7 Days of Creation

 

Today's focus was on the Creation Story.  We used an object lesson to aide our group lesson and discussion on the topic.

Prior to class, we prepared seven small paper bags, decorated them with numbers (1-7)--I found some free calendar printable numbers from a preschool site-- and tied them up with ribbon and lined them up on the floor in the center of our circle.  After reading from our text books, we passed out the bags to the students (or pairs of students-we have more kids than bags) and then took turns having the kids open their "gifts" from God for each day of creation.

We used frogs because this is our theme for the year (see our prior post on the "Hoppy to know our Prayers" bulletin board and matching Frog prayer books).

For the first bag, Day 1 of creation, we placed a small flashlight in the bag to represent darkness and light.

For the second bag, Day 2 of creation, we found a piece of sky blue felt and had stretched a few cotton balls and glued them on as clouds and had the felt folded in the bag.  This represented God's creation of the skies.

For the third bag, Day 3 of creation, we had a small container of dirt and a small container of water to represent God's creation of the land and seas. (this bag is ripped, the kids opening this one were pretty eager!)

For the fourth bag, Day 4 of creation, we had some small silver star confetti, and I took two small Styrofoam balls, cut one into a crescent moon shape and the other I kept whole and painted them both yellow.  This represented the sun, moon and stars.

For the fifth bag, Day 5 of creation, we put in a small plastic bird toy and fish toy to represent the fish and birds.

For the sixth bag, Day 6 of creation, we put in a small person (Little People toy) and some animals to represent the creation of man and animals.

For the seventh bag, Day 7 of creation, we put a small plastic bed in the bag (ours was a Little People toy, anything dollhouse size would work) to represent God resting.








For our craft project, we had the kids create Creation Wheels, a copy-printable from the book Bible Wheels to Make and Enjoy to reinforce the lesson when the kids went home.

Lord's Prayer Color Felt Prayer Book

This week's lesson focused on the Lord, Our Father.  We started off our lesson discussing fathers and the roles they play in the lives of our kids, and compared this to the role of God our Father and how he cares for each one of us.

For our project, we created a small book on the Lord's Prayer, using a modified version of a Ribbon Bookmark craft featured at http://childrensministry.com/articles/ribbon-prayer . 

For our younger audience, we decided to go with a more tactile approach.  We created flip books with small squares of felt for each color and part of the prayer.

Supplies:  Binder Rings (Yarn would probably also work); Felt in the following colors:  Blue, Green, Red, Yellow, Purple, White and Black; large index cards (8 per student); markers; hole punch; glue; and the printable text, (print for free here).

For preparation, cut small squares of the felt, one square of each color for each child.  If time is limited, precut the text into small squares/rectangles around the text as well.

The students will create their own cover page that states "Our Father" "The Lord's Prayer".  For each additional page they will glue on the paper text and matching felt square.  Hole punch the top left corner of each page and fasten them together in a book on a binder ring or piece of yarn.

 

St. Elizabeth of Hungary Costume

Last All Saints Day, our daughter chose St. Elizabeth of Hungary for her All Saints Day costume and diorama project.

We had actually picked up the "renaissance princess" costume the prior year on clearance, which helped guide our daughter to pick a royal saint.  I found some similar costumes on Amazon for around $25.00, either the Reinassance Princess (blue theme) for $19.99 or the Little Adventures Red Winter Princess dress for $29.99 could work.  These types of costumes can often be found in costume stores as well.

I made a red cape to add to the look.  I don't really sew, so I purchased a burgundy-red velvet(ish) dress from our local thrift store (it was a Christmas dress with white fur trim).  I cut off the trim, and cut it down the center.  I turned the sleeves inside out and used fabric glue to close up the armholes and put a few stiches in the top part to make it fit like a cape (but left the neckhole plenty big to fit on and off easily.  I found a red cape for $29.99 on Amazon, or a blue cape for $24.99 on Amazon that would work (my option with the modified dress cost around $4.00 in comparison, but more hunting and prep work would be required).

For her headdress, we ordered a crown from Amazon.  Here is link to the exact crown pictured, the cost is $4.00.  For the white cloth underneath it, I repurposed a veil from a prior Mary costume, but I would think any white cloth would work.  The crown held it in place nicely.

To accessorize, we purchased a small wicker basket from the thrift store, and two small baguettes from the grocery store that I hot glued into the basket.   (St. Elizabeth is often pictured with bread due to her devotion to the poor and hungry).

"Hoppy" to Know Our Prayers

This year's theme for our K-1 RE class is.....Frogs!

 

As you can see above, we are using a similar bulletin boar to track and recognize our students as they memorize their prayers.  In our local Archdiocese, the students memorize the Sign of the Cross, Prayer Before Meals, Prayer After Meals and Prayer to One's Guardian Angel in Kindergarten.  In First Grade, they memorize the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be and the Prayer at the Stations of the Cross.

 

On our first class, each child created a frog prayer book with their four required prayers, to take home a work on memorizing during the week.  When they come to class, they recite a prayer to a teacher and earn a frog prize and we put their name on a frog and post it to the bulletin board.

 

Free printables for the Lily pads are here , just write in the names of the prayers you are tracking, and the frog prayer books will be posted soon. 



 



 

Guiding Your Catholic Preschooler--Excellent Book for pre Religious Ed students

Guiding Your Catholic Preschooler remains my favorite book to recommend for parents that are preparing your child for entry into either Catholic School or your parish's Religious Education program.  While I have had friends that find it too simplistic if you've been raised in a devout Catholic home, as a parent who converted to Catholicism as an adult, I loved all of the ideas on how to incorporate your faith into daily family traditions and make our faith come alive for young children.

I strongly recommend this book for Catholic parents looking for creative ways to make our faith come alive and become understandable for our youngest church family members.

Last Supper- Plastic Chalice Craft

For our third week of Easter, we focused on the Last Supper. 

For our craft project, we had the students design their own chalice, imagining what they would have presented to Jesus had they been present at the supper.

I purchased plastic champagne glasses at the Dollar Tree in our town (6 glasses for $1.00).  I also purchased some Easter stickers from the Dollar Tree as well.

In our class, we retold another version of the Easter story.  We discussed the Sacrament of Communion, and presented our sample project.

We had the kids practice lining up and bowing before the cup, with their arms crossed (as our kids do not yet take communion yet) and had them practice going up for a blessing and showing reverance to the Sacarament.

For our craft, each child was given a plastic champagne cup.  We used permanent markers, and let the kids color the cups to make them look like either stained glass or jeweled in their appearance, and let them add stickers for fun.  Given we do many coloring crafts, these were a hit as it was something easy to do.  For our youngest preschoolers, we skipped the permanent markers and let them just apply stickers.

 

Palm Sunday-- Paper Palms and Pin the Tail on the Donkey

For our second week of learning about Easter, we focused on Palm Sunday.

We made paper Palm Leaves from the book Easy Christian Crafts, PK-K.  This book features reproducible activities, including a two page palm leaf that our student cut out and taped together (we had it copied onto green paper).

For our game, we purchased a Pin the Tail on the Donkey game, and added an picture of Jesus to the donkey to represent Jesus' entry into Jerusalem.