Jesse Tree Project

Kids and their questions! 

Do you ever hold you breath when your child is asking you a question because you know it is going to be a "BIG" question and you aren't exactly sure how to adult and answer it?

Well, recently my daughter came to me with a question that took me far down the rabbit hole.  This is going to be a long post.  Stay with me.  The end result is so enriching and fun for the kids. 

It's a crazy thing when they grow and exist outside of your safe little bubble. They get to really experience the world around them and it's mostly awesome but also terrifying. As they get older and see the world through more mature eyes they can be so profound and yet so easily confused and conflicted.

I try really hard to look at these situations as teachable moments. (I try.  I am not always successful.  Sometimes Mama Bear wants to come out to play.  Sometimes I would like to hide in the pantry and eat chocolate and drink wine.  But...I try.) 

A few months ago my daughter came home with some misconceptions about church and religion.  She had some "BIG" questions.  Yikes!   

Kids hear all the things.  We know this.  If your like us you realize this the first time your 2 year old drops a four letter word and used it in context. 

When they hear something that they don't understand or shocks them, the most common way they try and make sense of it is to repeat it.  Most often they repeat  it to other kids.  Even if the context is wrong or it's  inappropriate, they will repeat it!  It's  how they make sense of this crazy world.  My guess is that my daughter was on the receiving end of a child trying to figure some things out or make sense of what they heard.

Regardless, as a parent, s*** just got real. 

We had some big conversations and afterward I wanted to take it a little further.  

In general, I want my kids to be educated and open minded people. I want them to grow up and be able to wade through the muddy waters and make their own decisions. 

To this end, we discuss many views, many beliefs and many topics. We try to do this openly and with open minds so they do the same.  (It's not always easy.  As adults we've got some baggage and a history.  But, It's our baggage and history.  They will gather their own to carry.  They don't need ours.)

I thought this might be a good year to talk about the Jesse Tree.  The Jesse tree is a project that shares stories from creation to Christmas.  In researching, I found that there are approximately five million ways to do the Jesse Tree and also each religion has a version of this that can be done. So, I could get creative with this as a learning tool later and explore other religions too.  Don't  let difference in beliefs stop you.  It's a fun project. Make it your own. 

For my purpose I decided to work the Jesse Tree into our family advent calendar .  Check out that post at the link above for more information.  

I looked at a lot of books and decided to use The Jesus Story Book Bible.  I wanted a book that was written for children and would keep their attention and be simple short stories with simple text and this book fit my needs.  I purchased the Gift Edition below but you can also get the original version. The inside content is the same. 

I chose 22 stories leading up to Christmas. Why 22 and not 25?  Well, the first of December is crazy busy, I knew we would miss at least one day for one reason or another and I wanted it wrapped up on the 24th.  There was nothing special about this choice just what works for us this year.  

You can remove or add stories based on how long you want to do the project.  You could do a handful of days this year and add to it next.  The options are endless.  The stories only take about 10 min each.  

I had originally thought about coloring ornaments and doing another little tree. (Here is the link to some free printable ornaments that also come with a Jesse Tree Guide to correlate with the book.  Etsy also has some beautiful felt sets if you want to go that route.   I weighed all these options and I came to terms with the fact that I didn't want to take up the space. I wanted a more "simple" and contained product.  I could just read the stories but children are tactile learners.  They learn more if they can touch and feel it.  .  

Ironically, my MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers) group ended up making a simple Jesse tree I Spy ornament.  It had little miniatures for a few bible stories in a little ornament.  I had a light bulb moment and decided to expand this for our longer Jesse Tree project.  I was able to use some of the bits from our MOPS project and then added a bunch more.  The miniatures are so fun and cute and this could be reused year to year.  It is easy to manage once the initial pieces were pulled together.
  

I thought about pre-loading them and letting them search for each piece as we read each story.  In the long run, I decided it would mean more if they built the ornament piece by piece.  

I bagged up each of the pieces and put them in our advent calendar on the correct days.  I used embroidery floss baggies.
  

Each day we will read a story and they will add their miniature to their ornament.  At the end, we will glue the ornament shut.  Next year, as we hopefully reiterate the stories, they can search for the pieces "I Spy" style.  

The ornament came from the dollar tree so you might want to check there.  Here is a link for the same one available to order online.  Also, you could use any ornament.  Plastic is recommended so little hands can explore.  

* Be sure if you have little bitty kids you keep them out of reach when unsupervised to save yourself a mess and possible choking until they are complete and glued shut.  

The fill inside our ornaments is linked here but you could also get creative with this.  I would choose something solid and light in color so the miniatures stand out.  You want something heavier like small plastic beads so the miniatures don't  all sink to the bottom of the ornament. (I think a Hanukkah ornament with light blue filler would be awesome!)

Below is a list of the page numbers we will be reading from the Jesus Storybook Bible along with what miniature we will add to the ornament.  I also made a list of alternatives you probably have laying around the house.  

The miniatures can literally be anything.  Get creative.  You'll be assigning meaning to the objects.  I looked through my craft stash.  I made a few and ordered others.  

Also, many of the miniatures come in multi-packs so this will be great for multiple kids or a gift to be used next year too.  Grab a friend and Make a Merry Mess. 

The Plan:

Day 1 - Page 12 Story & Song - Mini Bible (You could just simply fold a small rectangle of brown or black card stock and write Bible on the front)

Day 2 - Page 18 The Beginning: A Perfect Home - Globe (a blue bead)

Day 3 - Page 28 The Terrible Lie - Mini Apple - (Get a red bead and glue a paper leaf to it or simply use the red bead)

Day 4 - Page 38 - A New Beginning - Wooden boat shape (You could use a sticker of a boat or there are some fun ark buttons as well in most sewing sections of craft stores)

Day 5 - Page 48 - A Giant Staircase to Heaven - I used a plastic disc and drew a ladder on it. (A small piece of paper with a ladder drawn on would work just as well.)

Day 6 - Page 76 - The Forgiving Prince - Tiny coat cut out of bright colored fabric or paper

Day 7 - Page 84 - God to the Rescue - Orange leaf  (cut out a leaf or flame from paper - anything to represent a burning bush)

Day 8 - Page 92 - God Makes a Way / Moses Parting of the Seas - tiny shell

Day 9 - Page 100 - Ten Ways to Be Perfect - Mini commandment slab (you could cut the slab shape from paper

Day 10 - Page 108 - The Warrior Leader - Monopoly House (You could also easily use a Lego brick)

Day 11 - Page 116 - The Teeny King - I had a small wooden shape of a person but you could easily draw a stick figure on a slip of paper

Day 12 - Page 122 - Young Hero and the horrible Giant - I used a small stone from the back yard.  I did see a cute mini slingshot on Etsy though. ;)

Day 13 - Page 130 - The Good Shepherd - I used a sheep button (Sticker of a sheep or use modeling clay to make a shepherds hook)

Day 14 - Page 136 - Little Servant Girl and the Proud General - mini Band-aid (You can get miniatures or use a sticker or draw one like I did)

Day 15 - Page 144 - Operation No More Tears - Scroll (I simply rolled a slip of white paper and tied a string around it)

Day 16 - Page 152 - Daniel and the Scary Sleepover - Lion Button (Sticker or mini figure)

Day 17 - Page 160 - God's Messenger - Fish sticker stuck back to back with another fish sticker or just sandwich a piece of paper between them.  

Day 18 - Page 170 - Get Ready! - Links from a chain

Day 19 - Page 176 - He's Here! - I used several symbols for this short Nativity story.  I used a heart for Marry, Mini hammer for Joseph, and a cross for Jesus

Day 20 - Page 184 - The Light of the Whole World - Star

Day 21 - The King of All Kings! - Mini Crown (Again a small image of a crown would work or take the top metal piece of a broken Christmas ornament and repurpose.) 

Day 22 - Christmas Day!  I used a tiny Christmas light bulb.  (You could use a mini gift or a tree or anything holiday  or birthday related.)

I hope you enjoy this project all season long.  If you found this post helpful don't  forget to subscribe and share.  I would love to hear your thoughts! 

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