Teach the Trinity with Candles

As promised, here is my craft to teach about The Most Holy Trinity, the mystery of our One God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  In March I saw this post by Vicky at Mess for Less about making decorative votive candle holders, and I thought: what a great idea for a lesson about the Trinity!  

We decorated each of three candles with a symbol for the Trinity: Father = heart, Son = cross, Holy Spirit = dove.  I chose the obvious symbols for the Son and Holy Spirit and my eight year old daughter decided that God the Father should be represented by a heart, because of His love for us.

Each candle represents one expression or person of God, distinct and separate from one another.  However, each flame of the candle is identical, representing the one God that is present in each of the three persons.  The Trinity is one of the deepest mysteries of our Catholic faith, so I hope that this craft helps my children understand how three persons are still one God.  The image below may remind you of the triangle that is often used to explain this doctrine.

I could not find inexpensive undecorated votive holders, so we decorated some candles from the dollar store.  My older daughter made the heart candle all by herself.  I cut the crosses for my four year old and she glued them on with help from her sister for the top layer of mod podge.  I made the dove candle using a coloring page of a dove as a template.  You can find the page at the website of the Eucharistic Youth Movement (in the Miscellanea category).

I also used some of the extra shapes we cut from tissue paper to make a fourth candle with all three symbols; to me this one represents the mystery of the Trinity the best.

This craft is one that can be done several different ways, so I encourage you to use your creativity.  For example, my daughter’s original thought was to cover the entire candle with a rectangle of tissue paper that had the symbol as a cut out.  I was hoping to put more of the symbols in different colors overlapping each other on each candle.  Although we had hoped to make the cross brown, when we couldn’t find brown tissue paper my children opted for yellow, which admittedly is much harder to see, even when the candle is lit.

Ultimately, I let my children decide what they wanted to do.  They wanted to put a few symbols on each candle, which worked out well since we were short on time that day.  However, I think we will visit this candle idea again later in the liturgical year.  We could make many more candles to decorate our tabletop shrine throughout the year.

Please visit my Trinity Link up for more teaching ideas and reflections about The Most Holy Trinity, or to link up your own posts.

Linking with: Catholic Bloggers Link up Blitz, Faith Formation in Young Children, After School Party, Kids Get Crafty, We Made That, Weekly Kids Co-op, For the Kids Friday, Hobbies and Handicrafts, Pinterest Party

Notice: This blog may contain advertising links to venders I have an affiliate relationship with.  This means that if you click on one of these links, a window to that vender’s website will open.  If you shop for products on the vender’s site and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission on what you buy, even if you purchase items during a later visit.  I appreciate your support of this blog.  You can read more about how I choose my affiliate relationships here.

Offers from LinkShare

 

Trinity Link up Reopened

I have a great craft in mind for Trinity Sunday that I will post soon, but in the meantime I wanted to announce that I have reopened the link up I hosted last year for the feast of The Most Holy Trinity.  This link up contains some great ideas for teaching the Trinity to children, but there is always room for more ideas, including reflections and meditations, so please add your links at the bottom of this post.  The link up will remain open until June 8 so you have plenty of time to link up your posts written on Trinity Sunday or even after.  

You will notice a number of links below from Saint Patrick’s Day because he used a trefoil or shamrock to represent the mystery of our One God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  If your post about Saint Patrick also mentions the Trinity you are welcome to link below.

Last year we made a lapbook about the Trinity and some Trinity stick puppets; you can read that post here.

I am looking forward to reading your links!  Include the button or a text link so others can find the party.  Please share this link up with others who may be interested.

Linking with: Catholic Bloggers Link up Blitz, Faith Formation in Young Children, Weekly Kids Co-op, For the Kids Friday, New Evangelists Monthly

Notice: This blog may contain advertising links to venders I have an affiliate relationship with.  This means that if you click on one of these links, a window to that vender’s website will open.  If you shop for products on the vender’s site and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission on what you buy, even if you purchase items during a later visit.  I appreciate your support of this blog.  You can read more about how I choose my affiliate relationships here.

Offers from Book Closeouts

 New Arrivals at BookCloseouts.com

Saint Catherine of Sienna: Cards for the Sick

I do realize that this post is late for the actual feast day, but making cards for sick is an idea that works for any day of the year.

I volunteered to teach Saint Catherine of Sienna to the children in my Catholic Moms group without realizing how difficult it might be to explain her achievements to children, especially pre-schoolers.  That is, until I found this idea to make cards for the sick on her feast day to mimic her dedication to serving and helping others.  

I also found an explanation at Catholic Culture about Catherine of Sienna’s teachings regarding God’s presence in the world.  According to the author of this post, even a five year old could grasp an understanding of how God is everywhere, including inside us and how we are also in God.  Read about it here.

So, armed with a fish in the ocean metaphor for God’s presence, some blank card stock cut in half and folded like cards, and some goldfish crackers for a snack, I drove my kids to our designated park.  This particular day, most of the participating children were pre-schoolers, so while they enjoyed the crackers, they did not quite grasp the fish in the ocean, ocean in the fish idea.  Did I mention we do this at a park?  Who can concentrate when the playground, swings, and sunshine are calling?

Also, most of the kids weren’t sure what to put on a card for a sick person.  I suggested flowers and butterflies.  I provided crayons, markers, stickers, stamps, and glitter glue.  Even so, I ended up with cards that looked more like a coloring exercise than get well messages, but really whatever the children create always makes a good card.  Most people appreciate the time and effort of a handmade card.  I have sent them off to a relative, and will report back soon on her reaction.

Even though most of the children didn’t quite understand the lesson, I still think this activity is a good idea, so maybe I will try it again next year.  How do you teach children about Catherine of Sienna?

Check back soon for my posts about activities honoring Mary Our Queen and The Most Holy Trinity (I also plan to re-open last year’s Trinity link up).

Linking with: Catholic Bloggers Link up Blitz, Faith Formation in Young Children, After School Party, We Made That, Kids Get Crafty, Weekly Kids Co-op

Notice: This blog may contain advertising links to venders I have an affiliate relationship with.  This means that if you click on one of these links, a window to that vender’s website will open.  If you shop for products on the vender’s site and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission on what you buy, even if you purchase items during a later visit.  I appreciate your support of this blog.  You can read more about how I choose my affiliate relationships here.