the water like Plesiosaurus and Nothosaurus, and dinosaurs that flew like the Pteranodon and Quetzalcoatlus) on the 5th day and He created the land animals (including all dinosaurs that lived on land like Tyrannosaurus Rex and Stegosaurus) on the 6th day... the same day He created man and woman. Each species of dinosaur, from egg to death, shout to the Creator and give us amazing opportunity to teach our children about our Awesome God!

So now that we've covered the basics, let's talk about HOW to teach about dinosaurs to your kids. First off, we love movies. We watch a lot of movies. And let's be honest, it's difficult to find any good documentaries or movies about dinosaurs (that have good graphics) that teach a Creationists view of dinos. Disappointing. However, there are many secular documentaries that are very exciting and informative about the mechanics of a dinosaur that you can watch with your child and discuss the differences between what the Evolutionist said (ie. this dinosaur lived 65 million years ago) and what the Bible teaches. My husband and I are big proponents for using movies as a teaching method. Kids in our culture today see movies the way people in Jesus' day heard parables. They are a great resource and we shouldn't be afraid to use them. If there's something that is not biblically sound, discuss it! You'll be surprised how much more your child will understand with a visual representation like a movie. The kids and I recently started watching Clash of the Dinosaurs by Discovery Channel (you can find this series on Netflix as well). Wow, really cool graphics and explanations of how dinosaurs worked from the inside out. Even taking a look inside the reptiles' eggs and how a baby dinosaur would have developed. Of course, it is Evolution based so the scientists say a lot of things that are not true. But my children have been studying Creation for a long time and will even call out "that's not true!" when they hear something that isn't based on Scripture. We talk about everything and it's an excellent teaching tool. (NOTE: this video is PG because it does show dinosaurs laying eggs, and it does show some blood when dinosaurs fight.)

You can also check out The Bible Explains Dinosaurs by Ken Ham, a world-renowned Creation Scientist. Ken Ham "explains the real history of dinosaurs, which is found in the Bible, not in evolutionary Theories. In The Bible Explains Dinosaurs you'll find answers to questions like: When did dinosaurs first appear on Earth and why did they vanish? Are dinosaurs in the Bible? Did they live with man? What are the "dragons" mentioned in the Bible? Can we actually use dinosaurs to present the gospel? This DVD also features music by Buddy Davis. Approx. 50 minutes."

Another great resource is Dinosaurs and the Bible by Ken Hovind. This is part three of a seven part seminar series on Creation. In this seminar, Dr. Hovind "traces the Biblical and historical references to dinosaurs and interviews people who claim they have seen living dinosaurs. Approx. 145 minutes." I have personally seen all of this series and it has some excellent information about Creation science that will be very useful to your teachings over the years. Dr. Hovind's seminars are more advanced, may not be best for little ones with short attention spans. But definitely worth YOU watching to get a good foundation and also great for middle school and highschoolers.

More video resources:
Answers in Genesis
I Dig Dinosaurs 
Dinosaurs: Genesis & the Gospel(this one has some neat sing-a-longs and quizzes the kids really liked)


Here is a great FREE DINOSAUR LAPBOOK unit study with printables that we are going to start next week! There is 13 report forms for 13 different (popular) dinosaurs in which the kids study the dinosaurs' anatomy, dietary habits, and other interesting facts. There's also some great coloring pages, handwriting practice, graphing, and more. They've also included a list of books (some I've listed here) that can supplement your study.


Books:
The Answers for Kids
What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs (We have the children's version (here) which is still pretty wordy for kids that aren't reading chapters yet. If your kiddo is still pretty young, I recommend reading it ahead of time so you can give a basic explanation on each page instead of trying to make a squirmy preschooler sit for that long.)
Dinosaurs for Kids
The Great Dinosaur Mystery
25 Questions from Kids on Dinosaurs and the Flood of Noah
D is for Dinosaur: Noah's Ark and the Genesis Flood
The Great Dinosaur Mystery Solved Workbook & Study Guide


Neat Places to Visit on Field Trips:
(NOTE: Some of these places are secular and based on Evolutionary theory. Be sure to discuss the differences between Creation and Evolution as you go.)
Dinosaur World in Plant City, FL
The Shell Factory & Nature Park in N. Ft. Myers, FL
Dinosaur Adventure Land in Pensacola, FL
Creation Store in Pensacola, FL
MOSI in Tampa, FL
The Imaginarium in N. Ft. Myers, FL
Discovery Museum in Fort Lauderdale, FL
Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainsville, FL
South Florida Science Museum in West Palm Beach


Also, here are some fun Dinosaur Craft Ideas and Activities!! Don't forget you can find all kinds of fun ideas on Pinterest as well.

In the end, have fun with it. Dinosaurs are such an amazing study and they are fun for kids of all ages (even grown-ups!). My kids have a love for dinosaurs and God's wonderful creation! I hope yours do too :) If you have any dinosaur related studies or ideas, feel free to comment and let me know. I'd love to hear how you teach your kids about some of God's coolest creatures!

Bye for now,
Kristina