January means Winter for most of us. Even in Florida, we are teaching about snow, penguins and polar bears. I am helping a school with their PreK program this week and our theme is Cold Climate Animals. As I researched these animals who live in the complete opposite climate that I love, I found a similarity in…. you guessed it. THE WORD OF GOD!
How are we going to add Biblical Integration to this curriculum and have fun at the same time? Today, we learned about Emperor Penguin fathers holding and protecting their eggs while they are incubating. As they huddle together, these male penguins endure temperatures many degrees below zero. How do they endure it? During the summer, the penguins swim and eat, and eat, and eat some more while accumulating enough fat to help them survive through the bitter cold.
I also find it interesting that after the mother lays the egg, they transfer it to the father to hold in his brood pouch that rests on his feet…… then she leaves! She leaves for about two months and the father is responsible for its safety, growth and protection. Starting to sound familiar? Here we go!
When we pray that God guides us as parents and teachers, we are supposed to hand our children over to Him and trust him with those very same things, safety, growth and protection. The problem begins when we take those children back over and over without trusting God completely.
The next fun fact? The transferal of an older egg with Emperor Penguins is risky because the egg becomes more fragile. Isn’t it just like that with our kids? The longer we are parents or teachers, many times we rely on our experience instead of our faith that God is going to take care of them completely.
Let’s help each other rely on Christ to take care of our children, grandchildren and students.
When you teach about these penguins, share the love and protection of our Heavenly Father. Show the children that we can trust God with our safety, protection and growth.
Isaiah 41:10 says “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Just for fun while you are teaching this activity, ask the children to try and waddle like a penguin with a ball on their feet….. not so easy. May as well hand them over to our Heavenly Father, even though its hard, it will be worth it!
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