Saint Patrick's Day Crafts for Religion Class

I painted some Saint Patrick peg dolls for my Religion class.

I looked up some painting ideas on Etsy and Pinterest.

Because Saint Patrick used the three leaf clover to teach the Holy Trinity - I wrapped Three Musketeer bars in green paper and added all different sizes of three leaf clover stickers.

I also had some worksheets and I bought the kids three leaf clover pens to complete the worksheets - but I forgot to take pictures.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Charlie Brown Peg Dolls for Meals on Wheels

I made these Charlie Brown peg dolls for a Meals on Wheels Valentine project.  I packaged them with a glitter heart and a tag that said "Good Grief it's Valentine's Day!"

I think they came out super cute - but since I was making 50 a deleted a few steps. Also because I was making 50 peg dolls I ordered them from Amazon.

Supply List:

men shaped peg dolls

yellow paint

black paint

sharp pencil

small paint brushes

black fine tip Sharpie pen



Directions:

Always save pieces of cardboard to use when painting peg dolls.

Paint the body with two coats of yellow paint. Let the paint dry in between coats.

Using a sharp pencil draw the zig zag shape on the middle of the body. If you have extra time the zig zag could be moved up and a small black band could be painted on the bottom which would replicate shorts. Because I was making 50 I skipped the shorts step.

Using the black paint and a very thin teeny tiny paint brush paint inside the pencil zig zag lines. This took a really long time. 

Another step I skipped was painting the head with flesh toned paint. I used a fine tip black Sharpie to draw the face directly onto the wooden head.

Lately I have been sewing a lot of Meals on Wheels projects with felt and I wanted to do something different. And I do love a little peg doll. 

I am going to bring these to the Meals on Wheels office tomorrow and then start working on a March themed party favor.

God Bless all of the Meals on Wheels volunteers! 

Saint Lucy - An Advent Saint

I love how my Saint Lucy turned out! She looks even cuter in person. I am teaching a Religion class on her feast day (December 13th) and I am going to teach the children about Saint Lucia.

Supply List:

lady peg dolls

white paint

yellow paint

flesh tone paint

small paint brushes

fine tip black Sharpie pen

green wire pine or green pipe cleaner

yellow toothpicks

piece of Styrofoam

hot glue and glue gun

thin red ribbon

Directions:

Paint the body in two coats of white paint. Take care and make sure the first coat is dry before painting the second coat.

Paint the head with flesh tone paint.

 Draw eyes and mouth with the black Sharpie. Then paint the hair in yellow.

 The hair style doesn't need to be perfect because a wreath is going to be glued to her head.

Hot glue a thin red ribbon around her waist. Then hot glue a small red bow in the front.

To make the candle I bought a toothpick package with colorful toothpicks. I picked out a bunch of yellow toothpicks. I cut the yellow toothpicks in half. Then put the yellow pointy end in to the Styrofoam. Paint the piece of the toothpick showing with white paint.

Form the evergreen wire into a wreath and hot glue the wreath onto Saint Lucy's head. Then take the toothpick candle and apply a little glue on the end and adhere four toothpicks around the wreath.

I found this wired evergreen/pine at Hobby Lobby.

If you can't find the wired pine in a pinch some green pipe cleaner tinsel like would also look awesome.

There is a lot of legend surrounding Saint Lucy, but one thing is clear she believed in God and declared her beliefs.

She was tortured and killed under Christian persecution.

She is the patron saint of the blind and those with eye trouble.

Saint Lucy pray for us!

St. Teresa of Calcutta Peg Dolls

Tomorrow (Sunday, September 4th) Mother Teresa will become Saint Teresa of Calcutta. This year when I am asked to substitute Religion class I am going to bring each of the kids a St. Teresa peg doll and then I will teach the class about her life.

These peg dolls are so fun to make and I find it relaxing to paint them. I bought the wooden peg dolls at Hobby Lobby - I have the app on my phone so I awlays have a coupon!

First I painted the body white and the head in flesh color. I marked the area on the head with a pencil that I wanted to paint white.

It took two coats to cover up the flesh colored paint.

Once the paint was dry I used a blue sharpie for the stripes. And painted two flesh colored hands.

Using a fine tipped black Sharpie I drew the eyes, mouth and a tiny rosary.

I hope this post inspires you to make your own St. Teresa of Calcutta peg dolls!

St. Francis Peg Dolls for Religion Class

"For it is in giving that we receive." - St. Francis

I am a substitute Religion teacher. I always have a Saint peg doll for the kids when we learn about that Saint.

I think the children will enjoy learning about Saint Francis. So since it is the summer I am trying to get a little ahead and started by painting St. Francis of Assisi.

I always buy my wooden pegs at Hobby Lobby - you can get 8 pegs for $3.99 but I always use a 40% off coupon. So I pay about $2.40 for 8 pegs!

I had all of the paint colors that I needed in my craft cabinet and a bunch of paint pens and Sharpie pens. Noelle bought me a couple of good brushes and I use my old brushes on the large sections.

First I painted two coats of brown for the robe. Then Noelle painted the belt and the three knots.  The three knots are for poverty, charity and obedience.

Then I painted two coats of flesh for the head. And used brown again for the hair and beard. I used a black Sharpie pen for the eyes and smile.

St. Francis was the first person to receive the Stigmata of Christ.

Using a piece of scrapbook paper I cut out a bunch of little birds and Modged Podged them over the other hand. St. Francis became a preacher to both the rich and poor. He was even known to preach to birds.

St. Francis was born into a very wealthy family and gave up it all up for a life of poverty. He loved all animals. There are so many interesting facts about St. Francis to teach the children!

Today the Pope is in Assisi And Monsignor John prayed the prayer of St. Francis this morning at Bible study.

Preparing to Substitute Teach 3rd Grade Religion

I painted the kids a St. Patrick peg doll. I started painting these on Saturday and finished them this morning.

I am not an artist but I try my best!

I wrapped some Hershey bars in shamrock scrapbokk paper and I always add a sticker with what we have learned in class for the kids to take home.

I found these gold labels in my craft cabinet.

Also I tell the kids they only get the Hershey bar to take home if they pay attention and it works every time! 

I also printed out some pictures of St. Patrick for the kids to color, and everyone gets a shamrock pipecleaner pin. The kids are also going to confession during class time. The Gospel reading that we will focus on is John 8:1-11. 

I also have some gold and white striped napkins, shamrock cookies, and cups for milk. The shamrock pipecleaner pins are in the ziplock bag in the top right corner. #prepared.

Substitute Teaching 1st Grade Religion Class This Week

This week I am substitute teaching a 1st grade religion class. We are going to learn about Advent. But I also thought it would be fun for them to learn about Mother Teresa and St. Nick. And I made little crafts and snacks to reinforce the lessons.

Each child will get a Mother Teresa coloring sheet. 

I made each child a little Mother Teresa peg doll. And we are going to learn some fun facts about Mother Teresa.

She will be canonized in September 2016. We are also going to learn about how one becomes a Saint.

Each child will also get a St. Nick coloring sheet. We will also learn some fun facts about St. Nick.

Everyone will get a St. Nick candy bar. I found the St. Nick candy bar wrappers on the on the www.stnicholascenter.com it is a fantastic website with craft ideas for all ages. 

I printed the candy bar wrappers to use on snack sized Hershey bars.

I simply cut the little wrapper out and taped it arounf the Hershey bar.

Pope Francis Peg Dolls for Religion Class

I am substitute teaching a 1st grade Religion Class today. So I decided to make the kids some Pope Francis peg dolls and we could learn some fun facts about Pope Francis. We are Catholic and learning about Pope Francis will be a lot of fun for the kids!

Here are a few fun facts - (Keep in mid this is a 1st grade class0

He is a huge fan of soccer

He has a Masters Degree in Chemistry

He speaks Spanish, Latin and Italian. He understands German, French, Portuguese, English and Ukrainian

His father was a basketball player and Pope Francis played hoops in his youth

Okay - when I started making these Pope Francis peg dolls - I decided to wing it. But you might want to Google some tips.

Supply List:

Wooden peg dolls

White, cream and peach paint

Paint brushes in various sizes

Paint pens in silver and black

Shellac or varnish

Thin silver ribbon

Small cross beads

Thin black ribbon

Glue gun/glue sticks

Sharp scissors

Directions:

I bought the wooden peg dolls at Michael's. The first step I did was to paint the robe white.

I painted two coats of white paint. The paint dries quickly in between coats.

I also bought the paint on sale at Michael's.

Next I painted the robe in cream. The face in peach and used the paint pens to make the hair, glasses and eyes and smile.

I bought the silver paint pen in package with a gold pen at Michael's. I already had the black paint pen. Because you are using the paint pens in a small area they need to be fine tip paint pens.

I started making a list of the steps needed to finish the project.

I also drew a little picture. So on the cream robe  I added white arms and a white stripe down the middle of the robe.

I glued a thin pice of silver ribbon at the bottom of the robe.

After the white stripe dried I added some silver buttons. When the white arms dried i added peach hands and a small sliver Rosary in his right hand. Once everything was dry I added two coats of varnish.

I found these little cross beads at Hobby Lobby. I threaded the cross bead on a thin black ribbon and added them around the neck with a small drop of hot glue. It was the final step. 

I am looking forward to my 1st grade class today and I think we will have a lot of fun learning about Pope Francis.