Plaque for Our Lady of Guadalupe

Three months ago, we attended the archdiocese celebration mass for Natural Family Planning to support our friends who are NFP teachers.  During the pot luck lunch afterwards, one of the organizers invited all the children to collect materials they could use to make a plaque honoring Mary for the upcoming Feast of the Assumption of Mary.  Each of my daughters made their own plaque after choosing the materials they wanted to use.

I think it would be fun to honor Mary for the upcoming Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe by making a similar plaque.  This project would also be fun to do for the Immaculate Conception of Mary, celebrated on December 8.  Or, for the Solemnity of Mary, celebrated on January 1.

Gather whatever materials you have on hand, use mass card images of Our Lady, or print some, and let your kids be creative.

Start with a piece of cardboard in a rectangular shape.  If you have an art box like I describe in this post, you probably have everything you need to inspire your children to decorate the plaque.  If you don’t have an art box, just look around for some of the following materials and bring them to the table.  Your children can decide what they want to use.

• blue paper, plain or with designs
• blue fabric scraps, plain or with designs
• pictures of plants and flowers
• plastic leaves and flowers
• stickers or foam shapes of stars, moons, clouds, crosses, or angels
• other religious stickers
• letter stickers or beads
• religious charms
• rosary bracelets
• decorative pipe cleaners
• ribbon or yarn
• thin twigs or hollow reeds
• small pebbles

Once they have chosen their decorative materials, give your children an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, some glue, and tell them to decorate their plaque however they want.  If you need some images, you can copy and print one of these, which I have borrowed from Catholic On-line.

Or these, from Sancta.org.

You can search the internet for other images.  Our Lady is easy to locate.  To inspire your children while they work, read the story of Our Lady’s apparition to Saint Juan Diego.  One of our favorite versions of this story is Our Lady of Guadalupe by Tomie dePaola /Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe por Tomie dePaola.  You can find versions of this story all over the internet also.

Once the plaque is complete and the glue has dried, put it in a place of honor in your home; we like to put our most recent projects on the mantel.  Currently, our plaques are in our display cabinet, next to our statuettes of Mary and our crystal cross.  

Be sure to bring out your plaque whenever you pray the rosary, and especially on December 12, when we commemorate Nuestra Señora’s visit to Saint Juan Diego. 

My friend Jen sent this picture of a plaque her children made.  I think pink is just as lovely for the background as blue, don’t you?

If you are looking for more ways to celebrate and honor Mary, click on the buttons below to visit link ups, or see my posts about The Solemnity of Mary and about creating a Tabletop Shrine for Mary.

I am attaching this post to a link up hosted by Silvia at Homeschooling Católico.  Click on the button below to see other activities and educational materials for Celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I am also attaching this post to a Saints link up hosted by Monica at Equipping Catholic Families.  Mary is also known as the Queen of Saints.  If you are looking for activities to celebrate any or all of the saints, this is the link up to visit.

Martianne at Training Happy Hearts hosts a weekly Faith Formation in Young Children Link up, and this week’s theme is about bringing children closer to Mary, so I have linked up there also.  Go see her wonderful post and the other links.

One more: Jennifer at Crafolic is hosting a Month of Mary Craft and Décor Link up, so I have linked there also.  These plaques can be created for any Marian occasion or feast using any image of Mary.