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| First Communion Bible • Lenten Jesus Tree Verses |
This is the 10th Lenten season since I created a Jesus Tree to use with our children during Lent! I have really loved using it over the years as a Lenten Bible Study picking up when our annual Advent Bible Study leaves off. So many wonderful (and funny!) memories over the years…
Last year, since we were traveling during some of Lent and Holy Week, I didn’t end up pulling it out to use with our little ones, and this year our schedule has been so packed that I decided to just keep things simple and we’ve been focusing on our annual Lenten calendars, Stations of the Cross every Friday night, and additional books (including books for the older children) when we can fit them in each day.
Yesterday afternoon, after getting home from work, I decided to print out the new Jesus Tree Lenten Activity Printable from Do Small Things With Great Love and work on it with our two youngest children. They are really enjoying this fun and educational craft and are already back to coloring more of the ornaments this morning as we catch up!
I didn’t have any poster boards large enough for the crosses, so we just printed them out on card stock and glued the four sections together. I’m pretty sure our little guy used a different shade of brown for each section.. lots of variations in the wood of his cross!
While they were working on coloring their crosses today I pulled out some additional books to read with them during these last couple weeks of Lent and displayed them on our portable library! (I’m really loving this new addition to our homeschool!) One of the older girls helped set up some of our Holy Week/Easter themed toys for them as well!
Alphabet of the Altar • The End of the Fiery Sword • Into the Sea, Out of the Tomb • The Three Trees
He Is Risen! Easter Puzzle with Jesus and Mary Magdalen from Naturally Catholic
Jesus, the New Adam and Mary, the New Eve from Almond Rod Toys
Last Supper Wood Blocks and Wooden Mass Kit from Almond Rod Toys
Lent and Easter Blocks from Almond Rod Toys
(You can also buy the craft sheets and make the Lent Blocks yourself!)
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| Looking for the perfect shade… |
While they colored each ornament I read through the various bible verses provided for each image from the Gospel of Matthew.
Occasionally we’d take a break from coloring and add in some extra stories and discussions, including the section on The Incarnation from My Path to Heaven and Lesson 55: The Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes from Chat’s With God’s Little Ones. These are both such excellent resources and I highly recommend them for young children.
The pretzel I had picked up at Trader Joe’s a couple days ago didn’t “multiply” but it did end up being plenty big enough for the two of them to share with three of their older siblings! 😉
Before tucking them into bed, we also read through The End of the Fiery Sword and Into the Sea, Out of the Tomb. These are a couple of my favorite Catholic picture books.
That’s where we left off, even though they were ready for me to read though all the rest of the books on that shelf… We will definitely be reading more today!
From the Archives:
Scroll through all our past Jesus Tree posts here.
Love this! Do you have a picture of the other side of the double-sided portable library?
2017-03-30 19:34:41
We are trying the Jesus Tree for this Lenten season too! However, I ended up making a larger cross out of 7 pieces of brown construction paper and only printing out the larger size ornaments. The larger ornaments fit perfectly!
2017-03-31 13:42:57
Jessica! I purchased the beautiful Mass kit that you had on your shelves for my godson's First Communion using the link for the etsy shop. You make shopping for beautiful meaningful things SO EASY. I'm sure it takes work to get these bigger posts going, but you are connecting us with Catholic vendors and I appreciate it so much. Keep up the good work!
2017-03-31 18:57:15
The Jesus Tree is a wonderful idea. The children look so contented coloring. Thank you for sharing this post, which I enjoyed tremendously. Marilyn
2017-03-31 20:23:13
You always make every holiday special. I love reading your posts. Marion
2017-03-31 22:10:11