"They Followed the Star"

It's not even Thanksgiving and tonight's Family Home Evening was about the wise men who followed the star in search of the baby Jesus. Yep, that's just how strange my mind works sometimes. But maybe it will be an idea someone else could use for Epiphany which is January 6th or someone could use it for a Christmas activity. I wanted to get the kids thinking about the gifts that the wise men brought to the Christ child so that they would think of giving instead of getting this season. The commercials on television have continuous adds for toys and electronics and all around our house the "old familiar carols" begin to be sung. Maybe you've heard the familiar chorus....."Look! Look at the T.V.!!!! That's what I want! That's what I want for Christmas! Did you see it? That's what I want!!!!!!"  Do your children know the same song that mine start singing in November when the "Black Friday" adds begin? Well that's why we brought out the wise men in November!
The Dollar Store had these giant cardboard stars so I bought several silver ones and one gold one. Each star had a "clue" attached to it and was then hung in a tree or on the front door.The clues that I added led from one star to the next as we journeyed to find the baby Jesus. I wrote some little rhymes for the clues because that is my grandchildren's favorite part of scavenger hunts. They like to solve the riddles as much as finding the treasure.

 I used a hold punch so I could attach the ribbon with the clues and scripture tags to the silver stars.

Each child had a glow in the dark stick but you could just use a flashlight.They love to play in the dark with glow in the dark necklaces and sticks so I just added that to the activity for fun.We also talked about how the wise men had prepared before setting out on the journey to find Jesus and how we needed to prepare. They prepared by making sure to  wear coats and warm clothing and I gave them each a new chapstick for their lips as a little gift. We also have to spiritually prepare to find Jesus by reading our scriptures,by saying our prayers,attending church and following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
(You can use the flashlight to read the scripture that is attached to the tag on the star at each location or read them when you get back inside depending on the temperature outside. You could also use smaller stars and do the activity indoors.)

 They ran ahead of me in search of the next star but realized how dark it was around the back of the garage and got a little nervous about going without old MawMaw who was trailing along behind!

 These two liked the glow sticks better than hunting for the stars but it doesn't really matter. The main thing about Family Home Evening is just spending time together and hopefully learning about the Savior along the way. (and not killing each other in the process! what? So, is that just at my house?)

The little kid wanted to read (but he doesn't know how) so Sister is whispering the words in his ear so he can "read" the next clue and we can run gasping for the next breath....oh....that was me. They were skipping 90 miles an hour from star to star as I followed briskly (okay...crawled slowly behind....panting and gasping in the chilly night air!)

 They have found the star and are reading the clue that leads to a path of glow in the dark stars in the front yard.

 They follow the path up the front stairs to one last giant star which says.....

 "They traveled by camel. We'll go by car...
To a place that is not very far.
They went with haste so that's what we'll do...
True Joy comes when you serve
J     o   y  !!!!!
e     t    o
s     h   u
u     e                                     serve Jesus first,others next and
s     r                                        yourself last and you will find
      s                                            Joy!      

They figured out that the last star was in the car so we piled in  and ended this part of the activity by beginning our "Random Act Of Christmas Kindness" project and taking some pansies to a friend who recently had a stroke. I don't know if her family will find them or not since Grand-daughter #1 got scared and didn't ring the doorbell before "ditching" the potted plant on the front porch that the family seldom uses! Maybe,we'll have to figure out how to get them to find it before the poor little plant freezes! hahahaha! The kids were very excited about their first "ding dong ditch" adventure and are looking forward to serving some other people soon! (mission accomplished! They are thinking of giving instead of getting. At least tonight, anyway.)
The activity ended back at our house with a special treat.I found a small plastic crown at the flea market and hot glued some "jewels" on it.This is our cake topper. I bought some tiny plastic nativity charms and hot glued each one to a thin yellow ribbon on one end and glued a large "jewel" to the other end of the ribbon. I bought a small cake from Wal-mart and pushed the little charms into the sides then just squirted some canned icing to cover the holes where the charms were.

 The kids pulled the jeweled end of the ribbons to reveal the charms as they searched for Baby Jesus.

 And of course, you have to put the charms in your mouth and get all the icing off, right?

 And guess who found Baby Jesus!  MawMaw's baby!

That means he got to be crowned King and choose which piece of cake he wanted!

 I found some frankincense and myrrh incense to let the kids get an idea of what it smells like. Also found some chocolate coins in gold foil to represent the gift of gold that the wise men brought.

 We discussed that the gold was a gift for the King of Kings. The frankincense was used by the priest in the temple and Jesus is the Great High Priest. The myrrh was used for burial and although Jesus died and was buried,He conquered death and the grave and was resurrected so that we can also have eternal life.

The kids watched the smoke of the incense rise in the air as we talked about how the table of incense was placed  in front of the veil in the ancient temple and symbolized the prayers that were said and the "sweet aroma" that it is to our Heavenly Father when we remember Him and talk with Him in prayer. We know that it is important to say "Thank You" for our many blessings.....

But we also now know that frankincense and myrrh or now called "frankenmyrrh" by Grandson #2, is really kind of stinky to us!!!!! We had to put it outside when Daughter number#2 came inside and said that it was making our house smell like a nursing home. : (

Tomorrow, after school, we will continue with some crafts that we didn't have time to do tonight.As usual, things don't always go as planned on Family Home Evening and we don't always finish some of the intended lesson but the seed gets planted and the testimony starts to grow. Maybe they will remember some of it. I hope that they are making memories along the way!