Games are an important part of learning. Olesea Ciochina plans at least four games or activities for each of the mother/child clubs she leads. 

But something extra fun happened recently. One of the children came up with a game . . . which they all played enthusiastically. The crayons and colored pencils were lined up in the middle of the work table. Then each child chose three . . . while blindfolded. The others watched attentively to see which three would be chosen. They each used their three random colors to "draw something beautiful." 

(Skills practiced:  creativity, cooperation, waiting ones turn, fine motor skills (drawing) also used in writing.)

Other activities included musical chairs (a favorite)

making and decorating the first initial of their names

and making a family tree. This boy put God in the middle of his family! 

Note that some of the children are using the Cyrillic alphabet. Russian as well as Romanian is widely used in Moldova. And just to make the linguistic situation more fun, at home the children speak their own Usari Romani. Olesea is extremely grateful for the mothers who translate into Usari so the youngest children will understand the Bible lesson AND the instructions for the games & activities.

The Bible story focused on Jacob marrying Leah and Rachel. Family and the names of Jacob's (many) children figured into the story. It took awhile for Jacob to put God in the middle of his family. May these children . . . and their parents . . . learn this lesson early on.