The Transfiguration
[Caroline] really wanted to do a craft for Transfiguration, but it's tricky to find good “children’s liturgy- friendly” crafts out there, so I had to come up with something on my own. Inspired by the “Jesus calms the storm” page that we did in June of last year that folded to hide sections, I thought we should do something where we would have the “ordinary” Jesus folded over a picture of the Transfigured Jesus.
I started by looking for a suitable picture, one that had Jesus with James, Peter, and John, but also with Moses and Elijah. I particularly wanted one that had an obvious Moses and Elijah. There are a lot of Transfiguration colouring pages out there, but it took a while to find one that had all of the elements I wanted. I finally decided on this one:
The template for this picture cam from this website. If you want to use this template, simply click on the picture above, and a link should open up.
The French writing surrounding the drawing translates to:
The French writing surrounding the drawing translates to:
“This is my son, my Chosen; listen to him.”
I kept it since my daughter is in a French Immersion school, and figured I could advise the children to cut it off if they didn’t want it.
Preparation
other side I cut out Moses and Elijah, keeping only Jesus and the apostles in the picture. This ended up being the "ordinary Jesus" picture.
Supplies
- construction paper (any colour)
- Transfiguration template (cut ones and intact ones)
- markers, pencil crayons, etc.
- glue sticks
- scissors (only for preparatory work)
Instructions
Have the kids colour in both pictures, making sure the picture with Moses and Elijah has Jesus in white clothes, as specified in the story. Take a piece of construction paper and fold it so that it has two flaps in the front. On the inside, the kids can glue the “transfigured” picture while on the outside they can put the “ordinary” Jesus picture. The ordinary picture on the front should only have half the picture glued onto one flap. That way the picture will overlap the two flaps, but the flaps can still open. The finished prodcut will have the ordinary Jesus on top, but lift the flaps and inside you will find the transfigured Jesus.
Reflections
For Children’s Liturgy that day, I read the Transfiguration extract from the parish copy of Tomie dePaola’s Book of Bible Stories. We discussed the meaning behind the Transfiguration - how going up to the mountain is a symbol of being closer to God through prayer, going to Mass, etc., and how doing this shows us God in our lives. I say “we discussed”, but I really did most of the talking. I think if I were to do this again, I would try to discuss it with the children while they were colouring rather than using up time trying to discuss it beforehand.
The project itself was pretty good. We were able to get most things done within the specified time frame. When there was about five minutes left, I told the children to glue everything in place so that more colouring could happen at home if required. I think they all turned out well, and I think the kids liked the idea of being about to reveal the Transfigured Jesus.
Cheers,
Caroline
The project itself was pretty good. We were able to get most things done within the specified time frame. When there was about five minutes left, I told the children to glue everything in place so that more colouring could happen at home if required. I think they all turned out well, and I think the kids liked the idea of being about to reveal the Transfigured Jesus.
Cheers,
Caroline