Have Your Children Write and Illustrate Their Own Holy Week Book

Some years ago, when all my children were young, we enjoyed a hands-on Holy Week during which we did a different art project each day in conjunction with the readings. 

This year, we'll be continuing a writing and illustrating project that we began at the beginning of Lent - one that you could easily adapt into a Holy Week book in your home.

Our Simple Lenten Project

First, let me tell you about our simple project:

At the beginning of Lent, I was looking for a way to get my children and I back into regular Together Time studies including Bible reading.  I also wanted to highlight narration, writing, and handwriting skills.

Thus, when I spied three copies of Upon a Tree, a 2016 devotional booklet from Creative Communications, in my Lenten files, I decided that we would use the booklets for a simple Lenten project: Each of my children would write and illustrate their own book, retelling parts of Salvation History.

{Some links which follow are affiliate ones.} 

To do so, I placed three primary composition books (somewhat like these ones) and the devotional booklets near our kitchen table.  Then, daily, we took these out, along with our New Saint Joseph, Family Edition of the Holy Bible, pencils, and colored pencils, and I read the Bible verses noted in the devotional.

On some days, we chatted about what the Bible verses said, how they related to Salvation History, and what their application to our lives might be, while, on other days, we simply read the little poems in the devotional that went along with the Bible verses and then carried onto the next step.

That step was to have children either write and illustrate a narration about the verses which we had read aloud or to compose a poem or story segment related to them.

Then, I would help them correct their spelling, punctuation, etc. and comment on their handwriting efforts.

Some days this worked beautifully for all of us.

Other days, one child or another wasn't into it and rushed their work.

While, admittedly, on still other days, we neglected to get to our simple project and, then, played catch up later on.

Regardless, here we are, headed into Holy Week, ready to write the final portions of the story of the Passion before adding a page for the Resurrection on Easter Monday.

And I am pleased. For, although my children and I did not manage to make Bible reading a daily Together Time habit this Lent, we got closer to making it one and each of my children wrote their own simple Salvation History story.

How Could You Adapt Our Idea for Holy Week

I know what we have been doing is not rocket science - just reading the Bible, chatting, narrating/writing, and illustrating - but it is worthwhile, and because we are doing it in bound notebooks, it will become a keepsake for the kids that they can reread in future years.

You could do a similar thing this Holy Week, using an inexpensive primary composition journal, printing out free story writing paper, or using a blank book; then, reading the daily readings, and having your children write and illustrate.

Alternately, read a page or two of a favorite Lent/Easter picture book, such as The Easter Story, A Child's Easter,  He Is Alive,  Love One Another, or He Is Risen: The Easter Story each day, look up the Bible verses that would correspond to what you read, read those, then write and draw away.

In the end, you should have a lovely, child-written-and-illustrated book to read for years to come.

May you have a blessed and beautiful Holy Week!

Go Egging with this FREE Spy Wednesday Printable!

In preparing for Lent, I realized that I have yet to share the printable that my children and I created last year to use on Spy Wednesday - the Wednesday of Holy Week when we recall how Judas made a bargain with the high priests to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.

Thus, today, I am sharing it - both so that I won't forget again and also so that you will have plenty of time to print it and gather and stuff eggs before Spy Wednesday.

Why might you want to egg on Spy Wednesday, you might wonder.

Well, because it is a kid-friendly way to live the liturgical year while spreading truth, giving to others, and covering the sad spying Judas did with a secret effort for good!

(Of course, you might also want to look into other Spy Wednesday traditions, which vary country by country, and family by family.)

Now, back to an egging tradition...

My children and I first began egging together in 2013 and have  since continued to do so between Spy Wednesday and the end of the Easter season. 

Using Our 2013 Printable

The first couple of years that we did so, we used a FREE "You've Been Egged" printable that we created and shared in 2013, posted it on people's doors and secretly went about egging in their yards.

Egging Post-Easter Sunday

Then, in 2015, after the children enjoyed Spy Wednesday egging so much that they wanted to do more egging post-Easter Sunday, we decided to create another FREE printable for specific use after Easter Sunday.
We used that printable until last year, when, after discussing how Lent is a more somber and penitential season before the bright and joyous Easter one, we decided that we wanted to change things up a bit.

Get this FREE printable!

My children and I agreed that it would be fitting to create a more Lent-themed printable and to include prayer aids - such as a rosary, a holy medal, a prayer card, etc. - in some of the eggs we distributed.  That way, we could not only spread truth and love, but encourage others to pray.

So, that is what we did.

Then, we headed out...

...and snuck about making reparations for Judas by spreading love and truth instead of ill will.

We look forward to doing it again this year and hope that by sharing our FREE Spy Wednesday Egging printable, you might be able to easily do similarly if you wish!

May your Lenten journey be meaningful and blessed!

Easy Holy Week Activities and Read Togethers

Okay.  I admit it.  I am tired.  Incredibly tired, and, even as my children grow in excitement that we are entering Holy Week and are just seven days away from Easter, I have yet to "catch" their energy.  

I just don't have it in me this year to spend Holy Week connecting the daily Gospel readings to artwork as we have in the past...

Our 2013 Holy Week and Easter Wall

...nor to take special mini field-trips as we've done before (such as going to see a friend's chicken and rooster on the day we read about how Peter will deny Jesus three times before the cock crows.) Thus, I am planning simpler activities to make the Gospel come alive for my children as we live this Holy Week. 

Envisioning the Passion on Sunday

Today's readings tell the story of the Passion, so, after going to Mass, we will likely retell the Resurrection story using our  Sensory Smart Holy Week Eggs ...

Our DIY Holy Week Eggs

...or our Wooden Resurrection Eggs. 

  {Disclosure: Some links which follow are affiliate ones.}

 In the evening, we will likely also revisit the Gospel of John (which we reviewed last year).

Plus, we will add The Donkey and the Golden Light, The Easter Donkey and Little Colt's Palm Sunday to our daily read together time choices.

Service and Visiting Our Lord on Monday

In Monday's Gospel, we will hear about Martha anointing Jesus' feet with costly perfumed oil, Judas of Iscariot complaining about it, and Jesus responding, "Leave her alone.  Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

With the Gospel in mind, we will reflect on the fact that the poor are, indeed, still with us and put our hands to service by going to help pack Easter food boxes.  We will also chat about how Jesus is no longer present with us in person, but how He is present in the Eucharist.  Following our chat, I hope to stop by the church with the children to spend some extra time in prayer in front of the tabernacle.

During our read together time, we will read any selection from our Lent and Easter book basket.

Tuesday Examinations and Affirmations

In Tuesday's Gospel, we will hear Jesus foretell Judas of Iscariot's betrayal of Him and predict that Peter will deny Him three times before the cock crows. 

With my children, we will connect this Gospel story to the later story about how Jesus gives Peter an opportunity to affirm his love for Jesus three times.  Jesus knows our sins.  He forgives our sins.  He seeks to restore our relationship with Him. We will then make personal examinations of conscience before chatting about three extra ways we might affirm our love for Jesus through action today.  Ways decided, we will act on them.

We will also add Follow Me: Peter Lays Down His Net and Petook: An Easter Story to our read together time.

Sneaking About (With a Message of God's Love) on Wednesday

In Wednesday's Gospel, we will hear, again, about how Judas of Iscariot will betray Jesus. 

As has been our tradition in years past, we will think about Judas taking silver and sneaking around to betray Jesus, and, then, choose to do the opposite - sneak around to give something to show love for Jesus.  How?  Why, by going egging of course!

The children have been waiting all throughout Lent to go egging using our FREE printable You've Been Egged sheet.  (They will likely go after Easter using a second, post-Easter version of the sheet, too.)

We will also add The Legend of the Easter Egg to our day's reading.

Washing Feet on Thursday

In Thursday's Gospel we will hear how Jesus washed the apostles' feet and told them to do as He had done.

Of course, we will likely wash one another's feet, too, at Holy Thursday Mass or at home.

Included in our read together time will be A Child's Easter and On That Easter Morning.

Walking with Jesus on Friday 

On Good Friday, we will again hear about Our Lord's Passion.

My daughter will join the choir in singing at Living Stations of the Cross.  We will also, of course, go to Good Friday services, and, if it doe not rain, we'll go on a Good Friday nature walk using a printable from the Unlikely Homeschool using The Easter Story...

...or one I make myself using Easter in the Garden.

Or, if the weather is poor, we may use Stations of the Cross Eggs and read Benjamin's Box.

Awaiting Easter on Saturday 

In the Gospel at the Vigil Mass, we will hear of Jesus resurrected at last.  After Mass, the children will make final preparations in our home for our celebration of Easter and will read the last chapter of Amon's Adventure - a book we have been reading all throughout Lent, which the children wanted to wait until Easter was upon us to finish.

And, then, at last, it will be Easter!  

May your Holy Week be blessed!

Enjoy a Simple Service Activity for the Start of Lent: Pretzel Prayer Pals (with FREE Printable!)

It's no secret that my children enjoy secret acts of service such as passing on the love of St. Nicholas in December, egging people before or after Easter, and, most recently, "Love Bucketing" others between St. Valentine's Day and Lent.  Thus, I suggested to a friend that we guide our children in a simple Pretzel Prayer Pals activity this Lent, where the children can pick a person to be a secret prayer pal for - or one to pray for openly - and can let the person know they are being prayed for through the gift of a bag of 40 pretzels and a card.

My friend loved the Pretzel Prayer Pals idea, so I said I would create a set of printables for us to use.  I did that, today, and am quite pleased with how they came out.


What's in the Free Printable Set?

For the FREE printable Pretzel Prayer Pals set, I wrote up a brief history of the story of pretzels called Pretzels, Prayer and the Lenten Season.  This one-page history describes how some people say that the word pretzel comes from a Latin word meaning "little arms" (folded in a prayer position) while others think it from a Latin word meaning "little reward" (because children were once said to be rewarded for prayers with pretzels.)  The history also encourages readers to recall the idea of pretzels as reminders to pray (as well as to fast and give).  It is meant to be given to the children's Pretzel Prayer Partners.

Also in the set is a poem I wrote that goes like this:

About 1500 years ago, it is said 

A monk made prayer arms out of bread. 

They were the first pretzels and still today 

Pretzels can serve as a reminder to pray. 

A reminder and, sometimes, a promise, too, 

As is the case with this gift for you. 

Indeed, each pretzel in this bag represents 

A prayer that I’ll offer for you this Lent.

This poem is meant to be attached to a bag of 40 pretzels that will be given to the person each child commits to praying for.

Then, as a nod to the idea of pretiola (little rewards), I wrote a shorter poem that goes like this:

Before I eat this pretzel 

I fold my arms to pray 

That my Lenten Prayer Pal 

May be blessed today. 

That way, children can fill a bag of pretzels for themselves, too, which will act as a reminder and an accounting tool for them as they pray 40 times for their Lenten Prayer Pal.  I also made a version of this poem with a blank line in the place of the words "my Lenten Prayer Pal" so that children who wish to write their pal's name down can.

Finally, I wrote another version of the "accounting" poem that goes like this:

For each of these pretzels

I fold my arms to pray 

That my Lenten Prayer Pal 

May be blessed today. 

My thought is that this poem does not mention eating and, so, children whose parents do not wish them to eat pretzels, can use it by crossing off pictured pretzels near the poem.

The simplest way to use these printables, of course, is simply to print the history and poems, cut them out, and tape them to bags filled with 40 pretzels each.  That is exactly what my daughter did when testing out our activity (whereupon I found errors in the printables and, promptly, fixed them before sharing with you and our friends.)

You could also get fancier by laminating the poems or gluing them to cardstock and then stringing pretzels on a purple ribbon.  Or, you could print out fine religious art (like that shared at Art & Theology) and let your children go to town with the poem, cardstock, pretzel art images, markers, glitter, or whatever you like to make cards to be gifted with pretzel bags. 

Recommended Reads 

{Disclosure:  Some links which follow are affiliate ones.}

 

My children and I will be enjoying three picture books this year in connection to our Pretzel Prayer Pal project, too.

Brother Giovanni's Little Reward tells the story of how children learned to pray with pretzel rewards.

Pretzels by the Dozen tells the history of pretzels in rhyming text, focuses children on the Trinity symbolism of the pretzel, and offers a recipe, too.

Walter the Baker is a popular Eric Carle book that has little to do with prayer but makes for a fun pretzel-related read.

Of course, while we read these books, the children will enjoy some gluten-free Gratify pretzels, too, as I have yet to try my hand a making homemade gluten-free pretzels.  (Your tried-and-true recipe suggestions for doing so are most welcome!)

You might also enjoy seeing prayer pretzel traditions and activities that others, like Tracy from A Slice of Smith Life have enjoyed.

I pray you and yours have a meaningful start to Lent and, if you wish, take on a Pretzel Prayer Pal or two as part of your efforts to pray, fast, and give.

This post was shared at the 40 Days of Seeking Him Link up

Traditions to Begin Holy Week

 
I am not quite sure how it is Holy Week already. 

Back in February, I had planned for the children and I to slowly savor our Lenten journey this year, engaging in meaningful prayer, fasting, and almsgiving activities that would keep us continually focused on faith, love, and mercy.  My plan, however, was foiled the busyness of life.

Sure, we prayed (often, but sometimes in too cursory a manner), fasted (with some degree of success), and offered time, talent, and treasure to others (yet did not manage to fulfill all of the children's Lenten chain suggestions).  However, the slow, savoring?  Yea, that does not come easy for me and, therefore, it is not something my children are well-practiced at either. 

As I reflect on the fact that our Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving sometimes fell short and that most of this Lent has already passed us by, I realize that this Holy Week must be spent with more intentional management of our time and greater focus on the final steps Lenten journey.  So, as I look toward the week ahead, I think about which of our past Holy Week traditions we'll choose to revisit and how we might best focus ourselves on faith rather than our propensity toward busyness.  
Our calendar, thankfully, is less full than it often is and, better still, many of the commitments on it are faith-based ones.  That said, there still isn't a lot of white space on our calendar, and I am also well aware that things such as work contracts that are coming due, tax prep that is still undone, and home issues that have literally been tripping us up all beg for time this week.  Yep, the mundane things of this world vie for my attention, threatening to edge out the miraculous moments of Holy Week and Easter.  Meaning sometimes gets lost in the hulabaloo of daily living.  My intent and my prayer is to choose not to let that continue to happen this week.

Starting Holy Week Off with Faith and Family

Today, of course, is a day set aside for faith and family.  Mass, family time, prayer, simply breathing in and exhaling in gratitude.

We have already been blessed by a secret stop by from a friend who left our children palm crosses.  

We were also blessed by participation in the celebration of a beautiful family Mass, where the children received their palms and, asked if they could use them later to dramatize Jesus' entry into Jeruselum.  I am sure the rest of the day will unfold with blessings and traditions, too.

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Praying with The Easter Story

After the children enjoy their Sunday treat of online time, we'll cuddle up to read one of the books from our Lent and Easter collection, most likely The Easter Story, since it gently retells the events leading from when Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem until he rose again.

 

Then, since we'll already be focused on the Easter story, I will ask the children if they'd like to make Holy Week Art again this year...

Of, if they'd like to begin diving into the Word by using our beautiful new wooden Resurrection Eggs.

Likewise, we many also revisit our notebooks from Stickfiguring through Lent with our The Resurrection: Beginner study.

Plus, since it is chilly out and my youngest has been asking to watch The Gospel of John, all week, we might just pop some popcorn and hunker down to watch this new to us film.

 

Fasting while Planning to Give

Every Sunday, our children get a small sweet treat to eat after Mass as well as their "treat time" online or doing something else they want to do.  However, we do not go overboard with too many sweets.  So, they will practice fasting while we chat about who to egg this year and, possibly begin preparing eggs for this fun yearly tradition.  (Please feel free to use our free printable if you would like to start this tradition, too.)

We'll also revisit our Lenten chain strips to see if the suggestions of any of the links we have taken down but have not acted upon might be fulfilled today if we fast from personal pursuits in order to honor our self-made promises.

Giving Time, Talent, and Treasure

Before Mass, we dropped some hand-me-downs off at a collection bin, and, later, I will ask the children to shop our cupboards for items we can bring the pantry tomorrow when we go to help prepare Easter meal boxes for the needy.  We'll also each make an offering to the Labels Are for Jars collection jar we have near our kitchen table.   (I just love this local project to feed the hungry and am so glad our parish priest introduced it to us.)

Please check out Labels Are For Jars, where this logo is taken from.

We'll also make time to visit some elderly neighbors who are unable to make it to Mass.  My daughter wants to bring them palms.

Who knows what other simple ways the Spirit will guide us to pray, fast, and give on this first day of Holy Week as we close our Lenten journey.

Praying for a Meaningful Week

My prayer is that we are able to stay tuned to the Holy Spirit's prompts today and all throughout this Holy Week, avoiding the temptation to allow the the busyness of life to crowd out the beauty of this final part of our Lenten Journey.

May your Holy Week be blessed and the remainder of your Lenten Journey lead you to Easter joy!