Stations of the Cross blocks

Stations of the Cross blocks

Stations of the Cross for Children

The pandemic has little silver linings sometimes (I hope someday someone will be reading this, and the pandemic will be a distant memory!).   As the church of some dear friends of ours is not having soup suppers this Lent, they decided to invite small groups of friends over on Fridays during Lent to share soup together and to pray the Stations of the Cross at their home.

Our friends had printed out stations of the cross coloring pages for the children to color as the adults took turns saying the prayers for the Stations of the Cross. After the prayer time, we enjoyed soup together, and then the children played while the adults had time to stay around the table and visit.

This beautiful evening made me think that perhaps it might be nice to have some Stations of the Cross that children could place around the house and play and pray with whenever they wanted to.

Stations of the Cross are, of course, not so happy for anyone to look at, and might be especially hard for children to look at.  However, a few years ago, I came across a wonderful little Stations of the Cross coloring booklet at Real Life at Home.  I love this book because the illustrations are as sweet as they can be for such a solemn subject.  We decided to use the images from these booklets for our Stations of the Cross blocks.  However, you could use any images of your choice.  You could find images online, draw your own images, or even take photos of the Stations of the Cross at your church and print them out for these blocks.
Stations of the Cross toddler blocks

Make your own Stations of the Cross for children

Please note that the coloring images we used for these blocks are not our own.  You can find them at Real Life at Home (where there is even a prayer reflection booklet to go along with them).  You could also get images from another source or draw your own, if you are feeling especially creative!

coloring stations of the cross

Step 1: Print and color your images

We used colored pencils to color our images. 

stations of the cross for kids

Step 2: Cut out your images

Stations of the Cross blocks

Step 3: Cut your blocks

We cut a long 2×4 board into 14 square blocks.  However, if you don’t have time for woodworking, there are many Etsy sellers who have blocks of various sizes that are sanded and ready to use for crafts.  If you wanted to make the blocks smaller or bigger, you could print out the page with a “custom scale,” or use different images of your choice.  The Real Life at Home mini booklet images work perfectly with our squares cut from 2x4s (the wooden squares end up being 3.5″x3.5″).

stations of the cross blocks

Step 4: Sand your blocks

We sanded the cut edges, plus sanded at an angle at the corners to make the blocks easier to handle for little hands.  Though cutting the blocks is probably a task for an adult (here at Sparkles and Sprinkles, we say, “Thank you Super-Dad!”), sanding can be a fun activity for children.

Stations of the Cross for kids

Step 5: Use Mod Podge to attach and coat images

Use a foam brush to spread a layer of Mod Podge on one face of the block, then lay the image on this face.  Brush Mod Podge over the image to seal the image, so that the blocks and images will hold up to children handling them.  Be sure to follow the package instructions for drying times.  You may want to use 2 coats.

Stations of the Cross toddler blocks

Ready to Play and Pray

We hope you and your little ones enjoy making and playing and praying with Stations of the Cross blocks too!

Are you looking for a soup recipe for your next soup supper, whether at home or at church?  You might enjoy trying our recipe for French Vegetable Soup.  

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Other links may or may not be affiliate links.  We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

Snowflake Crayon Resist Watercolor

Snowflake Crayon Resist Watercolor

snowflake art

Last week I looked at the weather and saw there was snow in the forecast for the weekend, so I decided to get some non-washable crayons.  Why?  I was thinking it would be fun to make watercolor resist snow scenes this weekend, and we don’t keep the non-washable crayons needed for this project in our house.  Years ago, a very wise friend of ours said that she only allows washable markers and crayons in her house.  We thought this was a great idea, and we have done the same… it has probably saved us from a lot of impossible cleaning jobs over the years.

As our 3 year old is a budding mural artist and furniture decorator, I hid the crayons when I got them.  When the snow was falling today, I thought it would be a perfect time to do this project… but I had forgotten where I hid the crayons.  Fortunately, I eventually found the crayons, and we had a wonderful time drawing snowflakes and painting together.

With art projects, it’s great to have inspiration.  Today, we were able to be inspired by looking at the falling snow.  Another way we love to find inspiration is through looking at illustrations in children’s picture books.

We’ve been guided in letting books inspire us through Five in a Row (a lovely picture book-based curriculum for preschool and early elementary) and the Read Aloud Revival (they invite wonderful published authors to give really inspiring online classes to kids, and they also have amazing book lists).  Whether you are a homeschooling family or not, I highly recommend Read Aloud Revival for their book ideas!

Ella Bella Ballerina Nutcracker

Here are a few of our favorite books with great snow illustrations:

Ella Bella Ballerina and the Nutcracker

Fletcher and the Snowflake Christmas

Ezra Jack Keats, The Snowy Day

Books by Lita Judge: Red Sled and Hoot and Peep:  a song for snow

 

 

We hope during the next snow fall where you live, or the next time you are dreaming of snow, you can have fun making crayon resist watercolor snowflake scenes too!  Let’s get started…

Gather your supplies:

Water color paper

Crayons (the non-washable kind)

Watercolors

Paint brushes (wide brushes are probably best for this project)

Cup of water (a cup that is not tippy is best)

Paper towels (to clean up spills and dry the paint brushes if needed)

supplies snow

Let’s create!

crayon resist

Draw snowflakes (and other pictures) with your crayons - be sure to press hard

watercolor wash

When you are done with your crayon drawings, brush with watercolors and watch the snowflakes appear.

ella bella book inspiration

You can use the snow you see outside or a picture book to inspire your painting.

snow image

Sometimes little ones like to create a painting together with an adult or older sibling.

snowflake crayon resist

Happy Snow Day!

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Note:  The book links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links.  Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.