Stations of the Cross Round Up

Nina concerned about Jesus when she was first introduced to the Stations as presented in the Story of the Cross two years ago.

Despite having grown up Catholic, I have few, if any, memories of our family experiencing the Stations of the Cross together.  Sure, I knew what the Stations were, and my family may have even attended a Stations of the Cross observance or two when I was a child.  However, I remained relatively clueless about the Stations straight through my twenties, maybe even my thirties.

I don’t want the same for Luke, Nina and Jack. 

I want my children to have strong memories of experiencing the Way of the Cross as a family – to grow in their understanding of the passion as their personal faith development unfolds.  Thus, as I prepare for Lent this year, I place part of my focus on collecting ideas, materials and inspiration about experiencing the Stations as a family.

As I have sorted through boxes in my basement, excavated recovered hard drives and accessed a list of links I had scrawled in a notebook, I have come upon Stations of the Cross books, coloring pages, booklets, cards games, mediations... You name it.  I think I have discovered a tangible resource, link or printable offering for it somewhere.

Many of the printables, of course, are similar to one another.  However, I have found that different things appeal to my children on different days and in different ways.  So, I like to keep an ever-growing list of resources to choose from based on the needs and wants of a given child on a given day.  Praises be for the generosity of many individuals and organizations online, I think I now have almost everything I could ever need to enrich my children’s lives with a focus on the Stations:

To help others prepare for Lent, I thought I would share a Station of the Cross Round-Up of resources we have used, as well as those we plan to use this year.

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Our Favorite Stations of the Cross Book

Of course, we will be reading the Story of the Cross, a book we added to our home collection some a couple years back.

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Booklets and Pages to Color

St John the Baptist Religious Education’s site has coloring pages of the Stations.  We did some of these last year.  This year, I want to do more.  I can see using them for notebooking, to hang in our hallway in order to make our own Way of the Cross, or to have the children color as we experience the Stations as a family at our local parish.  They also offer a Stations of the Cross booklet, if you scroll down the page linked here.   The booklet has ½ page size coloring pages, as well as a script for celebrating the Stations with a leader and children.

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Part Montessori Cards and More

In the past, we have used the full-color, three-part Stations of the Cross cards that Bookworm offers.  This year, I hope to finally use them with an actual Stations of the Cross Box, including  Stations of the Cross Box cards for toddlers from Three-Sided Wheel.  Or, instead of the box, to make Stations of the Cross eggs like the ones Lacy shared at Catholic Icing.

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Lenten Adventure Videos, Printables, Etc.

Last year, my children thoroughly enjoyed parts of Holy Heroes free Lenten adventure.  We look forward to more coloring and videos there this year.

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Full-Color Booklet for Sequencing, Narration, Etc.

I found a wonderful full-color Stations of the Cross booklet saved on one of my recovered hard drives that I meant to print last year and will this year.  When I searched the file title online, it came up with this Scribd link which was uploaded by Stacy at Catholic Moms Helper, a now defunct (I gather) site.   I cannot find the original source though.  The images in the booklet could be used for sequencing activities, to inspire narrations, and, of course, with their accompanying text, for mediating and walking the Way.

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Online (and Printable) Meditations

Cptyron.org has a Stations of the Cross mediation for children online.  Loyola Press also has an online multi-media presentation, plus a downloadable pdf of the Stations with color images and text  Since Luke and Nina consider a treat to be online with me, I will likely introduce these this year.

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Lesson Plan and Links

For more formal lesson-time materials, as well as Family Time activities, I plan to dive into the lesson plan filled with loads of links for activities, coloring, crafts and puzzles that Laura at Catholic Mom put together, as well as the one that Amazing Grace has at Catholic Toolbox, which also includes printable games.

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Stations of the Cross Candles

I have wanted to make Stations of the Cross votive candles like the ones at Ten Kids and a Dog for a couple years now.  Maybe this year will be the year!

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Living Stations

Last year, or was it the year before (?), the kids and I went to our local parish’s Living Station of the Cross event.  It was put on by confirmation class students and, happily for me, appealed to my children.  This year, I want to try Living Stations at the parish my friend Karen, of A Servant’s Memories, told me about.  It literally brought her to tears (good tears!), as I understand, because the meditations that the teens there wrote were so poignant.  As I understand, many parishes do Living Stations on Good Friday, so I encourage others to check out local ones.

~10~

The Best for Last: Two One Stop with Loads of Printables and Ideas

And, of course, I will go to two favorite one-stop-for-so-much sites online:  Jennifer Gregory Miller provides a one-stop, get-everything-you-might want in the way ofStations printables at Family,Feast and Feria: cards, booklets, pamphlets, etc. in black and white and color!  She also offers a handy description for Stations of the Cross object boxes.  Lacy, at Catholic Icing has a fantastic Lent page with loads of links, too.

I am excited to experience the Stations in many ways with my children this year and in years to come.  I’d love to hear how you and yours do the same.

Have I missed a fabulous Stations of the Cross resource?  Do share about it in a comment!