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.

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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.

Angel Craft for Archangels or Guardian Angels

This week, I prepared a lesson on the Feast of the Archangels for my Catholic Moms Group.  We meet once a week, each taking turns on preparing an activity for our children to do.  This one turned out great, meaning that children of all ages enjoyed learning about the archangels and our guardian angels; they especially liked decorating an angel, particularly with glitter glue.

After I signed up to lead this lesson, I spent some time surfing the web looking for a craft suitable for ages 1 – 8 that we could do outside and that had more appeal than the swings or slides (we meet at a park so the kids can also get some exercise before the lesson to help them focus a little longer).  I found many wonderful projects, but eventually settled on this one by Noreen at Crafty Journal because I saw opportunities for the children to be creative, to use their hands in different ways, and to see how glitter can mimic the nature of an angel.  Also, I could do the cutting and attaching of the different parts at home rather quickly.

As usual, I made some changes.  Noreen spray painted her angel, but I choose not to spray paint so the children could color it as they wished.  I also cut the ovals for the angel faces from a manila folder to help them stand out from the white body and wings (using construction paper or colored card stock would provide a wider variety of face tones).  To add shine, we used squeezable glitter glue in neon colors, but of course regular glitter would work just as well (or even glitter crayons).

As I discussed the lesson, I showed the children a coloring page of the archangels from Coloring Saints (choose from one of their categories to find the page).  After learning about the different tasks assigned to Saints Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and the Guardian angels, we prayed the Guardian Angel prayer together and proceeded to decorate the angels.  I also explained the celestial nature of angels, which is the reason for their iridescent (glittery) appearance.  The children really applied themselves to this project, and even waited patiently for their turn with the different colors of glitter.  

I think angel crafts would be fun to do any time of year, particularly for lessons involving stories of angels visiting people, such as The Annunciation or The Nativity.  You read about the angel we crafted earlier this year at this post.  Below you will find links to more great angel activity ideas.

Noreen’s blog Crafty Journal includes several lists of angel crafts; the one we made is highlighted on the Christmas Angel Crafts page.

I found the link to Noreen at Crafolic’s September Feast Days page.  Near the bottom of the post, you will find many more angel crafts.

At Training Happy Hearts, I found links to readings for adults about the Archangels that helped me plan what to say during the lesson.  You will find them at the bottom of this Feast Day post.

Linked with Saints Cele-linky, Extraordinary Ideas for Ordinary Time, Catholic Bloggers Network, Faith Formation in Young Children, My Favorite Things, Making It Count, Tactile Tuesday, Saints and Scripture Sundays, For the Kids Friday and Weekly Kids Co-op.

Catholic Game Review: Lingo Bingo Católico

Several months ago, I volunteered to review Catholic Lingo Bingo in Spanish for the Arma Dei Shoppe run by Monica at Equipping Catholic Families.  I must apologize to Monica for such a long delay in posting my review.  After a busy summer during which my children did not want to color the cards or play bingo, I am now writing my thoughts about how we will use this game in the future.

I received the bingo kit as a PDF in black and white; we printed it on cardstock.  For children who enjoy coloring, the game preparation is an opportunity for them to express their creativity and to make decisions: will they color images that are the same but located on different game cards identically or not?  Will they use color schemes for groups of similar images (each picture is a Vessel, Vestment, or Sacramental)?  Will they use the same media or color some cards with crayons, others with pencils?

You can see that my youngest daughter did not consider any of these questions, outside of asking for markers, which I declined after she painted one of the cards so darkly that we could not distinguish the images.  She was still three when we started these, so we switched to colored pencils and have had much better results.  I also found pencils easier to use than crayons for the details on the small images (used to select the active images during the bingo game).  I actually colored the mini cards myself.

What I like best about the game is that it is an opportunity to learn the names of objects used in the mass, such as the pall and corporal.  We see them every week, but we don’t talk about them outside of mass.  For this reason, the game is a great way to teach children who are preparing for First Communion about the way the Eucharist is treated during and after the mass.  Sometimes, we can all use a reminder about reverence for the Eucharist, so these images can also reinforce that.

Also, the images of the places in the church are a good way to discuss the structure of the mass with children, explaining what happens in the sacramentary, at the lectionary, etc.  Personally, I was really happy to learn the names for the vestments, as I have never known what to call any of the clothing except for the generic robe.  

I recommend Catholic Lingo Bingo to any family looking for resources to educate children about the mass, the Eucharist, or liturgical objects.  Who doesn’t like to play bingo?  Learning about the faith and having fun at the same time couldn’t be easier.

You can purchase the PDF version in English or Spanish for $10 at the Arma Dei Shoppe.  Printed versions are also available for $2 more plus shipping.  You can find a list of all the reviews for Arma Dei products (including other reviews of the bingo games) here.

Also Arma Dei is currently running a Back to School Special: purchase three PDFs and get $10 off.  Details here (offer ends September 14^th).  Monica is also organizing a Giveaway this month; I will post the details here soon, or look for them at Equipping Catholic Families.

Disclosure: I received free copies of Catholic Lingo Bingo and Lingo Bingo Católico in exchange for this review.  You can read more about my Review Policies here.

At Training Happy Hearts, I have joined Martianne’s weekly link up about Faith Formation in Young Children.

 

You will always find me linked at The Catholic Bloggers Network Monthly Round up.

 

Karri at My Life’s a Treasure hosts a weekly My Favorite Things Link up, and I am linking this post there.