First Sunday of Epiphany: 3 Kings Day

Here is a crown that one of our Mustard Seeds made,
along with the gift that they "delivered" to baby Jesus.

On the first Sunday in the liturgical season of Epiphany, we celebrated 3 Kings Day!  On this day and throughout the season of Epiphany we remember the Magi that God called to seek Jesus.  We celebrate that God's love extends beyond any Earthly boundaries that we may create.

Parents helping their little ones make crowns for 3  Kings Day.

In Mustard Seeds, we celebrated Epiphany by decorating crowns to celebrate 3 kings day as you can see above.  The kids had fun choosing stickers to stick on the paper towel tubes that I cut into crowns.

We have a sign on the door to bless the room and all who enter and also to welcome Magi  mentioned by name in the Bible (Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar) and all modern-day seekers of light and truth.  20+C+M+B+13 can be written in chalk over the door of or on the lintel of homes as a blessing on that home (the date, 2013 with the initials of the 3 wise men, C, M & B in the middle, which can also be translated as a blessing on the home.)  Some churches even do a blessing on the chalk that is used to inscribe this.  I used a modified chalk blessing on the sign that we have on our Sunday school door and it welcomes all who seek and serve. 

This is a printout of the sign that hangs on the door.
I made a simple one with quotes and clip art on Ppt.  Easy!

In class, we played a game of following a flashlight star over a baby doll to give that doll a gift.  The gift that we used was a gold box with a heart ornament inside it.  Some of our Mustard Seeds wanted to carry only the heart.  Others wanted to carry only the box.  Others just wanted to hold the flashlight.  Each had their own way of searching for the Baby Jesus and each of them found him, laying beneath the "star".  We, as parents are also searching and questioning and journeying.  This is part of God's plan and we can choose to love the search and be strengthened by it, knowing that God is already as close as our very breath.

I had to recreate this game for the picture without the kiddos, because they move fast!  

Our parent question was parallel to our Epiphany topic: What are your experiences, travelling with your little ones?  Some parents had traveled during the Christmas season and others had travel stories from summer vacations.  Children add a dimension of ultra-preparation to our travels and each had stories of how unexpected people had been helpful or understanding if things got rocky. 

Our sensory bin this month is a big box of bows.  The little ones love to spill them out of the box, place them around the room or try to put them in their mouths.  After Christmas, bows are marked for clearance because the gifting season is over, but according to the liturgical calendar, our season of celebrating gifts has just begun because we are celebrating the gift of God's son into the world. As caretakers of children, we have a dimension of appreciation for how a child can be like our very hearts walking about in this world - connected to us by a cord of love so strong that nothing can sever it.  Meditate this season on how Jesus was an earthly and Godly son, even beyond what we can humanly understand of love.  Know that we are children of God - of a love that is almost too magnificent to comprehend.