Celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday With Kids

Divine Mercy Sunday is an excellent day to celebrate when celebrating the liturgical year with your kids! Although Divine Mercy Sunday is the second Sunday in the season of Easter (one week after Easter Sunday) this image of Jesus can be displayed and celebrated year round! So let’s check it out: How to celebrate Divine Mercy Jesus with kids! 

Divine Mercy Sunday Cheat Sheet

The best way to truly celebrate this devotion with your kids is to understand it yourself, so let’s take a quick look at the overview of Divine Mercy Sunday.

• The image of Jesus has a red ray and a blue ray coming out of his heart. One symbolizes water, and one symbolizes blood.
• St. Faustina is the one that had the apparition of Divine Mercy Jesus, which is why she depicted holding the image.
• St. Pope John Paul II is the pope that canonized St. Faustin and instituted Divine Mercy Sunday. So he is also associated with the day.
• When Jesus appeared to St. Faustina, he came with the message “Jesus, I Trust In You”
• St. Faustina kept a diary where she wrote a lot about Divine Mercy, and it is often referred to in reference to the image. 
• The “Divine Mercy Chaplet” is a prayer that can be prayed using a rosary, but is shorter and prays much faster. You can find directions for praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet here. 
• It’s traditional to pray a Divine Mercy novena, which starts on Good Friday and ends on Divine Mercy Sunday. 
• Many families like to attend confession the week of Divine Mercy Sunday. You can read about the special graces received with this here. 

If you still have questions or want to know more, you can read an excellent and easy to follow overview of Divine Mercy here. 

Divine Mercy Crafts And Activities For Kids

My personal favorite- Make and eat Divine Mercy “Sundaes”

Printable peg dolls- Divine Mercy Jesus and St. Faustina. You just paint the heads and decoupage the rest.

Make a Divine Mercy Jesus Craft (Free to Download!)

And this year, check out my brand new printable St. Faustina to go with him!

Craft your own Divine Mercy medals with kids.

Make a tie dye Divine Mercy t-shirt

Make this Divine Mercy Novena Counter to use with kids!

Craft your own easy Divine Mercy Chaplets with kids.

You can find this free printable divine mercy coloring page at Real Life At Home. 

I also love this little Divine Mercy Ring Booklet download (which is free!) from The Diary of a Sower. It has directions on praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and 9 days of prayers for the Divine Mercy Novena.

Since Blessed John Paul II established Divine Mercy Sunday and is being canonized on Divine Mercy Sunday, here are some things you can do with kids to celebrate him as well.

Crafts for Blessed John Paul II

Make a Pope Hat Craft

Teach your kids about the Pope.

You can find templates for making the JPII paper bag puppet above in my Saint Puppet Ebook.

Also, you can find a really cute round-up of JPII crafts, activities, and printables here.