Just an update before I begin:
This will be the last blog post until September. This is the majority of the kids' last week of school, and Caroline, Lyse, and myself have decided that it's a good time for us to take a vacation as well.
This will be the last blog post until September. This is the majority of the kids' last week of school, and Caroline, Lyse, and myself have decided that it's a good time for us to take a vacation as well.
Two days ago, June 24th, was the feast day of Saint John the Baptist, and I thought I would take this Sunday to discuss the prophet. There were only four kids at the liturgy this week, and despite the oldest child being seven or eight, and probably having been to a few years worth of church and children's litugy, none of them seemed to recall who John the Baptist was. I reminded them that John is usually mentioned closer to Christmastime, during Advent, when the story of Mary and Elizabeth is told, as well as just after Christmas, in January, when the Gospel of the baptism of Jesus is read.
I didn't necessarily want to focus on either of those events since they are discussed at other times of the year. Instead I wanted to focus on John specifically, so I talked more about him as a person, including his growing up: his time in the desert when he wore camel hair, and survived on locusts and wild honey.
I designed this colouring page template for the liturgy:
I didn't necessarily want to focus on either of those events since they are discussed at other times of the year. Instead I wanted to focus on John specifically, so I talked more about him as a person, including his growing up: his time in the desert when he wore camel hair, and survived on locusts and wild honey.
I designed this colouring page template for the liturgy:
My usage of the grasshopper, bumblebee, and cactus is obvious, but the reason I put the dove and quote in there was to help the kids remember that John was the last prophet before Jesus, and his existence had been prophesized by Isaiah. In order to enrich the activity, while they coloured, I read to them from one of the illustrated collections of bible stories that St. Mark's owns.
Feel free to download and use this colouring page, but please give us credit (http://liturgylessons.weebly.com/).
Feel free to download and use this colouring page, but please give us credit (http://liturgylessons.weebly.com/).
Something I forgot to put into the template is dotted lines. There should be dotted lines between every outer hexagon. Once the kids cut out the main picture, they can cut down each dotted line and fold the hexagon along the base line. The final shape of the structure should look like this:
The idea for the structure is from this website. I wanted the final structure to look reminiscent of a beehive - hence the hexagons. The best way to achieve this shape and structure is to use a heavier paper, like cardstock.
The activity ended up taking the right amount of time for the younger kids (aged 3-5), but was a bit quick for the older kids (aged 6-8). Luckily I had brought a second activity along, namely a word search from this webiste. If you are going to use the word search, please give credit to sermons4kids :)
The older kids found the word search quite challenging, and didn't locate more than a few words before it was time to wrap up. If anyone has any suggestions as to how to increase the complexity of the beehive activity, I am all ears.
Comments and suggestions are always appreciated. See you all again in the fall. Have a refreshing and memorable summer! :)
- Gillian
Comments and suggestions are always appreciated. See you all again in the fall. Have a refreshing and memorable summer! :)
- Gillian