Good Deed Beads

Have you ever used good deed beads?  They are just a cute little string of beads to keep in your pocket, on which you can quietly count prayers, deeds, kind words, etc.

We made these to go along with a Vocations retreat we had for kids.  Good deed beads are often tied in with the story of St. Terese of Lisieux,who is remembered for doing small things with great love, and offering up little sacrifices throughout the day tied in with prayer.  Her story can remind kids that every little thing that they do can be an act of love for God and neighbor.  The good deed beads can be kept in their pocket or attached to a backpack.  They can set their own goal or "challenge" to do ten kind deeds each day or say kind words tens times, etc.  The beads slide and stay in place to act as a counter.  It is tiny in the picture, but the pink and purple good deed beads have a St. Terese medal on the end.  She was the girls' patron for the retreat, and is also the patron of Vocations in our diocese.

 

The boys' patron was St. John Vianney, patron Saint of priests.  Although he suffered much in life, his calm patience and love was (and still is) an inspiration to conversion. Although good deed beads are not usually attributed to him, I didn't think that he would mind some good deeds being done in his memory, so the boys made blue good deed beads with a St. John Vianney medal on them.

I certainly did not come up with the idea for how to make these with kids, and I am not going to reinvent the wheel when others have done a much better job than I ever could creating directions.  Go to The Little Ways: How to Make Sacrifice Beads for detailed directions and pictures for making good deed beads.  It it easy, I promise!  They could be made as short or as big as you want, but a string of ten like this can also double as a decade rosary, which is nice for little hands.  They can slide the bead they are praying on and are less likely to lose their place.  Sizes, colors, Saints, uses...there are so many possibilities!