Chores, cleaning, the thing we all love to hate. However, although we may not like cleaning our homes, our preschoolers love to help us clean! They are now old enough to learn how to clean and tidy and do all sorts of little jobs around the house. The are old enough to help put away their toys. They love to scrub all the things – as long as they are working with one of their favorite people.
Special Helper is an award all about helping our families and cleaning up after ourselves. As is the case with many adventurer awards, this one is all about building healthy habits. Cleaning the house may not be my favorite activity, but we still have fun learning about cleaning in our Little Lambs’ class.
Story: Llama Llama Mess Mess Mess
It’s cleaning day at Llama Llama’s house! But, Llama Llama doesn’t want to clean, he wants to play! Mama Llama imagines being silly and throwing everything around instead of cleaning and what their home would soon be like. Llama Llama realizes they need to clean and helps his mama. This is a sweet book that shows many of the chores to do around the house and how even little “llamas” can help out.
If your kids are fans of Anna Dewdney, Llama Llama Mess, Mess, Mess will be a fun book to read at your meeting. Llama Llama books are very popular, so there’s a good chance your local library will have it.(Note for conservative churches: These animals talk, wear clothes, and live in human-like homes.)
Craft: Helping at Home Collage
Another chance to practice our cutting and pasting skills! I cut each page into strips to keep the cutting simple and relatively quick. Kids will cut the pictures of kids helping around the house. They will choose which jobs they like best and glue them to their paper. Parents can discuss the pictures with their child as they work.
This craft idea is from the Little Lamb Leader’s Guide.
Game: Race Against the Clock Toy Clean Up
Putting away toys is not only age-appropriate for Little Lambs, it’s an essential skill. In this meeting’s game, we practice the skill in a fun way. You’ll need a stop watch (your phone or watch is fine), some toys, and something to put the toys in.
Set-up: I choose three basic categories (use my categories, or better yet, look around to see what you have easily available): Baby dolls (borrowed from the Beginner’s Sabbath School), Cars and Trucks (borrowed from my kids), Blocks (from Adventurers!). Each item type had a simple storage bin/basket and a sign on the bin. The sign is optional. It’s helpful for the kids to know where each item goes, but you could leave one item in the bin or just tell them at the beginning. (My signs are in the printable file at the end of the post – just in case you have the same toy groups.)
Play: Spread the toys around the room. The kids might want to help! Explain to the kids that they will be racing against themselves in this clean-up game. Ready? Set… Go! (Start the stop watch and set them loose to clean.) When they finish putting everything away, praise them and challenge them: “You guys were so fast! But..do you think you could go faster?” Reset the “mess” and try to beat the last time.
In our game, the kids worked together. They competed against their past selves. They did not compete with each other.
Preschool Skills: Sock Sorting Game
Preschoolers are great at sorting and looking for patterns. In this activity, Little Lambs will flex their sorting skills. I hung up string for clothes lines around the room. The kids strengthened their fingers clothes pinning the matched socks with the clothes pins.
Homework: Help a Family Member with a Special Chore for One Week
Helping a family member with a chore for one week is one of the requirements to earn the special helper award.
I sent a checklist home with the kids. On the back of the page is a list of age-appropriate chores just in case parents need ideas. I included stickers with the checklist, but the stickers optional.
For those of you with the tools to make stickers, I am including Silhouette cutfiles. For everyone else, I recommend the dollar store/Amazon/skipping the stickers. (Really, a checkmark is just fine.) There are three sticker sheet designs – one of cute animals that I think most little lambs will enjoy, and one of cute, but not cuddly animals for the reptile lovers. (My favorite lamb requested snake stickers!) I have a third page of realistic baby animal stickers that is so new my club hasn’t even seen it yet.
Either send the “homework” home at the end of the meeting or send it home the meeting before this meeting. I have done both times and found my families did great with this assignment regardless of my timing. If you usually hand out award patches at each meeting, you’ll want to send this home ahead of time.
Extra: Helping Hands Coloring Sheet
I printed the Helping Hands page from the workbook just in case they needed another activity. You can find the workbook at AdventSource (and possibly your local conference office) and it’s also a free pdf download at clubministries.org.
Extra Time:
- Play with the toys from the clean up game. Just remember to clean them up at the end..
- Repeat the one of the games.
Closing Circle Time
Story: Helping With Dinner
Helping with Dinner by Lois Fortuna is part of the We Can Do It! series. This book features photos of a little girl helping her mom make dinner. It’s a quick read with only one to two sentences per two-page spread. I like how this shows a young child helping with the daily tasks of keeping the house running. There is another book in the series that looks like it would fit this award as well: Let’s Clean Up! I have not read Let’s Clean Up! – It’s listed on the back cover. But, it’s a book I’d look into if I were looking for books for this award.
Ayudar Con La Cena / Helping With Dinner (English and Spanish Edition)
Song: This is the Way We Help at Home
This is the Way We Help at Home is sung to the tune of Here We Go Around the Mulberry Bush. Act out each verse while singing for the most fun and impact. Lyrics are included in the pdf at the end of this post. This activity is from the Little Lamb Leader’s Guide.
Prayer
We finish each Little Lambs meeting with an abbreviated version of the Lord’s Prayer.
Reminder
I chose these activities to fit my club’s meeting length and needs. Your club is different than mine! I have more activities here than are required to complete the award. If you have less time, prioritize a book, a game, a craft, a song, and chores at home. Add more activities in to fit your time constraints. If you have extra time, you could repeat a fun activity or add in other chores-related activities. Pinterest is a great resource for activities and book suggestions.
What books do you like to read to your little lambs about cleaning and helping at home?
If you use these plans and printables, could you do me a favor and come back and comment about how they worked for your club? I’d love to hear about your experience.