Spanish Christian Preschool Crafts

Spanish culture celebrates your patron saint's birthday.

Christianity is a major world religion and the predominant religion in Spain and Latin America. While Christians have the same basic belief structure, every branch and every church is different. In Spanish culture, there is a much heavier emphasis on saints of the Christian religion. Share this knowledge with preschoolers by incorporating crafts that reflect biblical lessons.

Patron Saint Craft

In Spanish culture, everyone has the name of a patron saint from the Bible. Each year, everyone celebrates her actual birthday and the birthday of her patron saint. Use construction paper, crayons and scissors for an educational Christian saint craft. Make a class list for yourself. Make printouts about all the saints whose names show up on your class list. The information should be easy and brief for beginning readers. Give everyone a sheet with an outline of a large cross. Have the preschoolers use crayons and pencils to illustrate their saint's story or characteristics the best they can within the cross. Cut the cross out.

The Serpent

The serpent is a key character in any branch of Christianity, representing both temptation and disobedience, the origin of sin and suffering. Teach preschoolers this lesson with a snake craft. Gather a paper plate, crayons, scissors, googly eyes (optional), felt and hot glue. Have the preschoolers create a spiral to cover the entire paper plate. This is the coiled body of the snake; color it with crayons or markers. Use scissors to cut along the edge of the spiral to unravel the snake. Use crayons to sketch on eyes and a tongue, or help the kids hot glue the googly eyes. Have the children write "serpiente" (snake in Spanish) on the paper plate.

Suncatcher Cross

The stained glass look has been a popular style throughout churches for centuries. Let preschoolers create their own stained glass with wax paper, construction paper, glue, a pencil sharpener, crayons, iron, scrap paper and scissors. Cut a cross shape out of construction paper. Cut two sheets of wax paper slightly larger than the cross. Add crayon shavings to one of them. Add the other sheet of wax paper on top. Then place the fabric on top and use an iron to melt the crayon wax. Use glue to adhere this to the back of the stenciled construction paper. Hang it in the window as a stained glass Christian suncatcher.

References

• DLTK: Stained Glass Cross Craft
• Hispanic Culture Online: Hispanic Naming Traditions
• Cool Kids Craft Ideas: Paper Plate Snake