Rosary

Living Rosary at Night with Glow Sticks for Kids

October 23, 2012 By Lacy

My little brother just got back from the South Carolina Catholic camporee, which includes boyscouts, girlscouts, and a few other similar organizations. This year, they earned a Rosary patch by all doing a living rosary together at night, and with glow sticks so it lit up! Isn’t that so cool?! My mom was awesome enough to take pictures for us.

The Religion Teacher has great directions on how to pray a Living Rosary with kids! You will need a bunch of glow light ground stakes (you can find cheaper glow sticks, in fact, I routinely find them at the Dollar Tree and the Dollar spot at Target). You will want to get 2 different colors to distinguish between the Hail Marys and the Our Fathers.

They put the stakes in the ground before beginning, and went around with a microphone. Each person had a chance to say a prayer of the Rosary, crack a glow stick, and put it in the ground. The place is lit up as the Rosary is prayed.

I’m going to suggest praying the Luminous mysteries for this one. I think the reason is pretty obvious.

This is such a great way to make a meaningful impact with praying the Rosary with kids at night! Everything is more awesome when you add glow sticks… cotton candy, bath time, drinks, etc, so I don’t see why Rosaries would be any different.

I went looking online and I also found a Rosary made from candles, and another from lit-up paper bags. This would be a fun outside-at-night activity for an All Saints’ Day party, or anytime!

My dad had a great idea- this could be used as a fundraiser for a Catholic church or school! You could take donations for people to sponsor each glow stick ahead of time, or actually sell the glow sticks at the event where you do this.

Do you have any ideas about doing a living Rosary with kids? Tell us in the comments!

Related Rosary Posts:

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Filed Under: 00 All The Time, 10 October, Liturgical Year, Luminous Mysteries, My Crafts, Rosary 7 Comments

Catholic Craft- Make a Rosary Hanger

October 19, 2012 By Lacy

I wanted to do a Rosary craft with my preschool co-op class, and my brain instantly thought of the pipe cleaner Rosary craft. While that craft is awesome for preschoolers, I was in the mood for something more special. I thought about making Rosary boxes for the kids to keep their Rosaries in, but I’ve been learning how to declutter from my favorite cleaning blog, and I thought it would be better if we didn’t have another “thing” sitting around. Inspired by Melissa’s Rosary holders, we crafted these.

Although these were made by children, they came together into quite a beautiful Rosary display! It so great to be able to hang the Rosaries on the wall- you can always find them, they don’t get tangled, and they’re cute. I’m very happy with the turnout of this Rosary hanger craft!

Supplies Needed for this Catholic Craft:

Wooden Plaque (Find at any arts and crafts store. We got ours at Hobby Lobby. They were anywhere from .50 – $1 each. We used several different shapes.)
Screw Hooks (I got them in the same wooden aisle at the craft store, but they are also available in the hardware sections of stores. $2 for 8 of them.)
Pictures of Mary (Any printed religious picture can do- print them, use non-laminated prayer cards, Catholic junk mail, stickers, coloring pages, draw them yourself, etc.)
Mod Podge (You can make you own from glue and water)
Paint Brushes (I like to use foam brushes with little kids)
Tissue Paper (a little bit goes a really long way, so get something pretty)
Drill OR string and glue. (To make it hang on the wall)

Now, at most craft stores you can buy ready-to-go single peg hanger thingies for about $2/each in different shapes. Since I was doing these with a whole class, I was looking for a cheaper solution, plus, they didn’t have enough for a whole class available in store. Also, I liked being able to add the hook at the end of the craft so the kids didn’t have to work around it.

Step by Step Catholic Craft Tutorial:

Before beginning: Drill a hole in the back of the plaque, halfway through the wood. (This is so it can hang on the wall when you’re done. If you’re not a power-tools kind of girl, you can hot glue on a piece of string for it to hang from instead.) Write children’s names on back.

Cut tissue paper into small squares.
Paint the plaque with Mod Podge.
Stick tissue paper squares on the plaque until wood is covered. Use Mod Podge as needed. Paint more Mod Podge over the top of the tissue paper.
When plaque is totally covered, put more Mod Podge on, place a picture of Mary on, and Mod Podge over the top some more. (Make sure you put Mary right-side-up for how your plaque will hang on the wall) By the way, this is called decoupaging.
Allow to dry (It will be dry to the touch in 1-2 hours, but will dry hard overnight)
Screw in hook. (Just push and twist. You can screw them right in- no worries)

That’s it! Hang it on your wall and place your Rosary on the hook. My kids are so proud of these!

The great thing about crafts like this is that they are do-able and fun for every age, and the older you are the more detailed you can get with it. Also, these cost less than $1 each to make, and they’re something kids can keep forever. I did this with my Catholic ABC’s class at preschool co-op this week, and they loved it!

Unfortunately, I forgot my Mary stickers for them! *Gasp!* So I had to improvise. Luckily, I had brought this Rosary coloring book with me that I picked up from the Seton table at the IHM conference last year. The kids had colored pictures before class started, so I cut out Mary from each of their pictures and we decoupaged them on.

The ones made from coloring book pages turned out to be cute in a kid-crafted way, and less fancy than the others.

Lydia made the Rosary above in co-op this week. Her teacher used my post on how to make a Rosary with kids. The 2 Rosary crafts together make for an adorable Rosary wall display in a child’s room!

If you would rather just order a craft kit to make a Rosary holder, check out this craft kit. It’s all inclusive and adorable! These kits would make a great gift for any Catholic kid!

Related Rosary Posts:

Also, check out my Rosary ideas for kids pinboard on Pinterest! How do you get your kids excited about the Rosary? Let us know in the comments!

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Filed Under: 00 All The Time, 10 October, Catholic ABC's, Crafts for Kids, Liturgical Year, Mary, My Crafts, Rosary 4 Comments

An Idea for Praying the Rosary with Kids

October 11, 2012 By Lacy

The month of October is dedicated to the rosary, and Catholic crafts are a great way to bring the faith to your children! Today, I wanted to share this interactive Rosary board, made by my friend Jessica.

Jessica was nice enough to type up a supply list and directions for us!

Catholic Craft Supplies Needed:

23”x 30” drawing board
2” wooden circle pieces (qty 6)
1.5” wooden circle pieces (qty 53)
Small Rosary book
Crucifix
Acrylic Sealer
Wood Glue
Mod Podge
Blue acrylic paint
Paint brushes

Begin with a drawing board from Hobby Lobby. They are priced $19.99 and located in the
art department. Utilize a 40% off coupon to drop the price to $12. Using the acrylic paint,
paint your wooden pieces on the curved side and one flat side. I used a baby blue shade
of blue. After allowing those to dry, lay out the wooden pieces in the shape you desire for
your rosary. After cutting out each mystery from the Rosary book, lay out the mysteries to
make sure it all fits. Glue the mysteries down to the board using Mod Podge. You will need
to coat the entire board with Mod Podge before you glue the wooden pieces down. Once
dry, using wood glue, attach the wooden pieces in the desired location. Attach a crucifix
and if desired, connect the wood pieces with a black sharpie by drawing a line in between
the wooden pieces.

We use a plastic statue of Mary and Joseph while saying the rosary. One of them is placed
on the picture of the decade that we are saying and the other piece is moved after each
prayer. This is a great way to engage the younger children and keep their interest!

Thanks so much for sharing this Catholic Rosary craft, Jessica!

I haven’t made one of these yet, but this is so nice and built to last! I think you could make a simpler one out of foam board and poker chips. (You think it’s ok to use poker chips for a Rosary craft? Maybe there’s a better idea out there. Leave it in the comments. lol!)

Find more Rosary crafts for kids here! Also, be sure to follow my Rosary pinboard on Pinterest.

What are you doing to celebrate the month of the Rosary? Leave a comment!

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Filed Under: 00 All The Time, 10 October, Crafts for Kids, My Crafts, Rosary 28 Comments

How to Make a Rosary with Kids

August 16, 2012 By Lacy

Of all the time I’ve spent posting Catholic crafts for kids, how have I never posted directions for how to string a rosary with kids? If you’re working with really small children, see my post on easy rosaries made from pipe cleaners. If you’re working with older kids and you’d like to string complete rosaries, you’ve come to the right place. The best part is, these rosaries are made using only supplies found at any craft store! That’s right- you don’t have to special order crucifixes and rosary centers.

Supplies Needed:

String
Pony Beads (6 Our Father beads, 53 Hail Mary beads, and 6 beads to make the cross)
If you’re beading your crosses, then also glue dots

Yep- that’s it!

How to choose your string: You want something thick enough that when you tie a knot, the knot doesn’t fit through the pony bead. That’s what makes this so easy- you don’t need to know any fancy rosary-tying knots.

Other than the knots, there’s one more frustration you’ll want to head off before beginning. Make sure your string doesn’t ravel on the ends! Now, most string will ravel to some extent, and that’s very frustrating to kids, which in turn will become very frustrating to you as you walk around and trim everyone’s string ever few minutes. What you want to do is keep the string from raveling. I have 3 favorite ways to accomplish this:

3 ways to keep the ends of your string from raveling:

Burn the end of the string with a lighter or match (clearly a job for adults).
Paint the end of the string with fingernail polish. Allow to dry.
Wrap a clear piece of tape around the end of the string. (Think shoe strings).

Different methods work better for different types of string. You choose something that works for your string. It doesn’t matter if it makes the end of your string ugly because you will cut that part off. I cut my string about 3 feet per rosary. It needs to be longer than you think because the knots eat up the length. Once your have your strings prepared, you’re ready to go!

To begin your rosary, tie on your cross or crucifix. The great part about this craft is, you can bead your own cross out of pony beads, and I think it comes out absolutely adorable! Plus, no specialty pieces needed. Find directions for beading a cross here, or click the picture below.

When you bead your cross, do it at the end of your string, not the middle. Here’s mine.

Once you have your beaded cross finished, don’t forget to knot it at the top. Choose the colors and beads you’ll be using for your rosary. We used pony beads for the Hail Mary beads, and heart shaped beads for the Our Father beads. You could certainly use pony beads for all of them. String on 1 Our Father bead, tie a knot, 3 Hail Mary Beads, tie a knot, 1 Our Father bead, then another knot.

Before your string your decades, tie another knot in the string to separate the bottom piece from what will be the decades of your rosary. Leave a space between the knots that’s big enough for about 1 bead. This space is going to work as your rosary separator thingy.

Now you’re ready to string your decades. Just put the beads on in 1 long string. Start with 10 Hail Mary beads, knot, 1 Our Father bead, knot. So you always have a knot on both sides of the Our Father beads.

10 Hail Mary beads, knot, 1 Our Father bead, knot, and so on until you have 5 decades. You do not put an Our Father bead at the end. When you string on your last decade, just tie another knot. In a long string, it should look like this.

*Note. If you’re using heart shaped beads for your Our Father beads (like we did) then you’ll string the last 2 Our Father beads on upside-down*

Once you have all your beads strung on, tie the end of the string to the space that we left between the 2 knots. Be sure to double knot this.

Trim off the excess string. With the ending knots, either dab the knots with some glue, or melt the ends with a match to keep them from coming untied.

Another thing to remember when you’re stringing a rosary is to leave a little extra room without stringing it too tight. That way, as you pray on the beads they can move a little to be counted. Also, you want the rosary to be able to pile nicely, rather than being stuck in a stiff circle.

That’s it! I love these little rosaries. I think they’re really cute! I went ahead and hung mine from my rear view mirror. That seems to be the universal sign of Catholicism, doesn’t it?

I love this little rosary and I think it’s a good fit for my minivan full of toys and car seats. (btw- love how you can tell I have a cracked windshield in that pic. lol!)

So go ahead- make a rosary with your kids! It’s so fun and rewarding for them! And don’t forget the most important thing- teaching them to use their new rosary for prayer.