Shiver me timbers and batton down the hatch, it's trunk and treat time and have we got a theme for you. Full details and pictures will be coming soon. 9/27/2021 Suggested items: gold spray paint brown packing paper (the kind that comes in all those boxes you get in the mail) gold plastic table clothes burlap 1" or thicker wooden dowel plastic beads old crates chests lanterns trunks a fog machine old sheets poles (you could make ship masts with them)   ..read more

  This was an eggtremely time consuming project to do, but it was also very rewarding, and even fun. I want to warn you though, don't paper mache it alone. I was having a great time until I hit that part and I posted on Facebook: "I began to paper mache today...and I was reminded of this quote from White Christmas: 'Miss Haynes, if you're ever under a falling building and somebody runs up and offers to pick you up and carry you to safety, don't think, don't pause, don't hesitate for a moment, just spit in his eye.' If someone ever asks me to paper mache again, that's my answer." To which ..read more

  I've written about groggers and Queen Esther before, but with Purim coming up in February in 2021, I wanted to put it all together in one post. Hopefully someone reading this will be able to use some of these ideas in the midst of the pandemic of 2020/21. In Jewish tradition, children would go to the Synagogue twice in celebration of Purim, where the entire book of Esther would be read. (I trust my readers are familiar with this story, if not, read it in one sitting and get familiar with it.) It is one service where everyone is encouraged to be noisy. As the story is read, every time ..read more

Ever since I first read about a church that held an Angel Breakfast, I wanted to do one...as an outreach. It was never to be though. So, we held one during Sunday School instead. And now with Covid-19, even a small one probably isn't a good idea. But who's to say you can't adapt this and use it for Christmas breakfast in your home.  Why not add something different this year. When you can't go to the great events, why not bring one to your home. So here is everything you need to know, including downloadable printables. I hope you have a great family celebration this year. Invitations If y ..read more

  This is a low cost craft to help children learn a little about the culture and geography of Argentina. Long before grass fed beef was being touted in the U.S., thousands of cattle were grazing on the grassy plains of the pampas in Argentina. These prairies extend for almost 300,000 square miles. This seemingly endless, mostly flat land in a humid, temperate climate create perfect conditions for growing cow friendly grass.  From the mid 18 century to the mid 19th, Gauchos (the equivalent of our cowboys) ruled the pampas. They mustered cattle, chased down runaway livestock, and per ..read more

When I was in college I loved trying out new recipes. There was a cake recipe in my Joy of Cooking cookbook called Mystery Cake. The secret ingredient which gave it a rich flavor and extra moistness? A can of tomato soup. I know, weird, huh? But it was actually pretty good. As I was thinking back over my posts, I realized that I may be missing the secret ingredient in many of them. Like this one, Keeping God at the Center, which gives us the 4 tools for keeping God at the center of our life. But without the secret ingredient, these tools won't work. What is that ingredient? The ingredi ..read more

Every once in awhile Christmas falls on a Sunday. Over the years we have approached it various ways. My most memorable Christmas Sunday was a few years back. That year we gathered the Sunday School teachers in November and asked if they wanted to cancel Sunday School for Christmas morning and just have a church service, since Christmas is also a huge family holiday. One teacher was very vocal that Christmas was the whole reason we had church to begin with and it being the celebration of the entrance of our Savior into the world we should absolutely have Sunday School. So we planned an Interg ..read more

I wonder if Andrew Clements ever dreamed that there would be so many new words in the English language when he wrote the children's book, Frindle published in 1996. It was a book about how a new word gets acknowledged as a new word. Today we have words and terms that my computer's dictionary doesn't even recognize. Terms like DIY and words like repurpose. I looked it up, and repurpose really is a word. According to the online etymolgy dictionary, it became a word in 1983, long before google became a word.   But I digress. This is about repurposing that packing paper that comes in all th ..read more

  One summer, back when most churches had VBS's, we were not able to hold one. So my pastor husband said we should do a big fall outreach for children, and he asked me to be in charge. I love that kind of thing, so I was psyched to plan a children's outreach. Then we had our Sunday School teacher's meeting to plan for the fall classes, pick a date for the outreach and discuss the upcoming mission's conference later that fall. One of the teachers thought it would be a great thing to do something for the kids with the missionary since the one coming was especially good in relating to chil ..read more

The global pandemic of 2020 has been challenging for all of us. When I began the KidFrugal blog, it was to resource others. Even though we are now retired, I still participate in some children's ministry, and I continue to read and research. Coming from a small church background we always had to rethink things. I never knew if I would have one kid or 8 kids. But over the years we were able to adapt and provide quality time for the children that came. Ministering during a pandemic is similar in some ways. You have to re-think everything. Think outside of the box. How can we "touch" kids when ..read more