Observing . . .

Let your mind play alittle.

Yesterday, I was watching a toddler quietly wandering and smiling at people and, just curious, she pulled back the fabric that covered a bookcase.

Hmm, looking & finding definately ties into seeking God with all your heart. How many different quiet in-the-seat looking & finding activities can you come up with for babies and toddlers?

You can put something from your purse in an empty sock, glove or mitten. (But you can't find it for them. They can do it. They have all the time in the world!) If your gathering space has a carpet, you can bring nesting eggs or boxes with edible gold fish inside. Just keep replacing the gold fish. If you don't have carpet you could do the same thing with different sized cloth bags one inside the next or bring a cloth purse full of cloth toys to empty and fill. If you're really ambitious you can make a quiet cloth book with pockets and things inside the pockets or different fasteners (buttons, snaps, zippers, ties) on each page. Even a doll or stuffed animal and a scarf or blanket would work for a short period of time. In some ways, it's busy work. In other ways, it's seeking and finding. Quite Biblical.

Hmm... children and "church"... hmm. . . "my Father's house should be called a house of prayer". What would that look like through the eyes of a toddler or a pre-schooler or any child?

If you aren't doing a themed activity, what's something a child can grasp that's always true about worship or gathering as the people of God (like seeking & finding)? What quiet in-seat activities can you think of that would help to teach or reenforce the concept? What quiet activities do your kids do that they never seem to tire of?