Crafts for Kids

How to Make a St. Brigid’s Cross with Kids

January 26, 2012 By Lacy

I have wanted to try making a St. Brigid’s cross for years, but never got around to it until now. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, and we had a lot of fun! St. Brigid’s feast day is on February 1, but St. Patrick’s day is an equally great time to make this fun craft!

I decided to experiment with several materials to see what made the best cross. Here are a few I made out of colored raffia.

While the raffia crosses are adorable, the raffia was harder to work with than the pipe cleaners. Next, I tried making some crosses out of plastic string. It didn’t go well. In fact, it went so un-well that I don’t even have any pictures to share. It was a total craft fail. Therefore, I’m going to recommend using pipe cleaners for this project! (If you’d like to try your hand at making some St. Brigid’s Crosses out of raffia, I’m going to suggest learning first with pipe cleaners and then moving to the raffia.)

I also experimented with different sizes of St. Brigid’s crosses. With both the raffia and the pipe cleaners, I thought the smaller ones were easier to handle, and very cute!

So after our many experiments, I’m going to recommend making these out of pipe cleaners with kids (and quite possibly, half-length pipe cleaners.)

You need 15 pipe cleaners to make 1 full sized St. Brigid’s cross, and about half that many for a smaller one. Whatever size you decide to make, you’ll want all of your pipe cleaners to be the same length when you start. You’ll need one that’s straight, and the rest of them should be bent in half. It’s easiest to do this before you start.

How to Weave St. Brigid’s Cross: a picture tutorial

Start with 1 straight pipe cleaner. Place a folded pipe cleaner over it. Rotate it once to the left, and add another pipe cleaner. Rotate it once to the left, and add another pipe cleaner. Rotate it once to the left, and …. well, I think you’re starting to understand. It’s actually very easy once you get going! Ever time you add a pipe cleaner, you put it over all of the pieces sticking up. Then rotate and repeat.

When the cross has gotten to your desired size, cut some small sections of pipe cleaner, and twist the ends together. We made this one using the colors of the Irish flag!

My 5 year old was able to weave a St. Brigid’s cross (with a little help) and she was very proud! I’m going to recommend this craft for everyone ages 5 and up! (Lydia’s is on the left, and mine is on the right. I think it made it easier than we used the same colors as we went so I could say things like “now we need the yellow one to point up.”)

I think the smaller ones were a little easier to handle because it was easier to keep the pieces of pipe cleaner straight. Once you get the hang of it with pipe cleaners, give the raffia a try! I used about 3 strands of raffia at a time. The directions I found said to soak the raffia in warm water before beginning, but I skipped that step and it seemed to work just fine.

I strongly recommend trying your hand at these! They’re super fun to make, and so cute when they’re finished!

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Filed Under: 02 February, Crafts for Kids, Liturgical Year, My Crafts, Saints, St. Brigid, St. Patrick 9 Comments

Sacred and Immaculate Heart Rosaries- A Fun Catholic Craft!

January 23, 2012 By Lacy

This craft would be great for celebrating the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, or the feast of the Immacualte Heart of Mary. We made these in celebration of St. Valentine’s feast day. You know– National “Heart” Day.

You can either call these One Decade Rosaries, or you can call them Chaplets. Either way, they’re really fun and easy to make!

Supplies Needed:

Scissors

Pipe Cleaners

Beads

Sacred Heart Medal (optional)

Crucifix (optional) I have a pack of these crucifixes from Autom- they’re only 9 cents each! I love to let kids use them for crafts because they’re no good for regular rosaries. They’re not much more sturdy than aluminum foil.

You can get Saint medals really cheap at local Catholic Shops. If they’re out of Sacred Heart medals (because you know– it’s a popular one) then look for a Scapular Medal. He’s usually on the back of there. If you’re really lucky, you’ll find medals that have the Sacred heart of Jesus on the front and the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the back.

If you only have one medal, no problem! Check out this post to see how to make a mold and craft as many as you need! This is a lot of fun for kids of all ages. Lydia used a crucifix that she molded herself for the end of her rosary.

To make this craft, take your pipe cleaner and add 10 of your beads. Twist the pipe cleaner closed, and snip off a section at the end. Put your Sacred Heart medal along with your “Our Father” bead, then twist the extra piece of pipe cleaner on to make a cross shape for the end. This will also hold your last bead on. If I were going to make these with a whole class, I’d probably go with a version kinda like this:

We used red for the Sacred heart, and pink for the Immaculate heart. The orange and yellow beads around the Sacred heart chaplet symbolize fire, and the white beads around the Immaculate heart symbolize the white roses that surround Out Lady’s heart. You can also twist on pieces of orange and yellow pipe cleaner to the top of the heart to add flames.

Sacred Heart Chaplet

Immaculate Heart Chaplet

I really liked the addition of some heart-shaped beads. Lydia (of course) used pretty much exclusively the heart shaped ones.

When it’s finished, it’s pretty easy to shape the pipe cleaner into a heart. Pair with some Valentines, or a Sacred Heart holy card. Now isn’t that a great craft for Catholics on St. Valentine’s Day?

Related Posts:

Sacred and Immaculate Heart “Play-Doh Cookies”- these are so much fun to make, and totally edible!
Tie Dye Sacred and Immaculate Heart Shirts- One of my favorite projects!
Make a Sacred Heart Wreath
Sacred and Immaculate Heart Ideas for Kids
Sacred and Immaculate Hearts- Crafts, Food, Printables, and More!

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Filed Under: 02 February, 07 July, 08 August, Crafts for Kids, Immaculate Heart of Mary, Liturgical Year, Mary, My Crafts, Rosary, Sacred Heart of Jesus, Saints 11 Comments

Valentine Countdown Chain- 1 Love Bible Verse a Day {Free to Print!}

January 13, 2012 By Lacy

I know it’s still January, but I wanted to share this early in case you’re already making St. Valentine’s Day plans. We’re going to be counting down the days to Saint Valentine’s day this year with a heart-shaped paper chain. Each piece of paper has a bible verse about love on it. So each day, you tear off one heart, read a bible verse, and you’re a little closer to St. Valentine’s day! The best part is, the countdown chain is printable and you can all download it for free!

This project was inspired by my friend Maureen’s Advent Chain. (I’ve actually been inspired by Maureen a lot lately. First the nativity sensory bin, then the scratch n’ sniff paint, and most recently the trinity snowmen!)

The free download for this is all in black and white, so it won’t eat your expensive ink- just print it on colored paper. You print the first bible verse page on red, and the second on pink. That way you can make a pattern when building the chain. Just print, and cut on the dotted lines. I love all the cute Valentine’s day fonts I used on these- so much fun!

Making the paper loops into hearts is super easy to do! Just fold the strips in half, curl the ends in, and staple together.

Keep alternating from red to pink until you have all 14 love bible verses attached- one for each day of February until St. Valentine’s day!

The download also includes a heart “topper” for your paper chain. I printed mine on some cute scrapbooking paper, cut it out with adorable scissors, and framed it with some red paper.

I love the cuteness factor that is added by cutting these hearts out with scrapbooking scissors!

There’s a little heart at the bottom of this page. Poke a small hole through your paper with a pin in this heart, and thread a pipe cleaner through it. You can use the pipe cleaner to attach your chain to the heart at the top.

I just absolutely love the look of the heart paper chain!

That’s it! Hang it up in your house. Remove one link for each day in February, and read the verse.

This Valentine’s Day advent chain is available to print for free! It’s on my 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 have access to all my free downloads, but are not yet a subscriber, no problem! Subscribe here, or by entering your email address into the box below. When you enter your email address and click “subscribe”, you will instantly receive an email with a link to the “Subscriber Bonus Page”. Please read the entire email you receive. There is no need to email me and ask for this link. Thank you.

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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.

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Filed Under: 02 February, Crafts for Kids, Liturgical Year, My Crafts, My Printables, St. Valentine, Valentine's Day 47 Comments

Glittery Jesus Fish Craft- Make a Mobile!

January 11, 2012 By Lacy

This week we made a Jesus fish craft using only cardboard tubes, glue, and glitter. The kids had so much fun with this one!

This was such a simple process. Take a cardboard tube (such as a toilet paper roll or a paper towel tube) and flatten it. Then cut it into strips. You’ll end up with football shaped rings. Cut the ring apart at one fold, cut 2 slits, and fit together in the shape of Jesus fish.

Once you have your basic Jesus fish shape, you can craft with it however you want. It would be fun to just paint them, but we decided to glitter ours. To do this, put some white glue in a cup and add a little water. (About 1 part glue to 1 part water). You can paint the glue onto the Jesus fish using an old paint brush.

Once it’s all covered in glue, it’s time to add the glitter! We placed our Jesus fish on a piece of paper and shook the glitter over the top of the fish.

Once there’s a lot of glitter on the paper, you can pinch it and sprinkle more over with your fingers. What a fun, crafty mess!

Keep rolling, pinching, and shaking the glitter on until the whole fish is covered.

Set them on another piece of paper and wait for the glue to dry.

We found that darker, more saturated, colors of glitter looked nicer than pastel glitters.

Check out some of our finished Jesus fish! We made a whole glitter rainbow of them!

These were so much fun to make and my children were so pleased with the results! I love crafts that allow children to succeed, and there’s really no way to mess these up. When kids are successful in their crafts, it builds artistic confidence.

I was trying to decide exactly what to do with these new creations and thought they would make a cute Jesus fish mobile.

To make your own mobile, just cut a strip from card-stock and staple it into a loop. Then punch some holes for hanging.

We used embroidery floss that matched the colors of our fish to hang them. Just tie the string around the fish- the glitter grips the string and holds it in place. Hang them from the holes in your card-stock at different heights.

You’ll need to punch 3 holes in the top as well and suspend it from more string so you can hang it up.

These would be a great craft to make for Vacation Bible School, CCD, Sunday School, or at home. Keep your eyes peeled for glitter at the Dollar Tree- it’s so cheap there and I often find a great variety of colors! Happy crafting!