In my recent post about the Resurrection Eggs, I mentioned that we are doing another Lenten activity this year. This time, it was inspired by a post from Equipping Catholic Families.
Tweaking the Stepping Stones Through Jesus’ Life a bit, I used bigger stones and made it into decoupaged Lenten Story Stones, with one stone representing an event in Jesus’ life and ministry. We are laying the stones around the garden. The last stone will end by a pot covered by a bigger stone representing the tomb of Jesus, which we will open on Easter Sunday!
Making the Lenten Story Stones
First stop: our local garden store for the stones. It was actually pretty easy to find the rocks that we needed – and not too expensive too! I specifically looked for those that had a flat surface so it would be easier to decoupage.
Next, we cleaned all the stones and lay them out in the sun to dry. In the meantime, I made our decoupage glue (one part water, one part white glue). You may also use any decoupage medium, in which case I recommend the outdoor type if you are planning to use it in the garden.
After printing the images, the fun began! We brushed the glue on the stone, stuck the paper, and brushed glue over it to seal it. And that’s that! (See first photo.)
Too bad I wasn’t able to take photos as our hands were already dirty and sticky by this time. It was pure joy making the materials with the Energizer Bunny!
Using the Lenten Story Stones
We started a few days into Lent so we are currently doing two or three stories a day. The Energizer Bunny pretty much knows the stories from Jesus’ Birth to the Baptism as we have been doing timeline Bible stories in our homeschool this year.
To simplify, we took the stones representing those parts of Jesus’ life and made her sequence it by laying the stones in the garden.
Following Jesus’ life through the story stones helps make Lent and Holy Week more relevant. It is an enriching activity that the whole family can truly appreciate and enjoy.
A special gift for your family: the Easter Story Stones
Since Holy Week is coming in a few days, we wanted to make our own simpler version of the story stone pictures. Thankfully, our uber creative friends from Little Human & Co. agreed to collaborate for this project to give you a set of printables to use for your own Easter Story Stones just in time for Holy Week!
If you haven’t met them yet, Kate and Oliver are the brains – and hands – behind the handmade playdough, play capes, tutus and masks from Little Human & Co. Our kids loooove all their products and we always enjoy chatting with this couple,who also happen to be illustrators!
They gamely made this set of printables for this project, which includes eight photos that you can use for each day of Holy Week starting Palm Sunday.
What to do
Easter Story Stones
To make your story stones:
- Wash and dry your stones
- Print the images (download below)
- Make your decoupage glue with 1 part water and 1 part white glue
- Brush the glue over the stones
- Stick one image per stone
- Brush glue over it again
- Let dry
Sequencing Cards
If you are not feeling too crafty, you can easily print the bigger images that we included in the download file on cardstock. Use it as sequencing cards as you read the appropriate Bible stories during Holy Week.
Download
Download your Easter Story Stones printables here. You’re welcome! And please visit our friends Little Human & Co. as a simple way of thanking them for these original images!