Frame a Prayer with Children

Catholic ABC's Week: 21
Letter of the week: P
Theme: Prayer
Saint of the Week: St. Peter
Craft: Prayer Craft

I was really torn about what the focus for "P" week should be, but ultimately decided on "prayer" because it's so important, and such a basic concept. :-) This is a craft Lydia made at our preschool co-op, and it has been a great tool to encourage us to pray together.

Materials Needed to Complete This Craft:

• Jumbo Craft Sticks
• Paint and/or other decorations
• Printed off prayer of your choice
• String 
• Glue

Start by gluing the Jumbo Craft Sticks in a square for your frame. Decorate as desired with paint, stickers, glitter glue, or anything else you'd like! Tie on a string for hanging, and then glue the prayer onto the back of the frame.

 (back)

Hang this up somewhere in your home to help you and your child remember to pray daily. Ours hangs on our china cabinet. Ya, we're classy like that. ;-)

Here are some other crafts you can find here on my blog that would also be great for the letter P:

Make a prayer book with kids. (I love this craft!)

Craft some Priest peg dolls.

And of course the Edible Papal Flag I ran on Monday.

Grab Bag Ideas for the Letter P: (be sure to check out the Classroom Script for directions on using the grab bag.) Peanut, Papal flag, Priest, Prayer card, St. Peter holy card or statue, plate, pen, pencil, pecan, parrot, my little pony, ponytail holder, popsicle stick, post-it note, potato, potato head, pretzel, princess, puppet, purse, puzzle.

For More Resources, check out the Catholic Toolbox lesson plans for the Letter Cc. (Her Pp lesson is on "Plagues")

Catholic ABC's runs here at Catholic Icing every Wednesday with the new letter of the week. You can find the details of the program here.

PS. Please keep voting for Catholic Icing! Your computer can vote once a day! :-) Thank you so much!!!

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Celebrating the Month of the Rosary!

October is here- the month of the Rosary! Today I'm having a special rosary link-up. You post about your rosary ideas, and then put your link at the bottom of this post. :-)

<a href="http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/search/label/Rosary%20Link%20Up" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Month of the Rosary" width="180" src="http://i554.photobucket.com/albums/jj427/bunnydeau/month_of_the_rosary_october.jpg" /></a><br />

The rosary idea I'd like to share with you today comes in an edible form!

This edible rosary is made from spagetti noodles, peas, and carrots. This is a LOT simpler to do than it first appears. All you do is take an uncooked spagetti noodle, and string on some green peas straight from the can.

Boil the noodles normally after the peas are on and they come out all flexible, plus the noodle expands and holds the peas on there really well! :-)

To make the cross just break your raw spagetti noodles the

desired size and push 2 of them through one pea. Boil as usual.

For the Our Father beads I just used raw carrot slices.

Now it's time to share your Rosary posts! Ideas you have from your archives are welcomed, and feel free to leave multiple links if you have multiple rosary ideas to share! Time to post those links :-) This linky party is for any ideas you have for teaching kids about the rosary, rosary making tips, rosary games/activities, and all fun things that are rosary! However, it's not a place to advertise your rosaries that are for sale. If you don't have a blog or website, I encourage you to post your pictures and ideas on the Catholic Icing facebook page to share!

To Post:

• Click the button at the bottom that says "add your link".
• Enter the link to your specific Rosary post into the first box, not your generic blog address. Then enter your name and your email address. It will then let you choose a thumbnail picture of your post to share here at Catholic Icing.
• Try to link back to this post if you can :-)

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Priest Peg Dolls

St. John Vianney's feast day is coming up on August 4, and he is the patron saint of priests. So I thought it would be the perfect time to make some little priest peg dolls! You can also make one that looks like your priest, and give it to him as a gift. (Or use them as a gift for a Catholic child). Use them to teach about liturgical colors, or about holy orders. The fun possibilities are endless! :-)

To make priest peg dolls yourself, get a bag of "Doll Pins" from Michael's or similar craft store, along with some acrylic craft paint, and assorted colors of felt.

Start by painting them black with a little white square for a collar, and paint in their skin and hair your desired color. You can either put on the face with paint, or use sharpie markers. After painting them, seal with mod podge or whatever your favorite sealer is.

To make their clothes from felt, cut the pieces in these shapes. You can use yellow felt, glitter glue, ribbon, or whatever you want to add decoration to the vestiments.

Attach the vestiments with hot glue, and your priests are ready to go celebrate mass!

I love to take these in the baby bag to keep toddlers occupied during mass. This is a great toy for younger kids, or a great craft for older kids to do themselves! :-) Happy Catholic crafting! 

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Catholic Crafts for Kids

Kids can enjoy these Catholic crafts any time! 

Make some Pony Bead Rosaries with 

Pondered in my Heart. 

Then craft a beautiful Rosary Box to

keep your rosary in! :-)

I love the idea for Crafting Holy Water Fonts.

This craft comes from Cottage Blessings.

Try this craft using Religious Metals.

This was also found on Cottage Blessings.

Craft a Monstrance with God's Canvas.

Check out this idea for decorating

Holy Water Bottle Necklaces with Cottage Blessings.

Also find these Marian Lanterns on Cottage Blessings.

So many cute ones! Click over to see more pictures.

I also loved Cottage Blessing's idea to make 

Miniature Shrines. How cute are these? 

For more ideas, check out all my posts that have crafts for kids. Happy Catholic crafting! :-)

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Prayer Activities, Crafts, Games and More!

We all know that during lent, we focus on prayer, fasting, and alms-giving. Here are some fun ways to help children understand prayer and to encourage them to pray more often.

On I Blog Therefore I Am, find these Prayer lesson plans and ideas for Pre K-K. This adorable Prayer Bear is just the tip of the iceberg for cute prayer ideas! Also find vocabulary, children's prayer songs, crafts, games, snacks, coloring pages, and more!

I found this adorable prayer book at Toddler Activities at Home.

I love this prayer intention board from Catholic Family Vignettes!

 Over at His Mercy is New, I found this prayer journal

for kids. I love it because she puts pictures 

on every page to show a prayer intention!

Here's a cute idea for a prayer garden from Two Shades of Pink.

Check out this "Make Time Throughout the Day to S.T.O.P"

activity with Holy Experience. 

I Blog Therefore I Am never disappoints! She has lots of prayer ideas and links, plus she created these Hail Mary and Lord's Prayer games, and you can download them and print them for free! Her games are always fun and educational :-) 

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Jesus Fish Crafts

What better way to finish up our prayer for Christian unity than with some Jesus fish crafts? :-)

You can buy this painted rock here, or
you can paint your own rocks.
Just use acrylic paint.

Find directions on how to braid plastic string (or gimp) here,

and check out these pictures for inspiration on making Jesus fish
and crosses out of them for key chains, zipper pulls, or whatever!
Make this diy wearable Jesus fish.
Find directions on how to make this beaded Jesus fish
for your window.

These would also be great craft ideas for Vacation Bible School (or VBS).

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Catholic Liturgical Season Craft

My daughter made this yesterday at our preschool co-op. It's a Liturgical Season Wheel. This was a craft for the 3-4 year olds, so they only covered liturgical seasons (not liturgical days or all the colors). You could certainly modify the concept for older children to include more colors etc.

This is the main piece you have to make. The lines were lightly marked with a pencil ahead of time for the kids, and the pieces were already cut. The pictures came from Catholic catalogs. You can click on this picture to enlarge it. The season is written opposite the picture because of the way the window is cut in the top piece.


This is the top piece. It needs to be the same size as the bottom one, and the windows should already be cut for small children. Then you make holes in the middle of both and attach it together with a brad.


Here is the finished product after you attach the top window. You can turn it and just see one season at a time! I'm very excited to hang this up and let my daughter keep it turned to the correct season! :-)

For older kids, a more complicated and complete layout more like this one I found over on O Night Divine might be more appropriate. Again, click to enlarge.

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Fishers of Men- Crafts, Food, and Activities

The fish is a strong Christian symbol. After all, we are all called to be fishers of men. Here are some fun fish arts and crafts projects for your kids or class! :-)

These adorable cupcake liner fish were made by

4 Crazy Kings. Check out the whole school of them!

Our Dometic Church made this fantastic fish
project! It's not as hard as it looks, and the results
are striking. Find the full directions here.

Talk about how Jesus wants us to be fishers of men while
enjoying this interactive fishing lunch! Go fishing with these
pretzel sticks- find the directions with Muffin Tin Mom.
More Mom Time made these adorable paper plate fish.
Perfect for preschoolers!
Check out this Christian fish craft from Oriental Trading, then get
some directions on how to make it yourself here.
Sprite's Craft Corner shares how to make
these tissue paper fish.
I love these fish candy necklaces I found over on
The Decorated Cookie!
This cute little fish is made from egg carton cups.
Make these super easy fisherman cupcakes
with Easy Cupcakes.

This colorful fish craft from Craft Scope comes with
a printable fish template.
{Lesson Plans for Fishers of Men
ages 1st Grade and up Here!}
{And Find Lessons on Fishers of Men
Pre K- K here!}

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