Celebrate Pentecost Sunday with "Pentecost Sundaes"

Ok, I just loved the Divine Mercy Sundaes so much that you can pretty much expect "Liturgical Sundaes" to become a staple here. :-) It's such an easy way to celebrate- no prep, just serving time and delicious celebration of Pentecost Sunday with your kids! (No cooking involved is such a big plus for me!)

I'm very excited about these Pentecost Sundaes because they are chock full of Holy Spirit and Pentecost symbolism. Do you see it? 

Strawberry Syrup- red, the symbolic color of the Holy Spirit AND the Liturgical color of Pentecost Sunday. :-)

Dove Chocolates- dove, the most common symbol of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove at His baptism. (You can also get actual dove shaped candies in the wedding section of craft stores.)

Topped with a Fire Ball!- What, no cherry? fire ball, represents the 'tongues of fire'. "Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them." Acts 2:3

All served on Vanilla ice cream! Yum, Yum!

How do you celebrate Pentecost Sunday with your family? Leave your ideas and links in the comments! :-)

Related Posts:

• Pentecost Celebration Ideas
• Gifts of the Holy Spirit Fun!
• Holy Spirit Handprint Dove Craft for Kids

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The Stations of the Resurrection - Great Focus for the Easter Season

Have you heard of the Resurrection? They're also know as "Via Lucis", "Stations of Light", or "The Way of the Light". There are 14 stations, and they the counterpart to the Stations of the Cross. Every station is something that happened between Easter and Pentecost. Here they are:

Stations of the Resurrection (Via Lucis)
1. Jesus Rises From the Dead (Matthew 28:1-10)
2. The Finding of the Empty Tomb (John 20:1-10)
3. The Risen Lord Appears to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18)
4. Jesus Appears on the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-27)
5. Jesus is Known at the Breaking of Bread (Luke 24:28-35)
6. Jesus Appears to His Disciples in Jerusalem (Luke 24:36-43)
7. Jesus Gives the Disciples the Power to Forgive Sins (John 20:19-23)
8. Jesus Strengthens the Faith of Thomas (John 20:24-29)
9. Jesus Appears by the Sea of Tiberias (John 21:1-14)
10. Jesus Tell Peter to Feed His Sheep (Primacy of Peter) (John 21:15-17, 19b)
11. Jesus Commissions the Disciples on the Mountain (Matthew 28:16-20)
12. Jesus Ascends into Heaven (Acts 1:6-12a)
13. Mary and the Disciples Wait in Prayer (Acts 1:12-14)
14. The Holy Spirit Descends at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13)

You can go through with prayers for each station (just like

the stations of the cross) and this site has a great set you can

read from for children, and another for teens.

Also, here's a pdf you can print to go through the stations 

(although this one isn't specifically for kids).

Family at Feast and Feria made a printable set of the

Stations of the Resurrection with art for meditation.

On Bookworm you can download some printable 

Stations of the Resurrection cards, and also find ideas

for making a box with symbols for each station!
These could be used in SO MANY WAYS! :-)

Remember, it's still the Easter season until Pentecost! We observed lent for 40 days- we may as well celebrate for all 50 days of the Easter season as well! :-)

I found all these links via 4 Real Forums. Thanks for the great resources, ladies!


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Printable Easter Countdown Calendar

Did you know that there are 50 days in the Easter season? Not one, but 50! That's even more days than there are in lent! The Easter season begins with Easter Sunday, and ends with Pentecost. In order to help my kids and I remember that the Easter season is an ongoing thing, I made this religious Easter countdown calendar which starts on Easter Sunday, and ends on Pentecost Sunday.

 

The best part about this Easter countdown calendar is that it's printable, and free for all of you!

Print for free in Black and White

Make sure you allow the image to download completely before printing, otherwise it may result in a half printing job. I'm sorry, but I cannot troubleshoot your printer problems with you- thank you for understanding. If you're having trouble printing, try downloading them first rather than printing straight from the doc.

This Easter calendar doesn't include calendar dates, so it's good for every year! Some days I included when drawing this calendar are Divine Mercy Sunday (which Pope John Paul II instituted as the second Sunday of Easter), all 8 Sundays of Easter, Ascension Thursday, and Pentecost. This is a great tool for teaching your kids about the liturgical year, so I hope you find a use for it!

How to use this calendar:
I'm going to have my kids mark off each day with a sticker. (I think I have a bunch of small Easter stickers left over from an egg dying kit around here somewhere). Other options would be coloring one square each day, or marking them off with "x's". You could also laminate the calendar with contact paper, or put it in a Dollar Store frame and then mark off the days with a dry erase marker. I also though about decoupaging it to a cookie sheet, and moving a magnet one square each day. It's totally up to you.

I'm definitely using these as a religious Easter basket stuffer at my house, too! ;-)

Just for fun, I'm also offering the Easter calendar in color, and it's also free!

The colored Easter calendar is available on a brand new special page for those who are subscribers of Catholic Icing! If you've already made yourself a friend of Catholic Icing by subscribing, just look to the bottom of this post in your reader or email, and you'll find a link to the "Subscriber Bonus Page". If you'd like to print the colored Easter calendar for free, but are not yet a subscriber, no problem! Subscribe here, or by entering your email address into the box below. After entering your email address, an email will be rushed to your inbox with access to the Subscriber bonus page!

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If you're looking for a countdown calendar that ends on Easter, you need to check out my printable Lenten calendar. 

If you're looking for more ideas on how to celebrate all 50 days of Easter, check out this post. 

These pages are my own artwork and are free for any not-for-profit use by individuals, families, or educational organizations. Copies may not be sold, reproduced for profit, or published by anyone but me. If you'd like to post this calendar for others to find, I would ask that you link to my post and rather than my individual downloads because their location may change. When printing or running copies, please do not remove my website from the bottom of the page. Thanks!
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Gifts of the Holy Spirit Teaching Tools

Pentecost is coming up on Sunday, which is a great time to learn about the Holy Spirit! You might also want to teach your kids about the holy spirit around a baptism, confirmation, or when studying the trinity! Here are some crafts to help teach your kids or class about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit:

Ten Kids and a Dog made this

Gifts of the Holy Spirit Windsock!

For directions on making the windsock, see

Dawn's Post at By Sun and Candlelight.

If you need a dove template for the windsock

project, you can find it at Woman's Day.

This Gifts of the Holy Spirit Craft was made by 

Busy with Blessings. Find directions on her site!

Here is a Printable Gifts of the Holy Spirit book

according to St. Thomas Aquinas.

This Holy Spirit Game is free to print from The Catholic Toolbox! 

Make learning fun by answering questions about the 

Holy Spirit to work your way around the board!

On Catholic Mom, find a Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Crossword Puzzle, Word Search, and Double Puzzle.

Just scroll down to "Holy Spirit".

Check out this Gifts of the Holy Spirit activity!

There is one symbol for each gift, starting with

"smarties" for "knowledge". I remember my confirmation

teacher making us these gift bags. :-)

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Who's Ready to Celebrate Pentecost?

Pentecost is coming up this Sunday- 50 days after Easter (the official end of the Easter Season). It is also the birthday of the church. On Pentecost, the holy spirit came upon the 12 apostles and gave them "tongues of fire". Because of this, the color for Pentecost is red and is often symbolized with fire. You also see a lot of doves for Pentecost because doves are the most common symbol of the holy spirit. Intrigued? Read up some more on Pentecost. Looking for some fun celebration ideas? Read on, my friends!

Lets start with the basics- wear red to mass! This is a fun tradition 

I remember from being a child, and you'll fit in amongst 

the red crowd in the pews- plus you'll match the priest! :-)

Try giving your kids red hots or fireballs as treats on 

Pentecost so they too can have "tongues of fire". :-P

Make the church a birthday cake! May I suggest red velvet in keeping
with the Pentecost theme? These Pentecost cakes are from 4 Real 
Forums. Tons of symbolism going into these- your family could learn a lot!

The Catholic Toolbox has multiple posts on Pentecost! :-)
Endless great links- don't miss these posts!

• Pentecost Lesson Plans for 1st grade and up
• Pentecost Lesson Plans for Preschool through kindergarten

Gladdest Hours celebrated Pentecost with these great cupcakes

and more! Check out the post to see it all.

And don't forget about this Pentecost Coloring Page

from Sermons for Kids.

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