"Saints and Feasts of the Season" Ornaments

Inspired by this post at Ten Kids and a Dog, my children and I made a set of very simple, kid-friendly Christmas Ornaments to honor the Saints and Feasts we celebrate during the Advent - Christmas Season.

(We didn't actually cover every single Saint; just the ones we've discussed and will celebrate.)

This craft couldn't be simpler, and all three of my youngest were able to participate.

We used:

• a catalog of religious images
• Sheets of red, green, white, yellow and black craft foam, cut into rectangles slightly bigger than the pictures cut from the catalog
• Sequins
• Glue

We went through the catalog and found small but clear pictures to represent the Saints and Feasts we would be honoring, starting with Christ the King (I know, this feast is actually the last one of the Liturgical Year, but its celebration sets Advent in motion around here!) and ending with the Baptism of Jesus.  In between, we included:  St. Andrew, St. Nicholas, the Immaculate Conception, St. Juan Diego, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Lucy, the Nativity, St. Stephen, St. John the Evangelist, the Holy Family, the Holy Innocents, Mary Mother of God, the Holy Name of Jesus, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and the Epiphany.

(The particular issue of the catalog we used lacked pictures for St. Lucy, the Holy Innocents and the Epiphany; and we filled in with a quick online image search.  Of course, you could do this for every image, or use higher quality holy cards, instead.)

We glued the pictures to the foam, then the children glued freely and added sequins, ranging from careful selection and placement to decoupage-like drenching and dipping.  The only "rule" was, don't cover up the main picture with sequins! :)

We dried them in front of the woodstove for a couple of hours, then punched holes near the top center.  We plan to use these in the future to decorate the tree; but for now, they will be hung on a garland around our Advent Altar.

The simplicity of the activity allowed for discussion of each of these wonderful feasts and commemorations, and how the "extra-special" ones (to our traditions, anyway) are played out in our family.

I really like how these turned out! (ETA:  Garland photo)

Comments

[Veronica]

Oooh, how pretty and cute.

I am printing this post of yours and sticking it into the Christmas file for next year's crafts! (I don't have time to do it this year. : ( )

Thanks for sharing it!

[abroadermark]

I love it! Like Veronica I'm going to remember this one for next year. Thanks for sharing!