Showing posts with label free coloring page. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free coloring page. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

October Is the Month of the Rosary [Free Rosary Coloring Page]


In honor of the Rosary, I'm sharing my free Rosary coloring page. Use it to help teach your children to pray the Rosary and to keep track of the prayers.

Or they can color each bead ("rose") as they say a prayer, or they can make copies of the little flowers at the bottom of the page and cut them and paste them onto the bead.



Inspired by my grandmother's Spanish prayers, I also created El Rosario coloring page (a coloring page in Spanish):


My earliest memory of the Rosary is wrapped in the scent of lavender, the whisper of beads passing through wrinkled fingers, the murmured Spanish of my abuelita Blanca.

We shared a room, and the Rosary filled my every evening. For the years that she lived with us, she'd pray the Rosary nightly, the repeated "Dios te salve Maria, llena eres de gracia..." embedded into my sleep.

The set prayers, rather than dulling with repetition, formed a cadence of sweetness, a litany of love. My grandmother often told me that she loved me, and I understood that the rosary was like her repeating to Jesus that she loved him.

One cannot say that enough.

Unfortunately, when I grew older and further from the Lord, I stopped praying the rosary nightly, stopped saying "I love you" to the One Who Loves Us Best.

“Some people are so foolish that they think they can go through life without the help of the Blessed Mother. Love the Madonna and pray the rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.” (St. Padre Pio)
Yet, whenever I was in trouble and needed Him, I turned to the  Rosary. Always. Sometimes, I prayed all the mysteries. Other times, just the set prayers. In great difficulties, I'd just clutch the rosary in my hand as tightly as if I were clutching Mama Mary's hand.

Thanks to the Holy Spirit's intervention, my husband's RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) program, and the piles upon piles of books I read, I returned to the Catholic Church in 1995 and have remained in the family.

Since then, the Blessed Mother has truly become my mother. And through the Rosary, she teaches us, not to worship her, not to focus on her, but to turn to the main events in the life of Jesus and our relationship with Him.

* * *

I also have the following free Rosary activity ideas:
Happy coloring and praying!
Vee

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Free Saint Francis of Assisi Coloring Page: October 4

Ready for Saint Francis of Assisi's Feast Day? It's Oct. 4.


To celebrate this holy day, let's color...
Click to download.


Note: You can download the free Saint Francis of Assisi coloring page here.

In the spirit of poverty and joy and creativity and love for the Holy Family, he is credited for creating the Christmas creche, which Catholics have adopted into their homes.

May this coloring page inspire you to prepare your heart with the same love and care that St. Francis prepared the creche.



Friday, June 12, 2015

Free Sacred Heart of Jesus Coloring Page and Craft [Printable]

Download the free Sacred Heart of Jesus coloring page!
Happy feast day of the Sacred Heart of Jesus!

To celebrate this day, here's a Sacred Heart of Jesus coloring page that can be used as a craft activity, too.

On the right side of the coloring page is the cross, heart, and rays to create the sacred heart and add it to the chest of Jesus.

You can use the little images by:
  • coloring them, cutting them out, and adding them to the drawing
  • cutting them out, putting them on construction paper, tracing them, cutting them out, and gluing/pasting them to the drawing
  • ignoring them completely and drawing your own sacred heart.
We'll be using this craft for our Catholic moms' group today. I cut and traced the heart and circle, but because we have so many little children, I figured they could just draw a cross rather than handle a small cross. (You can also just use stickers of hearts and crosses from your local dollar store.)

Enjoy!
xo

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Saint Nicholas: Free Coloring Page and Printable

The patron saint of children, Saint Nicholas, is a favorite around Casa Jarski. (We named one of our sons after Saint Nicholas.)  Stories abound about this bishop of Myra, but at the heart of all the stories is Nicholas's great love for Christ and sharing that love with all.

On Dec. 6, some countries celebrate a visit from Saint Nicholas. "In many Catholic parts of Europe, children still receive his 'visit' on the eve of his feast," states a Catholic Culture article. "St. Nicholas is a heavenly messenger to our homes, for, coming at the beginning of Advent, he admonishes us to prepare our hearts for a blessed and holy Christmas."

In our home, the children leave out their shoes on the eve before St. Nicholas Day, and in the morning, the children open their small gifts found in their shoes. We have a special breakfast and watch a Saint Nicholas DVD.


Free St. Nicholas Day Printable
 
 In honor of Saint Nicholas's upcoming feast day (Dec. 6), I drew a free printable notecard to share. 

https://app.box.com/s/g9m4rjhe9k1vze64nklu
Download the free St. Nicholas coloring page.

If you'd rather do some straight-up coloring, you can download my free Saint Nicholas coloring page:

http://www.box.net/shared/d0i0aoz7as
Download a free black and white PDF/coloring page of Saint Nicholas. 
May you have a holy, fun, and colorful Saint Nicholas Day!


Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Saint Nicholas's Feast Day: Dec. 6

http://www.box.net/shared/d0i0aoz7as
Download a free black and white PDF/coloring page of Saint Nicholas. 
 
For more activities, craft ideas, lesson plans and everything Saint Nicholas, visit the beautiful and informative
Saint Nicholas Center.

Our plans this year are an adaptation of last year's plans:

I will need to bake special cookies the night before. It'll be fun to do it while everyone is sleeping, so they won't know what to expect exactly. I'll use the above Saint Nicholas coloring page to decorate the basket filled with treats.

This year, we will have a yummy special breakfast of hot chocolate and Haselnussmakronen(German Hazelnut Macaroons):
  • ¾ cup (6 oz) sugar
  • 1 cup (7½ oz) ground hazelnuts (filberts) or almonds
  • 1½ tablespoons cocoa
  • 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 egg whites
  • a pinch of salt
Whisk egg whites until stiff. Add the sugar and continue whisking until the mixture stands in stiff peaks. Add the remaining ingredients and fold in gently. Drop teaspoonfuls of mixture onto a greased baking sheet at least 1-inch apart. Allow to stand. Bake in oven at 300° for ½ hour. Carefully transfer to a cooling tray and store in an airtight container. They will keep for several weeks. (From Feasting for Festivals: Customs and recipes to celebrate the Christian Year by Jan Wilson)

St. Nicholas's Morning

The children will find their little shoes by the fireplace filled with some presents to open immediately. (This is wonderful because: 1) it directly relates to the story of Saint Nicholas and 2) it makes this day one for gifts and Christmas can be focused on the birth of Christ. Yes, they still receive some gifts from family, but they get their gifts from us on St. Nicholas's day.

We will drop off a "surprise package" of food and nonperishable items at our local homeless shelter. The food should be items that we chose together at the store.

We can play a game related to Saint Nicholas or St. Nicholas memory,and watch "The Boy Who Became Santa" in the evening ... while we eat more cookies, of course!

It's also the name day of our little one. Happy saint's day, little Nico!
Creative Commons License ... and please do NOT offer my works as downloads from your site.