St. Francis of Assisi For Kids (The Ultimate List of Feast Day Resources!)

It’s always better to understand something before you try and celebrate it! Knowing some things about the Saint’s life will also help you to have ideas on how to celebrate. Let’s take a look at some of the most interesting and well known things about St. Francis.

• Founded the Franciscans
• Very well known and popular Saint
• Patron Saint of animals, so he is often depicted being flocked by birds, petting a deer, or shaking hands with a wolf.
• Sometimes on this day churches will have a “blessing of the pets”
• Made the first nativity set
• Known for a legend where he tames a wolf
• Gave all his money to the poor 
• Had the iconic “tonsure” haircut 
• He had stigmata (the wounds of Christ on his hands, feet, and side)
• Wrote the “Prayer Of St. Francis”, now a popular song as well

Ok, I think we are ready to look at some ways to celebrate St. Francis of Assisi with kids! 

Prayer Of St. Francis

The prayer of St. Francis is one of my absolute favorite prayers of all time! I equally love the song that goes with the prayer. 

Prayer Of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may
not so much seek to be consoled as to console,
to be understood, as to understand,
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.

And here is a version of the St. Francis song. Again, I love this!

St. Francis Videos For Kids

This little St. Francis video for kids from Miracula Stuidos is so adorable! I love the story and the animation on this one! Watching this video would be a great way to learn a little something about St. Francis before celebrating this feast day.

This is actually a whole series of videos! Here is the one about how St. Francis tamed the wolf, Gubio.

Here is a short and silly video about a day in the lift of St. Francis. This is cute and I love how it rhymes! This will definitely hold the attention of kids. If yours have a limited attention span, here’s your winner!

Because St. Francis of Assisi is so popular, there are a lot of videos available about him. Just make sure you don’t get him mixed up with St. Francis de Sales or St. Francis Xavier. Here are some more St. Francis of Assisi videos for kids. These are all animated videos.

• Here is the St. Francis Story for kids from My Catholic Family– 25 minutes long
• Here a St. Francis story from Story Of The Saints- 11 minutes long
• Here is another video from Story Of The Saints about St. Francis and the wolf– 9 minutes long
• This St. Francis video from Nan Tunes is the longest one- 1 hour and 20 minutes

St. Francis Picture Books For Kids

When you’re starting to teach your kids about the lives of the Saints, I suggest starting with a Saint picture book treasury that includes a lot of short stories you can read together. This will give you a good starting place and then you can add to your library of Saint books over the years. I think this Picture Book Of Saints is a good beginning Saint book for Catholic families. Saint Francis Of Assisi’s story is found on page 91.

Since St. Francis is such a well known Saint, there are several beautiful picture books about him. I do think it’s worth collecting beautiful Catholic picture books over the years, so I will share a few that I own with you. 

I always love a Tomie de Paola book! He has a picture book for St. Francis called Francis The Poor Man Of Assisi. A word of caution- this book is beautiful but it is very long and wordy. It is not something little kids will sit through, nor something you would read aloud in one sitting. Nevertheless, we sill own this book.

We also have St. Francis And The Proud Crow. Beautiful illustrations are always important to me in a children’s book, and this one does’t disappoint! This is a great length for reading to small children in your lap in one sitting.

Another great picture book that will appeal to children is Saint Francis And The Wolf. This is a very famous legend for this Saint, so it’s a great story to have! All of the illustrations in this book are contained in these colorful frames. Beautiful style!

St. Francis Printables For Kids

This St. Francis coloring page from The Catholic Kids is free to print. Coloring pages are always such an easy way to celebrate!

Real Life At Home has a printable St. Francis pack for kids that looks awesome!

St. Francis Crafts And Activities For Kids

You can use the templates inside of my Saint Puppet Ebook to create any Saint you wish, St. Francis included! (just cut the pieces from the right colors of paper for her order) . 🙂 I always find that kids really love paper bag puppets and will continue playing with them long after the craft is complete. I think this is because kids always love “wearable” crafts, and you kind of wear these on your arms. Puppets also encourage kids to act out parts of the Saint’s story. This is really a great craft. 

My kids absolutely adore Saint peg dolls, and they have hands down been the most played with toy in our home among 4 children! You can make this easy printable peg doll of St. Francis where you just paint the head with my step by step directions and then you decoupage on his body, wolf already included! These really look hand painted when you’re all finished!

I also have a post about making little yarn animals to go with your St. Francis peg doll. My kids LOVE these little guys as well!

Why not decorate a bird house for St. Francis’ friends on his feast day? How adorable are these St. Francis bird houses? Cottage Blessings gets credit for this adorable craft!

I also have a printable St. Francis craft in my Advent Saints pack! This little guy is holding a little nativity since St. Francis is credited with arranging the first nativity. 

Fun St. Francis Food Ideas

We always love to celebrate a Saint feast day with food, and there are so many cute food ideas for the feast of St. Francis! Check it out. 

I have some printable Saint food labels that you pair with easy prepared food to make it a themed Saint treat! You can pair my tonsure treats label to either a chocolate bunt cake or chocolate doughnuts. So perfect!

You can also serve animal cookies because St. Francis is the patron Saint of animals! I have a printable food label for St. Francis’ animal friends as well!

I also have a special recipe for dunkaroo dip for your St. Francis animal crackers. This is such a fun and easy addition to this simple snack, so be sure to check out the recipe.

You can also make stigmata sandwiches, which again, I have a printable label for lol. I mean the printable label helps everyone to understand and cutifies your pictures haha. 

 

Since St. Francis is the patron Saint of animals, why not cook up a yummy treat for man’s best friend?! This is actually one of our favorite ways to celebrate this feast day, and I love how these diy puppy biscuit treats make the house smell like cinnamon! 

 

Famous St. Francis Quotes

Feast Day Table Or Home Altar Ideas