One of the first major feast days we encounter in the fall season is All Saints’ Day. All Saints’ Day is a solemnity celebrated on November 1st. It is a rich Catholic holiday and it offers many ways to engage students of all ages. Download six free resources to celebrate All Saints' Day with students and children!
Complement your All Saints’ Day lessons and celebrations with a printable activity for primary aged students. This All Saints’ Day for Kids Mini Book can be used in the classroom or at home. Children can honor all of the saints and the rich impact they had on the lives of others.
To use this All Saints Day for Kids Mini Book, download and print copies of the handout for each child. Encourage students to read the Mini Book, or read each page aloud with children. Remind children that they can repeat the good work of the saints after learning about them. Children can then color each page by drawing portraits of themselves alongside the saint. Assist children in cutting out the pages and stapling them in order. Encourage children to share their completed books with family and friends. Explain that they can use the books to teach others about the good work of the saints!
The All Saints’ Day: Activities to Engage Youth eBook offers five simple suggestions for multi-sensory experiences. These activities will help children learn about and celebrate the saints, encouraging young disciples to think, move, draw, and pray. One example of these saint-inspired kid-friendly activities is a great extension of or substitution for a Halloween theme.
If you have Religious Education class on the day of All Saints’ Day, invite children to come in dressed as their favorite saint. Plan a parade in which children march around your open space (gym, cafeteria, etc.) to display their costumes. After parading, challenge children to teach their friends and classmates about the saint they chose to dress as.
For older children in your religious education program, plan an American Saints Mini Lesson to celebrate All Saints’ Day. This resource includes several activity suggestions, all with the goal of helping students understand the universal call to holiness, what holiness is, and examples of holiness in the lives of the saints. Activities include games, skits, and art opportunities to appeal to a wide range of junior high-school aged students.
One example activity from the American Saints Mini Lesson is the “Name That Saint Game.” In this game, the catechist displays, or projects (if such technology is available), a picture of a saint and ask students to identify who it is. If students can’t identify the saint from the image, they can be given clues about the saint’s identity until it is discovered.
The All Saints’ Day: Activities to Engage Youth eBook and the American Saints Mini Lesson are bundled into a single All Saints’ Day resource.
Engage the musical, interpersonal, and bodily-kinesthetic learners in your early childhood or primary classrooms with a song and dance activity to celebrate the saints!
Distribute the printable Celebrate the Saints Dance activity sheet and invite little ones to look at each picture as you read the accompanying verse. Demonstrate the steps and have the children practice. Then pray by dancing together. Encourage the children to take the activity sheets home to show their families the special dance they have learned!
As an All Saints' Day activity, assign each student in your class a saint to research using Sadlier’s Lives of the Saints feature.
After reading the online profile of a saint, invite students to complete this handout. Give each student a minute or two to present their report to the class before binding the handouts into a book, or display the finished handouts in your classroom or parish.
Celebrate the feast of All Saints by considering the holy men and women who encircle your life. Download a Prayer for All Saints and share it with students!
Finally, you may want to celebrate in class or at home with a special Built on a Rock: All Saints' Day Prayer Service. Based on the theme “Built on a Rock,” it encourages children to consider strength in faith. Leaders will need to gather a stone for each participant and to arrange a meeting space to accommodate the group before the prayer service. During the prayer service, participants will listen to Scripture, complete a contemplation exercise and an art activity, and pray.
Looking for more resources about popular saints for kids? Let Catholic kids and their families be inspired by these and other Catholic saints any time of year!