Little Builders Preschool and our Early Education Center are ministries of YWAM (Youth With A Mission) San Diego/Baja. We aim to provide quality and affordable education to our missionary families and families in the local community.  Just like Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man, we want all the children who come through our doors to not only gain knowledge and experience a fact-based learning environment but we also want them to know God on a personal level and learn vital social and independent skills so that they can be a well-rounded individual.  Our schools follow closely with the Montessori method of learning which plainly speaking leans more towards a project-based learning style. It is very hands-on and offers each student a learning plan that is specific to them, their skills, and their developmental level all while creating a fun environment and safe place where they feel loved and accepted, not judged or a failure. 

If you liked this story, you will probably also like:

• Intercession Can Be Fun
• YWAM Ministry Spotlight: Mission Adventures
• YWAM Ministry Spotlight:  Zone Kids
• YWAM Ministry:  The Red Light District; ZONA NORTE
• Serving Him Through The Everyday!
• Sometimes You Have To Wonder
• Suffering : 7 Reasons There is Suffering In The World

Make sure you also check out all of the other stories through our YWAM Ministries. 

Want to join us for the next quarter? Check out all of our awesome upcoming schools that you can be a part of! Head on over to our newly designed website to find out more. If you have questions, let me know!

So in preschool this week we are studying all about pumpkins! It's that time of year and pumpkins are EVERYWHERE so we just rolled with it.  We had a huge Fall Festival on our San Antonio del Mar campus of YWAM San Diego/Baja a few weeks back. We had a hay ride (minus the hay cause it never showed so we improvised and put a couple of mattresses on the trailer bed & covered them with comforters, you would have never known otherwise), a cake walk, cotton candy, decorate your own cookie station, face painting, balloon animals, photo booth and lots of games, bouncy castle, costume contest and pony rides. It was a HUGE blast and we had about 200 people here to enjoy it.  

Since we had the festival on our campus, there was an abundance of pumpkins for decorations so we were able to snag several to carve up and dig in during Circle Time yesterday. Needless to say, the kids loved and hated it at the same time. They thought it was really cool but also really slimy and after a few minutes most of them were done.  Check out a few pictures of the kids digging in. 

One of the really cool things that we did was roast the pumpkin seeds and some of the pumpkin pieces (the parts that I removed when I carved it's happy face) so that the kids could experience what roasted pumpkin seeds and real pumpkin taste like. This was really exciting for the kids. Even Miss Apple (our traveling teacher friend visiting all the way from Samford University in Birmingham, AL, kinda like Flat Stanley & curtesy of Miss Mary who is studying to be a teacher) got in on the action and helped me stir the seeds and rotate the pumpkin pieces.  

I had so many compliments on the seeds, some even going as far as to say they were the best pumpkin seeds they had ever tasted and wanted to know my secret! They, honestly, were REALLY SIMPLE.  Here is my recipe:  

The PERFECT Roasted Pumpkin Seeds:  

Pull all the seeds out of the pumpkin
Rinse with a little bit of water (purified of course) & drain. 
Seeds will still be a little bit slimy with the pumpkin goo but that's good. 
Add a stick of melted butter & some salt to taste. 
Then roast away, stirring occasionally so they don't stick. 
I think I did mine on 425-450 & they took about 30 mins or so. 


I cooked them in a toaster oven as well cause we did it in class.

I remember growing up we didn't really celebrate Halloween but instead opted to hide out in the house all cozy with a picnic and popcorn and watch fun Halloween cartoons like the classic It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (which is still one of my favorites and we watch it in preschool as well).  I don't really remember carving pumpkins or anything like that but I have a horrible memory with some things (and crazy good with other things). 

What are some of your favorite Halloween or Fall Traditions to do with your family? Leave a comment below & let me know! I'd love to hear about them and maybe get some new ideas to implement in our school. 

If you liked this story, you will probably also like:

• Halloween: Satanic or Just Plain Cute?

• Vulnerability:  It's the Worst!

• YWAM Ministry:  The Red Light District; ZONA NORTE

• Serving Him Through The Everyday!
• Sometimes You Have To Wonder
• Suffering : 7 Reasons There is Suffering In The World
• 67 Kids and Counting
• Sense, A Psalm by Sheril
• Praise Reports & God's Blessings
• Birthday Surprises & God's Faithfulness
• Opportunities

Make sure you also check out all of the other stories through our YWAM Ministries. 

Want to join us for the next quarter? Check out all of our awesome upcoming schools that you can be a part of! Head on over to our newly designed website to find out more. If you have questions, let me know!

We are expanding!! YAY!!!  We have outgrown our small little preschool trailer and now have too many school aged staff kids and DTS kids.  This is very exciting but also means that we have to find more teachers & more space.  YIKES!! 

No worries, our campus is expanding as well! We are almost completely finished with our newest building & have in fact already started moving some of our offices & classrooms over there.  This new building looks just like the onion/meringue-looking building to the right of our preschool trailer in the picture above but is now directly behind the preschool.  Now these classrooms aren't for our students, no, these classrooms are for our DTS, Bible School, Community Transformations and Development School, and the others we hope to start soon.  These classrooms are for the adults.  

With the added classrooms behind us, this frees up a classroom in front of us.  Last year we reconfigured the original meeting place on our campus into 2 separate classrooms with a game room and hangout space in between. We took this extra large tent and built walls and a ceiling creating a very nice place for our adult students to study in.  Well, now that they are moving, we get to take one of those classrooms as our new K-12 school! (well, the beginnings of our new K-12 school anyways.  

I am so very excited about the possibilities that this will give us.  Now, my mind is looking for creative ways to create an inviting space for kids ages 6-16 and grades Kindergarten to High School all in the same room! Not as easy as it sounds!!  

Below are a few BEFORE pictures.  Hopefully by the end of next week, I'll have some pretty awesome AFTER pics to show you! 

To see the pics & read more of this story, click here.  Also, make sure you check out my newest section of the website, School Resources.  A few weeks ago, I was thinking of how my life has changed & my ministry has changed.  I am now focused more on Preschool & teaching and creating fun activities and worksheets and thought I should share them with those who are also in the teaching profession.  Plus this is an awesome way to reach out using these resources to share about our ministries here.  

Simple answer is because He loves us so much and to wash away our sins.  Check out the video below of how we demonstrated that to our preschoolers at Little Builder's Preschool at YWAM San Diego/Baja this week as we prepare for Easter Celebrations.  

To recreate this experiment you will need the following: 

2 clear cups
water
bleach
food coloring (I found green & blue worked best with the bleach we had)

To start, add a small amount of water in 1 clear cup (I filled mine about 1/4 of the way).  In the other cup, fill almost to the top with bleach, leaving room for mixing the water & bleach together.  (I filled mine about 3/4 full of bleach).

Talk to your kids about how when we are born, our hearts are clean & clear like the water.  But as we get older we sometimes make bad decisions (we call them sad face choices). We may hit a friend or family member, we may tell a lie, we may say something really mean, etc. (talk about some of the bad choices they may have made, let them voice some as well).  

With each bad choice you talk about, add a drop of food coloring. We alternated between green and blue. 

Then talk about how the Bible says that the wages of sin is death, which means that if we do something bad, we are supposed to die for that choice.  But when Jesus died on the cross, He made a way for us to wash away that bad choice.  (It's important to remind them that their actions still have consequences but we are forgiven).  

Now, the only way we can have those sins or bad choices washed away (cause we can't separate the dirty water from the clean anymore) is to invite Jesus into our hearts. We tell Him we are sorry and ask Him to forgive us. 

As you talk about forgiveness, pour the bleach into the "dirty" water and pour back & forth between the cups to mix up the solution.  You will begin to see that the color will disappear.  

Talk about how just like the color disappeared, Jesus washes away all of the yucky dirty bad things in our hearts when we ask Him to forgive us.  When we ask, He ALWAYS forgives us.  

Let me know if you have any questions and if you do this experiment, let me know how it turned out. What colors did you use? 

When I taught preschool one of the traditions we had every year was making a Thankful Candle with each of the children. Now that I am director of Little Builder's Preschool, a ministry of Youth With a Mission (YWAM), we are bringing this fun & easy craft back to the table. This is a very fun and easy craft activity that the kids loved and it is a great opportunity for us to talk about being thankful and to pray over each child as we were making the candle. This has always been a favorite of all of our students, staff and parents every year!

SUPPLIES:
15-Bean Soup Mix* (dried bean soup mix found in your grocery store) need 1 per candle
White Glue
Candle (we used various fall colors)
paper plate (1 per candle)
wax paper ** MUST USE (other types will not work!)
metal mixing bowl (metal is easist to clean and reuse)
metal mixing spoon

To begin, pour the soup mix into the metal mixing bowl and add enough glue to generously cover. Mix the soup and glue together really well making sure that all of the beans are thoroughly coated. Children can help by adding the ingredients and mixing as well. 

Once you have a pretty solid base you can then insert the candle into the top in the middle of the mound. This will need some more squeezing as the beans will shift with the insertion of the candle. 

Once you are complete with this step, your project should still have the wax paper holding everything in place. Give this a couple of hours to dry and then you can peal back the wax paper. The complete candle will not be dry yet. If the beans start coming off with the wax paper, squeeze it back into it's shape and wait a few more hours.

After you have removed the wax paper, place the candle back down on the center of the paper plate (the glue on the bottom is still wet and will glue itself to the plate creating a solid, flat base for the candle). Allow this to dry completely (a few days).

When the beans are all dry you can cut the paper plate to fit the base of the candle. Add a construction paper leaf with a cute poem, story or verse about being thankful. Use as a table centerpiece or mantle decoration for Thanksgiving. It can be stored and used year after year. The kids from our preschool would always beg their parents once Thanksgiving came around to pull out & decorate their house with their candles & some of the kids who had been in our school for all 4 years along with their siblings before them would have enough candles to decorate the entire house; mantle, table, front steps & kitchen included. 

* You can use any of the dried bean soup mixes, not just the 15-bean soup. We reccommend this because it has a variety of colors. Pick out the soup mix with colors you like. 

What are some fun Thanksgiving Traditions your family has? Do you make handprint turkeys or paint fall leaves? I'd love to hear about it. Leave a comment below. 

In September our students in Little Builder's Preschool, a ministry of Youth With A Mission (YWAM), studied apples like many preschoolers around the states. One of my favorite things to do with my students throughout the years has been making applesauce in our Preschool Kitchen. This year was no different.

So without further ado, here are the steps to making some amazing applesauce.

Ingredients:
Apples, cored, peeled & sliced
Water
Sugar

Start by cutting apples into bite-sized pieces. This allows for more cooking surface so it cooks faster plus it will cook down nicely & not need to be puréed. The kiddos loved using plastic knives to cut their apples.

Next put apple pieces into a pot or pan & add sugar. The amount of sugar will depend on the type of apples used (I like to mix several different kinds) & how sweet you want your applesauce. Add enough water to cover the apples. When our class did it each of my 8 students added 1 package of sugar & abt 1/4 cup of water.

Next, cook on high until boiling, then lower the temperature to medium. Stir constantly so sugar doesn't crystallize & apples don't stick. Cook down until apples are cooked through & you are happy with the consistency. If it is too thick, add more water. The end product should be a thicker sauce than you would buy in the jars.

We spooned ours into some small styrofoam cups to cool & eat later with our lunch. It was a very easy, yummy science lesson. I love cooking with kids because you can explain how foods are made, where they come from plus they are more likely to eat it if they helped make it. Preschool students love getting to be grown up and what better way to allow that than a little Preschool Kitchen time. 


So, what is your favorite thing to do with your kiddos? What fun foods have you made together? I'd love to hear abt it.

We also are trying to learn all sorts of things about God's amazing creation. Things like different types of animals & plants. This month we are learning about our community helpers - firefighters, police officers, doctors, dentists, nurses, etc. As you can see, even though the students are in preschool, it is just like going to a big-kid school. This past week as we were having our prayer time, we prayed for all the firefighters in the world. Here is a video of the prayers my students prayed without any assistance. This is God's voice through the mouths of babes! Seems fitting now with the wildfires in Colorado.

So, have you stopped to pray for firefighters lately? Who do you find yourself praying for most often?

It's hard to believe it is already MAY!!!  Can't believe that in 2 weeks I'll be turning 35, ugh!! I can't possibly be that old already!!  The good thing is that teaching preschool helps keep me young at heart if not in body.  This past week in our Little Builder's Preschool we've been learning about the farm.  We learned some of the animals on the farm and the kids learned a very silly song about all the sounds you hear on a farm.  I'll upload a video of our silly song later.  

On Friday, we did a little science by making butter from scratch.  We talked about how butter comes from milk and that milk comes from cows.  We talked about how our farmer friends used to make butter by churning it in big barrels but now there are machines to make it.  

We watched our small baby food jars filled with whipping cream turn from liquid to a very thick liquid all the way to a solidish ball of butter.  It took a little bit of time but we had fun shaking our jars while dancing around the room to some Hyper Static Union.  Needless to say, our preschool friends, foundations school boys and special guests (one of the base family's boys were out of school & joined us) had tons of fun.  

When the butter was compete, we even got to taste it on a slice of bread during snack time.  It was very yummy! Enjoy a short video of our class making their butter. 

So, what did you do last week??