Along with our Lent Foldable, I took the words that the students listed about Lent and turned them into this Lent Word Cloud. You could have your students do the same on their own with a similar list, or use Wordle or Tagxedo to create one digitally. You also could print out the black and white version below and have the students color it with various shades of purple crayons, highlighters, markers, etc. A great addition to a notebooking project!

Religious education ideas for Catholic teachers, homeschoolers, and catechists- crafts, lessons, and printables on Sacraments, Scripture and Prayer.

Here are links to all of the Lent resources that I have previously posted about. Click on the pictures to go to the original post with instructions and printables. Lent Notes Foldable: Lent Word Cloud printable: What does Lent Look Like? Printable coloring page: Give Up & Take Up youth lesson on Lenten Sacrifices. ***This post also contains links to some of my favorite Lenten videos and online resources. Youth Group lesson connecting the Stations of the Cross and Lenten acts of mercy: Youth Group lesson connection the Passover and the Passion, using the movie Prince of Egypt: The Gospel in an Eggshell: Connecting the infant Christ with the Christ that died to give us eternal life- great especially as we have such a short time between Christmas and Lent. Ideas for making your own Resurrection Eggs, which are great to tell the story of Holy Week: New Life Seed Printable: Great for making the connection to "unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it bears no fruit." Plant the seeds, see them die, have flowers by Easter!

Looking for a quick hands-on object lesson for Lent and Easter? Here's a new one to try: The Gospel in an Eggshell. I like this one, because it is quick, and tells the story with objects that can lead to short, easy conversations with littles, or longer, more advanced conversations with older kids. You will need one of each item for each child: a plastic Easter egg a mini baby Jesus (see directions below) a small cross a small artificial flower, or some Easter grass, or other "growing" thing a Gospel in an Eggshell sticker (link below) a Gospel in an Eggshell insert (link below) This is a great lesson to help kids see that the Jesus we celebrate at Christmas time is the same Jesus who died for us on Good Friday. It can be really hard for kids to understand how he can go from baby to 33 year-old man in a few months during the Liturgical year. This activity can help tie the story together and emphasize that He came so that we might have life forever with Him. Here's how you make this easy craft- 1. Prep work for the adult comes first- I don't recommend using a hot glue gun with kids :) Draw a simple "sleeping" face on a wooden bead with a permanent marker. 2. Cut out a roughly 3" x 3" square from any kind of white fabric. 3. Using a handy-dandy hot glue gun, glue the head close to one of the corners. Then glue one side across the "body" like this: 4. Then glue the bottom like this: 5. And glue the other side like this: Ta-da! Baby Jesus in swaddling clothes! 6. Find some kind of a small cross- only rule is that it has to fit in an eggshell. I think that I got several hundred of these from Oriental Trading. 7. Then you need something to represent life- I used a tiny artificial flower. You could also use some Easter Grass, a real flower, etc. 8. Cut out a Gospel in an Eggshell sticker and insert. (Both links below) Someone donated a whole bunch of labels to our CCD program, so I actually printed the circle on labels and then cut them out using a circle punch. That way, they can just stick on the outside of the egg, no glue required. 9. Now its time to get the kids involved. Have them add a sticker to the outside of the egg, and put Baby Jesus inside. Ask the kids- Why do we celebrate Christmas? Who was born on Christmas? What did He grow up to do? etc. 10. Add a cross to the eggshell. Ask the kids- What is the cross a symbol of? What happened to Jesus on the cross? Why did He have to die? Did He stay on the cross? What happened on Easter morning? etc. 11. Add the flower or grass. Ask the kids- What does is mean to be alive? How can this flower (or grass...) be a symbol of life? What did Jesus come to earth to do? How can we live with Him forever? etc. 12. Add the egg insert- It reads "He was born in order to die so that we might live!" This is the time to tie the whole thing together with the kids. Also, I always try to remind them of the symbolism of the eggshell- that it reminds us of the empty tomb on Easter Sunday. You can challenge them to go home and share the story of the three objects in the eggshell with their family and friends. Remind them that Gospel means "Good News"- they are sharing the Good News of Jesus. Hope you enjoy trying this or your own variation with your kids! Here are the documents to make the stickers and inserts:

Ideas for teaching about the Ten Commandments is one of my top requests in emails, so I'm not sure why I've never posted about it on the blog! Remedying that today with a few printables about the Ten Commandments that could be used in a variety of ways for kids of different ages. First up, Ten Commandment sort card. (FYI, the wording I used is the "Traditional Catechetical Formula" from the Catechism of the Catholic Church). These cards print on one page and then can be cut out and are easy to store with a paperclip or ziplock. A few ideas for using the cards: -Sort between the first three "God centered" commandments and the next seven "neighbor centered" commandments -Put the Ten Commandments in order -Pull one card out of the stack at a time and discuss what it means -Pull one card and write/talk about how we can follow that commandment -Pull one card and draw an illustration of someone keeping that commandment, then share with your class/group -Read and compare the wording of the Ten Commandments in Ex. 20:2-17 and Deut. 5:6-21 And I always number the back of sorting cards so that kids can self check. :) I also have a set of graphic organizers for discussing how we keep and how we break the commandments. Each commandment has its own page with room for writing and drawing. A few ideas for using the graphic organizers: -Print enough pages for all the students in the class, give each one commandment, and ask them to brainstorm how people can keep/break that commandment. Then have them compare with other students that have the same commandment, and finally share with the class -For younger students, give them one page have them draw an illustration of how people can keep/break that commandment -Print a whole set for each student and use it as a unit booklet as you work your way through all the Commandments. They could write on one side and draw on the other -Pull the slide up on your SmartBoard and write on them as a class, creating a digital list of how to keep and break the commandments. Post in your digital classroom files, or print as posters to hang in the classrom And this graphic organizer teaches the same keep/break concepts as the activity above, but is all contained on one sheet (and also includes the Greatest Commandments at the top). This is a much better fit for older students (small area to write) and works great as a page for notes or also could be adapted as an assessment after teaching a unit on the Ten Commandments. And, are you looking for some resources for teaching those tough-to-talk-about 6th and 9th commandments? Age appropriate conversations are key here, and you know your kids. Here are a few links that might be helpful as you are prepping, whether it is for primary schoolers or high schoolers: The Sixth Commandment from The Catholic Toolbox David & Bathsheba and the Sixth Commandment from Catholic Mom Teaching the Ten Commandments from The Religion Teacher Close Your Eyes: Porn and the Sixth Commandment from LifeTeen Click here to download the Ten Commandment Sorting Cards; Click here to download the Ten Commandments Keep/Break graphic organizers: Click here to download the Ten Commandments Keep/Break sheet:

Through the Year with Jesus: Readings and Reflections for Children, Catholic Kids, Bible Stories, Lectio Divina, Sacred Art,

This is the Lent foldable we used to take notes over our discussion of Lent from the past few days. It will make a great addition to a notebooking project or could be hung up as a simple Lent decoration. Each of the four flaps unfolds to allow space to take notes, or to draw a picture for younger ones. The four topics we took notes on were "What is Lent?" "How is Lent Different?" "Important Days During Lent" and "Scripture About Lent." Some kids chose to color their notes, including purple letters for the liturgical color, green Palms for Palm Sunday which is towards the end of Lent, and a gray cross in the middle for the ashes we receive on Ash Wednesday. Here are a few of them displayed in our room: Click here for the blank printable. Copy double sided (we used lavender paper), fold short ends to the middle, and cut on the line between the sections to the fold. You could also just use the L E N T side and create your own topic/assignment for the inside. If you would like a copy of our completed notes, click here.

I'm off into school tomorrow to do a lesson about the Nativity story and I've decided to use word clouds to help the children to think about the story. Most of the children are very familiar with what happens but word clouds picking up on specific words really help to open the story up in a different way... I've made two word clouds by copying and pasting the words of Luke 2:1-20 into the creator at Tagxedo. The first one is simply a star shape that they can look at and see which words strike them most (including ones that puzzle them and we can talk about!) The second is an inverted star, with space for children to write and draw what sticks with them most about the story. Printable versions of the word clouds are available here.

My 12-year old daughter came home from school yesterday and said she wanted to give up something for Lent. Her friend is Catholic and my daughter liked