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As you and your families prepare to celebrate the Presentation of Christ on February 2 I share with you the following activities. Page 16 of 39 in this Orthodox coloring book has the icon  to print & color https://www.scribd.com/doc/14024263/Orthodox-Christian-Icon-Coloring-Book Click, Print and Enjoy!

Gather Orthodox Christians of all ages for a fun and interactive game of Orthodox Jeopardy . Created in Microsoft Powerpoint, you'll sing along to the familiar theme songs of the television gameshow while testing your knowledge of the faith. Create teams or play individually. Even set up a laptop and projector screen to host this game at Youth Night or Retreats with popcorn and sleeping bags! The questions range in difficulty and topics include: The Saints, Art & Architecture, Music & Hymnology, The Bible, Faith & Traditions , Miracles...plus more! Click here to download this file from our Orthodox Scribd Group or better yet please e-mail eleniemarie@gmail.com for the most accurate Powerpoint layout since it's distorting quite a bit thru the web. Best results have been had by downloading and opening it in Powerpoint itself. This activity is also very adaptable for local traditions, languages, levels of difficulty, etc. Hope you enjoy it~

NEW: Introducing a free weekly curriculum to create Orthodox Christian Kids Journals about our  faith! Each week, come back to this website and download the handout to print yourselves. The handouts cover a topic from the Church year including quotes, miracle stories, maps, troparions, icons and Orthodox art. As we discuss the components of the lesson, students are actively listening while they color, cut, and glue a memorable resource to keep for the rest of their lives! Often, students contribute stories they have heard, or if they have that particular Saints' icon at home, or if they have ever venerated a relic, traveled to that country etc. This method proves to be a wonderful tool to create lasting beauty as students develop a greater understanding for the Orthodox Church year in the midst of open dialogue. Join with us and share ! CLICK HERE Here are the files currently available: Journal Curriculum Calendar Journal Intro page handout  Journal Lesson on the Cross...

Here is an Orthodox Christian Worksheet and Lesson on the Nativity that includes a bit of theology we often overlook. Although it might be for older ones, I hope it offers details that the younger ones can comprehend as well. Click here for the PDF Lesson available at the Orthodox Christian Scribd Group. Wishing you and your families a blessed Nativity ~

Try a "Candy Cane Hunt" with your families, friends, or parishes before Christmas this year. You can print out tags to wrap around each cane if you like with a short spiritual poem. We usually have adults hide the candy canes off fences, tree branches, under low bushes and parking lot car mirrors then dismiss the youngest kids first, giving them a head start to gather candy for their brown lunch bags! It's a great way to get out energy after the Divine Liturgy or during the days home from school!

God is with us (Matthew 1:23) All the Earth worships Thee (Psalm 66:4)   His name shall endure forever (Psalm 72: 17) He is our God, the God of salvation (Psalm 68:20) There shall come a Star out of Jacob (Numbers 24:17) He will save His people from their sins ( Matthew 1:20-21 ) For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given (Isaiah 9:6) He said, “Thou art My Son; on this day have I begotten Thee ” (Psalm 2:7) We have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him (Matthew 2:2) You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger (Luke 2:12) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord ( Luke 2:11) Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel ( Isaiah 7:14) The Angels cried out, Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:14)   He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting F...

The sayings of the prophets are now fulfilled! Use this study to learn the prophecies of the Old Testament with your children and teenagers. (Download the free printable PDF file here, in color or black/white.) All verses are weaved into the hymns of the Orthodox Church and chanted during the Christmas services. The richness and depth of the season is remarkable!      Complete this "Root of Jesse Tree" by first gluing the Mother of God in place, and adding a prophet as you study them with the verses below. The tradition of this icon can often be found with an image of Jesse reclining at the bottom of the icon as the root - the Mother of God becomes the "rod" who springs forth the "fruit" who is Christ (2nd century Bishop Irenaeus of Lyons, St Ambrose of Milan, and 8th c St Cosmas) Here are the memory verses: A shoot will come forth from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. ( Isaiah 11:1) Her womb was foreshadowed by the burning ...

********REVISED********** Click on the crossword puzzle to the right for a little Christmas trivia! Located for free download here. Hopefully, it will be challenging for parents and kids of all ages. "Make ready, O Bethlehem: let the manger be prepared, let the cave show its welcome. The truth has come, the shadow has passed away..." Sticheron at the Royal Hours by St Sophronius of Jerusalem

In response to those of you who asked for more teen resources, here is a lesson that I believe our teens are capable of grasping. Often, we don't give them enough substance - so get ready to challenge them! Using the text "On the Incarnation" by Saint Athanasios, you can lead your group to a deeper understanding of why God needed to come in what we celebrate as the feast of the Nativity. By drawing out important quotes and asking the right questions, we can essentially tackle the messages of creation, salvation, and theosis with them. If you so choose, make a scavenger hunt of these hidden quotes from the lesson plan alone to lead them through the lesson!  Cut in strips, and hide them around your Church - taking them from places like where we enter our spiritual journey (the door) to where we find refreshing drink (the water fountain) to a reflection in the mirror to better see mankind's position to God. Regroup at the end to compile and discuss the quotes by glui...

Each year, we begin decorating our home on November 15, as we begin the 40 day fast for Christmas. It's beneficial for all to begin seeing the transformation around us and within us.  Here are the 40 days in icons. We're aiming to cut them out, and create an ornament for each day until Christmas. If you follow the old calendar, I can post January as well. Enhance this activity by chanting the troparion for each day, or paste a short story from the Saints' life on the backside of each ornament. At this link, many Orthodox ornaments are sold, and you can get a few ideas: http://www.easterngiftshop.com/Category/CO Paste each icon in the center of a star or snowflake if you wish!  gold star After you're finished, that's forty ornaments! Plenty to fill a tree!

For the 'Apostles fast' in the Orthodox Church, and here's an activity to assemble the icon day by day until the feast on June 29/30. On the first day, the children will cut out and glue the icon of Christ in the center of the Tree, learning the memory verse, " I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." from John 15:5. Each day(s) to follow, focus on one Apostle at a time, reading their life, learning their experiences and placing them on the icon. Each has a troparion as well to chant! Click here to download the smaller icons Click here for the tree document.   Once the tree is colored by the children, it can be laminated, along with the icons.  We have placed velcro on the backsides, and the children re-attach the icons each year during the fasting period.   Saints Peter & Paul celebrated on June 29 (fast ends) Synaxis of the Twelve Holy Apostles, celebrated June 30 ...

While enjoying the light of  Pascha for 40 days, don't forget that there are still many great Saints on the calendar to learn about! Coming up Thursday April 23rd is the great martyr Saint George, who bears the title trophy-bearer in English. The Dragon Traveling on a white horse (Saint Demetrios is on the red horse), the soldier Saint George met a young girl, a local princess chosen by lot, who was about to be offered as food for the hungry dragon who threatened a certain town in Libya. He encouraged the maiden to have faith in Christ whom she did not know yet, and dropped to his knees in prayer, asking God to use that opportunity for others to believe in Him as the One True God. Upon meeting the dragon face to face, he made the sign of the cross, and the dragon fell like a meek puppy at the feet of the Saint. He instructed the girl to take her belt off and use it as a leash for the dragon His Suffering The Saint openly confessed himself as a Christian, and for that faced many tor...

Anyone with kids knows that Holy Week can be a challenging yet extremely rich experience!  Although the night services postpone bed time, we try to remember, it's just for one week, and nothing else quite seems to matter. Yes, the services can be long, so this post is dedicated to the "something special" in each night that makes it all worth it for young and old. Here's our list of things not to miss with your kids and teens ~ Palm Sunday Morning - Find the kids worshiping Christ in this icon and hold your palms proudly like them for the procession. How do we greet a King? Who is our King ?  RECITE: "Hosanna in the Highest. Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord" Palm Sunday Evening - ACTION: Kneel for the Procession of the icon of Christ as the Bridegroom when the priest brings Christ out from the Holy altar for the first time. Holy Monday - Light a candle in the dark serenity of  this service. ACTION: Bow down to make 3 full prostrations in ...

If you are looking for ways to keep "Christ" in your celebration of Easter, consider making an Orthodox Pascha Basket instead of the typical egg & candy overload! Each of the following traditional foods has a symbolic and spiritual significance . We focus on saying "Pascha" which encompasses our spiritual journey to the Resurrection of Christ , and is our "passage" from the Hebrew "pesche, or passover from death to life."   Each year, the Church follows the same sequence of events - and one can't happen without the next. I encourage you not to skip right to the Resurrection without going thru the Cross. Living each component in correct Orthodox theology is truly "Orthobiosi"   ...Christ raising Lazarus, Christ's Entry to Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), Christ's arrival to those anticipating Him (Bridegroom) the Passover (Christ's Mystical Last Supper on Holy Weds and His washing of the disciples feet) the Crucifixion, Bur...

Here's a look at the pious custom of red eggs in the Orthodox Church for you and your families to enjoy. Where did the tradition come from anyway? It seems there are a few possible answers to this question...of which I prefer to believe in the miracle that God worked through His handmaiden, Saint Mary Magdalene (whom by the way is often wrongly attributed as the prostitute who anointed Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair - Here is an Orthodox Wiki for a well cited clarification). Other symbolism, not as dogma, but as tradition includes: *The egg as the new life in Christ through His resurrection * Red for the color of our Lord's blood shed on the cross but also for His divinity *The outer shell to be cracked as the doors of Hades are shattered open Since children enjoy decorating the eggs, why not encourage them to display their faith on them, as the picture shows! Be sure not to throw away any icons if you use them, but certainly include symbols like ~ icxc, fis...

If you and your kids enjoyed the "Orthodox Alphabet Game" here is a set of flash cards to build your vocab. Some letters proved a bit challenging so I'll graciously accept other suggestions for "X, Y, and Z!" For older kids, maybe it's best to leave off the word on the front and have them find the correct word on the back. Both PDF files have been added to the Orthodox Education Group on Scrib.com . They were set up for standard 3x5 notecards, or you can print 4 to a letter size page. For younger kids, I've placed these cards within an inexpensive photo album to help them turn the pages like a book.

Have you prepared a "Lambatha, or Pascha Candle" with your children yet for 2018? It is customary among the Greek Orthodox that the Godparents do so, and they give it as a surprise for their godchildren as the night of the Resurrection approaches. T his candle has to be NEW, and will only be used for Pascha and 40 days afterward! Often these can be purchased with stuffed animals and ribbons, but we aim to use small icon stickers, wax decals, and symbols from our faith instead. Beeswax is an ideal offering, however white is also fitting for the Resurrection if this is what your parish offers. Here are a few symbols to incorporate: A small icon of the Resurrection A Cross Three Crosses Alpha and Omega Flowers IC XC NIKA (Jesus Christ Conquers) The "X" and P" Christ is Risen Here is a sample graphic to print on labels. If anyone else has done this craft before, please share your advice. I found the following links that were helpful: http://festalcelebrations.word...