This was our GIFT project for March. It's a variation on something I wrote years ago for Christian Beginnings Volume 3 (Our Sunday Visitor Publishing). It's more involved and time-consuming than most of our projects, but I think it's worth the extra effort. Our topic was the Paschal Mystery, so our books contained 16 pages - all 14 Stations of the Cross along with Easter and Ascension. What I love about the booklet is that the simple language and ties to children's daily lives make this heavy subject accessible and age-appropriate. I think it could easily be tweaked to work for middle school/ junior high as well.
First, here are a few photos of pages from the sample project:
As you can see, each page was 1/2 sheet of card-stock pre-printed with the text. The children then created the artwork for each page at different tables around the room. Since I work with large groups, I had 8 tables with 2 projects at each table, and each table could accommodate about 6 kids at a time with the parents standing behind and helping them. When all 16 pages were done, they put them in order, used a standard hole-punch to make 2 holes on the left side of each page, and used a pipe cleaner cut into 2 pieces to loop them together. If you are working with a smaller group, or are a GIFT parent re-creating this project at home, you may find it easier to pre-punch the holes to line up properly.
Click on the links below to get the PDF's of the pages (2 booklet pages per sheet)
Here is description of the symbol created for each page. Feel free to use this, change it, work with whatever materials you have on hand...
Page One Symbol: Scroll made w/ straws & paper - says, "Love one another."
Page Two Symbol: Cross made from toothpicks & hemp cord ("twine") - photo above
Pages Three, Seven, & Nine Symbol: "Path" cut from Sandpaper (kids make all 3 of these at once - 1 for each time Jesus falls)
Page Four Symbol: A "shrine" for Mary colored & cut out (click words for pdf)
Page Five Symbol: Child's hand traced, with something written on each finger
Page Six Symbol: Piece of muslin w/ Jesus' face traced on it - photo above
Page Eight Symbol: Teardrop (we cut ours from shiny blue self-stick paper)
Page Ten Symbol: Clothes hanger made from aluminum foil - photo above
Page Eleven Symbol: Variety of hearts and love messages stamped in red
Page Twelve Symbol: Black felt "ripped" (actually cut) in 1/2
Page Thirteen Symbol: Pictures from magazines of people in community
Page Fourteen Symbol: White paper cut into stone shape, then rubbed w/ oil pastels w/ texture underneath to create a paper "rock"
Page Fifteen (Easter) Symbol: Butterfly made from tissue & pipe cleaner stem
Page Sixteen (Ascension) Symbol: Picture of Jesus with clouds and "sunbursts" cut from construction paper - photo above
