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Mary Poppins

Rated G by the MPAA.

Walt Disney (1964)

Jane and Michael Banks are two bored (and a little spoiled) upper crust English kids.

They have their whole world turned upside down by a nonsensical nanny who teaches them (and their whole family) how to have fun.

This movie is a musical and has both comedy and sad parts and lots of imaginative scenes that are wonderful for adults and children alike.

Julie Andrews won a Best Actress Oscar award for her role as Mary Poppins.

The movie combines a good story, songs, and scenes of live action blended with the animation.

You’ll be singing along in no time…”in the most delightful way!”

Mary Poppins is also a series of children’s books written by P.L. Travers and and originally illustrated by Mary Shepard.

The books (like the movie) center on the mysterious and magical Mary Poppins; in a way her name describes what she does, ‘Merry Pop-ins’. She is merry (happy) and is blown by the East wind to Number Seventeen Cherry Tree Lane in London and into the Banks household to care for their children.

There was a 40th anniversary DVD release of the film in 2004.

Whenever your family goes swimming it is a lot of fun but being safe is the most important thing.

The American Red Cross offers these tips to stay safe.

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This game is a fun free online game. You control the red player who shoots bubbles with his laser gun. But be careful, you have to shoot the bubbles before they touch you.

This game is really a lot of fun. Why don’t you give it a try. Stay out of trouble…bubble trouble.

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Camping is one of the best ways for families to get closer. Also, camping is a great time for family devotionals and talks about God. But, maybe you can’t travel to a campground or a state or national park.

Well, you can still have fun camping…in your own backyard. Here’s some tips to make it easy for you.

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Psalms

Take a Bible with the Old and New Testament. Lay it on a table and try to open right in the middle of the pages. You will probably open it to the book of Psalms. So what is this book where the words are laid out funny, it says everything twice and always talks about sheep and cups “runneth overing”?




Song Book, Prayer Book and More


Have you ever noticed how music is not just something you hear, it is something you feel? Christmas time “feels” like Christmas partly because of Christmas carols. A scary movie has scary music to make you afraid. When you sing at church, don’t you think about God more?

Well, the Bible book of Psalms is a song book with 150 special songs for ancient Israelites. The book talks about how they felt when they were happy, when they were very sad, when the were upset because the bad guys seemed to be winning and how they prayed to God by themselves and when they worshipped God together.

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Fun wordsearch puzzle for younger players. All the words in this word puzzle are Bible words.

This printable puzzle is free to use for your own family fun and you can use it for church, Sunday School, Vacation Bible School or anywhere else that you want to. A lot of people use it for Sunday School curriculum because it works well for early readers.

Great for early readers and pre-readers.

This is written by Curt Gunz and his family. Have fun with it.

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This is weird. Did you know that there was a really tall Philistine who was unusual? But, it’s not Goliath.

You probably remember that the Israelites were always fighting against the Philistines. David killed Goliath in the most famous battle. What you may not know is that there were other really big, really mean guys whom the Israelites fought.

How would you like to have to fight a giant guy? David and his mighty men were brave. There were four sons of a really huge guy. David’s men had to fight all four of these over-sized brothers.

Now that is weird and gross.

In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.

I Chronicles 20:6-7 (NIV)

Are you watching the Olympics? I am watching with my family. But did you know that the Apostle Paul writes about seeing competitions like the Olympics over 2000 years ago?

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This volcano is very happy. Even though he is blowing his stack he keeps a smile on his face. I guess some volcanoes are just more cheerful than others.

There are volcanoes in Hawaii but even though this guy is an active volcano he has never been to Hawaii. He just has a little eruption at home then cools off.

The lava that flows from him looks hot but it doesn’t seem to even bother him. I bet it feels like an earthquake or tsunami when he blows.

He is making his real estate a mountain. I would not want to go on vacation anywhere near this guy. Take me to a lake resort or a rental in Colorado or anywhere just as long as I don’t have to go near this fire mountain.

But, he does look happy. So at least he is in a good mood.