Crafts for Kids

Day of the Dead Arts and Crafts

October 30, 2010 By Lacy

All Souls’ Day is coming up on November 2- this is also known as the Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos). I love all the colorful skulls used to celebrate this day in Mexico! I’m a really colorful person- I know… total shocker!

Make this centerpiece with Dollar Store Crafts.

This Day of the Dead Art Project comes from

Deep Space Sparkle.

I found this Day of the Dead Sandwich on Edible Crafts.

Find directions on how to make Edible Sugar Skulls

on Dollar Tree Crafts! (These sugar skulls by Crafty Chica).
Sugar skulls are super traditional for this day.

Buzzville has directions for making this cute

Day of the Dead Craft.

Another traditional treat you can try is
Bread of the Dead. This recipe is from MEXonline.

I’m hoping to have the time to try out the sugar skulls with my kids this year, and I did get a skull ice cube tray from the Dollar Tree for molding them. And of course, don’t forget to pray for the deceased.

Filed Under: 11 November, All Souls' Day, Crafts for Kids, Day of the Dead, Fun Food 2 Comments

Divine Mercy Jesus Craft

October 27, 2010 By Lacy

Catholic ABC’s Week: 9
Letter of the week: D
Theme: Divine Mercy Jesus
Saint of the Week: St. Denis
Craft: Divine Mercy Jesus Statue

This week we are learning about the letter “D” and Divine Mercy Jesus. Jesus appeared to St. Faustina, and asked her to have a painting madeof this vision with the words “Jesus I Trust in You”. The two rays represent Blood and Water. Ifyou’re curious, you can read more about the Divine Mercy Image.

Materials Needed To Complete This Craft:

Divine Mercy Jesus Printable (which I have made available here for free!
Crayons
Scissors
Glue Stick
Toilet Paper Tube
Glitter

Have your child color the Divine Mercy Jesus however he or she wishes, but encourage them to color the rays red and blue to stand for blood and water. Then cut the image out according to the directions on the printable. (Help your child to cut if needed). You then use a glue stick to attach your image around a toilet paper tube.

After the rays are colored red and blue, use a glue stick to cover them in red and blue glitter. We actually used red and silver glitter at my preschool co-op because these colors were available at the Dollar Tree so it was very affordable. And the silver worked great- it’s supposed to stand for water after all

Optionally, fold the rays back and forth like a fan before attaching with a glue stick.

Here is what my 2 year old preschool co-op class was capable of. I’ll admit that this craft was a little complicated for them. But they loved the glitter!

And here’s what my 4 year old was capable of. This was a perfect craft for her! I love how colorful her version is! I think he looks like “Our Divine Mercy of Guadalupe” – which is totally not a thing by the way.

Your children can make their own little Divine Mercy Statue to leave in their bedroom!

We really enjoyed this craft and I hope to make more of these availablein the future. I’ve also been informed that this would be a great craftfor the Little Flowers Mercy badge. Maybe some of you lead some groupsthat can use this idea!

Grab Bag Ideas for the Letter Dd: (be sure to check out the Classroom Scriptfor directions on using the grab bag.) Dog, Dragon, Dinosaur, Dress, Doughnut, Dice, Doll, Dolphin, Duck, Dime, Dove.

For More Resources, check out the Catholic Toolbox lesson plans for the Letter Dd.

Catholic ABC’s runs here at Catholic Icing every Wednesday with the new letter of the week. You can get the details of this program by checking out the Classroom Script.

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Filed Under: Catholic ABC's, Crafts for Kids, Divine Mercy, Jesus, Liturgical Year, My Crafts, My Printables 3 Comments

Crucifix Craft

October 20, 2010 By Lacy

Catholic ABC’s Week: 8
Letter of the week: C
Theme: Crucifix
Saint of the Week: St. Clare
Craft: Catholic Crucifix Craft

This is a really great craft for kids of almost any age down to 2 years olds. But before I get into this craft, I wanted to post a few disclaimers. First of all, this craft has been passed down through a couple of moms in my preschool co-op, and I did not draw this image of Jesus, so I hope I don’t upset anyone by posting it- I don’t know where it came from. Also, I’m not personally a fan of the risen Jesus crucifix because I feel like it’s a contradictory concept. I hope to draw a different Jesus for this craft before Lent.

Materials Needed to Complete this Craft:

Wooden Cross (available at any Michael’s, AC Moore, or pretty much any craft store for $1 each)
This Printable Jesus (I think this coloring page will work for a regular non-risen crucifix. You might have to play with the size to get it right for your cross.)
Acrylic Paint
Paint Brush
Crayons
Scissors
School Glue

First, let your child color Jesus however he or she would like.

Give each child a wooden cross and allow them to paint. Use caution because acrylic paint is not washable. I provided only pastel colors of yellow and blue. This way even if they mix the paint it’s only going to make green, and because it’s pastel colored it won’t be as noticeable if they miss a place on the cross.

While your child paints their cross, cut out Jesus for them. You can stick this right on while the paint is wet and it will stick, or you can put some school glue on the back and stick it on. Don’t use a glue stick for this project.

Here are the completed crucifixes from my 2 year old co-op class:

And here are some crucifixes made by 4 year olds.

Grab Bag Ideas for the Letter Cc: (be sure to check out the Classroom Scriptfor directions on using the grab bag.) Cat, Clock, Cross, Crucifix, Comb, Candle, Crayon, Candy, Cards, Clothes pin.

For More Resources, check out the Catholic Toolbox lesson plans for the Letter Cc. (Her Cc lesson is on “Creation”)

Catholic ABC’s runs here at Catholic Icing every Wednesday with the new letter of the week. You can get the details of this program by checking out the Classroom Script.

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Filed Under: Catholic ABC's, Crafts for Kids, My Crafts 2 Comments

Alphabet of Saints Crafts for Catholic Kids

October 15, 2010 By Lacy

With the combination of our Catholic ABC’s preschool we’re working on and with All Saints’ Day just around the corner, I wanted to run some awesome saint crafts! And I wanted to start with a “String from Heaven” craft made by my friend Jackie.

Here’s what Jackie said-

So we are doing Elizabeth Foss’ Alphabet Path at home with our daughter. Since Ican’t paint we purchased the gingerbread cutouts of cardboard people atMichael’s. Each week I trace the outfits from construction paper for herto cut and paste them together to correspond with the pictures from An Alphabet of Catholic Saintsfor each letter. I do the faces typically and some ofthem I’ve cut too (you can probably guess which). We do this inaddition to cutting out the Letters (upper and lowercase) for the weekand gluing things that start w/ the letter or the actual letter frommagazines to that Letter’s page.

St. Anne

St. Bernadette

St. Cecilia

St. Dominic

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

St. Francis of Assisi

St. George

And here are some more Saint Crafts A-Z!

I just love these Adorable Alphabet Saints
from Pinewood Castle! And you can find some good
directions on making these kind of dolls at Crafty in Coffeeland.