Reflecting on Faith at the End of the Year

I've found many templates for kids to look back and reflect on this year, but none from a faith perspective.  I want to give my children a chance to look back on their relationships with God, so I've made my own template, and you are welcome to use it with your own family and parish!  I've explained what I had in mind next to each entry below (except for the first 4, they're pretty self-explanatory,) but feel free to use it in a way that works for you.  The square to the right, which is only on the linked page, is for a photo.  You can get to the link for the printable sheet here.

Growing in Faith- 2014  

Name:                                                             

Age:

Favorite Hymn:

Favorite Prayer:

Favorite Bible/Faith Story:  Any favorite story of faith throughout the year.  It could be a true story, something that happened in your family, or something you heard about.  It could also be a story from a book or the Bible.

Religious Milestones:  Any first sacraments received, either by you or another family member.  It could also include a realization about your faith or relationship with God.

Favorite Church Memory:  A memory of a fun time with your church/parish!

A Time When God was There:  A period or event during the year when God was helping you.  Keep in mind, the help might not have been in the way you thought it would come or necessarily wanted, but God was still working in your life nonetheless.

My Goal for Growing in Faith in 2015:  What are your goals for strengthening your faith and your relationship with God in 2015?  For some great ideas, check out this post by Lacy over at Catholic Icing!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Santa looks an awful lot like Saint Nicholas doesn't he?  Some people forget that 'Santa Claus' (Saint Nicholas) was first a bishop!

Today is the feast of St. Nicholas!  Nicholas was a wealthy young man who became the bishop of Myra, in modern day Turkey.  He gave what he had to the poor, and had a special care for the welfare of children. He is the patron saint of children and a model and reminder for us to be generous and giving, just as God is generous in giving us His only Son.

How can you be generous and giving this season?

Slow and Steady!

How did the tortoise not get frustrated in his race with the hare?  He had PATIENCE!  He joyfully kept moving forward, even though it was slow and steady, and he reached his goal.  That is how it is with Advent. We keep joyfully moving forward, patiently, calmly waiting for and working towards Jesus!  How are you patiently waiting for Jesus, and working to welcome him into your heart?

A Second for the Spirit: Advent

St. Lucy's name means 'light.'

My 'A Second for the Spirit' flyers give you ideas to nourish the faith of your family in just seconds, because they fit one of two criteria:  1. They really take very little time to accomplish, or 2. They are probably things that you were already doing anyway.  Click here for the Advent edition. It is packed full of ideas on celebrating saint days during Advent.  The flyer includes information on St. Andrew, and you can find a copy of his Christmas novena here, at EWTN (Eternal Word Television.)

Have a wonderful, saint-filled Advent!

Welcome Advent!

One of my favorite memories always happened on the first Sunday of Advent.  I'd walk into church with my mom and brothers and sisters (Dad isn't Catholic) and see the Advent wreath.  It meant it was coming! Christmas!  Christmas with family we didn't see often, Christmas with yummy food we only ate that time of year, Christmas with wonderful surprises under the tree!  Waiting was SO hard, but that wreath reminded me that I only had to wait a little longer.

I hope you realize by now that I had it slightly wrong.  Advent and the wreath are about waiting, but they are not about waiting for the what of Christmas, the parties, food and presents. They are about waiting for the who, Jesus.  It is for Jesus that we prepare during Advent.  For Jesus that we need to make room in our hearts and homes.  For Jesus that we wait joyfully.

How can you help your family focus on preparing for Jesus this Advent?  Perhaps you can help set up an Advent wreath in your home.  You may already have one that you can make a space for, or you can make your own.  Follow this link for my paper plate wreath or this link for a pipe cleaner and bead Advent wreath from Lacy at Catholic Icing! Remind your family to light the wreath each night during Advent, and say 'The Our Father' or another prayer together.

How are you planning to wait for Jesus this Advent?  Let me know in the comments!

Halloween: Quick and Easy Ideas to Celebrate The Vigil of All Saints!

The hardest thing for me about the modern holidays that, at least commercially, seem to start as soon as the kids are back to school, is balancing our fun, secular, American cultural traditions with the religious origins and deeper, richer faith traditions.  Halloween is the perfect example of this.  I have no problem with Trick-or-Treating, since it is a wonderful event that brings the community together in our neighborhood, and is part of the fabric of our culture.

I do want my kids to understand and celebrate that Halloween is much more than a fun holiday for kids, however.  Halloween is actually All Hallow's Eve.  It is the vigil of All Saints Day, a wonderful Solemnity for Catholics.  This is much like Christmas Eve is the Vigil of Christmas.  All Saints is the day that we celebrate the people who have died and are with God in Heaven.  We ask these saints to pray for us, and we try to model their examples of faith and holiness.  Following All Saints Day is the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed, better known as All Souls, on November 2nd, when we remember all of the people who have died in the faith.  This is a great day to remember family members who have died.

So, with all of the craziness of finding costumes, attending Halloween parties, going trick-or-treating, how do we put it all in perspective and remember these days as the church intends?  I find the activities need to be easy and tie into what we're already doing.  My top 5 list of go-to ideas, which require very little extra work, are below!

Celebrating a Catholic Halloween

1. Remind your kids that this is the vigil of a Catholic holy day.  This one's so basic that it's easy to forget to do it, but kids need to know that Halloween is the eve of All Saints Day.  All Saints is also a holy day of obligation, which means attending Mass.  ***Note: When All Saints falls on a Saturday or Monday, it is not a holy day, but it is still good to try and get to Mass.

2. Carve Jack-o-Lanterns, and when you get to that great moment of lighting your creation and seeing that warm glow radiate and bring life to everything, remind your kids that Jesus is our light of the world.  He lights the darkness and gives us life.  As the days get shorter, Jesus is still a light in the darkness, just like the Jack-o-Lantern is a light on Halloween.

Okay, I know, not exactly a blog-worthy photo, but this is real life...I sometimes forget to remove the coffee mugs!

3. Go Trick-or-treating, and when you are done, say a prayer for all the households you visited, especially for their relatives who have died.  You could offer individual prayers, or pray an 'Our Father' or 'Hail Mary' together.  This is actually a medieval custom of the British Isles, and the origin of trick-or-treating.  Children would visit homes and offer prayers and songs for the dead relatives of the families.  What the youngsters would receive brings me to the next item on my list...

4. Enjoy Soul Cakes, before or after you go out, share soul cakes as a family.  We do this afterwards, after we pray for the families we visited.  Soul cakes were given to children in exchange for their prayers.  They were a spiced, flat cake almost like a cookie, with a cross imprinted.  You can find recipes online in order to do them yourself, or do what I do, which is to get my family a once in awhile treat of doughnuts! They work just as well and are a huge treat around here!  You could add a cross on top as well.

5.  Donate Candy, and explain to your children that the saints are saints because they served God and served other people.  As Catholics, we are called to a life of service.  We have many places around here to donate candy the day after Halloween, and it usually goes to our military personnel serving overseas.  

I hope these ideas inspire you to have a more spiritual Halloween- happy Eve of All Saints!

If you are looking for other Halloween ideas, or an idea for the month of November, I've linked back to previous posts below:

Spooky Saint Stones: http://firstschooloffaith.blogspot.com/2013/10/spooky-saint-stones.html

Remembering Loved Ones:  http://firstschooloffaith.blogspot.com/2013/10/remembering-loved-ones.html

Corpus Christi Sunday Sundaes!

This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi!  This feast day is always celebrated on the second Sunday after Pentecost in the United States.  It is a day to commemorate the institution of the Eucharist and remember that Jesus is truly present, body and blood, in the bread and the wine.  He gives Himself to us every time we receive Him in Holy Communion.  This day is a good opportunity to talk with  children about the bread and the wine truly becoming Jesus during Mass.  We call this Real Presence, and we believe that Jesus is really, completely with us.  (You can explain this to young kids who think that they might 'hurt' Jesus by receiving communion, by letting them know that Jesus is giving us the gift of Himself, so that He can always be with us.  You can also remind them that Jesus rose from the dead, so His body is different than ours and can't be hurt.)

At the risk of sounding a little preachy, the first thing we can do to celebrate this and every Sunday is go to Mass.  What better way is there to learn about Jesus being with us than to experience it first hand?  Many aspects of our faith are not passed on by learning about them, but by living them, and we should help our kids do this is at Sunday Mass.  I like our parish's family Mass, since screaming kids are not a problem!

The other thing my family will do is a tradition I started last year.  I got the idea from Lacy's Trinity Sunday Sundaes over on Catholic Icing.  She has wonderful Catholic ideas and activities, and you can find her 'Trinity Sundae' post here.

The basic idea is to make a representative 'sundae' on the 'Sunday' of the feast!  This is what I did for the Body and Blood of Christ:

Ingredients:

Purple-ish ice cream or sherbet (I used black cherry)  to represent the wine that becomes Jesus's blood.

Round cookie wafers to represent the bread that becomes Jesus's body.

Whipped cream, where the white, fluffy cream reminds us that Jesus was a pure and innocent sacrifice for our sins.

Red colored sugar or sprinkles to represent Jesus's blood.


Put together as you would any sundae in a stemmed serving dish (the stemmed dish represents the chalice, which is the cup used to hold the wine that becomes Jesus's blood at Mass.)  As you eat, talk to your children about the meaning behind Corpus Christi Sunday Sundaes.  Enjoy!

A Blessed Triduum! How to Celebrate it with Children

Our Easter Triduum, such a wonderful time in our faith, as we trace our history.  Triduum means 'three days' and it refers to the events of the Last Supper, Jesus' death, and His resurrection.  It begins at sundown on Holy Thursday, and continues until sundown on Easter Sunday.  So, in terms of hours, it is three days, but it does actually take part over the course of four calendar days!  On Holy Thursday, we celebrate the Mass of the Lord's Supper, where Jesus instituted the Eucharist and the Priesthood at the Last Supper.  On Good Friday, we remember Jesus' sacrifice for us, redeeming our sin.  Finally, at the Easter Vigil and on Easter Sunday, we remember and rejoice in the resurrection.  What an amazing few days!  Here are some ways to observe this time with your kids.

All Ages:
Have a Holy Week Egg Hunt, where you hunt for symbols of Holy Week and read about what happened that week.  The original post can be found here.

Have a Holy Thursday  meal, with foods that illustrate the events of the Last Supper.  A list of ideas can be found on this sheet. 

For kids who like to get creative, pull out the building blocks (Legos) and have them build Holy Week scenes.  They could make scenes of the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus' Crucifixion, or the tomb where He was buried.  Below are some that our parish children created on Palm Sunday.

Go to church and pray the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday.  Some parishes, ours included, have stations geared specifically for children.  If you don't have access to these or can't attend, you can find many Stations for Children online that you could print out and bring with you to pray.  You could also pray them at home if you can't get to church.  Type 'children's stations of the cross' into your favorite search engine.

Eat hot cross buns on Good Friday, as they are a traditional food.  Talk about why they are traditional.  (They are meatless, and the icing cross reminds us of Jesus' sacrifice and death.)  Just remember that Good Friday is a day of fasting for adults without health restrictions, so adjust accordingly.

This is our tree brought to life by the good deeds of our parish kids.  The base was white for Holy Thurday.

For Older Kids:
 I really only have one suggestion here, but it's an important one.  Take them to church during the Three Days.  While Easter is obvious, often families don't think about going to church on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, or attending the Easter Vigil.  These liturgies are such a wonderful expression of our faith, that I highly recommend going to them, once your kids are old enough to pay attention and have some understanding of what's going on.

Holy Thursday is about an hour and a half long.  It has unique parts to it, such as the washing of feet, and processing with the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose.  My 1st and 3rd graders will be attending with me for the first time this year.

Good Friday will usually have a stations of the cross service and also a liturgical service.  These are an hour to an hour and a half in length.  The liturgical service will have a proclamation of the Passion, the story of how Jesus died.

The Easter Vigil is about 3 hours long, and could be longer.  There are many readings during the vigil, and they trace the history of our faith.  Fire will be blessed, and Mass will begin with the church in darkness, gradually becoming lit with candles and the church lights.  This is a powerful symbol of Christ as the light of the world.  A new Paschal Candle that will be lit during Easter and for baptisms and funerals throughout the year is blessed.  RCIA candidates will be baptized, receive 1st communion, and be confirmed on this special night.  I will probably wait a few more years to take my children as it is a very long Mass and doesn't begin until sundown.  If your kids are middle school or older, however, this is a wonderful and beautiful Mass to celebrate with your family and parish.

May the richness of our faith and the depth of Christ's love touch your heart this Triduum!
Carolyn

Holy Week Palm Sunday Centerpiece Craft

I love Palm Sunday!  It begins the holiest week of the year, and starts with us celebrating Jesus' welcome into Jerusalem, where the people cheered, waved palms, and laid their coats at Jesus' feet.   I'm always left thinking how the people in that crowd couldn't have known how difficult and sad the days ahead would be, or that the real rejoicing and celebrating was a week later, when Jesus gave us new life on that first Easter.

Here is an easy way for your kids to make a palm branch centerpiece for Palm Sunday.  Thank you so much to our Religious Ed. Coordinator, Janet, who suggested this! We made this after our family Mass this past weekend, and it appealed to a wide variety of ages, as well as being simple enough for the very little ones.  I just eyeballed the sizes of tissue paper, it does not need to be exact.  This is what you'll need:

• Paper towel tube, cut in half (not pictured)
• Green tissue paper, cut into 12 3X3" squares
• Green tissue paper, cut into 1 6X6" squares
• Glue stick or craft glue

 Run a line of glue or liberally apply the glue stick in a line halfway down the length of the tube.

Scrunch up a 3X3" piece of tissue paper, and stick it to the side of the tube, close to the top.  Repeat this, going halfway down the tube.  You should have room for 3 rows.  Make another column, right next to the already completed one.  This will add some fullness to your branch.

Leave a space (it will be the stem part of the branch) and then add 2 more columns, right next to each other.

To finish the centerpiece, put some glue around the top inside of the tube.  Take the 6X6" piece of tissue paper and stuff it into the tube.  Push it gently against the sides so that it sticks to the glue.  You can always use another piece if you'd like it to be fuller.

Display the centerpiece on your table for Palm Sunday!  (This is the demo I made.)

Happy Palm Sunday!
Carolyn

A Holy Week Easter Egg Hunt!

Most egg hunts happen now before Easter, as opposed to during the Easter season.  I suspect that this is because most kids are back in school the day after Easter Sunday now, so usually the hunts are the day before Easter or the day before Palm Sunday.  We had never really had a problem with this, our church's hunt (the Saturday before Palm Sunday) was just simply a lead up to Holy Week for us.  It is a wonderful community event at our parish, and I want my children to experience that community.  I would always let the kids choose a piece of candy to enjoy, and then they would put it all away, to be brought out and enjoyed on Easter. 

This was all well and good until last year, when I started hearing, "It's Easter!  We're hunting for eggs and on vacation!"  Well, the 'on vacation' part I couldn't do much about, but I certainly could fix the egg hunt issue!  This is a take on other egg ideas all over the internet.  Type 'Resurrection Eggs' or 'Stations of the Cross Eggs' into a search engine, and you'll get some ideas.  The basic premise is to take symbols from the events of Holy Week, put the symbols into plastic eggs, hide them around your house, hunt for them, and as you open them, read the Holy Week stories from the Bible.  Here's how we did it last year, step by step.

Above are the symbols I used.  Here is the list, top to bottom, starting with the column on the left.

1. The rolled up pipe cleaner is soft, like the fur of the donkey Jesus rode into Jerusalem.
2. A palm branch for the branches that were waved.
3. A dove and cotton ball (lamb's fur)  for the money lenders and trade going on at the temple.
4. Three dimes for the thirty pieces of silver, the amount of money for which Judas betrayed Jesus.
5. Soap and a Towel for Jesus washing the apostles' feet.
6. A Cracker and (top 2nd column) Chalice toy representing the institution of the Eucharist.
7. A picture of a flower representing the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed.
8. The letter 'Z' representing the sleeping apostles.
9. A chocolate kiss for Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss.
10. A toy sword for Peter cutting off the servant's ear.
11. Lanyard or rope for Jesus being bound.
12. The number three (top 3rd column) for the number of times Peter denied Jesus.
13. A red feather for the crowing of the rooster.
14. Yarn tied to look like a whip for the scourging.
15. Gravel representing Jesus carrying His cross on the road.
16. A toy soldier
17. Purple cloth (top 4th column) for Jesus being stripped of His garments.
18. Nails for Jesus nailed to the cross.
19. Sign saying 'INRI' for the sign above Jesus' head.
20. Dice for the soldiers gambling for Jesus' garment. 
21. Blue cloth for Jesus speaking to His mother.
22. A black oval representing the eclipse of the sun.
23. A ripped cloth (top 5th column) representing the torn curtain of the temple.
24. A rock for the rock placed in front of the tomb.
25. An empty egg representing the resurrection.
26. Sand representing the three times Jesus fell.

I placed all these items in eggs and hid them around the house.  I made sure I had 30 items, since I have 3 kids and that way they could each find 10 eggs, but you could do fewer than I did.  We hunted for the eggs, found them, opened them, and talked about what they could mean.  Then I read the Holy Week events to them, and as we read, the children would pick up the items as we read about them.  I ended with the resurrection, as I think it's better for little ones to know that the story doesn't end with Good Friday.

    

We had so much fun doing this, and it really drove home the point that this week is about Christ, not the candy.

A blessed Holy Week!
Carolyn

Easy Craft for St. Joseph's Day

St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, has a feast day on March 19th.  Here's a quick and easy carpenter's square that reminds us of Joseph's work and how he took care of his family.  Here's what you will need:

• 6 popsicle sticks
• craft glue
• scissors
• glitter (optional
• marker (optional)    
• ruler (optional)      

 

 Place a line of glue on one side of a popsicle stick.

Place 2 popsicle sticks on top of the first so that each is covering half the width of the stick, and leaving the bottom stick 1/4th of the length uncovered.








This is a view from the back.

Having the sticks right side up (with the two side-by-side sticks on top) add some glue to the uncovered part of the bottom stick.

Place two more sticks on the bottom anchor stick (where the glue is) at a right angle, perpendicular, to the top sticks.  You may have to wiggle it around to get both to stick.







Here's what it should look like.

 Turn the square over.  Take your last popsicle stick and cut off about 1/3rd of the end.  Take the longer part, and add a bead of glue the length of one side.  Attach it in the middle of the two bottom sticks, to hold them in place.

This is the square all assembled from the back.  You could stop here and have a very rustic finish, with just the wooden sticks showing, or you could keep going.

Take a marker (smaller, thin markers and pens will bleed less, but I wanted a metallic marker, so it's really just your preference) and mark off one inch or centimeter increments, on the straight, inner sides of the square, using a ruler as your guide. 

 Here's how it looks.  Again, you could stop here, or...

 Add a line of glue to the outer popsicle sticks, and spread the glue out with your fingers.

 Add some glitter on top of the glue.  This is best done on a piece of paper, so that once it dries, you can shake off the extra glitter, form a funnel with the paper, and return the glitter to its tube.  You could also just use glitter glue.

 Allow to dry well (half an hour to an hour.)

Here it is!  A carpenter's square in honor of St. Joseph!  Take the opportunity to discuss with your children that St. Joseph was a carpenter, and that's how he would have supported Mary and Jesus.  You can hang these up with a tack or nail, or hot glue some ribbon to the back and hang it up that way.  You can also use these to dress up a St. Joseph's day altar.  For more information on that tradition, search for 'St. Joseph's Altar tradition' on your favorite search engine.  There are many great sites that have pictures of  altars, along with the history, recipes and symbols.

Happy St. Joseph's Day!
Carolyn

A St. Patrick's Day Chromatography Shamrock

Need a last minute idea for St. Patrick's Day?  This shamrock might be just the thing!  Legend has it that St. Patrick used the shamrock to teach the Irish people about the Holy Trinity.  Whether or not that's true, the shamrock does illustrate our belief in God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, three-in-one, the Holy Trinity.  A huge thank you to my friend, Heidi, who gave me this idea when she suggested chromatography for our kids' science fair!

This craft works well for all kids up through elementary school, because it incorporates science as well as being a craft.  Our Meteorologist loved this and he's nine.  Here's what you need for supplies:

• Coffee Filter
• Washable markers (they bleed better)
• A small cup of water
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Hole Punch
• Ribbon or String
• My printable
• Glue stick

Spread the coffee filter out and color your design onto the center portion.  Using two or three colors will allow the colors to blend and mix, giving pretty designs.  Darker colors work best and will spread well.  My favorite St. Patrick's day colors for shamrocks are green, blue and purple. 

Once you have your filter colored, fold it into a cone, like this:

Next comes the really fun part!  Chromatography is the separation of parts of a mixture.  This is done by putting the mixture (the marker colors) in a solution, in this case a cup of water.  Put the tip of the cone into the water, being careful to put in only the tip.  If you soak the filter, the colors won't have time to separate.  Once the separation slows down, you can put the filter in a little farther.  This will cause the colors to bleed up the length of the cone, like this:

 Make sure you have a tray ready to dry the filters.  Kids love this part and you will have very wet filters before they are done!  I left ours in a cone shape for about an hour, and then opened them up to dry completely.  A blow dryer set on low works very well if you are in a hurry.

This is what ours looked like when opened up:

After they dry, fold the filters in half and cut out the shape of a half shamrock, so that when you open it up, you have a complete shamrock.  Make sure that it has three leaves!  I drew mine lightly with pencil, but you could just cut it.  I traced half the width of the stem, one leaf, and half the width of the other leaf, and cut it out.  This is just like folding paper and cutting out a half heart shape.

I then added my printable poem with a glue stick.  You can print out a sheet with copies of the poem on it here.   Just cut out as many copies as you need and glue it on.  I was liberal with the glue as well, which the Superhero Princess appreciated!

Finally, you can hole punch the top of the filter (just be gentle as they can rip easily) and add a ribbon to hang it up.  You could also mount it on paper, or just put it up on a cork board or the fridge.

Remind your children that we believe in three persons in one God, just as the shamrock is three leaves, but one flower.  Enjoy, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

God bless you and your family,

Carolyn

Lenten Activities for Your Family, Pt. 4: A Lenten Sensory Tub

This has to be my favorite project this Lent, and it only took about 15 minutes to put it together.  There are many ways to use this, and it's useful for toddlers, preschoolers and school-age kids.  Since it is a sensory tub, it also has the practical purpose of developing pouring, measuring, sorting, classifying, and other skills I'm forgetting!  Here's how to make one.

You'll need:  a tub, ours is a small sweater bin

                    a bag of rice or sand

                    spoons and measuring cups for scooping (sand toys, shovels, rakes, etc. would work too)

                    Lent themed items:  purple cloth which is the color of Lent, the number 40 for 40 days of Lent, letters that spell Lent, rocks, and a cross (ours is 2 branches tied with a purple pipe cleaner.)

                    You could also include twigs, grass, biblical figurines (such as those from a kid's nativity set) pretend pretzels as a Lenten food, and anything purple.  

Start by adding the bag of rice or sand to the tub.  You should use enough to get at least a 1" base in the bottom of the tub.  My preference is rice because I think cleanup is easier.  We also participate in the Rice Bowl in our parish, so it's a nice tie-in!  Next just add your accessories and spoons.  That's it!  Simple and easy!

I pushed our cross into the rice.

You can see the spoons and the number 40.

This is great for toddlers and preschoolers to play with and begin to experience some of the symbols of Lent.  For older kids, you can set this up in your prayer center, or make this a kids prayer center.  The Actor is very tactile, and loves running his hands through the rice or holding a rock while he reads the Bible or prays.  You can also talk about the symbols and what they mean with older children.  For example, purple is the color of penitence, which is why it's used during Lent.  We'll see the priests and deacons wearing purple at Mass.  Jesus spent 40 days in the desert.  Rice can be tied into Rice Bowl and a discussion about hunger and helping others.  Rocks symbolize strength and firmness, reminding us that Lent helps strengthen us to be better followers of Christ. 

This is our bin on the right in our prayer center.

If your kids are above preschool age, you could do a smaller version of this in a serving bowl.  Wrap it in purple cloth and add rice or sand and some rocks.  When your children pray, they can draw their prayers in the sand or rice, hold a rock, or feel the rice or sand in their fingers.  Actually, it works for adults too!  I find praying this way very soothing and calming.  You'll notice in the picture below that I might have added a little too much rice.  I took a good amount out so the children could move it around in the bowl without making a mess.

Our smaller version last year, which works well for older kids.

Some tips for using sensory bins, don't let toddlers or preschoolers use them unsupervised.  Rice is edible, and everything else is too big for Superhero Princess to choke on, but still.  Place a towel or tarp underneath to catch any mess.  My older kids know that everything has to stay contained.  

Let me know if you make your own and how it goes! 

                       Carolyn