Prayer – Little Ways Sacrifice Beads

Blog, Prayer

Happy to Announce our New Life Beads

We are happy to announce the launch today of our New Life Beads on the feast of the Holy Rosary and in the month of October when we remember those who have experienced a miscarriage or still born. These special beads are in honour of the gift of life. A portion of each sale will go towards supporting Pro-Life work.

These beads are especially close to our hearts as we lost of beautiful baby Joy Faustina before birth and know it was the prayers and support of our community and family that helped us get through that very difficult time with joy, hope and peace.

Life is the most precious gift and we recognize the importance of celebrating it from the moment of conception till death.

We hope these Life Beads will inspire and encourage others to do good works, acts of love, sacrifice and extra prayers in the name of our Lord.

Order you Life Beads here: Pre-Made Life Beads and Life Bead Kits

Blog, Divine Mercy, Feasts, Prayer

Divine Mercy Craft and Activities

My husband and I have a special devotion to the Divine Mercy. I just love praying this chaplet. I try to pray it every day. The thought of our Lord showering all His grace, love and mercy on me and the whole world is just so beautiful and amazing. I love praying this prayer each evening with my children when they are little as I nurse them and then nightly as they transition to a big kid bed and then to help settle them as they grow into their preschool years.

It is just a devotion I love. It is simple and easy to learn my kids have learned the chaplet and its prayers at a young age. It seems easier to memorize then the rosary and requires less time so it is easier for them to pray it.

Excepts from St. Faustina’s Diary

“Say unceasingly this chaplet that I have taught you. Anyone who says it will receive great Mercy at the hour of death. Priests will recommend it to sinners as the last hope.
Even the most hardened sinner, if he recites this Chaplet even once, will receive grace from My Infinite Mercy.
I want the whole world to know My Infinite Mercy.
I want to give unimaginable graces to those who trust in My Mercy….”

“….When they say this Chaplet in the presence of the dying, I
will stand between My Father and the dying person not as the just
judge but as the Merciful Savior”.

When my daughter was preparing for her Holy First Communion we would go on Mother-Daughter dates and work on making her scrapbook. We would create pages together after each lesson, to help reinforce her learning as we went along. After we had gone through her preparation, we started to add pages with prayers and devotions. I had created this simple Divine Mercy craft when I was helping to teach a three and four year old catechism class. So we decided to incorporate it into her scrapbook too.

Divine Mercy Chaplet Craft:

What you will need:

Print out of Divine Mercy Colouring Page
Red & Blue Construction paper
Glue
Scissors
Coloured pens, Markers or Crayons
If available Gold marker or crayons

Step 1 – Print out of this wonderful Divine Mercy colouring page from the Oblates of Divine Mercy’s website

Step 2 – Cut out a red and a blue triangle. Helpful tip-First cut out the red triangle and then trace it on the blue paper so that they come out the same size.

Step 3 – Glue the Red Triangle on to Jesus’ Right and the Blue Triangle on to Jesus’ Left side.

Step 4 – Draw more rays of light coming from Jesus heart as well as add light around his head (gold, yellow & white work best)

Step 5 – Decorate as desired

There is also a great Divine Mercy word search and other colouring pages available at the Oblates of Divine Mercy’s website.

Learn how to make an easy Divine Mercy Chaplet with your child in my previous post

Blog, Crafts, Faith Building Resources, Feasts, Prayer

Feast of our Lady of the Rosary

Today we celebrate the feast of our Lady of the Rosary. The month of October is traditionally celebrated as the month of the Holy Rosary! So the craft below is perfect to use any day in the month of October or May or anytime you wish to help your child learn how to pray the rosary.

My son has really taken to the rosary during the past few weeks. He is happy to pray the rosary where ever he might be – in the car, in bed, etc. But he keeps forgetting which prayers to say on which beads. So I thought we could make this craft to put on the wall beside his bed so that he can look at it when he forgets what comes next and start to learn it by heart. I have been eagerly waiting to use these beautiful images of The Virgin Mary from Around the World since the first time I saw them at Shining Light Dolls! So I was very excited we finally were able to use them today!

Learning the Rosary Craft!
Here is a PDF Instruction Sheet you can print for the Rosary Craft

What you will need:

scissors
glue
3 pages printed out
markers, crayons or pencil crayons

Step 1 Print out this beautiful image of The Virgin Mary Around the World from Shining Light Dolls– copy the image and paste it into a word document then print it centered and at the top of your page.

Step 2 Select an image of Mary that you would like to use for the bottom portion of your craft – We used Our Lady of China but there are so many other beautiful options to use from Shining Light Dolls too. Again using word you want to paste or insert the image. I used four Mary’s per a page. So you could even choose a different image of Mary for each child.

Step 3 Print this cute Rosary Page from Pinterest or for the full document visit Teachers pay Teachers. I printed two per a page.

Step 4 – Cut the sheets and place them in each child’s spot so that each child has one of each sheet.

Step 5 – Explain the feast of the rosary, talk about the Mary that you selected to use and then discuss the rosary asking questions as you go.

Step 6 –
A) Explain the Sign of the cross, have your child colour it and underline the words the Sign of the Cross in the same colour.

B) Explain when you pray the Our Father – have your child select a new colour and colour the two hearts in this colour and then underline the words Our Father in this same colour.

C) Explain when you pray the Hail Mary- have your child select a new colour and colour the Hail Mary Beads in this colour and then underline the words Hail Mary in this same colour (I also wrote 3 & 10 to let them know the number of times it is said).

D) Explain when you pray the Glory Be- have your child select a new colour and draw a circle to show when this is done. Write the words Glory Be in this same colour or write them in Black and underline them in the colour if you prefer;)

Step 7 – Glue the Cute Craft Sheet and Mary image below the Image of Our Lady from Around the World.

If you have time pray a decade or the rosary with your child now to reinforce their learning!

Blog, Crafts, Feasts, Prayer

Holy Guardian Angels Feast

Happy feast of the Holy Guardian Angels! Today we have a great opportunity to help our children develop a deeper relationship, understanding and appreciation of angels.

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’. For more information about angels see my previous post Feast of the Holy Angels.

My kids are super excited to have another tea party followed by crafts this afternoon. Each year for this special feast we have made lots of angels which we have used to decorate our home by hanging them off our dinning room light and displaying them on the wall.

Last year the kids made three to four angels each. They made St. Michael, St. Raphael, St. Gabriel and an angel to represent their guardian angel. They used a sword with St. Michael and came up with other symbols to represent the different angels. We then glued prayers onto some of the angels.

This craft is super easy to make and personalized as each child gets to trace and use their hands as the angels wings. The kids love tracing their hands hence why they each wanted to keep making more angels. I can’t think of a year when the kids only made one angel each. Here is my ANGEL Craft post with instructions.

Here are some prayers that you can include on the angels:

PRAYER TO your Guardian Angel

Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
To whom God’s love
commits me here,
Ever this day,
be at my side,
To light and guard,
Rule and guide. Amen.

PRAYER TO Saint Michael the Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

PRAYER TO Saint Gabriel

Blessed Saint Gabriel, Archangel We beseech you to intercede for us at the throne of divine mercy:
As you announced the mystery of the Incarnation to Mary,
so through your prayers may we receive strength of faith and courage of spirit,
and thus find favor with God and redemption through Christ Our Lord.
May we sing the praise of God our Savior with the angels and saints in heaven forever and ever. Amen.

Other Fun 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:

Catholic Icing has 10 great ideas to help celebrate the Feast of the Guardian Angels

Cute Hand Print Angel Craft

Free Printable Angel for Preschools in Colour or Black & White

Easy Stand-up Angel

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

Nice Full Colour Old Fashion Stand-Up Angels

Blog, Crafts, Feasts, Prayer

Cute and Easy Angel Craft for kids!

Here is a simple craft for to use for the feast of the Holy Angels or to simply help teach your child or Sunday school class the Guardian Angel Prayer.

This can serve as a beautiful reminder that your child is always in the presence of their guardian angel!

Here is the full colour pdf cut out Angel Craft

Step 1 – Print PDF

Step 2 – Cut out pieces

Step 3 – Glue wings so that the thumbs are touching and over lapping.

Step 4 – Glue Angels hair onto wings

Step 5 – Glue White gown on to wings, tucked slightly under the hair

Step 6- Glue face on hair and gown

Step 7 – Draw a face and decorate the angel

Step 8 – Practice Prayer and enjoy!

*To personalize the craft only print the first page and then have your child trace their own hands on a coloured piece of paper to use for the wings.

To learn more about angels see Feast of the Holy Angels

Blog, Faith Building Resources, Lent & Easter, Prayer

Way of the Cross for Kids

This year for Lent I thought I’d like to do the Way of the Cross with my daughter in a more detailed way. Last year I used a black and white copy of the stations of the cross form Catholic Art Work. I want to do something appropriate for children so I decided on purchasing and using the Glory Stories: Passion of Christ – Way of the Cross CD from Holy Heros.

To accompany the CD, I also bought Holy Heros – The Road to Calvary Colouring book, so my daughter could have the visuals to go along with the CD. This set looks great, looking forward to do this with my daughter this Lent. I will also be giving these to my godsons too.

Description of the Way of the Cross CD from Holy Hero’s Website: “Mesmerizing way for our children to learn about and pray the Stations of the Cross. Children hear other children leading the prayers and offering short meditations and resolutions which match their own lives and connect them to Christ: obedience, telling the truth, trying again and again, making sacrifices for the ones they love, and more. Each station is described with sound effects which inspire the imagination as if you are there…and parents will learn something at the same time! English and Spanish on the same CD.”

Prayer

Candle Time and Family Evening Prayers

Candle Time and Family Evening Prayers

Looking for a way to help bring stillness to your toddler, preschooler or young child’s prayers candle time might just be what you’ve been looking for!

We belong to an incredible catholic married couples group called Teams of our Lady and are very blessed to be apart of a wonderful team full of incredibly beautiful, faith-filled couples. As part of our meetings we share how we are doing in different areas of our prayer life. Through this share we are regularly inspired to grow in different areas of our faith life. One of the beautiful things that some of the couples were doing with their evening prayers with their children was candle time.

A concept that seemed simple and beautiful when we first heard of it, but one that went on the idea shelf. Well when our evening prayers started to become more like a circus act with our kids bouncing up and down and all about – this idea came to mind and changed everything!

Nothing changes the atmosphere and mood of a room then light – we read our bedtime stories, then all gather to pray by candle light before the children go to bed – Now our prayers are much more peaceful, focused and still! The kids look forward to candle time each day and can’t wait to blow the candles out at the end of prayer time.

When I took my daughter to a church bazaar this year after looking at everything she choose to spend her money on a beautiful candle holder and candle for prayer time – it was more then she had but the lady was so touched by why she wanted the candle that she gave it to her and my daughter proudly gave her a $0.25 and held it in her hands the whole way home excited to show daddy her new special candle!

Prayer

The Importance of a Morning Offering Prayer

The Importance of a Morning Offering Prayer

Transform your ordinary into extraordinary love!

What if every moment of your day could be a form of prayer and offering of love if you will to our Lord – would you continue wasting all your precious moments, acts, works, thoughts if there was a way to offer them to Jesus? We all struggle to find time to pray yet there is a simple answer a simple way to start making every moment count! Start your day with a Morning Offering – this simple prayer – will transform your day from ordinary to a gift and offering.

Each morning before our breakfast grace my children and I say our morning offering – our days go instantly from just another day to a day of love.

Here is the simple Morning Offering Prayer we say each morning:

O Jesus,through the Immaculate Heart of Mary,I offer You all my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart,in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world,in reparation for my sins,for the intentions of all my relatives and friends,and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen <><

St. Therese of Liseaux one of my favourite saints practiced the spirituality of the Little Ways – she believed she could win heaven by doing all the small things with great love. Most of us won’t be called to do extraordinary things in this life like the maytrs but we are all called to do things with great love. This is just one simple way to start striving to do that – offering your actions up throughout the day is the next wonderful step to take – a great tool for this is good deed/sacrifice beads.

Go ahead what are you waiting for? Don’t let another precious moment go by – start your day right with a morning offering!