Unfortunately, I only have one kids-in-action shots of these three activities since two of them were placed at a table quite far from where I was managing more active games. However, few "cute kids" photos does not mean you cannot benefit from having the FREE PRINTABLE challenge sheets and hearing how the activities were set up and went, so here goes...
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All fifteen challenges were made to be used in conjunction with the saint images, prayers and facts found in Prayers to My Favorite Saints (St. Joseph Picture Books), a beautiful, inexpensive softcover book that typically sells for $1.50 or less. However, whether you have a copy of the book or not, the challenges can easily be put together using the FREE PRINTABLE challenge sheets I am sharing and minimal supplies and prep time.
I hope you enjoy today's set of games: Make St. John the Baptist's Sheep, Make St. Maria Goretti's Lilies, and Cross a River like St. Christopher.
Make St. John the Baptist's Sheep
I knew we had some tactile, craft-lovers coming to our party, so this activity was more of a sensory-art project for them than an actual game. Basically, children had to use their fine motor skills and imaginations to create sheep, since St. John the Baptist, who is a patron saint to sheep, baptized many, including "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world".
Set up consisted of putting out the challenge sheet, some black paper, scissors, cotton balls, light colored crayons, glue in small cups, and a few pre-cut black hand shapes. The idea was for young children to trace their hands on the black paper and, then, glue cotton balls to it, so their thumb shape would become a sheep's head and their finger shapes a sheep's legs. Meanwhile, older children could take the challenge anywhere they wished to, creating 2-d or 3-d sheep designs of their choice.I purposely made the challenge sheet general, not stating the actual materials, so that in future years I could rotate all manner of supplies through a station like this: clothes pins, cotton, and markers or paper plates, black paper, and recycled packing peanuts... You come up with the supplies and the children come up with ideas for using it!
Having sensory-based craft challenges like this proved a draw for a good number of the children at our party!
Make St. Maria Goretti's Lilies
In honor of the young martyr who lived a life of purity and kindness, and is said to have appeared to a man in his dream to give him white lilies, thereby acting as a catalyst for the man's conversion, this challenge was another craft challenge station at which children made paper lilies.
Set up was simple: challenge sheet, white paper, scissors, green chenille stems, and color sticks.
The lilies the kids made were like the handprint ones described in our How Can Picture Books + Crafts Inspire Kindess and Service? post.
With paper plates and some other basic supplies, they could have made one like those described in our A Simple Seasonal Craft: A Paper Plate Lily Pencil Toppers How-To post.
Cross a River like St. Christopher
Set up was simple: a baskets with two babydolls in it, a blue sheet to represent the ocean, and the challenge sheet.
The challenge equally simple - balance the babydoll on a shoulder while while walking across the river and back. This ease of play was purposeful. I wanted even our youngest children to feel successful at a challenge that required full-body movement. Older children could make the challenge a bit more interesting by racing without slipping on the "river" or dropping the baby!
As with the other games in this set, I left flexibility on the game challenge sheet description, so I can adapt the challenge to be more difficult or sensory-based if I wish to in the future. How? By changing out the "river". Think blue balls in a ball pit, blue streamers hanging down for a deep river, etc. Always, imagination and flexibility based upon the ages, skills, and sensory needs of participants that may be coming is key to planning!
So, there you have it. Three more challenges for your next All Saints Day party! Alongside more traditional game challenges, skill-based challenges and open-ended building challenges, the three shared here made for an ideal mix of activities for the children at our party last year. I hope one, or all of them, may suit the children you may celebrate All Saints Day with this year!
More Games and Free Printable Game Challenge Sheets
If you missed the first three game challenge sheets and explanations, find them at 3 All Saints Day Game Challenges {with FREE PRINTABLE!
If you missed the next three, check out 3 More All Saints Day Party ideas with FREE PRINTABLE Game Challenge Sheets.
As far as the final six challenges in this series go, I cannot promise I will have them posted before All Saints Day this year, since my children's activities schedule is quite busy over the next two days. However, I will share them eventually. I promise! So, do check back to find some more skills-based and movement-based challenges yet to come!
Which saints would you like to see game challenges for? I have six more coming here and am happy to create more by request!