Valentines Day seems to have started early in our house hold – my kids are busy making beautiful personalized Valentine’s Day cards for family and friends. We printed a nice little message, got some big foam hearts, small foam hearts and stickers from the dollar store and with their imagination they have created endless beautiful cards they can’t wait to give with love on the feast of St. Valentines! They have spend hours already and still have many hours to go to create a special message of love for everyone on their list! Who can blame their wonderful excitement – their joy if just contagious – the count down is one to celebrate this feast of love!

Easy Valentines Day Heart Crown!

If you have a special princess of prince in your life you might consider making a special heart crown for them – just cut out hearts about 3 – 4″ high all the same size and glue them in a circle to fit their heads and you have a beautiful crown of hearts!

About St. Valentine – from Happy Saints

‘Love One Another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.’ John 13:34

St. Valentine was a holy priest who lived during a time when Christians were not welcomed in the Roman Empire. He helped many who were imprisoned or were hiding from Roman soldiers. In the end, St. Valentine himself was captured and killed for his faith. He died on February 14, which became known as St. Valentine’s Day. St. Valentine’s Day became a lovers’ holiday because it was said that St. Valentine was killed for marrying Christian couples. Another tale had him writing letters of encouragement to the jailer’s daughter when he was in prison. What is important is that St. Valentine loved as Jesus loves. Jesus loves us so much He sacrificed His Life to save us. Likewise, St. Valentine risked and lost his life while helping others through selfless love. Let us love each other as Jesus loves us!

Click here to download the above free St. Valentines Day Card  PDF (Can be used free for personal and non-commercial use only!)

If you like this free resource and want some more than visit the Happy Saints project where you can download a couple more free printable or you can purchase printable ebooks from Happy Saints to learn more about Happy Saints visit my precious post on them.

Free St. Valentines Day Scripture Count Down

I used this lovely craft with my own family last year and this year as part of a Catechism lesson for 3 & 4 year olds. We talked about how God has written us Love Letters and after the lesson they each completed this craft to have their own love letters from God to read each day with their families as they count down to the feast of St. Valentine! They loved making this craft -(with lots of help;)) We just glued the first scripture verse to teh top heart by folding it in half and then continued the chain down to save on using the pipe cleaners.  You can download this wonderful free resource from Catholic Icing

Sweet Printable Count Down Scripture Cards for Valentines Day from A Happy Home Fairy

As an alternative to doing a chain you might prefer making these sweet reusable countdown cards which could also be doubled up as valentines cards – by writing a personal message on the back!

Sweet brown paper sewn heart valentine from I can Teach My Child

If you have access to a sewing machine, brown paper and some treats this might be the right valentines craft for you. I would add a sweet little message to the front – like Love is patient, Love is Kind, Happy, Happy St. Valentines!

Angel of God my guarding dear, to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this day/night be at my side, to light, to guard, to rule and to guide – Amen

On Tuesday October 2^nd, we celebrate the beautiful feast of the Holy Angels a wonderful opportunity to help give our children a deeper understanding and appreciation of angels.

What is an angel – an angel is a pure spirit created by God. An important thing to clarify for younger children is that we won’t become angels when we die; the media loves to depict this image of everyone having wings in heaven. But while an angel is a pure spirit created by God, man is created in the image of God. After the creation of angels God created man and gave him dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:16).

Here is a sweet little cut out angel craft that I made to do with my kids on Tuesday! It is simple and easy to do!

What is an Angel

An angel is a pure spirit created by God. The English word “angel” comes from the Greek angelos, which means ‘messenger’.

Who are the Angels: ( from the Catechism)

329 St. Augustine says: “‘Angel’ is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel’: from what they are, ‘spirit’, from what they do, ‘angel.'”188 With their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God. Because they “always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven” they are the “mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word”.189

330 As purely spiritual creatures angels have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendor of their glory bears witness.190

The Angels we know by Name:

We only know a few of the angel’s real names from the bible:

From Familia catolica

Angel Gabriel who is best  known for the Annunciation to Mary, that she would be the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God (Luke 1:26-38) – Nice St. Gabriel Colouring Page by Matilda

St. Michael the Archangel (Jude 1:9) whom is referred to as the ‘prince’ of the heavenly hosts and whom can be seen in the book of Revelations.  Free St. Michael the Archangel Colouring Page by Matilda

Angel Raphael – whom we see in the book of Tobas Free St. Raphael Colouring Page by Matilda

Guardian Angels

According to the church’s tradition we believe in angels and guardian angels. St. Jerome stated that: “how great the dignity of the soul, since each one has from his birth an angel commissioned to guard it.”  The church teaches that the role of our guardian angel is to help guide us to good words, works, and thoughts and to help protect us from evil.

Lovely free Guardian Angel colouring Page by Matilda

No evil shall befall you, nor shall affliction come near your tent, for to His Angels God has given command about you, that they guard you in all your ways. Upon their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. Psalm 91: 10-12

St. Bernard said “Always remember that you are in the presence of your Guardian Angel”

St Therese the Little Flower told her sister Céline this regarding her Guardian Angel: “Jesus has placed near you an Angel from heaven who is always looking after you; he carries you in his hands lest your foot strike against a stone. You do not see him, and yet he is the one who for twenty-five years has preserved your soul, who has kept its virginal whiteness; he is the one who removes from you the occasions of sin. …Your Guardian Angel is covering you with his wings, and Jesus, the purity of virgins, reposes in your heart. You do not see your treasures; Jesus is sleeping and the Angel remains in his mysterious silence. However, they are there with Mary who is hiding you also under her veil!…” (LT 161 4/26/1894) – Source

IN BRIEF (from the CCC)

350 Angels are spiritual creatures who glorify God without ceasing and who serve his saving plans for other creatures: “The angels work together for the benefit of us all” (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I, 114, 3, ad 3).

351 The angels surround Christ their Lord. They serve him especially in the accomplishment of his saving mission to men.

352 The Church venerates the angels who help her on her earthly pilgrimage and protect every human being.

What a comfort it is to teach our children that they are always in the presence of an angel and that at Holy mass the church is brimming full of angels joining in praise and worship of our Lord and King!

A wonderful book to read more about the angels is by Fr. Paul O`Sullivan called All About the Angels

From pinterest

Crafts for the Feast of the Holy Angels!

List of sites with free printable or great easy ideas for crafts to do with kids on the feast of the angels:

Free Printable Angel for Preschools in Colour or Black & White

Cute Hand Print Angel Craft

Easy Stand-up Angel

Nice Peppermint Angel Craft – Makes a nice Christmas gift too!

A is for Angel – make a craft and reinforce phonics too – with this adorable Angel Craft

Nice Full Colour Old Fashion Stand-Up Angels