Catholic Roundup

Since the very first Catholic New Media Advent Calendar, Ruth at This That and the Other Thing has been our first guest with a list of Advent Links for Children.  Here are her 2008 and 2009 Advent links.  Thanks Again Ruth Ann.

Advent for Families with Children 2010

I am participating in the Catholic New Media Advent Calendar again this year.  If you are a blogger, I’m sure they’d love to have you link to them.

This list of links started several years ago when I was teaching third grade religion.  I’ve updated it yearly, and I’ll admit I keep doing it because I always get lots of hits, so if you aren’t a regular reader, welcome.  If you are a blogger, please consider joining us weekly for Sunday Snippets–A Catholic Carnival. It is a meme I host that allows Catholic bloggers to share posts with each other.

One place to find activities appropriate for children/youth is from religion book publishers:
Sadlier has activities at many age levels.

The most known symbol of Advent is the Advent Wreath.  First School has a version even the little ones can make.  Amazing Moms gives you a ritual to follow, if you desire, along with directions on how to make a wreath. Domestic Church tells you how to make a fresh wreath.

Kids remember things associated with food–Thanksgiving turkey, Easter eggs, Christmas cookies, so how about some Advent food?  Catholic Cuisine has all sorts of things to try.

I’m not the only one to collect links.  For other link lists, see Catholic Mom or another page from Catholic Mom. Catholic Culture has more activities than anyone could do in a year.  Elena at My Domestic Church has a long list of links too.

One thing we do yearly is the Jesse Tree.  The Diocese of Erie has nice downloadable ornaments.  These are pretty too.

Prayer is an important part of Advent.  The Passionists have these prayers for kids.  Catholic Mom has activities that correlate with the liturgy.

Holy Heroes will send your children a daily email during Advent.

Finally, if you want to spring for a few dollars, Joy to the World: Advent Activities for Your Family will not only give you more activities than you have time to do, it will give you a concrete framework to follow with your family during Advent.  You can read a full review here, and read the first chapter here.

Join us tomorrow for more reflections produced by great Catholic New Media personalities as we journey through the advent.

1. Send me your feedback on the blog at http://cc.ductapeguy.net by email at (catholicroundup@gmail.com) catholicroundup (at) gmail (dot) com or by calling 206-666-7374.

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2. Go to the Catholic New Media Advent Calendar

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Today we welcome back RAnn from at This That and the Other Thing.  At the beginning of advent RAnn brought us Advent Links for Children.  Today she follows that very popular post with: Christmas Activities for Catholic (and other Christian) Kids.

My post of Advent Activities for kids has proven to be the most popular one I’ve ever written, so I thought I’d try one giving Christmas activities for kids–and focus on the Christmas that features the baby Jesus, the stable, and the star rather than the one that features Santa, the reindeer and Frosty.

Apples4theteacher appears to be a site designed for teachers and has coloring sheets, poems, songs and more. It looks like there is quite a bit here, but you have to hunt a little.

Coloring Book Fun has coloring pages for a lot of things, including religious Christmas pages.

Resources for Catholic Educators links to coloring pages too.

A Google search for Christmas coloring sheets will give you lots of options, but check them out before turning the kids loose–some are anti-Catholic.

CatholicMom has lots of ideas to keep the little ones busy.

Catholic Culture gives us Christmas morning prayers and evening prayers.

Catechetical Resources, from the publishers of the Faith and Life religion books give us Christmas activities for the brain as well as fun things to do.

Check your child’s grade on Sadlier’s website and find a Christmas activity for his/her age group.

Preschool kids will like this site.

Domestic Church has several Christmas activities.

The ladies over at Catholic Cuisine are bound to have something good to cook for Christmas.

The Daughters of St. Paul have some online activities for kids.

Of course the most necessary part of celebrating Christmas is celebrating Sunday mass with the community. The web gives us lots of resources to help children understand the weekly readings. The publishers of the Faith First religion texts have weekly summaries, discussion topics and activities based on the readings. Sadlier has a similar site. Catholic Mom.com has coloring pages, worksheets, lesson plans, and more for each week. Open Wednesday has a variety of activities as well.

Join us tomorrow for more reflections produced by great Catholic New Media personalities as we journey through the 12 Days of Christmas.

1. Send me your feedback on the blog at http://cc.ductapeguy.net by email at (catholicroundup@gmail.com) catholicroundup (at) gmail (dot) com or by calling 206-337-0611.

2. Go to the Catholic New Media Advent Calendar

Subscribe to CNMR (RSS).

Subscribe on the Itunes Music Store

Back for a return visit, RAnn over at This That and the Other Thing brings us

An Advent Read

Advent And Christmas Wisdom From Henri J.m. Nouwen: Daily Scripture And Prayers Together With Nouwen’s Own Words by Henri J.M. Nouwen

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Advent can be a good time to get into the habit of daily prayer, or a time to try something new to enrich it. This book is helpful for either goal. It is an easy to read book of daily devotionals for the Advent and Christmas season. Each day’s section is divided into four sections: a reading from one of the writings of Henri Nouwen, a reading from the Bible, a prayer, and an “Advent Action”, which is, as the name implies, a concrete action to accomplish that day, which relates to the theme of the readings and prayer.

As an example, on day 13, we read Nouwen discussing the Latin words for listening and listening with great attention (obedire and audire) and for not listening (surdus), applying them to Psalm 23 and concluding that “Listening starts precisely when you move from the mind to the heart and let the truth of your being center you down”. The scripture reading for the day is Psalm 23. The prayer asks God to help us pay full attention to Him. The Advent Action is to memorize a prayer that will be helpful in times of trouble.

Most of the Advent actions are very doable, but many are challenging. They call the reader to reach beyond him/herself but not so far that it is easy to say “I can’t do that, I know it, and so there is no need to try”. Live with this book through Advent and you will be ready to welcome the Lord on Christmas.

View all RAnn’s reviews.

Thank your RAnn for your contribution. Join us tomorrow and every day in December for more reflections produced by great Catholic New media personalities.

1. Send me your feedback on the blog at http://cc.ductapeguy.net by email at (catholicroundup@gmail.com) catholicroundup (at) gmail (dot) com or by calling 206-337-0611.

2. Go to the Catholic New Media Advent Calendar

Subscribe to CNMR (RSS).

Subscribe on the Itunes Music Store

Welcome to Day 2 of A Catholic New Media Advent Calendar. Our first guest posting is contributed by RAnn over at This That and the Other Thing.  Today RAnn brings us Advent Links for Children.

This is a slight re-working of something I wrote for the blog I keep for my third grade religion class.

Children love to celebrate and love to make things. To make Advent a family celebration and to give the kids preparation for Christmas beyond buying and wrapping gifts, check out these links. If you have favorite Advent sites for kids which are not listed, leave them in the comments section.

Many of the publishers of religion texts have websites with further activities. Catechetical Resources, put out by the publishers of the Faith and Life religion books, has activities for all grade levels, including instructions for making Advent Wreaths, coloring sheets and study guides.

Sadlier, publisher of the We Believe religion series has Advent activities for all ages.

CatholicMom.com has art projects, coloring sheets, games and even some recipes. They have more under lesson plans. Catholic Advent is an old site and most of the links are bad, so skip them, but try the activities. This site, filled with preschool activities, gives instructions for an Advent Wreath craft and lesson. Here is another Advent Wreath craft, with prayers, and here are different directions for a traditional Advent Wreath.

Most kids love to help in the kitchen and the Catholic Cuisine blog has recipes that carry you through the liturgical year. See what they are cooking up for Advent.

Part of a large site by a Passionist, here are Advent prayers for children.

Sign up for Holy Heroes and your kids can get daily emails of Advent activities.

Creighton University reminds parents that the most important thing to do to prepare children for Advent is for parents to prepare themselves. However, they provide several family Advent activities.

Of course the most necessary part of celebrating Advent is celebrating Sunday mass with the community. The web gives us lots of resources to help children understand the weekly readings. The publishers of the Faith First religion texts have weekly summaries, discussion topics and activities based on the readings. Sadlier has a similar site. Catholic Mom.com has coloring pages, worksheets, lesson plans, and more for each week. Open Wednesday has a variety of activities as well.

Thank your RAnn for your contribution. Join us tomorrow and every day in December for more reflections produced by great Catholic New media personalities.

1. Send me your feedback on the blog at http://cc.ductapeguy.net by email at (catholicroundup@gmail.com) catholicroundup (at) gmail (dot) com or by calling 206-337-0611.

2. Go to the Catholic New Media Advent Calendar

Subscribe to CNMR (RSS).

Subscribe on the Itunes Music Store