Fruitful Summer: The LOVE week

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Galations 5:22-23

Look at those sweet faces!  Oh, how they love each other {mostly}.  But, truth be told, we have LOTS of together time in the summer.  It's fabulous, but also gives way for a significant amount of sibling rivalry.

Additionally, in this season of life where it is sometimes hard to see past the day to day, it is my desire to be an intentional parent.  Above all, I want my kiddos to love God and then love others.

Just before Spring Break, as we were headed to school doing our "morning blessing" one day, it occurred to me that one of the major things I want to see in my children is well-rounded character that presents the love of Jesus to those around them.  To me, the most effective way to do this is to help instill the fruits of the spirit in them.  I mean, who doesn't want their kiddos to embody love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control?!

So, I started searching blogs and pinterest for activities.  There are some really great ideas out there {including this one from my friend Erin over at Worthy of the Prize, who blogged about having a Fruitful Summer last year and is at it again this summer}.  I pulled from those ideas and customized it to what I thought would be practical and impactful in this season of life.  I didn't want to do anything TOO structured because I can {finally} admit that we are not a super-structured family in the summer.

My plan is to share the set-up here and then blog each week on the specifics of each fruit.  Please bear in mind that I customized this for my particular kiddos (aged 8, 6, and 2), so some of this may work for your family and some of it may not.  My intention was to come up with things that we could incorporate into our day, so I purposefully did not plan "events", but rather ways to channel our seemingly never-ending summer energy. :)

Setting up:

• Sticker Chart or some other tracking system for Fruitful Acts {We're using a tally chart as pictured below}
• Fruit of the Spirit Printables for Displaying around the House {like this, this, and this}

• Activity Supplies:
• 9 Small Canvases and art supplies for M
• Plants/seeds for C (he chose this...he LOVES nature!)
• Fruit Coloring Card for B (Print two and make a memory match game when they are all colored)-Using this Printable

• Fruit for Snacks for Each Week
• Fruit “Badges”:
• Charm bracelet with charms for each fruit for M
• Rock Garden with 1 Rock Labeled with each fruit for C
• Tree with places for thumbprints for B

Specifics for Week 1: LOVE

Oh, how I LOVE my chalkboard!

• Definition: a feeling of attachment and affection for another person
• Song: Love One Another (The Happy Way)
• Verse: ³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35
• Chart: Earn Love “Fruit” for 10 Acts of Love (Love Charm for M's bracelet, Stone for C’s Rock Garden, Thumbprint for B’s Tree)**
• Fruit for Snack: Strawberry
• Craft:
• M: LOVE Mixed-Media Canvas
• C: Strawberry plant seeds
• B: Strawberry Card from Coloring Page 

**So far, this is my FAVORITE thing.  We are using dry erase markers to tally each kiddo's displays of love.  The idea is that someone other than themselves notices them exhibiting love and gives recognition for it.  It's been super fun to see how they are encouraging each other to show acts of love and cheering each other on when they receive tally marks.

Feel free to use any/all of this in your household...I'll be back soon with specifics on our JOY week <3