Grotto Craft for Our Lady of Lourdes

Have you guys seen these Catholic grotto craft kits yet? You can get them for Our Lady of Lourdes, Fatima, and Guadalupe. I personally feel like they make most since for Our Lady of Lourdes because the grotto from that apparition is very famous! The feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is coming up on February 11. Here are the grotto craft kits Lydia and I made:

This craft would be a great pair with the children's movie Bernadette, Princess of Lourdes.(I have and love that movie by the way- one of my favorites of the CCC collection!). I just love the story of St. Bernadette! (And if you're looking for an adult movie, you can try The Song of Bernadette). 

The grotto kits we made were soooo much fun, so easy, and the results are striking! I couldn't tell from the pictures in the catalog, but the finished project is actually very 3 dimensional and stands on it's own! Also, it came with a great explination of grottos and information about Our Lady that was awesome! The instructions were very easy to follow. This craft kit would make anyone look like a professional crafter.

What I also couldn't tell from the other pictures of this craft- these gem stones it comes with are just beautiful! Lydia loved them! (And I did, too!)

It was so nice to have everything ready to go for me. I think these kits would make excellent gifts for Catholic children (especially from Godparents) for sacraments and Baptism anniversaries! So cute! They recommend coloring the pictures with colored pencils, so I pulled out my all-time-favorite colored pencils... Prismacolor! They are a little pricey, but man are they awesome! I have been using them for more than 10 years and I would never pick up another crayola or rose art brand colored pencil. They're great for kids because you can get such rich colors from them without too much pressure. They're also great for blending and mixing.

Even though it said for ages 6 and up, Lydia is only 4 and this was an awesome craft for her! She did need help keeping the bottom flat, but she did the majority of this herself.

This craft kit was so much fun and kept Lydia busy for over 2 hours. We had a great afternoon making these together! I would fully recommend getting these kits for your kids! It's very relaxing to have everything ready to go without a million trips to the craft store- a real luxury! For more ideas for celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, see my post from last year.

Disclaimer: I was not paid to write this post, but I was provided with these kits for free from Catholic Child Catalog. Every recommendation you see on this site is 100% honest from me. This post does contain affiliate links which help support the costs of running this site. Thanks for your support!
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Fatima Craft - Miracle of the Sun Spinner

The Miracle of the Sun happened on October 13, 1917 at Fatima when Our Lady appeared to 3 young shepherd children- Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta. The miracle of the sun was witnessed by around 35,000 people! The sun was described as having an "exceedingly swift and whirling movement", and as "the most magnificent firewheel that could be imagined, taking on all the colors of the rainbow and sending forth multicolored flashes of light, producing the most astounding effect" - to quote a few. So we crafted some Miracle of the Sun Spinners! :-)

These are very cheap and easy to make, not to mention a ton of fun! These have been a hit with me, my kids, and yes- even my husband! Check out how they actually spin and "dance" like the sun did that day at Fatima:




Materials Needed to Complete This Craft:

• Foam Board
• Embroidery Floss
• Markers
• Hole Poking Tool (I used a corn on the cob handle thingy)
• Markers
• Scissors

First trace a circle onto your foam board using a drinking glass and cut it out with some scissors. Then poke 2 holes in the middle of the circle using your corn on the cob handle thing. (Try to get these holes as close to the center of your circle as possible).

Now let your kids color their version of the miracle of the sun on their circles, and encourage them to use their imaginations! It will help if you read some descriptions of the miracle of the sun to them while they work.

 

 

For each spinner you will need 2 pieces of embroidery floss. Each piece should be about an arm's length. Thread one through each hole of your spinner and knot them together on both ends. This will put your spinner on one big "loop".

 

 

Now it's time to have fun!!! Hold your strings on each end, and twist your sun spinner up just a little bit. Pull the strings in opposite directions at the same time- but just for a second! Let the strings go loose and it will begin to twist itself up. When it stops spinning, pull both of the strings in opposite directions again and let it spin some more. Soon, your sun will be dancing, spinning, whirling, and jumping around!

I hope you all enjoy this craft- I know we did! This was a really fun way for my kids to learn about Our Lady of Fatima and the miracle of the spinning sun. God bless!
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Our Lady of Fatima for Kids

Our Lady of Fatima appeared to 3 children for 6 consecutive months on the 13 of each month- starting May 13! On her last appearance (October 13) she brought with her the miracle of the sun. The sun appeared to change colors and spin! To read more about the miracles and visions at Fatima, click here. This can be a really fun feast day to celebrate with children! Here are some ideas to help out:

Also find directions for making this miracle of the sun craft

over at Under Her Starry Mantel.

Also find this Miracle of the Sun Cake made by Anne over

on Under Her Starry Mantel. How fun!

Here's an Fatima coloring sheet from Parents Duty.

Catholic Convert has free printable prayer cards for

Our Lady of Fatima.

Sweetness and Light made a tea box shrine for

Our Lady of Fatima.

Or maybe try making some sun tea to celebrate the
miracle of the sun with The Cooking Photographer.

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