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I’m so excited about this new matching game I can hardly stand it, although I think I say that about them all. The fruit of the Spirit is another one of those foundational verses in the Christian faith. You can accept and believe the creation account, the ten commandments are firmly in your mind, so now it’s time to put things into practice.
The fruit of the Spirit are applicable at any age, but I think for a preschooler they’re particularly helpful. They’re learning to express themselves and to recognize and control emotions. The fruit of the Spirit lay out clearly how we are to act as followers of Christ. If we live a life of love, filled with the joy of Christ, have peace through His promises, and are patient in times of uncertainty, we will stand out among the crowd. Our faith will be evident when we show others kindness, mirror Christ’s goodness, and faithfully keep our word. Being gentle while displaying godly wisdom and practicing self-control in a “my-way” world are valuable qualities for children to master at a young age.
I actually felt quite convicted as I made this Fruit of the Spirit activity.
As a mom, I want to display the fruit of the Spirit and be an example of God’s love and grace for my children. I gotta tell ya, it ain’t easy! When I’m working off four hours of broken sleep because Flash is teething, Little Dude wants to “cuddle” (which is just code for crawl all over me and knee me in the stomach), and Squeaks starts getting impatient for snack time, the grace and love of Christ are not my first responses. To be completely transparent, I really struggle with a short temper, and lack of sleep fans that flame in me like no other.
My hope is that, as Squeaks and I practice these verses together, they will sink into my heart as much as hers. Every once in a while I hear my short temper in her little voice as she speaks to her brothers and it makes my heart sink. She is learning my bad habit.
So as I plan out our school lessons (school starts this Monday!) I am preparing a week-long focus on the fruit of the Spirit. We’ll do coloring pages for each quality, do memory games, make play dough fruit; whatever we can to help these concepts stick in our hearts and minds. I think this matching game will be a great reference and a fun tool to help us accomplish this goal.
Enjoying this post? You might also like 7 Days Of Creation | PRINTABLE Matching Game.
Here’s how it works:
This crazy tree is growing a ton of really cute smiling fruit! 😉 Each piece of fruit represents a different fruit of the Spirit. On the tree is the basic fruit outline. Kids can practice recognizing and matching the irregular shape with its “shadow”. I laminated mine and used velcro dots to secure each piece of fruit to the tree. As we match each shape we can turn the page over to see a corresponding memory verse for that particular quality. I’m hoping we can get to the point where we can recite the verses as we place each piece of fruit.
This is the kind of activity that will need a good amount of parent participation. Unlike some of my other educational activities, where I can kind of let Squeaks practice on her own while I glance up from making dinner to check her progress, this one will require me to sit down and read out each fruit of the Spirit and each memory verse. It’ll be great practice for me too!
I need to learn (and practice) the fruit of the Spirit just as much as my kids do.
I’m also excited to see how memorizing these verses affects Squeaks’ relationship with her brothers. Little brothers require much patience. Being kind and having self-control while your little brother is trying to stomp on your block tower or grab your favorite doll takes some practice. Likewise, I’m hoping Little Dude absorbs some of the information as he hears us practice. He still isn’t quite three years old yet but he can grasp a good amount of information and he’s a little sponge! I wouldn’t be surprised if he benefits from this game too.
I really look forward to our week long study of these verses. And really, it’ll be more than a week. This game is sure to become a staple in our Busy Binder.
UPDATE: I’ve expanded on this activity with a set of coloring and tracing pages for each Fruit of the Spirit in print and cursive! These pages would be great to add into a morning basket or an easy Sunday school activity. I hope you enjoy them!
Get your Fruit Of The Spirit Printable Activities here!
Naomi says
This is such a beautiful website and your activities are so calming and peaceful. I love the Fruit of the Spirit Tree. Thank you for such wonderful ideas and activities!
Kristen says
Thank you so much for the kind compliment, Naomi! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it!
Tamara says
I appreciate all of your Information and freebies. This idea of Homeschooling has been overwhelming and expensive to say the say the least. However, God has been blessing me with lots of things. The hardest part is coming up with things to day everyday. A Christian Curriculum with activities is a struggle. Do you know a good one? I checked out some and they were nearly $250 or better. Are they this expensive?
Kristen says
Hi Tamara! I’m so glad you’re finding my site helpful! Yeas, getting the homeschool process started can be a bit overwhelming. Since we’re still in the preschool stage, I’ve opted out of purchasing a full curriculum. We do mostly child-led interest activities, learning through play, Pinterest finds, and of course my own creations :). Pinterest is your friend if you can stay focused on the goals you’ve set for your school year. I hope that helps!