Krishna story Archives - Remember Krishna

Posted on March 13, 2017 by remember krishna — Leave a comment

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.

Posted on February 6, 2017 by remember krishna — 1 Comment

Craft activity – creating hanging fish

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 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

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.

Posted on February 6, 2017February 17, 2017 by remember krishna — Leave a comment

Krishna activity play day

Every so often we are welcomed into a world of delight! This beautiful play day was organised by some homeschooling wonderwomen & shared with me. It’s got craft, dress ups, and role playing – what an adventure!

The schedule for activities is one which I have found generally works, and you can shake up the order as needed, to keep kids attention and make sure they are well fed & happy:

Offering: Have a romp around and play while the guests drift in, and once all are assembled have an offering to Krishna and all chant. It’s very encouraging to round up all the little ones for this, and give them different instruments to shake bash bang or play. Even the youngest can take part if they can shake a tamborine.

DIY krishna kirtan offering activity — offering to Krishna with Love and kirtan

Storytime:After a kirtan, relaxed and fun, tell or read a Krishna story. Kids relate much better to something which is a lively and animated retelling, and enjoy a group story-telling session where the storyteller interacts with them and gets them involved by asking questions. We don’t have a video of this part, but we are working on a collection of Krishna storytelling videos! Stay posted.

Craft: Set up a craft activity for the kids to do, related to the story. (Click here to see the DIY kind of tutorial for this Krishna craft)

Craft krishna kids activity fish craft DIY — set up activity area ready for bombardment of mini people and their enthusiastic minders.

Lunch: While the craft is drying is the ideal time for a lunch break.

Krishna prasadam time offering DIY — Lunchtime with some freshly offered banana muffins prasadam from Lord Krishna

Story re-enactment: Dressing up and decorating themselves and each other the kids have a lot of fun retelling the story they have learnt.

Play acting out the pastimes of Krishna activity — A full cast of actors for our Krishna drama

Wild playtime: the culmination of the day time to bond with each other and relax in their environment and free play.