This afternoon we continued our Saintly Summer Fun with stories, coloring pages, a craft, snacks and games for today’s feast of Saints Peter and Paul! Amy and her family were not able to make it, since she is still out of town as the doctors work on healing Daisy’s heart, and they were missed. . . We did have some other friends join us and it was such a fun filled day!
~ Saint Story & Coloring Pages ~
First we read a couple stories about St. Peter and St. Paul from
A Holy Card Prayer Book. I was given this book a couple years ago, and it is wonderful. I believe it is out of print, but it is well worth the effort to try and find a copy.
(Amazon has a few affordable options at the moment.) Not only are the pencil illustrations throughout the bookjust gorgeous…
there are also short stories and prayers included as well.
Additional Options:
I printed these out for my children to work on throughout the rest of the week.
~ Craft Time ~
The “Barque” of Peter Sail Boats
When I was trying to come up with a craft idea for today, my husband suggested making ships/boats, since Recalling how those outside of Noah’s Ark were destroyed, the ship became an early symbol of the Church with its associations with
“The Barque of Peter, the Fisherman.” And although most of St. Paul’s missions were accomplished by walking, he also traveled by boat. I did a little searching, trying to come up with an inexpensive craft that wouldn’t require a trip to the store and decided to go with the cute little
Juicebox Boats that were featured in Parents magazine.
(Looking at the link again now, I just realized we forgot to add little flags to the sails. Oops!) 
I didn’t have any used Priority envelopes laying around, so I just cut sails out of plain white copy paper. After the kids had decorated the sails with illustrations, I covered each one with clear packing tape to protect them from water damage. Originally I thought about laminating them, but then decided not to since that might make them a little too top heavy. The tape worked great!
Once the boats were completed we tried them out in the sink and the kids *loved* them! They float great. (We did have one rather tippy boat, and will add a small slit to the top and drop in a few pennies to weight it down a little bit.) My boys are already making plans for all the remaining juice boxes in our fridge!
~ Games ~
.: St. Paul’s Journey to Rome :.
I had a few games planned for this week… The first was a little maze I created, calling it “St. Paul’s Journey to Rome.” You can download my document at Dropbox if you’d like. We had a race to see who would finish first, so I handed out all the papers face down.
Even though this little guy was one of the youngest, he was the first one finished and won the bag of Skittles. I mean he finished FAST, I barely had time to snap a couple pictures and he was saying I’m done. Apparently, according to his mom, he loves mazes! All the other kids got to choose a small candy once they completed their maze.
.: St. Paul’s Blind Man’s Bluff :.
Next we headed outside for a game of Blind Man’s Bluff. I thought that since St. Paul was stuck blind by a bright light from Heaven for a few days, this game would tie in perfectly. The kids had a blast, and it was so fun to watch them play!
.: St. Peter’s Fishers of Men :.
The last game we played was inspired by the Year 3 Blue Knights Leader’s Guide, and is called Fishing For Men. Using a net (I had one that I picked up at the Dollar Store for a Good Shepherd Garden Party) one of the children tries to capture others for Christ and bring them into Peter’s Barque. As each child is caught he becomes a fisherman also!
~ Snack Time ~
Saints Peter and Paul Cupcakes
For an afternoon snack I served Saints Peter and Paul Cupcakes. I thought they ended up turning out cute, and very symbolic, especially since I really didn’t have much of a plan when I started making them! 🙂 I posted the details over at Catholic Cuisine.
~ Group Photo ~
~ Extra Credit ~
Like last time, I pulled out our various books about this week’s saint(s) for my children to read, in order to earn extra tickets for Summer Bingo:
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us!
Prayer of Mothers
Father in heaven, grant me the grace to appreciate the dignity which you have conferred on me. Let me realize that not even the Angels have been blessed with such a privilege—to share in your creative miracle and bring new Saints to heaven. Make me a good mother to all my children after the example of Mary, the Mother of your Son. Through the intercession of Jesus and Mary I ask your continued blessings on my family. Let us all be dedicated to your service on earth and attain the eternal happiness of your kingdom in heaven. Amen.
Thanks so much for these wonderful ideas! We have a name day in our family today so I can't wait to use some of these next year. Also, I just bought a used copy of the holy card book as an upcoming name day gift for my daughter. 🙂
Awesome, Jessica! Looks like a day filled with fun and sweet memories.
Oh my goodness! What fun! I am so sad we missed it! Looks like everyone had a blast!
I think you are the coolest!!! I just love the way you do things.