Category: Faith Through Art

FREE Spiritual Bouquet Cards

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The gift of prayer is sometimes the most cherished of all gifts. When times are tough, the prayers of friends and family can be a tremendous source of strength and consolation. This was definitely the case several years ago when our youngest was born and spent 3.5 weeks in the NICU. The outpouring of prayers and support was truly moving. One of my friends collected and assembled a spiritual bouquet from families in our homeschooling community, and it was so encouraging to know we had so many people praying for us.

So for the times you want to support a family member of friend with a spiritual bouquet, here are four cards you can download and print for free:

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The Mysteries of the Rosary: Three-part Cards

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May is the month of Our Lady, so this month I’m sharing Montessori-inspired three-part art cards depicting the Mysteries of the Rosary for FREE. I made these for the boys in our co-op to use in our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Atrium. They are a beautiful way to teach your children about the mysteries of the rosary.

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The Articles of the Mass: Three-part Cards

Published on by Mary Cooney1 Comment

This year, the boys in our little T21 co-op are preparing to receive First Confession and First Communion. We are so grateful that a trained catechist has been coming to run a little Catechesis of the Good Shepherd class just for them.

They have been learning the names of some of the articles of the Mass, and so I made these Montessori-style three-part cards to teach them words such as monstrance, chalice, paten, and purificator.

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Just Released: The Nativity in Art for Children

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Here’s a beautiful little Nativity book for your little ones. It is a collection of sacred art accompanied with simple, repetitive verses that go with each painting. Together, these retell the Christmas story in the simplest of words. Contemplating sacred art is a beautiful way for children to pray.

Here are some sample pages:

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Stations of the Cross for Very Young Children

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Several years ago, my oldest daughter and I published The Stations of the Cross for Children. Every Friday in Lent we do the stations together as a family. This year, our youngest, Junior, showed keen interest in participating. He would try to read the words in the book and sing along, but the font was too small for him, and several of the words were too hard.

So I adapted The Stations of the Cross for him. I used a larger font and made the pictures bigger. Then, I wrote very short meditations with simple words and short sentences I knew he could (mostly) read and understand. The text is very simplistic, but I believe that beautiful artwork can draw even young children into prayer. Just looking at the artwork together with your child and talking about the details can help him/her to understand and imagine Our Lord’s passion.

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The “Our Father” in Art

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Last month, I made Junior art masterpiece cards to help him learn the “Hail Mary”. He really enjoyed looking at and talking about the pictures. And he did memorize the prayer, line by line. He would read the words, then I’d cover up them up and he would say them by memory. So, I decided to go ahead and make a similar set to help him learn the “Our Father.”

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The “Hail Mary” in Art

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Here’s a little Mother’s Day gift for you! For the month of May, I’m teaching Junior to pray the “Hail Mary”. Since he’s such a visual learner, I made these cards for him: an art masterpiece for each line of the “Hail Mary”. I hope they’ll help him to understand the meaning of each line in the prayer as he memorizes it. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: Looking at beautiful sacred art is truly a path to prayer. If you have little ones who are just learning to pray, I hope this will help:

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Renaissance Art Masterpieces for Elementary Students

Published on by Mary Cooney2 Comments

A Happy New School Year to you!!!

Here’s a little gift for those of you who like to do picture study with your kids: a collection of eighteen Renaissance Art Masterpieces with a bit of background information and questions that encourage close observation.

Because exposing our kids to lovely art is so important.

Renaissance artists believed in the beauty and nobility of mankind – a belief so sorely lost in today’s society. All the more reason, then, to help our children study and enjoy the masterpieces of the Renaissance artists, which radiate with goodness and beauty.

So without further ado, here are some sample cards and what we’re doing with them:

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Free Advent and Christmas Art Cards for Little Ones

Published on by Mary Cooney4 Comments

Preparing for Advent, I’ve been thinking about how to make this time meaningful for my little guy, Junior. Since he loves pictures, I made him a collection of art cards that depict the Christmas Story. And since he loves nursery rhymes, I added short little poems to go with each picture. The verses are very simple and repetitive, so he can understand and repeat the words. My hope is that by looking at the pictures and saying the verses, Junior will see the beauty of the Christmas story. Sacred art really has the power to draw us into contemplation.

Come take a peek:

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