Activity Centers for Intergenerational Event

There are 10 Activity Center suggestions from which to develop your event. Use them all or choose those best suited for your gathering space, time, budget, and volunteer availability. They're easy to follow and designed to work effectively as described. You can start small one year and add, adjust, or adapt activities from year to year. Click the links in the Materials section of each Activity Center description to view or to print the resources intended for use. The provided Family Handouts vary from one page to several pages. You will want to have one set of handouts for each child who participates.

Note that two of the centers include label-sheet patterns designed to be duplicated onto Avery Labels to make stickers. These labels are available at office-supply stores.

The Intergenerational Event is designed to conclude with a Good Friday Prayer Service, which incorporates the Agony in the Garden Drama. The Easter—Resurrection Garden home activity provides a connection to the parish Easter Sunday celebration.

Prayer Holder Activity Center
The children will construct a prayer holder depicting the three crosses at Jesus' Crucifixion to encourage them to develop the habit of prayer.

Materials:

• Prayer Holder Family Handout
• Paper plates (1 per child)
• Black construction paper (1 sheet per child)
• Crayons or markers
• Scissors (1 pair per 2-3 children)
• Staplers (1 per 6-8 children) or glue (staplers preferred)
• Prayer Holder Labels Master (Use Avery #5263 to make labels.)

Optional:
The following is recommended if large numbers are expected or if many are likely to come without having registered in advance.

• Enlarge to poster size the instructions found in the Prayer Holder Family Handout.
• Make extra copies of the pattern of crosses found in the Prayer Holder Family Handout.

Resurrection Cross Activity Center
The children will create and decorate a cross as a visual reminder of Jesus' Resurrection.

Materials:

• Resurrection Cross Family Handout
• Cross pattern on card stock (1 per 3-4 children)
• Construction paper on which to trace cross (1 sheet per child)
• Card stock (1 per child) (different color than card stock above and large enough to hold cross)
• Glue
• Precut 2 x 2-inch squares of multicolored tissue paper (16-20 squares per child)
• Resurrection Cross Labels Master (Use Avery #5262 to make labels.)

Passion Booklet Activity Center
The children will make a booklet to reinforce their understanding of Jesus' passion and Resurrection.

Materials:

• Passion Booklet Family Handout
• Construction paper (8 ½ x 11) for booklet (2 sheets per child)
• Scissors (1 pair per 2-3 children)
• Stapler (1 per 6-8 children)
• Glue
• Crayons or markers
• Gospel stories of the passion and Resurrection (or children's Bibles with the stories marked)
  (The completed project can also be used at the Preschool Activity Center.)

Preschool Activity Center
The adults will engage the children in the Lenten story by reading to them from storybooks and by helping them with puzzles and similar activities.

Materials:

• Preschool Family Handout
• Lenten coloring books and storybooks
• Religious puzzles, puppets, or similar items
• Crayons or markers
• Gymnastics mat floor covering (optional)
• Floor pillows for adults to sit on (optional)

Gardening God's Way Activity Center
The children will plant seeds in a cup to take home and blossom, symbolizing the new life of the Resurrection.

Materials:

• Gardening God's Way Family Handout
• Large tarpaulin
• Large bag of soil (1 for every 60-70 children)
• Short, clear plastic cup or small pot (1 per child)
• Craft sticks with Alleluia written on them (1 per child)
• Flower seeds (the larger the better)
• Trowels (3-4)

Passion Ribbon Activity Center
The children will color, cut out, and staple symbols of the passion in chronological order on ribbons to provide a visual representation of events of Jesus' passion and death.

Materials:

• Passion Ribbon Family Handout
• Crayons or markers
• Scissors (1 pair per 2-3 children)
• Staplers (1 per 6-8 children) or glue (staplers preferred)
• Inexpensive craft or florist ribbon (approximately 1" wide x 20" long) (1 per child)

Offering Box Activity Center
The children will decorate a box and collect change to place in it as a way to participate in the spirit of sacrifice.

Materials:

• Offering Box Family Handout
• Crayons or markers
• Colored construction paper
• Buttons and sequins (optional)
• Glue (regular and craft) (if providing buttons and sequins)
• Cross-shaped boxes (available at www.orientaltrading.com) or other boxes suitable for decorating (1 per child)

Lenten Fast Activity Center
The children will have a meager snack of pretzels and water to represent the spirit of Lenten fasting.

Materials:

• Lenten Fast Family Handout
• Pretzels
• Water in easy-pour containers
• 2-3 ounce disposable cups
• Paper towels

Triduum Bracelet Activity Center
The children will make bracelets out of yarn of multiple colors that represent various aspects of the passion and Resurrection of Jesus.

Materials:

• Triduum Bracelet Family Handout
• Scissors (1 pair per 2-3 children)
• Ruler or tape measure
• 12-inch strands of yarn, precut if possible (5 strands per child, 1 of each color—red, purple, brown, white, yellow)

Optional:
Consider the following alternatives for children who have difficulty braiding.

• jellybeans in the designated symbolic colors and small plastic bags into which the children can place the jellybeans

Agony in the Garden Drama
The children will dramatize the events leading up to the arrest of Jesus, to be performed during the closing prayer service.

Materials:

• Agony in the Garden Script (to give to volunteers and actors)
• Props: money bag for Judas, plastic sword for Peter
• Costumes (1 per child): 48-inch long belt of rope, twine, or fabric; tunics cut from 18 x 72-inch fabric rectangle folded in half lengthwise with 9-to-10-inch slit cut in middle of fold for head

Roles:

• Speakers: Narrator, Jesus, Malchus
• Nonspeakers: Judas, Peter, James, John, and other apostles and soldiers (numbers may vary)