Dec. 8, 2008 - Reformation Party
Yes, this post is a month late. It has taken me a month to find the time to write it up! I do not know how many of you find the time to blog! I enjoy it so much but I just don't have it figured out how to fit it in. I can't sit at the computer long enough to write more than a paragraph and to read a couple other blogs. But I really want to share what I did....
This year, on October 31, we had our 1st Annual Reformation Party. I had so much fun that I found it very difficult to stop and take any pictures. In fact, below are all 5 pictures that I took! We had 3 other families over to celebrate with us.
I used the book Night of Reformation by Doorposts as my main resource. Here's a recap of what I did for my first party.
I spent quite a bit of time on decorations since I plan to re-use them each year. I covered a hallway on our main level with painted stone walls. It took me several hours to paint the paper stone walls but it proved to be well worth the time. Now that I know how to paint faux stone walls, I think I can crank out several more next year. I was easily able to pull the paper walls down and roll them up for re-use. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of these cool walls.
My living room morphed into the "Wittenberg Museum". The walls were decorated with posters displaying the life and times of the Renaissance period. There was a registry table where guests could submit entries to the museum exhibits.
I had a Bible Times exhibit that contained entries such as a stone (that David used to kill Goliath), straw (from Jesus' manger), staff (used by Moses), oatmeal (desert manna), etc. The Reformation exhibit contained items such as a castle diorama, handmade clay pot (old German pottery), reproduction of the 95 thesis (a.k.a photocopy!), and a catapult. I saved all these crafts for next year and look forward to adding to it.
I did a presentation on the life of Martin Luther followed by a silly quiz for the kids. We did a Gospel Vs. Law sack race in the yard. The dining room was the "translation room". It had Scripture codes the kids had to solve. Here are some of the kids hard at work (including my 2 yr old down at the end!)
Our snacks included hot cider, donuts, apples & dip, popcorn, and pumpkin roll.
For the trick-or-treaters that came to our door, we handed out gospel pencils and candy.
We did a fortress building contest. Each family had different materials with which to build their fortress (legos, bristle blocks, lincoln logs, mega blocks). Each family had about 8 minutes to build their fortress - the amount of time it took to play "A Mighty Fortress" through 2 times. It was very fun listening in on how each family works together as a team. They all did very well!
What a great evening we had. I'm already making plans for next year's Reformation Party. I'm thinking of setting the theme around the life of Martin Bucer. Don't really know who he is but I guess I'll be finding out! I read something about him and his wife that interested me which is how I chose him as my next "theme".
Comments
Dec. 9, 2008 - from Shanna www.learningathisfeet.blogspot.com
Posted by Anonymous
We love Barry Stebbing! Because I taught art more as drawing and painting instruction, his way of teaching is much closer to mine. He has a book about keeping an art journal that is a very worthwhile investment.
Dec. 10, 2008 - from Shanna www.learningathisfeet.blogspot.com
Posted by Anonymous
Jill,
You absolutely have permission to copy and paste my review to your blog! I am certain that Daniel at Salem Ridge will be thrilled with that. He has said in a private email that they have a goal to get quality literature in the hands of as many children as possible, so he will love that you are spreading the word!
I'll think I'll edit the post to include pricing details. Honestly, I think book prices are spot on with what I'm use to...$10-13 for softcover and about $25 for hardcover. I'll have to look in to the shipping bc I was sent the books for free.
Thanks for the book recommendation, I haven't heard of that one. I'll check it out!
Dec. 18, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by 40winkzzz
Wow, that looks/sounds like a lot of work to prepare and a lot of fun to do! We did a "colonial/revolutionary feast" a couple yrs ago w/2 other families and that was a lot of work & fun as well. And about 5 yrs ago when Cheez was still HSing and we'd been studying Egypt/Israel, we put together a "middle-eastern feast" just for the kids & me. Memories... I think of those things now and think, nope, too much work, not gonna do that again. But who knows...
Dec. 18, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by bluepickle
I LOVE this! And I really like Doorposts stuff. Thanks for sharing that resource and idea!
Jan. 30, 2009 - Sounds like fun
Posted by imlne
We had our first Reformation Party in 2007 with two other families also. The children and I painted "doors" to hopefully look like old church doors and taped the papers to our French doors. Lots of other fun learning too. (I wrote about it in my blog too.) Last year we did a very abbrieviated version, but still had some readings of Martin Luther's etc.
I don't have the Doorposts book, needed to conserve funds, but gleaned info from online.
By the way, I found your blog from the "random blog" button and was pleased to discover your post on Reformation Day.
Thanks for sharing what you did!
Melanie
