Tag: krishna conscious kids

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Bedtime story magic

I am so happy that my 8yr old has begun requesting them again – for awhile there, it was no mum, not a Krishna story (break my heart!).
Now tho, we do everything and the final request of the night is a Krishna story, or JUST ONE MORE!

So, as the Krishna story request is usually accompanied by a demand for a NEW story mum, I have been delightfully pushed into reading and hearing more, to keep up with this insatiable thirst for the treasure house of Krsna story nectar (that we both love).

One source of joy has been the new treasure trove of Krishna lore from instagram account @KrishnaEveryday (Oh Hari! What a perfect name!)

Pictures from vrindavan
Krishna instagram account with nice stories of Krsna everyday and beautiful images of Vrindavan and the cowherd boys and other inhabitants. Lots of quotes from various bonafide scriptural sources.

 

As a sidenote, somebody please name their child Hara! I heard a beautiful lecture from the wonderful speaker Acharaya das where he talks about the potency of Hara, as a name for Radharani. Hari and Hara? Oh the beauty. Check out more wonderful lectures from Acharya das, an authority on Vedic wisdom, on The Journey of Life.

Ok back to original thread here, one joy was re-reading the Krishna stories as an adult. Yes I was very fortunate to be born into a nice Vaishnava family (my parents are disciples of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad), and my dad was keen on reading us the Ramayan nightly. I’m pretty sure I learnt to read at 5 just to start reading those stories myself! Anyway it’s amazing how much more you can note and soak up as an adult re-reading Krishna’s pastimes from the Krishna book.

Mostly we switch out the light and cozy up on my daughters bed and I tell her the story as I remember it. I don’t have the worlds greatest memory (it’s wretched), so sometimes I say we are going to have to fact check that in the morning!

I love simple stories, and I love complicated stories! Sometimes you hear snippets studded with wonder from venerable Vaishnava devotees that you haven’t heard elsewhere and we hoard those up like jewels and take them out and marvel at them in story time.

My favorite part of our Krishna playdays is the story telling section. I just love it, and all the kids do too.

Because really, Krishna is for every day! Yay!
Visit @doddyart on instagram for a beautiful stream of Krishna art and all things Krishna related!

What pastime of Krishna do you remember back to front and can tell as you are falling asleep? Me, I like to tell these faves right now: Lord Chaitanya discovers Toto Gopinath in the garden of Gadadhar, and also Mother Yasoda & Rohini call Krishna & Balaram home. My daughter loves to hear how Krishna and Balaram are naughty, and their friends threatening them not to play next time!

As it has just been the appearance day of Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya we have been talking all the stories I can remember of little Gaura – again so much appreciated!

So if you want to enjoy beautiful pastimes of Krishna then I urge you to start reading and hearing, and you will have so many just ready to flow from your lips when your little ones request Just One More at bedtime.

 

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Craft activity – creating hanging fish

Krishna craft activity playday

See post on the fun had during the reenactment activity here

Craft for kids, krishna fish making activity diy tutorial
Setting up the activity table with all the required paints, papers, cutting tools and precut fish shapes makes the craft go smoothly
Krishna craft precut shapes for kids to make into their activity
An assortment of fish shapes, cut out from brown (natural) paper plates and turtles, ready for kids to decorate and IMPORTANTLY some examples so they have an idea to springboard their imaginations off
Creating craft essentials with Krishna accessories and tools like cardobard for DIY
Googly eyes, precut baby turtle shapes from green cardboard, twine, a carved wooden turtle inspiration and some cut off egg carton cardboard are the perfect tools to create some marvellous sea creatures.
krishna kids craft activity playday making turtles for Krsna activity
Making turtles, cut out the silhouette from paper plates first and decorate with “scales” from bits of mini muffin liners
homeschooling kids craft activity Krishna centred play
Preparing in advance is key to quick and easy craft activities for kids, easy for them to grab the materials and away they go!

 

Krishna craft activity playday
These fun fish have a destination! Were made using brown paper plates and little “boats” dishes for food.
Krishna craft turtles with glitter and googly eyes
Creatively decorated with glitter, big and little turtles – and adorable googly eyes
Turtle DIY craft
Letting the kids DIY craft is most of the fun. See how creatively adorned with shiny metallic foil wrappers this turtle is? The paper plate base makes nice texture on his flippers and fins
Krishna craft activity playday
An assortment of fish created using eco-disposable serving ware, these fish are made with little wood paper boats, and covered in silver and gold foil cupcake wrappers for a fish scale effect that catches the light and is shiny

 

DIY Krishna kids play dress up crafts for Varuna play fun
A little stage was set using the fish craft.
A throne was made for Varuna, and paper streamers and balloons were hung to give the underwater world effect, as well as all the crafted fish the kids had made during the activity section of the Krishna playday.