Happy Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist!
We woke up to a thunder storm this morning, so my original plan to let the children play out in the slip n’ slide were dashed. So instead I quickly put together this activity for them to play through a story of St. John the baptist:

St. John the Baptist Water Play Story

Supplies: small stones, jug of water, blue food coloring (optional), Duplo/Lego/Playmobile/peg people, tray or baking sheet, a Bible opened to John 1:22-27 or Luke 3:4-6, 16
First, I found some small stones I had leftover from a craft project and filled a pie pan with them. I set the pie pan on a baking sheet, colored some water blue and left it in the jug for the time being on the tray. The people I found were the first I could dig out from the Duplo bin.

I called the children to the table and began to read from the scripture passage. When I finished I took a Duplo person and used him to push the pebbles to either side to create a path. I said, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”

Make straight the paths…

Then I took the water and poured it into the pan creating a river. “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low.”

Every valley shall be filled…

Next, I added the other two Duplo people to the scene and had John the Baptist “baptize” them. I said, “I baptize with water, but the one who comes after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

I baptize with water…

I reset the stage, poured the water back in the jug and the children took turns playing and saying the whole script.
Tbird went last, and on his second time through he made a bit of a Lake of Jordan instead.

There was a little heart-melt moment as TBird whispered the words on his own, without prompting, while he played out the story. So sweet!

The treat

The Illuminator (still working on that nickname folks!) has an official baby dairy allergy, so I’m off all forms of dairy and soy for the time being. A quick google search for dairy free cake and a fridge without a dairy-free solid fat suitable for baking with led me to an odd cake recipe. It came out just as I suspected…flat, chewy, overly sweet and otherwise flavorless. Oh well! I’ll stick with angel food cakes for the time being!

Fun, but not so tasty… also don’t mind the baby area back there. Blankets and diapers everywhere!

The kids had fun with the decorations–gummy locusts (worms) and honey straws. John the Baptist’s diet never sounded so tasty!

Prayer Time

We took the cake to the living room and there prayed together the prayer from Prepare! Plan. Then we sang “Happy Birthday” to St. John the Baptist followed by “Happy Name Day” to John and Jstar.
This was Jstar’s name day because the last time we asked him which St. John he’d like to celebrate his name day with he asked, “Which one comes next?” That was about two months ago. So, here we are!
I’d really love to see how you celebrate

d the day! Comment here or post in IG with #hdahstjohnthebaptist