He has risen! He has risen indeed! With Easter approaching I wanted to do an Easter craft that is meaningful. This resurrection craft for Easter definitely celebrates the true meaning of Easter. I also intend this to be my Easter special day craft for my AWANA Cubbies series. The stone door can twist into place,...Read More
How to make Halloween a simple, yet powerful day of object lessons from a Biblical standpoint, giving a Christian response of light and hope to a dark day.
How does one make Make Easter Meaningful for the Teens in your life? Every teen is different, but I brought some ideas to help.
A blog about DIY projects, decor and food.
Step into Holy Week with 10 Holy Week activities to experience more meaning in Easter. What is Holy Week, why observe Holy Week, and Holy Week prayers.
I awoke this morning to the rumblings of a thunder storm and the excitement of a day in our jammies; the first day of Spring Break! As I think about our upcoming week, I commit to making this not just another Spring Break because it isn’t. This is a week in which we remember Christ’s […]
Flying a kite resembles our hope and desire to be caught by God’s love and lifted to heights unimaginable.
Simple Egg Experiment for exploring density with kids using this floating egg experiment for kids of all ages. Learn why do eggs float in saltwater!
Check out these Christ-centered Easter Activities and Crafts to help make the story of Jesus' death and resurrection meaningful and memorable to your child.
I wanted to come up with an Easter craft that speaks to the true meaning of Easter. This Mosaic Cross Craft for Easter was the result, and it is perfect for kids of all ages. I am not opposed to bunnies, eggs, candy, and Easter egg hunts. However, I do want the meaning of Easter...Read More
What is Lent? Lent commemorates the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting before he was tempted by the devil and was then baptized by his cousin John the Baptist. His baptism was the ritual that started his ministry on earth. Lent is the preparation for Easter. When is Lent? Lent is the 40
Easter is less than a week away! Here is a great lesson and activity to help your family think about the blessings of following Jesus Christ.
Christian parents can find joy in celebrating Easter with their children through fun and meaningful free printable Christian Easter crafts. These crafts not only provide entertainment but also teach important lessons about the Easter story and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I love Easter. I love doing meaningful activities to celebrate the most important holiday in our Christian walk. And Easter Resurrection Garden is a wonderful way to prepare your hearts and your c…
This Easter Resurrection Rolls recipe allow you to create a tasty treat, yet combine it with a meaningful traditions that make an impact on a child's long term memory.
The Easter Story Brick Challenge is a fun printable for kids with Lego challenge building ideas, activities, Bible reading, & more.
What is Lent? Lent commemorates the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting before he was tempted by the devil and was then baptized by his cousin John the Baptist. His baptism was the ritual that started his ministry on earth. Lent is the preparation for Easter. When is Lent? Lent is the 40
What is Lent? Lent commemorates the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting before he was tempted by the devil and was then baptized by his cousin John the Baptist. His baptism was the ritual that started his ministry on earth. Lent is the preparation for Easter. When is Lent? Lent is the 40
Looking for activities to create meaningful traditions with your family for Easter? Enjoy making this lamb cake and decoupaged Easter Eggs. Oh friend, I am so glad that you loved this Easter post, that I wrote earlier this week. If you haven't read, "Wait until you see what I found in the woods and what
"I’m participating in the Keeping LOVE in LENT Blog Link-Up 2013, hosted by Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints, Truly Rich Mom and Arma Dei: Equipping Catholic Families. We'll be sharing different ways, tips, stories and real-life experiences that will help us focus on Lenten sacrifices, prayer and good deeds, and how to carry them out with LOVE instead of a GRUMBLE. Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of link-up entries.” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ How beautiful it is to give up this life for the life! ~ St. JoseMaria Escriva Let's just go ahead and admit it - nobody likes Lent. Just say the word Lent out loud and you'll find that it is almost always followed by a sigh of discomfort. Kind of like the word exercise to those who hate to sweat or babysit to those who find children annoying. For me, Lent always conjures up flashbacks of my childhood. No sweets, no TV, no anything fun. Just church, lots of church, ashes on the forehead, and weird fish dishes, and quiet and gloom. All my siblings and I could do is countdown to Easter Sunday. (My parents were great teachers and always set a very pious example for me. I was, most likely, focused on other, less important things as a child.) Despite all of the negativity attached to Lent, it really does have a deep and beautiful purpose. It's not just a season in the church's liturgical calendar that you have to "get through" in order to have chocolate again. The Christian isn't forced to do any of these things - giving up meat, fasting, mortifications, ashes on the forehead. The church doesn't hold a hammer over our head and say, "Do it, or else." Participating in the sacrificial preparations for Easter are intended to be freeing, not binding. I am deeply humbled by the truth that Christ willingly died for us, for our sins. He gave himself up to be crucified. The power of perfect sacrifice is ever stronger than that which He could have exuded if he had chosen to wield His power over everyone and every situation. In the same way, God doesn't control us, he has given each of us a free will, and it is through our willingness to unite our sacrifices to Christ, no matter how big or small, that we participate in His life, death and resurrection. In my mind, there is but one purposes to the Lenten season: Unity with Christ. This season of contemplation, examination and preparation wakes up the soul, and invigorates our fervor as Christians to walk with Christ and to desire Heaven more deeply. Experiencing Lent as a family can be challenging. We are all busy with activities, school, sports, meetings and appointments. But, coming together for any amount of time each day can bear beautiful fruit in your family. Need a few ideas? Here is our list of favorites: 1. A couple of years ago, I found this idea for a crown of thorns made out of salt dough. Toothpicks are placed in the dough to represent the thorns. When the children do an act of sacrifice or a good deed, they can take out one toothpick and place it in the "thorn" jar that is kept in the center of the crown. 2. The crown of thorns is a painful and sometimes difficult image (especially for little ones) to grasp. Here is an extended lesson to the crown of thorns project that will help children see that Christ's crown of suffering was bore out of a deep love that led Him to an eternal crown, a glorified crown, a heavenly crown: For every toothpick they remove from the thorny crown, allow them to place a jewel into the "jewel" jar. Then, on Easter, the children can use the jewels to decorate a beautiful crown for Jesus. You can find a king's crown printable template here. Print it out on quality card stock and cut them out ahead of time so that they are ready for the children to decorate on Easter. 3. Choose a story to read aloud together. This doesn't necessarily have to be a Catholic/Christian book. Perhaps it could be one where the characters demonstrate heroic virtue by way of sacrifice. Our older kids (3rd grade and up) have really enjoyed Redwall by Brian Jacques. There are also many short stories in the Children's Book of Virtues. We like to keep a book basket in our living area during special seasons in the church. This is very handy if you are giving up television/video games during Lent. 4. Consider adopting a child that you can support as a family with financial resources, prayers and letters. Sometimes being mindful of the needs and sufferings of others can put our own struggles into perspective. We have adopted two boys, Patrick and Juan Diego, through CFCA. You can find more information here. 5. Pray together. I know it seems so simple, but often the greatest sacrifice that we can make on a weekly basis is the sacrifice of our time. Praying with your children, even for a short amount of time each day, is unifying for the family. Maybe you will learn a new prayer, or perhaps choose a bible verse that you would like to memorize together. 6. Pick a service project to do together. Consider shoveling snow for a neighbor, volunteering at the local food bank or soup kitchen, visiting the elderly, or delivering a meal to someone home-bound. Let the kids help decide what you will do. If you are giving up Saturday morning cartoons or a day of shopping at the mall for Lent, it helps to put something sacrificial in it's place, or else you might find yourself looking for another source of comfort or entertainment to replace whatever it is that you gave up. 7. To build upon the idea of growing in the virtue of generosity, now is a great time to introduce your children to the beauty of almsgiving, an act of religious virtue where one offers help in some way to the poor, above and beyond their weekly tithe. 8. Get to know Christ through the Word. For families on the go, an easy way to do this is to listen to an audio version of the daily readings. You can find them here (just click on audio version and select the corresponding date). 9. The Stations of the Cross is a traditional form of prayer that Catholics often pray together on Fridays at their local parish. If you find it difficult to make the trip to church, you can still pray this beautiful prayer as a family at home. I found this amazing idea from Joyfilled Family. They use candles with a printable picture to mark each station. Our family truly looks forward to lighting the candles and praying these beautiful prayers during Lent. {Photo/Project Credit} 10. If you have little ones in the home, crafts can sometimes be a perfect way to make something as difficult as the mystery of Christ's suffering, death and resurrection simpler for them to take part in. I love the website Catholic Icing. There are oodles of great ideas there! 11. We are all, by our natures, comfort seeking creatures. That part of our nature is in some cases necessary for survival. So, encouraging children to embrace the idea of sacrificial giving isn't easy. I decided this year to offer the boys a way of seeing their sacrifices "bloom" into something beautiful. Because, as Christians, we believe that each person's personal sacrifices have merit, and when offered to Christ, He will give our sacrifices life. To begin the activity, I created this quote: These tiny seeds lie deep asleep. But, when planted in the soil of sacrifice, they will awake and bloom as resurrected flowers of love! Below the quote, I scattered a few illustrated seeds that the boys can cut out. Each time during the week that a child offers some small sacrifice, he/she can cut out a seed and put it in their specific pot. About half-way through Lent, have the child count his/her seeds and replace them with real seeds. Those seeds will then be planted in their pot and cared for throughout the remainder of Lent. By Easter, the plants should be sprouted and can then be enjoyed indoors or transplanted outside when the weather warms up. We chose Morning Glories, because they are symbolic of the Resurrection. To encourage the little ones with this project, it might be helpful to create a list of sacrifices that they can choose from. They can even help you make the list. Some of ours include: - Picking up toys for a sibling. - Making bed without being asked. - Give up playing with a toy or game so that another may use it. - Clean up room without being asked. - Serve another family member at supper time. - Pray for a family member. {Photo Link} 12. Have each child select a quiet space that he/she can go to every day for twenty minutes in the home to have quiet time with Our Lord. Older ones may read the bible, recite their favorite prayers, journal or simply be still and listen. For little ones (3-6 years old) they might just read or look at story books about Jesus or their Children's Bible, or color pictures for Jesus. Need some story ideas? Check out this list. Another resource is Holy Heroes. These are fantastic audio stories of saints. A coloring book can be purchased to accompany the stories. Our kids love these, and often listen to them in the afternoon during my personal prayer time. 13. If your kids are giving up something such as toys and video games for Lent, make a sacrifice box. Also, help them to think beyond just giving something up. Sometimes adding a task or offering to their daily routine can also be sacrificial. For example, picking up their room without being asked, saying a prayer each day for someone in the family, doing a chore for someone else, etc. Also, giving up something, doesn't just have to mean something physical. How about giving up a bad habit such a whining, complaining, name calling, a negative attitude, not responding promptly to parents etc.? 14. We all love to countdown to exciting and joyful events. Make a calendar for your children and hang it on the fridge. I like this one from Catholic Icing: The pretzel is symbolic of fasting during Lent 15. Finally, since I haven't yet mentioned anything about giving up candy, pop, or other special treats for Lent, I will say that these types of fasting are always a good idea. May I suggest doing it together as a family (our family gives up sweets)? And, if the children want to partake in more of their own "giving up" sacrifices, do not discourage them! To help the kids get through those long 40 days of no sweets or treats, remind them that the church does not discourage celebrating feasts of distinction during Lent, such as St. Joseph's feast day (March 19), or St. Patrick's feast day (March 17). It is appropriate to enjoy special foods on these days, and your kiddos will enjoy having those feasts to look forward to, and perhaps even help plan and prepare for! How does your family celebrate Lent? Do you have any special traditions or memories from your childhood? Please share in the comments!! Check out the Lent reflections participating in the Keep LOVE in LENT Blog Link-Up 2013! We'll be sharing different ways, tips, stories and real-life experiences that will help us focus on Lenten sacrifices, prayer and good deeds, and how to carry them out with LOVE instead of a GRUMBLE. Discover new Catholic blogs to follow! Equipping CatholicFamilies: Keep LOVE in LENT Call Her Happy:40 Simple Lenten Activities for Kids Lenten Love: Little Acts of Love Building Rocks Grow the Roses: Keep Love in Lent Family At The Foot Of The Cross: Loving Service Catholic Homeschooling Joy: A Lenten Activity JOY:Keep the Love in Lent Twenty Tuesday Afternoons: Tuesday # 11: Pancake Tuesday / Keeping Love in Lent Campfires and Cleats: Why a Failing Lent Really Isn't Harrington Harmonies: Make a Lenten Holy Hour A Mommy of Three:Good Deeds for Lent Loving the Semi Country Life: Lent:special time to reflect and keep the love in lent Written By the Finger of God: A 7 Step Lenten Plan Mommy Bares All: Giving Up and Making Space for Love this Lent The Irish Lassie Shop: Seek God Everywhere Hand-Maid with Love: Living Lent, Loving Lent Words On Heaven: IN THE DESERT FOR 40 DAYS On The Way Home: Keeping LOVE in Lent Homeschooling with Joy: Keep Love in Lent Mountain Grace: Keep Love in Lent Eyes On Heaven: I am Choosing to Live Joy Alive in Our Hearts:"God's Love at Work" Life of Fortunate Chances: Love is Fun: Keeping Love in Lent Fifth of Five: Keep the LOVE in Lent I Blog Jesus: for Praying our Loud! Overflow: Loving Lent with Little Ones This Cross I Embrace: Keep LOVE In Lent Sole Searching Mamma: 15 Ways to Experience a More Meaningful Lent Catholic All Year: My Biggest Lent Fails and How I Learned Mortification... Four Little Ones: Keeping Love in Lent Gaels Crafty Treasures Keeping Love in Lent Bear Wrongs Patiently: Lent for the Scrupulous Rosary Mom: Keeping Love in Lent LoveLetters 7.10: Teacups {Keeping the Love in Lent} Little Saints in the Making: Keep Love in Lent Blessed with Full Hands: Keeping love in Lent- Praise Him Normal Chaos: Our Own Personalized Lenten Journey These Little Blessings: Gifting Love this Lent The Cajun Catholic: The our Father; a lenten reflection Truly Rich Mom: Keeping Love in Lent... Even When It Is Difficult GATHERING GRACES:Keeping LOVE in LENT SaIsa Pang Sulyap - Fullness Of His Love LiturgicalTime: Keeping Love in Lent - Finding Balance Grace Loves Iggy: love in lent Sacred Oysters: Empty (Keeping LOVE in LENT) Tercets:Make Heart Rosary Decades to Pray for Others The Diary of a Sower: Our Lenten Prayer Tree A Living Garden -- Giving for Others with Love: Keeping LOVE in LENT Homegrown Catholics: Motivated by my childrens' activities {Lent} MyBroken Fiat: Keeping Love in Lent... Barely Journey to Wisdom: Keeping Love in Lent: Bands of Love Softening My Heart: An Anniversary Lesson duringLent
Reduce your environmental impact and have an eco-friendly with these 10 easy tips to make Easter baskets and have a meaningful holiday.
Celebrate Easter with these meaningful Easter Egg Scriptures. A perfect way to share the meaning of Easter with your family.
It was the night before Easter. The night before the big celebration. We quieted our hearts while the four year old asked if he could eat his bread yet and the toddler squirmed around in Daddy’s lap r
A few weeks ago, my spouse and I packed away the Advent wreath and took down the Christmas tree. When the tree comes down, it feels like a friend has left the building. With regards to the Advent…
Ostara is a beautiful and joyful turn of the wheel! Click through for 45 practical and meaningful activities to enjoy this year!
Easter is a lot like Christmas: a really big deal both for Christians and non-Christians, full of celebration and sugar, and a time when it’s easy to lose sight of Jesus amidst all the bunnies, chocolate egg hunts, and spring chick decorations. Adding some Christ centered Easter traditions to your family’s Easter celebrations is a… Read More »Christ Centered Easter Traditions
Easy and meaningful Easter Garden activity! Steps on making individual gardens for each child in a Sunday school class, family, co-op, etc.
This Easter FHE lesson goes over the symbols of Easter and how they can help us worship Jesus Christ. Scripture Matthew 28:6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. Hymn He is Risen! | Hymn #199 1. He is risen! He is risen! […]
These Easter Traditions for Christian Families will be fun for your kids, but also help teach them the real reason for the holiday.
Get inspired and energized with this week’s features at Family Fun Friday. You’ll love all the FREE printables, tips for creating meaningful family fun, amazing Easter-inspired recipes, creative and crafty ways to teach kids and so much more. And don’t forget, we’ve got things to help you get organized and save money too with our…
Check out these Christ-centered Easter Activities and Crafts to help make the story of Jesus' death and resurrection meaningful and memorable to your child.
With Easter quickly approaching, I thought I would share this fun Easter bunny craft with q-tips. Kids will love making this Easter craft to celebrate.
Dear Friends This post is quite a bit longer than what I normally write, but I have such a deep desire to share with you what I have learnt recently about ways in which Christian parents can really minister the redemptive message of easter to their little ones. It is my prayer that you will be encouraged and blessed by this. We worship at a charismatic Protestant church where the liturgical year of the church is not really observed. We do have special Christmas and Good Friday services, but that is about the extent to which the traditional seasons of the church is acknowledged. Yet, a while ago I one day found a link on Ann Voskamp's blog, A Holy Experience, that really made me think differently about the significance that observing the liturgical year can have for Protestant Christians. It was an article by Mark Roberts called An Introduction to the Christian Year (you can read this excellent article by clicking on the link) in which he beautifully explains the Liturgical Year, the colours of the Christian year, and how being mindful of these "can enrich the variety of our worship..." and therefore "...help us to have a broader, deeper, and more vital relationship with the living God." NOT a Biblical Demand I believe that legalism is one of the easiest snares we as Christians can get entangled in, and therefore I want to be very clear that for us, observing the seasons of the church is not something we HAVE to do. As Mr Roberts said in his article "Nothing in Scripture demands recognition of the church year. We do not have in the New Testament some equivalent to Leviticus 25, where God lays out for Israel the major fasts and feasts during the year. So, although the liturgical year is structured around the biblical story of Jesus, it is not commanded in Scripture in the way of the Jewish holidays for the Jews. Of course, Christians aren’t commanded to celebrate Easter or Christmas in the way we do either. The church year, therefore, is not something all Christians must observe, or must observe in exactly the same way. (In fact, Eastern Orthodox believers have a different pattern throughout the year and even celebrate Easter on a different day!) Nevertheless, I believe that an awareness of the liturgical year can enrich our worship and therefore our relationship with God." [my emphasis] And a little more reading... A little while after I read this article, I was reading an excellent fictional trilogy by South African author Marzanne Leroux-Ten Boom that tells the story of a young South African man who discovers his Jewish roots and decides to visit Israel in search of some relatives. He ends up marrying a young Jewish girl and together they start carving out a life for themselves amidst the volatility of current-day Israel. It is an amazing story, but what really impacted me even more was the author's meaningful insight into Jewish tradition and how it is interpreted and applied by Messianic Jews. I loved reading about the Jewish festivals and how they make up the 'bones' of Jewish life. I was especially touched by the way Jewish families celebrate Passover, and by the beauty of the Seder meal. And then the last straw! In the April 2011 edition of a local Afrikaans Christian woman's magazine (LEEF met hart en siel, for my local readers) Lizette Murray wrote an article about how families can celebrate Easter in a God-honouring, Jesus-glorifying way by surrounding ourselves and our children with tangible reminders of the suffering He endured, and His glorious victory over death. It took my breath away! I read it over and over and really felt God's gentle nudge to start preparing my heart and our home for an encounter with Christ during this Holy Week. (I will do a separate post with snippets from the article to encourage you!) So... I asked God to show me how!! The magazine article was a great start, but the very next morning I also opened my inbox to find this post by Ann Voskamp: Why a Christian Family May celebrate Passover: A Messianic Seder. Oh, and then this one: How To Make an Easter Garden. And from there on the Lord just lead me to the most wonderful resources, many of which I will love to share with you over the next few days. Only God can touch our children's hearts I hope you will take time to read the prayer I posted yesterday about my surrendering this week and all that we will be doing at the feet of Jesus. I am realizing more and more that I am just an instrument in God's hand: I can do many things to teach and instruct my little ones, but only God himself can work in my children's hearts, turning my feeble attempts into something lasting and true. A little glimpse into our week: Again, I draw inspiration from Mrs. Voskamp! Please visit her blog to see these breathtaking Advent and Lenten rings her son makes. However, with the exchange rate between our countries being what it is, I was just not able to purchase one of them. So I borrowed from her idea and went to the garage to see what I could come up with. I found a piece of Supawood left over from a project, and painted it in squares of Lenten and Easter colours. In case you are interested, here are the colours: Palm Sunday: Grey (the colour associated with most donkeys :-), and to signify Jesus' sadness over Jerusalem) Monday to Wednesday: ever-darkening hues of purple Thursday: deep wine red, to remind us of the wine of the New Covenant Friday: Red, for the blood that was shed for us Saturday: Black, as we mourn His death Sunday: White, to celebtare His glorious resurrection! Starting on Palm Sunday we will move the figure of Jesus forward one space every evening, and a light a candle on each new square. Except for Friday and Saturday. These are days of mourning. I made a rather rough little plate and cup out of clay for Thursday night to represent the Last Supper, and on Friday the figure of Jesus will not be on the board. A simple wooden cross will instead remind us of the Son of God who bore our sins and shame. I got the idea for this Holy Week banner from Diary of a Sower. She made one for each of her children to hang on their doors and add an element on each of the significant days of this week. Ours will hang in a prominent place in our home, and the children will add a little felt reminder on the appropriate day. The symbols fasten with velcro. Sometime during the week will also plant our own easter garden. We've already gathered our supplies, and I made a clay tomb and stone. More about how we will use this later in the week... I have also printed out beautiful colouring pages for Sweetpea to enjoy as we go through the week. I am not sure if we will get around to this ourselves this year, but here are some amazing Christian Easter Crafts you may want to use with your own children this week: (Click on the links) I love love LOVE this Resurrection Set from Catholic Icing!! If I can get 10 toilet rolls together by Sunday, we are definitely doing this!! Last Supper Craft, also from Catholic Icing. This will be the first thing we do next year, when Sweetpea is just that little bit older. I will be keeping my eyes peeled for a print of the famous painting in the meantime, and use the suggestions for studying a bit of art as well! I think making this Life of Jesus mini book from DLTK will go a long way in helping little ones see the whole picture of Jesus's time on earth. AN EGG-FREE ZONE I have been struggling for days about whether or not to do a post about why we do NOT buy or eat easter eggs, or use it as a symbol or in cutesy 'easter' activities. This is, however, something I feel VERY strongly about, so I have decided to provide you with some links for information about the pagan origins of these symbols. Please click here or here (this is an especially well researched article). And if you would like to learn about where hot cross buns come from, click here. (This, by the way, was not written from a Christian perspective.) My husband is leaving for a missions outreach to Botswana later this week, so we will be celebrating our Seder meal on Monday night instead of Thursday. I am very, very excited about sharing it with you, but I still need to go sew the table cloth for this special dinner, so off I go! May you and yours be blessed this week! I am linking this post to Impress your Kids, who is having a Meaningful Easter Link-Up. She calls it Making it about the Lamb and not the bunny!! (I love that!!)
The great day is finally here: Easter, the most important day of the Christian calendar. More important even than Christmas. What happened on this day? Was...
Most of you reading this know that last year, our children’s ministries embarked on a Lenten Journey that involved large groups, well-planned and meaningful projects/crafts, and of course, …
Designing activity programs for residents in nursing homes and long term care requires creative thinking and enthusiasm. Your main point of reference will be the assessment of your clients.
