The Jesse Box: A Giveaway!

A few months ago my mother-in-law (giver of all things educational and awesome) gave me this thing called "The Jesse Box" to try out with the girls and give her some feedback about. I am a lame mom and get overwhelmed easily with things that involve cutting and gluing for children's activities and so I didn't try it right away.

However, I kept saying to Mike that I wanted to do more scripture centered things with the girls and was feeling like, apart from the girls' catechesis on Thursdays, they weren't getting much at home by way of theological training. When I realized that the thing I needed was staring me in the face every time I walked into the store area to do the laundry I caved and tried it. It contains tons of different scenes and manipulatives for so many different stories from the New Testament and the Old.

Yes- it required some light cutting and gluing on my part. Yes, I am still alive.
You have to cut the paper people out and glue them onto the wooden cones included in the set. It took 10 minutes.

I used my glue gun to cover the cones so that they will stay glued for a much longer time and can be taken off and reused. The papers is super sturdy- the girls have been doing this wedding feast at Cana set for a few weeks now and it is still staying together great.

I set up the box with the people in their places, which the little booklets instruct you how to do. Great for this confused lady.

I light a candle, begin with a prayer, read the scripture, moving the figures where they go during the scripture story, then close with a prayer. Then I let the girls "work with it" and move the people around and pretty much just do whatever.

Within the last few weeks of doing this with the girls, Naomi has almost memorized the entire account of the wedding feast at Cana- they are little sponges at this age, I tell you. I know that it would not have been as effective if it wasn't for the manipulatives and the whole scene being set up for them to look at while I read it to them. There are so many other scripture scenes with the set and I am really excited to do the others with them soon.

I love the Fontanini Sets that the girls use in their Montessori class, but those are a bit out of our budget and I would say that this set is a great alternative if you are on a tighter budget, but still looking for a lively way to teach the bible to your kids.

If you would like a free set from the good people at Angelus Press, just enter in the rafflecopter below! Easy peasy. And even if you don't win, this would make a great Saint Nicholas day or Christmas gift.

a Rafflecopter giveaway