As many of you know, I’ve really been enjoying leading a “Little Flowers” group for my daughters and a number of other girls. I opened my group to girls ages 5-8, though I do have a couple girls that are 9, and a couple that are almost 4 (that way I could include my youngest daughter).
Over the past few months I have been receiving quite a few emails asking for more information (how I lead my group of girls, the notebook pages we are making at our meetings, and tips on which supplies to order, etc…). I thought I would try to answer the questions in one post, as well as link our past meetings for reference, and then add it to the new tab list at the top of my blog. I will continue to update the links as I add new posts after our upcoming meetings.
I just want to remind you all that I am a brand new Little Flowers leader myself, and by NO MEANS an expert on how to lead a group. ☺ What you will find here is my imperfect attempt to make the group a fun filled learning experience for my own girls, in which, by the grace of God, they can learn more about our faith and grow in virtue. That said, I am more than happy to share our meetings with you all, after they take place, and when time permits. ☺
Resources I Use:
- Behold Publications, LLC
- The Little Flowers Girls’ Club Blog
- Charlotte’s Coloring Pages
- Fenestrae Fidei: A Coloring Companion for Catholic Mosaic
- Catholic Cuisine (occasional snack ideas)
- Chat With God’s Little Ones
(I’ve found this book very helpful in planning lessons for the younger girls.)
- Glory Stories – CD’s
Our Group’s Supplies:
To keep the costs to a minimum, I purchased all of our supplies from Sacred Heart Books and Gifts (update: retired). Not only do they offer a wonderful discount, they offer free shipping on orders of $25.00. For myself I ordered the Craft Companion (which I have used minimally), the Wreath One Leader’s Guide, and the Tea and Luncheon Guide. I also ordered the Memory Cards and the Little Flowers Virtues CD as well, both of which I highly recommend each mother to purchase for her girls too! They are great!
In addition to our annual dues, which coverer the group/leader supplies and all the craft materials for the year, each girl was required to purchase a Member’s Guide, a Sash, and a Wreath 1 Badge. Next year I am planning on having the girls also purchase the Art and Activity Book for Wreath’s 1 and 2. I am sure this would vary greatly for each group depending on the number of girls that you have participating and the types of craft projects you decide to make.
Finding a Location:
Though my home would be convenient for me (when it is clean!), it is not for most of the other families, due to distance. Ideally I would love to hold our meetings in my local parish hall, but I wasn’t able to get approval from the pastor. (We will be getting a new pastor in the summer, so maybe that will change for next year!) In the meantime, the owner of the local Catholic Bookstore agreed to let us use her backroom, which has been working out wonderfully. I also looked into using a meeting room at the Library, which could have worked out as well. Our group only meets once per month, but next year I would like to change it to twice per month: one meeting for the lesson and notebook page; another for a review, craft, and playtime.
Update: Our monthly meetings are now held at my home, which has been working out wonderfully!
Snacks and Assignments:
For our group, I have assigned each family a month in which they are to provide the snacks and the drinks. (The extra month was divided up between the moms that have more than one daughter attending.) I’ve asked each mother to try and follow the theme for the month, if possible. So far they have all been more than willing to cooperate, and the snacks have been so much fun!
Update: For Wreaths III & IV I have provided the snacks (cupcakes and drinks) for each meeting, adding the supply cost to our yearly dues.
I decided to have my group create Notebook Pages at each meeting based on the Saint, Virtue, and Memory Verse. If you would like to do the same, the documents I created can be downloaded here, or directly from any of the posts below. (NOTE: These can be downloaded for your personal/group use, but please do not repost these pages, or any of the pictures from this blog. Thank you!)
- St. Catherine of Siena ~ Faith ~ Sunflower
- St. Monica ~ Hope ~ Ivy
- St. Agnes ~ Love of God ~ Peony
- St. Jane Frances de Chantal ~ Love of Neighbor ~ Rose
- St. Joan of Arc ~ Obedience ~ Carnation
- St. Cecilia ~ Piety ~ Forget-Me-Not
- St. Catherine Laboure ~ Humility ~ Violet
- St. Francis Xavier Cabrini ~ Industry ~ Daffodil
- St. Bridget of Sweden ~ Truthfulness ~ Narcissus
- The Decorations
- Attendees
- A Game of Croquet
- The Menu
- Games: Setting the Table for Tea; The Tea Tray Memory Game; She Loves It, She Loves It Not
- St. Faustina ~ Mercy ~ Lily
- Blessed Margaret Pole ~ Courage ~ Yucca
- St. Clare of Assisi ~ Joy/Mirthfulness ~ Tulip
- St. Katharine Drexel ~ Generosity ~ Daisy
- St. Angela Merici ~ Prudence ~ African Violet
- St. Teresa Benedicta (Edith Stein) ~ Wisdom ~ Iris
- Bl. Mary of the Incarnation ~ Justice ~ Aster
- St. Lucy ~ Loyalty ~ Poppy
- St. Elizabeth Ann Seton ~ Perseverance ~ Lotus
- Mary & Martha ~ Eutrapelia ~ Dandelion
- Ruth & Naomi ~ Friendliness ~ Morning Glory
- St. Margaret of Scotland ~ Initiative ~ Black Eyed Susan
- St. Zita or Proverbs 31 Woman ~ Orderliness ~ Cranberry
- St. Felicity and Her Seven Sons ~ Self-Control ~ Amaryllis
- St. Anne, Mother of the Blessed Mother ~ Responsibility ~ Mum
- St. Bathildis ~ Patience ~ Lily of the Valley
- Mary Mother of God ~ Cheerfulness ~ Blue Phlox
- St. Julie Billiart ~ Fortitude ~ Hyacinth
- Wreath IV Notebook Pages and Additional Resources
- Little Flowers Girls’ Club Wreath IV Lap Book
- Craft Plans and Ideas for Little Flowers Wreath IV
- Saintly Symbols :: Cupcakes for Wreath IV
- Wisdom ~ St. Teresa of Avila ~ Jasper
- Understanding ~ St. Catherine of Alexandria ~ Emerald
- Knowledge ~ St. Gertrude ~ Topaz
- Counsel ~ St. Catherine of Sienna ~ Aquamarine
- Fortitude ~ St. Joan of Arc ~ Opal
- Piety ~ St. Therese of Lisieux ~ Amethyst
- Fear of the Lord ~ St. Maria Goretti ~ Sapphire
Little Flowers Tea Party 2013:
- Little Flowers Girls’ Club Tea Party Games (round up post from past years)
- Little Flowers “Maypole” Tea Party Favors and Prizes
- Beginning with Bocce Ball {and a few Group Photos!}
- The Game of Graces
- The Maypole and our Beautiful Catholic Faith
- Indoor Tea Party Games
- Our Annual Little Flowers Mother-Daughter Tea Party – 2013
Little Flowers Girls’ and Blue Knights Boys’ Clubs
(Link-Ups for all those participating in our “Online” groups and any other groups that would like to share pictures from their meetings)
- Shower of Roses Online Little Flowers Girls’ Club
- Little Flowers and Blue Knights Registration Forms & Link-up Schedule
*Please do not repost my pictures. You are, of course, welcome to link directly to any of my posts, and print out the images of my notebook pages for reference. Thank you!
Beautiful work!
I coordinated our Little Flowers group for 2 years. We stopped this year due to scheduling conflicts. All this sharing has me missing it!
Another great resource is Fr. Lasance book itself, The Catholic Girl’s Guide. I believe the Little Flowers virtue study is based of this traditional book. My eldest still uses it for daily devotions and guidance.
I’ll be sure to share additional resources as I’m able to recall them.
Pax –
Lena
Wonderful guide Jessica, thank you for posting it. My eldest has been in a Little Flowers group for 2 years and now my 5 year old will be joining. She can’t wait.
One thing our coordinator did this year was work with the girls on a monologue to present at the end of the year tea. The little ones can keep it simple but, the older girls have done an amazing job with their chosen saints.
By the way, as to not separate our boys we have a Knights for Christ group with them too. There is a program for the group, though, we have had to change things up a bit here and there. The boys are learning how to be gentlemen, learning about saints, virtues, etc. They were “knighted” their first year and then work on a shield througout the year. Check it out.
God bless,
Elizabeth
That sounds so wonderful! My daughter is only 2, but I hope I can participate in/start something like this when she gets older!
Thank you for the suggestions!!
Lena ~ I’ve been wanting to find a copy of the Fr. Lasance book!! My husband has his “The Young Man’s Guide” which is also wonderful.
Elizabeth ~ The monologue sounds like such a great idea!! Also, my boys participated in Blue Knights the past 2 years, but the group was a group was not organized for this year, and it was too much for my husband (or I) to take on this year. MY BOYS MISS IT!!!! I am hoping that we will be able to find away (talk one of my friends) into leading the group next year =)
Jennifer ~ I hope so too!
Hi Jessica,
Your site is amazing, you’re so creative! I am starting a Little Flowers group at St. Margaret’s Church in the fall and am trying to get myself organized. Could you please send me some of your word documents for your sample pages? My e-mail address is [email protected].
Thanks and keep up the great work!
_Regina
Wow, thank you for all the information! My daughter is in kindergarten this year, I wonder if the moms in our class would want to put a group together for next year. We will be going through the next 8 years together in Catholic school, it might be a great way to bring everyone together and bond, also! Thanks again!
A question: Is there something similar for boys and if so, where could I find information for the moms of the boys?
Thank you for this incredibly helpful post! I really appreciate it.
I'm really enjoying your blog and really appreciate the resources you've listed here!
Our homeschool group has "First Friday" classes at our local parish, where we meet on the mornin of the First Friday of the month and have a nursery, a Preschool Pray & Play class (still looking for a curriculum for that!), a Little Flowers class and Blue Knights class for elementary aged children, and a jr high group.
All parents are asked to help in one of the rooms, and each class has a couple "leaders" who do the planning and purchase the materials. We aren't able to have snacks in the building so we usually bring picnics for the park afterwards. It's a great set-up and we're really blessed to be able to use the church facilities; we try our best to show our appreciation to the parish staff.
Jessica I wanted to add that the Catholic Girl's Guide book is beautiful. There is a second wreath covered in the book also, "The Wreath of the Lilies" and it's for older girls with topics of "chastity", "Purity", etc. So very lovely and so rich in spiritual direction. I highly recommend the book. Found mine at the Seattle Conference many years ago, used for a pretty penny and half falling apart but I wouldn't part with it, a huge blessing to our first Little Flower group ever almost 15 years ago. God Bless.
Renee ~ THANK YOU!! I've been meaning to order a copy for awhile, and was so excited when I saw that it is now being reprinted and you can purchase a copy from All Catholic Books for only $17.60 plus shipping!!! I'll be ordering it soon now. =)
Thanks, Jessica. This is going to help quite a bit, as several friends and I have started 2 groups which will begin meeting today. Wish I could say it was my idea, but it was the suggestion of the other women who were inspired by seeing the activities you posted on your blog! Time for me to read up and prepare. This will be better for my girls than Girl Scouts, I think. 🙂
Hi!
This is a fabulous resource for those looking to get a group started! Thank you! I was wondering if you could email me the word documents for the sample pages for Wreath One? [email protected]. Thanks in advance and God Bless!
~Amy
Hello.
I love this idea. I've never heard of it. I am expecting our 4th baby, our first girl. I hope I can remember this when she is 5!
I've really been wanting to start a Little Flowers group at my church. I have some questions:
How did you actually go about getting the group started?
I know it's not a national association, but did you have to get permission from your parish or diocese to start the group?
Did you just ask around to see if anyone was interested, place a notice, hold an interest meeting?
Thanks for all your help!
EK ~ Unless you want to use the hall at your parish, you shouldn't need permission to start the group. Though my pastor was supportive of the idea, I wasn't able to get permission to use the hall at our local parish due to "insurance requirements"… That is why I had our meetings at a local book store, before moving them to my home. I then just asked around to see if anyone else was interested (mainly within our homeschool group), but I had decided to do Little Flowers even if it ended up being just my own girls. It's a wonderful program! Good luck!!
Thank you for always sharing such wonderful graces with the rest of us!
I'm always learning and LOVE IT. I have many children, we have done Little Flowers the group ended and no one seemed to have the time to start another back up. Another blessing it was to read your post. We would love to participate,my older girls 23,22and 21 used Catholic Girls guide.
Blessed we are as Catholic mothers to see the riches of our faith and the resources to guide us.This done with the joy of seeing our daughters and ourselves grow in virtue with memories for a lifetime.
Thank you for sharing your gift of blogging a resource which was not around with my older children,one I enjoy so much with my younger ones
Peace to you,
Paula from Everett Washington
Thank you for sharing your ideas! We used your scrapbook pages, this year in our Little Flower's group. The girl's loved them.
I have a digital scrapbooking program, that I used to create some embellishments for the girl's to use on these scrapbook pages. I'm slowly figuring out how to blog. I hope to share these pages soon, as some of our families wanted to print more copies.
Thank you again!
With Blessings to you and your family.
Becca
Jessica,
You may already have a copy of Fr. Lasance's book "A Catholic Girls' Guide" but just in case, here's a link where you can purchase a copy (and many other "old" books in reprint – scroll about on3 third of the way down the page and you will see it in the middle coupled with the book your husband has:
http://www.sacramentals.com/PrayerandMeditation.htm
I'm looking into having my daughter do the Little Flowers program starting this year (sadly, there is no group locally within an hour and a half, so we will start at home and see if anyone else around may be interested at some point).
Thanks for the link! That looks like a wonderful website!!
I love you Jessica,you are doing a nice job with the kids.God bless you.I have just been asked by my Pastor to take care of girls in my parish,i dont really know how to start.Can you help me please? You are wonderful and very creative. here is my email [email protected] (NIGERIA)Thanks
I'm so excited to finally be starting our Little Flowers group in a couple of weeks! I was just wondering what your annual dues were. If you prefer to email me, that would be fine. [email protected]
Thanks and thank you for allowing everyone to use your materials!
It has varied from year to year depending on how many girls are in the group and what crafts I have planned. It was usually around $25 (or $40 if the dues included the members guides and patches) per girl.
Oh how beautiful your virtue scrapbook pages are! What a treasure for your young ladies :). God bless your ministry!
Oh how beautiful your virtue scrapbook pages are! What a treasure for your young ladies :). God bless your ministry!