St. Joseph Day is coming up quickly, and as a school under the patronage of St. Joseph, we strive to make it really special. I wanted to create some vibrant art with my kiddos to put on display for the day and then send home with them to continue to encourage their devotion to St. Joe. But, I didn't have a lot of time to spend on the project. Hence, we created these easy and adaptable Saint shrines. We made them for St. Joseph, but you could use the same concept for any Saint.
Step 1: Using heavy colored cardstock (like 110#, not the flimsy 60# stuff) find the center of the long side and place a small pencil mark near the edge.
Step 2: Fold the short sides to that middle mark and crease (make a shutter fold).
Step 3: Create an arch by drawing a slight curve on one side of the folded corner.
Cut it off (through both layers). Flip it over and trace it on the corner to create a symmetrical curve. Cut off this side as well.
Giving you a look like this:
Step 4: Find a favorite coloring page or line drawing clip art of the Saint. Mine uses a Holy Family coloring page that I created, but you can have several options for the kids.
Click on the image for a link to this printable:
Print off the coloring page at 50-75% of its normal size so that it fits in the center section of the shrine (5.5"x8.5"). Color, cut and glue.
Step 5: On one side of the image, write "St. Joseph, Pray for Us!" or similar line. On the other side have the students compose or copy a prayer dedicated to that Saint.
And there you go! These were fun, fast, colorful and easy. They stand nicely on their own but also look great hanging up.
Here they are on our bulletin board for the week:
I love how they turned out, and the kids are excited to get to take them home and hang or set them in a special place after St. Joseph Day!
To see how we celebrated St. Joseph Day last year, check out this post:
This is a really great idea. I typically introduce the saints to my religious ed kindergarten students and our VBS program with color you own holy cards which we then laminate, but I think next year I'll try this out with my kindergarten class. For little ones who can't yet write well, you could use pre-printed prayers that they can cut and paste onto the shrine.
ReplyDeleteSo great, Karen! I'm glad this idea will work for you!
DeleteThis is so awesome! Such a great idea and so much time and work you put into it! Thank you so much for sharing! In fact I can't thank you enough! So excited to print and laminate it to use with my kids who I homeschool this year! :)
ReplyDeleteWOnderful idea! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. Can't wait to do it with the children. Beautiful!!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! Thank you so much for sharing!! I will be doing this with my class tomorrow :)
ReplyDeleteCould we tie the saint shrines to All Souls day? Like write family members on one side of the foldable? Trying to incorporate both for my class.
ReplyDeleteWhat do y'all think?
I'd think so! Or maybe add them to the back with the Prayer for the Faithful Departed?
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