Feast Days & Holidays

by Joan Marie Arbogast

From All Saints' Day and Pentecost to Thanksgiving and Independence Day, the year is full of reasons-both sacred and secular-to celebrate!

Feast Days & Holidays, the newest title in the Living and Celebrating Our Catholic Customs and Traditions series, is an exciting resource for teachers in classrooms; parents, caretakers and homeschool instructors in homes; and catechists in religious education programs who want to integrate the faith into the daily lives of children. Perfect for ages 5-9, this interactive guide celebrates the liturgical year and special holidays through background information and corresponding activities.

Kid-friendly, easy-to-make crafts, fun activities, delicious recipes, and reproducibles create memorable ways for children to learn about the faith. Requiring minimal materials, these affordable activities are great complements to children learning about the special days throughout the year in a Catholic faith perspective. January through December, your child will learn about beloved saints, important feast days, liturgical color meanings, major holy days, holidays, and prayers, while creating meaningful traditions. An introduction to parents and teachers, a "How to Use this Book" guide, clearly defined section headers, and an answer key make navigating this resource book very straightforward.

Your children can concoct the recipe to "Ash Wednesday Soup," find the 'lost' items in a picture with the help of St. Anthony, solve mazes to find out what Jesus told the apostle Simon Peter, make magnets for Earth Day, string together Saint Thérèse's acts of kindness beads, design their own coat of arms in the spirit of St. George, learn how to say 'thank you' in different languages, and follow the directions to create cross-shaped palms.

Author Joan Marie Arbogast has an expertise with children's activities gained from her experiences as a teacher, parish involvement, and participation in library craft workshops. The first-two volumes in this series, The Advent-Christmas Book, and The Lent-Easter Book, are best-sellers.

From the Introduction

The Feast Days & Holidays Book is the newest title in the Living and Celebrating Our Catholic Customs and Traditions series. It offers background information about selected feast days and holidays, plus suggested activities that can be used to celebrate these special days. Like The Advent-Christmas Book and The Lent-Easter Book, this book holds a variety of kid-friendly prayers, craft projects, recipes, and reproducible pages that can help make the learning experience come alive.

If you are familiar with the first two books in this series, you will notice the format for The Feast Days and Holidays Book is somewhat different. It focuses on individual days rather than liturgical seasons. Included are major holy days, a sampling of saints' feast days, and some secular holidays, too.

It is my hope that this newest addition to the series will provide you with plenty of fresh ideas to help you cultivate the sprouting seeds of faith you have so lovingly planted in the hearts of our youth.

Blessings,
Joan Marie Arbogast, Author

Features & Benefits:

• Perfect for ages 5-9
• Affordable ideas for celebration
• Easy hands-on crafts, activities, and kitchen fun
• Primarily requires household materials
• Opportunities to make homemade gifts
• Reproducible pages for classroom and home use
• Complements lesson plans
• Encourages development of motor skills
• Addition to a best-selling series
• Written by an experienced author-teacher