It's Here!! Advent and Christmas People and Their Stories Pt.III - Fun learning for this week and beyond

Get it NOW!  Shell from Thinking Love, No Twaddle blog has finished the last portion of her Little Lesson: Advent and Christmas People and their stories Part III!

Father reminded us in his homily yesterday about doing our duty as Catholics - and it wasn't what I thought he was going to say.  I thought he was going to talk about going to church or confession, but he didn't.  He explained that many do not understand what the word "duty" means, especially in today's world, which gives the word a negative connotation.  He easily explained that means doing what needs to be done, in the right spirit, for the glory of God and that duties should directly correspond to our vocation. 

At this time of year many are overwhelmed in things that they think need to be done - what they sometimes consider "duties."  Keeping God at the forefront of every hour of the day can get lost among shopping, wrapping, standing in line, cooking. and entertaining.  Let us help by suggesting you take a bit of time out this week to teach a Little Lesson on Advent and Christmas to your family (or even just sit down by yourself and go through the lesson on your own.)

This third installment of Advent and Christmas People and Their Stories focuses on St. Nicholas, St. Stephen, the angels, St. Wenceslas, St. John the Baptist, the Baptism of our Lord, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the use of chiaroscuro.  You can expect an engaging text and many opportunities for discussion with the kiddos or quiet independent pondering.  Shell has thoughtfully left spaces throughout the text to keep notes or jot down points of interest.  Carefully chosen artwork images really bring this lesson to life as well.

As always the little extras make this lesson even sweeter including the prayer to our Guardian Angel, English and Latin version of the lyrics of Good King Wenceslas and three sets of quick quiz cards for review and narration opportunities.  Download this part of the lesson or all three of them now.

Little Lesson of Advent and Christmas Part III
Little Lesson of Advent and Christmas Part II
Little Lesson of Advent and Christmas Part I

So while many people are busily bustling around preparing for Christmas, we are taking things slow this week and trying to keep God at the forefront of every hour of the day.  We are having our final choir practices for Christmas Eve Mass, listening to real carols as we relax in front of the Christmas tree playing board games, watching classic Christmas specials on DVD, and participating in our church cleaning and decorating for Christmas. (Oh! It is such a wonderful time of fellowship and activity for the family.  Many families from our parish get together to clean all of the nooks and crannies and put up all of the beautiful decorations for Christmas.  Then we pile into the hall for a wonderful lunch altogether.)
May you have a wonderful week of relaxing preparation for Jesus Birthday - however your family chooses to get ready for it!  :)
Blessings,
Kalei

Great Little Lesson of Advent Stories

Advent is upon us and what a better way to celebrate it than with a little lesson perfect for family learning.  Advent and Christmas, People and their stories is a great little lesson written by Shell of   Thinking Love, No Twaddle blog. 

In her lesson Shell reminds us that Advent is a time of waiting and preparation but it is also a time for reflection.  In this unique lesson she examines the people who have been a part of the original story of Christmas from Scripture, tradition or even myths.  The people she highlights include:  St. Anne, St. Joachim, Anna the Prophetess, St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Zachariah, St. John the Baptist and others including the shepherds in the field,   The events highlighted include the Immaculate Conception, the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity and Circumcision of Jesus, the Nativity and Circumcision of St. John the Baptist and more.

This file is 49 pages in length and is designed for double sided printing so that you can cuddle up on the couch and read this like a book to the kiddos.  You could very easily print this single sided as well.  Some great features of this double sided printable lesson include:

-A wonderfully engaging text,
-Scripture references with a space to make notes on the page,
-Notebooking sheets,
-Lapbook pieces,
-Art lesson and picture study prompts,
-Discussion questions,
-Greek references for fun factual learning and more.

I must say that my favorite piece in this lesson is the Family Tree of Jesus!  (You can't see me, but I'm clapping.)  Oh! This will be great for the kiddos to see simply the comparison of Mother Mary's side of the Holy Family and St. Joseph's side as well.

My family and I are so excited to have received this in the inbox to share with you all today.  In a gesture of thanksgiving, please keep Shell and her family in your prayers. 

Download this Little Lesson: Advent and Christmas, People and their stories now.
See other Little Lessons and Resources from Shell.

Please feel free to share this post with others who may find it useful!

Blessings,
Kalei

New Sets of Christmas Themed Writing Paper

Writing letters for Christmas helps children build writing and penmanship as well as tells others they are important and valued.

Writing letters to relatives, friends and those who help us throughout the year has long been a task that adults normally take on.  But why not encourage your learners to do it as well?  By putting pen (or pencil) to paper, children can show appreciation and charity toward others, improve their penmanship and grammar skills and of course, feel festive.

Today we offer six new holiday writing paper sets including a beautiful nativity set which utilizes our own parish's stained glass windows.  Each set offers three different line spacing choices for writers of all skill levels.  There are large and intermediate interlined sheets as well as notebook ruled lines.  Portrait orientation is used for all the sets.

Perhaps your writer would like to send a note to someone to:

-Tell them about their current school year or the past year.

-Tell them about special accomplishments they have achieved.

-Tell them thank you for the recipients acts of kindness or charity.

-Tell them they were thinking of them or miss them - especially relatives who can't join you for the Christmas festivities.

Perhaps a note of thanks may be in order to their siblings, priest, instructor, coach, babysitter or neighbour.  Even an invitation to a Christmas party could be written out as well.

Here are some of the samples of the sets.  Keep in mind that the full sets have three pages to a set.

For those how love and use notebooking, you can bind numerous sheets together in folders, duo-tangs, binders, or comb spines to create writing notebooks with a fun and vibrant appearance. You can also trim the sheets and paste them into drawing books or sketch books.

Click HERE to see our entire collection of Holiday Themed Writing Papers.


Blessings,

That Resource Team

Easy Printable Booklet Helps Prepare Us for the Sacrament of Reconciliation

Brand new resource booklet is the perfect printable to help prepare young Catholics to meet our Lord in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

As we have just entered into the third week of Advent, we are growing closer to Christmas as each day advances.  Part of our preparation for our Lord's coming is not only preparing our homes but also preparing our soul to meet Him as well.  One way many Catholics can spiritually prepare for Christmas is to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Children should also be included in this preparation if they have received this sacrament before or if they they are given the opportunity to receive it for the first time perhaps as part of their preparation to receive their First Holy Communion. 

Since our own parish is getting ready for our seasonal penitential service tomorrow evening, we thought that this printable would be the perfect resource for families.  To help parents and catechists get their children ready for the reception penance, we have just finished creating a neat little printable booklet called, Meeting Our Lord in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  

Simply print out the sheets, cut in half and fold pages in half.  This four sheet booklet is printed with four pages per sheet. Page numbers can be found at the bottom of the pages. 

Stack the folded pages (as shown left) in order according to the page numbers and then sandwich them between the folded cover page, with the title facing outward. 

Staple at left where designated with 3 dotted lines.

The booklet provides an introduction to Sacrament of Confession, the dialogue that occurs between the penitent and the priest, popular prayers, as well as an examination of conscience based on the Ten Commandments.  There is even a little page to put some notes or thoughts you may have.

This booklet is perfect for CCD classes or first time penitents.

We hope that this resource can help Catholics everywhere prepare to meet our Lord in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Click Here to download this Reconciliation prep booklet.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

Christmas Themed Writing Resources to Encourage Your Learner

Writing art narration cards help build writing, drawing, penmanship and language arts skills all at the same time.

This style of resource is fast becoming a favorite in our home and it seems many of your homes as well.  Built on the ideas of the Charlotte Mason (CM) method of learning, these little sheets turn into art cards while promoting creative writing using picture prompts.  A portion of a picture is provided.  Children finish off the picture using their art skills and just about any medium they prefer - pencils, crayons, markers.  They then write about the action in the picture they created or some other aspect about the picture - setting details, plot, character details.  This activity can also be done in reverse order as well.  You could ask the learner to write a paragraph about the graphic provided and then have them finish the picture based on what they have written. 

Completed pictures can be shared amongst siblings or learners.  They could play games like guess what`s going on in the picture or try and guess what a good title may be for the card based on the writing or illustrations or both.  If your child does a set of cards, they can be stacked and bound on the left using brads, rings, a folder, comb bind spine, or even hand sewn with red or green yarn using holes from a hand punch.  It`s all about the skill building, fun and fellowship that can be gotten from a few sheets of paper.

We hope that this helps with your schooling and skill building in some way.

Click HERE to see our entire collection of Narration Art Cards including two separate Christmas sets.  One smaller set features black and white more vintage style images and the other brand new set of 25 sheets features colour images.

Today`s Reflective Thought - Being a Good Ambassador for our Lord

Many wonder why we would do such a thing as make resources and give them away, no strings attached, to other homeschooling families, catechists, educators, and teachers.  To explain, we simply share this daily antiphon for the Magnificat with you:

Behold, the King will come, the Lord of the earth,

and He will remove from us the yoke of our captivity.

I always explain to our children and those in my CCD classes that once we are marked with the sign of Christ, we become like His special ambassadors.  When we put on a chain with a crucifix or cross, we publicly mark ourselves as Christians and Catholics whether we are in church, in learning time, or in the line at the grocery store - we represent our Lord.  As ambassadors for our Lord, it is our job to help carry out His mission. 

The antiphon above reminds us that our Lord comes to remove the burden of sins, trials and hardships from our shoulders as He offers to put them onto His own.  Following as closely as we can to our Lord, we try to take the burden of finding good homeschooling resources off of your shoulders and put it upon on our own.  As part of our online ministry, we try to create resources that can help those who are Catholic or Christian but also call to the hearts of those who do not yet know our Lord.  We offer kind support to newbies, those worn out from homeschooling, as well as those who love homeschooling.  We don`t offer a full curriculum - not yet, anyways..lol.. - but it`s nice to know my Master`s degree in education isn`t going to waste even as I meet virtually and physically with homeschoolers looking for help, advice, or just a listening ear.

As you don your chains with crosses and crucifixes to leave your home and mark yourself as a follower and believer, I challenge you to remember that you are an ambassador for our Lord.  Keep this awesome thought in mind, YOU may be the ONLY representative for our Lord that someone who doesn`t know Him may meet. WOW!!  What an awesome job we have.  This is why we do what we do.  We want to be the best ambassador for our Lord that we can be, even for someone who doesn`t know Him yet. :)

Please keep us and our ministry in your prayers!!

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

Feel free to contact me through our website HERE.



Christmas Themed Worksheets to Make Grammar, Phonics and Math Festive Fun

Christmas themed worksheets make learning about nouns, adjectives, phonics and math fun and festive.

Many families are finishing off their lessons this week and the beginning of next week.  As we get closer to the big day of the celebration of the nativity of our Lord, it is harder for children to stay focused.  As homeschoolers and teachers, we know that we need to finish off what we had previously started, either to be accountable to someone else or to ourselves.  This week we thought that we would try and share a few schooly helps to keep things on track.  These fun printables are holiday themed and easy to use.  Let's see what we can share here. . .

How about a nice review of adjectives?  This is one of the faves here in our little homeschool.  Because writing as well as drawing skills can be used to complete these sheets, they are always fun to do.  This template could be laminated and used over and over.  Children simply draw or write a noun for a person, place or thing in the boxes provided and write a few adjectives for each.  There are three Christmas designs to choose from including the little boy on the left, St. Nicholas, and a Christmas tree.

Click HERE to get this and other sheets focusing on adjectives.


Thinking of the upcoming visits of relatives during the season?  How about using our Proper Names worksheet?  Children draw pictures of family members and practice using their proper names remembering of course to capitalize titles etc.  This is one of those sheets that you may end up adding to your proof of learning folder for the year.  It will bring smiles in the years to come as you all reminisce of your homeschooling days. 
Click HERE to get this and other sheets focusing on proper nouns.

Would you like to focus on the Jesus' Holy Family instead of your own?  We've got a sheet for you there as well.  Children use this sheet and others to learn about common nouns in families as they learn about our Lord`s family here on earth.  A word bank is provided for learners.  Learning about the Holy Family is essential at this time of year.  You will find examples for Jesus`s father, mother, grandmother, grandparents, and cousin.

Click HERE to get this and other sheets focusing on common nouns.

How about some phonics help?  Our Christmas vowel tree worksheet set is perfect for learners of many different ages and is simple to use.  Simply select a vowel sheet and fill in the missing blanks to create words.  Some vowels have been provided and learners need to put in the additional letters.  The vowel sounds could be for long or short vowel words.  This template could also be heat laminated and used over and over using a wipe off pen, dry-erase pen, fat washable marker, or even a simple crayon.

Click HERE to get this and other sheets focusing on vowel sounds. 

Counting down to Christmas can be difficult for all of us with the anticipation and excitement continually brewing in our hearts and minds.  We can at least make counting up to a hundred a bit easier.  If you need Advent math counters, then we have a set for you.  This set features Christmas trees with purple numbers from 0-100.  This is a simple set and does not feature any mathematical symbols.

Click HERE to get this counter set and see other sets as well.

 

Need even more counting practice? How about using our 100 Math squares counting set.  We have a new blank themed sheet (pictured left) as well as a sheet with numbers provided.  Answers are provided on a separate sheet.  These can easily be laminated and used over and over again.

Click HERE to download this set now.

We hope that these sheets help bring smiles to your school day while still providing solid practice in language arts, phonics and math skills.  Join us tomorrow for Christmas themed writing resources.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

Here's a little Christmas planner to keep things organized this month.

Keeping things organized can help cut down on stress and prevent holiday fatigue.

Keeping things in order is a skill that many begin learning as children.  Clean as you go.  Close what you open, pick up what you drop, replace what you use and so forth.  When things get busy or even hectic at times, we sometimes forget the simple little rules that help keep things running smoothly. 

During the holiday seasons of Advent and Christmas, there are more things that require attention.  More cooking to be done, Church functions to participate in, Masses to attend, traditions to uphold, visitours to entertain, shopping to be done and so on.  How can we keep everything straight without going over budget or grumpy?  Michelle from Thinking Love, No Twaddle blog sent over these festive planning sheets to keep us all on track.  They are simple and fun.  They can be used in a myriad of ways.  Here is a peek at the pages.

Simply print out the pages you need, fill in and post where you and the family can see it.  You may want to print out one calendar page for each need.  Perhaps one for schooling details, one for church details, and one for family/community functions - visitours, co-op meeting, Christmas parties etc.

Thanks so much, Michelle, for sharing this with us.  This is just what we needed in our family! :)

May God bless you for your charity and your willingness to reach and help other homeschooling families everywhere.

Click HERE to download the Christmas plannings pages now.

Click HERE to see all of the wonderful creations that she has shared with us.

 Plan and Stay Focused

Today's reflective thought comes from St.Teresa of Avila who puts it all so eloquently for those of us who have lots on our plate during this wonderful season of Advent.
"Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you, all things are passing...God alone suffices" - St. Teresa of Avila

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

Let Us Help You Prepare Your Table for Your Next Christmas Party or Family Gathering - Free Printable Table Setting Goodies

Setting the table for Christmas festivities has never been so easy or fun.  Don't forget to let the kids help!!

Advent is a time of preparation.  So why not give your table a few thoughts and moments of preparation as well.  Dress your table for a kids' Christmas party, a Sunday Advent meal with the in-laws, a fun party at church or in the classroom.  You could even use these cute printables for your big Christmas meal too!  These printables are all bright and festive and very easy for children to prepare.  Why not let them help with the festivities?  There are quite a few pieces that we are offering including napkin rings, coasters, place mats, place setting cards, and stemmed glass markers.  We have tried to include a few different versions of items for children as well as adults.  These resources can help make clean up after a meal very easy.  Simply save laminated resources for re-use next year or recycle the worn out pieces to the bin.   We hope you find them fun and useful.

Help guests find their place at the table quite easily with these cute and bright place setting cards.  We have included six different versions to accommodate almost any guest who may pop in.  Simply print out, cut apart and write in the name on the card.  Fold and place at their special spot on the table.  We recommend using cardstock when preparing this resource as it will stand up quite easily by itself.

Click Here to download fun place setting cards.

Festive coasters help to preserve furniture as well as bring smiles to faces of all ages.  These resources come two to a page and can be printed out and heat laminated for yearly re-use.  The thicker the laminant used, the more sturdy the coaster will be.  If you will not be laminating this resource, a quick tip to think about is printing our resources using a laser jet rather than an ink jet as it will prevent ink from smearing when the glasses sweat.  These could also be disposable as well.

Click Here to download festive coasters.

Help mark your guest's formal table glass with their name.  This prevents mix ups and helps when it's time to refill them.  Many families choose to allow children to use stem glasses at formal meals filling them with punch, water with a slice of lime, or for our European visitours, wine.  We have included three different versions of this resource which you simply print out, cut apart and mark with names.  There are five markers per page.

Click Here to download the stem glass markers.

Finish off your special setting with nicely folded napkins.  If you are using cloth napkins, simply roll up like a crepe or even a burrito and wrap our napkin ring around it.  We have included two different styles and aligned everything so that cutting them apart is simple using a cutter.  Wrap and close with double or single sided tape.  There are four rings to a page.

Click Here to download the napkin rings.

Keep your table festive yet clean with these printable place mats.  Available in two piece versions that you simply glue or tape together or in a larger ledger size (11x17).  Each version comes both with and without the traditional table blessing.  We've included the blessing to help those who may not be familiar with it participate in the table grace.

Click Here to download a ledger version of this resource.

Click Here to download a ledger version of this resource w/out prayer.

Click Here to download a 2 page version of this resource.
Click Here to download a 2 page version of this resource w/out prayer.

Christmas Table Linens
Chistmas Dinnerware

 What is YOUR best effort?

Today's moment of reflection comes as a simple reminder of how we are all called to prepare for the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ in Advent.  How can we BEST prepare for our Lord's birthday?  What is the BEST we can offer to God?

The second week of Advent focuses on peace.  During the Advent and Christmas seasons we can lose the peace that should be filling our hearts because of all of the tasks that we intend to accomplish perfectly.  And of course the bigger your family or more involved in activities you are-- you guessed it, the more you struggle to keep the peacefulness of the season.  We battle with trying to keep old family traditions alive or trying to come up with new ones.  We try to keep the splendor of years gone by with decorations or activities that take us back to our childhood and we are disappointed many times when we can't mimic or create the "Best Christmas we ever had" for our own children.  So today the reflection I share doesn't come from the Bible, it doesn't come from a great saint, it simply comes from our Lord's words to my heart in Eucharistic Adoration - which I try to participate in weekly. 

"But Lord, I want to give you my best," I said.

"Your best is the most you can do without falling into sin," He lovingly replied.

Thank you heavenly Father for keeping things so simple for me to understand. :)

Have a great day and just try your BEST, my friends!!

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

Create a Festive and Easy Holiday Wreath With Your Children

Christmas wreath helps children be creative while reinforcing that God and His love for us eternal.

Advent and Christmas are very special times of year for Christians. Advent is our time of preparation for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Christmastide is a celebration of His arrival. Today we have a simple decorative project that you can use to celebrate either aspect of this season - Advent or Christmas. It's fun, easy and festive.

Please note:  the object of this wreath is to involve children in decorating for Christmas. The evergreen wreath symbolizes everlasting life that God gives us. The finished wreath need not be perfect or fit for a department store. Children can decorate the wreaths by sorting and developing a theme they like. Let them group and regroup ornaments already in your collection or have them create special masterpieces of their own using Melty Beads (like we did), paper cutouts, craft foam and glitter and glue.  We always try to keep fun at the forefront of any project.

WHAT YOU NEED

This project will require the following:

1 - 12" pine wreath (either faux or real varieties will work)

5-8 Christmas ornaments of one theme (either homemade or store bought is fine)

1m of ribbon or decorative cording for decoration

Wire Christmas ornament hangers, one for each ornament and a few to secure ribbons and other fun doodads you may have in your craft supplies.

1 - Over the door wreath hook, if placing on door

WHAT TO DO

Step 1: Gather, make or buy ornaments of one theme. To avoid a cluttered appearance, choose no more 6 large or 8 smaller ornaments. See Possible Wreath Themes below for ideas.

Step 2: Decide how you will attach your ribbon or cording.  You will either wrap it around or throughout the wreath or attached it prefab style.  If you are wrapping the wreath with ribbon or cording, do so now before putting on the ornaments.  If you are going to tie the ribbon into a bow and then attach it, then affix it to the wreath after the ornaments are put on.

Step 3: Using a wire ornament hook, attach each ornament to the front of the wreath. Secure well to prevent breakage. If you are decorating a door with your wreath, remember that some shaking will occur with the opening/closing movement, so be sure to secure everything on the wreath well.

Step 4: Hang on door using the over the door wreath hook or hang on wall using a picture frame hanger.

POSSIBLE WREATH THEMES

Here are some ideas to help you get started on possible themes.  Some of them are not traditional, but it is the wreath that is the symbol.  How we decorate it can be left to preference.  Think we're crazy?  Just take a look at your Hallmark, department, grocer or craft store.  You will see tons of different ideas that people suggest we purchase for our decorating needs.  Why not let the kids be creative or just regroup and reuse your favourites from your collection.

RELIGIOUS THEME IDEAS

Stars -  It shown brightly in the night sky to guide people to Christ's birth place.

Shepherds - They were among the first to hear of our Lord's birth.

Bells - They ring out to tell the good news of our Saviour's birth.

Crèche pieces - Nothing tells the Christmas story better than a Nativity scene. (See our version at left.)

Angels - The angel not only tells our Blessed Mother of what is to come, but they appear to the shepherds in the fields as well.

*If you celebrate St. Nicholas' feast day, you could also choose St. Nicholas as a wreath theme and then just leave it up for the entire season.

FUN SEASONAL THEME IDEAS

Coloured Doodads - small little craft doo-dads in all one colour - purple & pink for advent, red & green for Christmas, or stick with the traditional silver & gold if you .

All of a kind - Different sized jingle bells, bows, folded paper fans of Christmas wrapping paper, reindeer, gingerbread men or even a cultural item such as a Polynesian gourd.

Paper snowflakes of various shapes and sizes are always in style.

Children's choice or favourites - Any favourite selection of ornaments. Perhaps the child may select all ornaments made for a particular year or by a particular person over the years or around a learning theme they like science, cooking.  For example, the selection shown at the left are all things near and dear to one of our children who loves animals, plants, hugs, and presents. :)

Characters - all of one type of character from popular culture. They could include characters from cartoons, a book, TV or video series. Children can draw and cut out or create from craft clay their favourite characters from A Christmas Carol, the Mitten, Emit Otter's Jug Band Christmas, the Little House Series, works from Beatrix Potter, Peanuts®, Webkinz®, The NHL, Sesame Street or whomever. Get some fun, quality art and family time together while decorating for the holidays. This is a great way to incorporate a current unit study with the holiday as well.

LEARNING THEME IDEAS

The Saints - If you use time line figures or really like holy cards, you can create a few special paper ornament figures for a wreath all about different saints associated with Christmas or charity - St. Nicholas, St. Stephen, St. Elizabeth of Hungary for example.

Historical Figures - If you use time line figures, create a few special ones for a wreath all about Christmas during the Middle Ages or at the turn of the 20th century.

*Do not fear. Remember that the Wreath is the Christmas symbol not necessarily the things that go on it. By giving learners creative freedom, you invite more festive helpers, family bonding and memories to be created.

Let us slow down today and reflect on Revelations 22:12. 

God is eternal and so is His love for us as our evergreen wreath reminds us, but our real heartfelt desire today and everyday should be to have Him to say to us, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." 

Blessings,

That Resource Team



Decorate Your Favourite Area in Your Home With a Prayer Garland

Prayer is a wonderful way to bring the true spirit of the season to the hearts and mind of all who visit your home this season.

Prayer is simply lifting our hearts and minds to God.  There are many different purposes and methods of prayer, each bringing to light our thoughts about our Lord and the intimate relationship we have with Him.  During Advent we are called to prepare ourselves in mind, body and spirit to receive and rejoice in the birth of our Lord.  One way to rejoice in the hope of our Saviour is to pray for others.  We could pray in thanksgiving for their presence in our lives, in supplication for their needs, in contemplation for their friendship, services, or talents that God has allowed them to share with us or we could even pray for heavenly eternal rest for a loved one who has passed away.

As we get busier with tasks of the Advent and Christmas season, we can often forget to pray for others.  We remember our own families because we see them daily, but we may forget others who may really need our prayers or who have helped us throughout the year like our pastor, fellow parishioners or homeschooling families, or even our neighbours who have mowed our yard or helped shovel the snow for us once in a while. Why not create a prayer garland to help remind you and your children to pray for others.  It is very simple to do, it looks very festive and it can be a great gift to others.

To complete this project simply trace and cut out the right and left hands of various members of your family on green and red construction paper.  Cut out multiple sets of each persons hands.  Overlap and glue into place forming an evergreen style garland.  Affix to the wall with putty, a thumbtack, or rings of removable masking tape or painters tape. 

Now for the stars.  You can either use stars that you trace onto yellow construction paper or use the Star of David template we provided below and have the kids simply colour them in; then cut them out.  They will be affixed to the garland once it is put up on the wall. 

Write the name of someone you wish to pray for on each individual star.  Using red ink or green ink to write on the yellow stars stands out quite well. 

You will see in the photo above that we added a few embellishments to make the project even more festive - some ribbon and a few honeycomb paper bells.  Feel free to be creative.  You may decide to make a full garland or just parts as we have in our sample picture.

Note:  If you put your garland around a window in your kitchen and you tend to cook a lot, the heat and condensation from the kitchen will cause the finger "needles" from your hand prints to curl a bit adding a very nice effect.

If you decide to place your garlands in the dining room or kitchen, you may even want to adopt praying for your "Christmas Stars" when you gather for meals.

We hope this helps you to keep a bit more relaxed and Christ-centered during this wonderful season. 

Click Here to download the Star of David template page.

Prayer can be that gift of hope we all so desperately need in today's modern world. Perhaps you may want to reflect today on John 1:5

"And the light shineth in darkness: and the darkness did not comprehend it."

Blessings,

That Resource Team

Create Your Own Printable Advent Wreath Using Simple Art Supplies You Have at Home

Our completed Advent wreath with labels for the weeks.

Simple Advent wreath craft reminds children of the hope, peace, joy and love that the Nativity of our Lord brings.

Years ago when our oldest loved to finger paint,  we created a very simple but effective Advent wreath.  Almost ten years later we are still using the same original pieces...lol.  It's all about creating the family memories together not the perfection of the project.  (We'll leave that to the perfections of God the Father in His projects like a snowflake, a sunrise, a spider's web, a breaking wave . . .)

This Advent wreath craft is simple.  Using large green sheets of finger paintings, I created a template of a holly leaf, traced it all over the dried green finger paintings and then cut them out.  My child added glitter glue for the veins of the leaf and we let that dry.  I then arranged and stapled all the leaves onto our bulletin board.  I cut out 3 strips of purple felt and one of pink and stapled them onto the bulletin board.  I placed a pre-made bow or two on the bottom of the wreath.  I cut four flames from a scrap of yellow felt and stapled one onto the wreath each week.  You could also add a piece of paper each week as pictured above to solidify the meaning of the candles.  Voila, a simple Advent wreath.  We liked it so much that we took it off of the bulletin board using a stapler remover and have used them every year since.

**If finger painting seems to daunting, keep it simple.  You could complete this project in an hour or so if you used coloured construction paper or even white paper using crayons.

So simple and yet the purpose of the wreath shines for all to see, prepare and make way for the coming of our Lord!!

Today we offer the template pieces for you to either print and trace onto felt or construction paper or just print them out and have the kids colour and prepare them.  Keep in mind these are scanned in from my original so they are simple black and white drawings.  Simply print out as many leaf pieces as you would like for your desired sized wreath.  You could also glue the pieces onto poster board as an alternative as well. 

The main thing is to get a wreath of some kind up to help tell and explain to your children about the hope, peace, joy and love of the arrival of our Lord that we celebrate on the 25th of December.


Click Here to download wreath craft candles and flame template.
Click Here to download wreath craft leaf template.

Do you need to hear the Truth today?

Sit with your thoughts and a cup of tea and read Mark 13:33 to help celebrate the First Sunday/week of Advent.

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team