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Feb 6, 2017
Catholic Influencers· Faith· The Little Things

7 Ways to Start a Pre-School Prayer Journal

This post contains affiliate or associate links with several businesses (which means if you shop through the links, I earn a small commission). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

My little boy needs fine-motor skills practice.

I would love to someday be able to sit down with him and say “lets journal together” . . . and then have 15 minutes where we sit together and write in our prayer journal. I don’t know if that will ever happen . . . but we have been working on a “pre-school prayer journal” for over a week now – and it is going great!

My son asks if we can “do a project”almost daily now!

I got him to color all the fruits of the Holy Spirit today!  This is a big deal in this house since our little boy is not a huge fan of coloring!

Preschoolprayerjournal1.jpg

Working on his prayer journal has become some nice one-on-one bonding time, much needed fine motor skill practice and has provided some teachable moments and faith-centered discussions!

(For example, when he was coloring “patience” and he had to be reminded to be patient!)

Here are some ideas for “Pre-school Prayer Journaling”

1. Order a Primary journal composition book.

This book provides a space to draw, paint or glue pictures and lines for your preschooler to practice writing.

2. Use Pinterest!

I have no background in early education (former high school teacher here)!  So, since my son is in desperate need of fine motor skills, I went to Pinterest for some ideas – you can follow my Preschool board here: Pre-school Activities.  My son has no interest or love for coloring – but he loves using Q-tips, taping and cutting!  So we cut out a cross and glued it to his prayer journal.  He likes to write words if I provide dots for him to trace, so under the cross we wrote, “I love you Jesus, Love Xavier”.

Screen Shot 2017-02-06 at 7.01.07 AM.png

This coloring page is free (along with a page for each letter of the alphabet) when you subscribe to Do Small things with Love!

3. Dot Painting!

I finally found a Pinterest activity I can use my wine corks for! We found some free printables for practice – and  Xavier LOVES this activity!  He has asked to do it again already!  I love how the wine cork is small, so therefore encourages the “pincer grasp”.  We are still working on this skill – so finding an activity that he enjoys is such a gift!

prayerjournaldotpainting.jpg

4. Pick a Prayer Card!

SaongJai, one of my favorite Etsy shops, sells prayer cardsets for children!  They are adorable and once you purchase them you can print them out right away.  I loved giving Xavier the choice of which Saint he wanted to cut out and glue to his journal.  He picked out Saint Margaret and I have to admit – I had to look her up!  Once I did, I discovered that she spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Xavier traced Saint Margaret pray for us and he put heart stickers around her prayer card.

*** You can enter win an entire package from SaongJai by subscribing to prayerwinechocolate.com and sharing this post!  See more details below!

5. Practice writing with Catholic Pre-school Printables

Once again, SaongJai provides an excellent tool in teaching both how to write letters and numbers, while at the same time discussing our faith.  I love how the set uses Saint Anne for the letter A.  Xavier loves his “Gram” so it was easy to teach him “Who is Saint Anne?” Jesus’ Gram!!! SaongJai also has Alphabet flash cards that would fit in the journal – or could be laminated and used for all sorts of learning activities!

preschooljournalanne.jpg

*** You can enter win an entire package from SaongJai by subscribing to prayerwinechocolate.com and sharing this post!  See more details below!

6. Color and Cut

You can find plenty of coloring pages online with Catholic and Christian themes. I found a cute “Fruits of the Spirit” packet where you can color all the fruits together (which we did) and also each fruit has it’s own half page where you can trace how to write each “fruit” (patience, love, gentleness, etc).  We plan on using more of this packet to practice drawing fruits this week!

7. Use what you have and be creative!LeadmeLordplay

We had a play-doh activity book that included a scene of a road and stickers.  We glued the scene to our page and wrote “Lead me Lord” under the picture.  Then Xavier picked out stickers to put on the road and in the sky. We have some prayer books, so one activity I may try this week will use one of those.  Perhaps I will read him a prayer or short story and ask him to draw a picture.

Have a tween or teen daughter?  Get her the Be Yourself Journal!

Here’s a peak inside at some pages!

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Comments

  1. Shawna says

    February 6, 2017 at 8:32 am

    My daughter loves painting and playdough! I will have to try and figure out a way to incorporate prayer into this 🙂

    • Amy says

      February 6, 2017 at 9:31 am

      Awesome!

  2. Allie says

    February 6, 2017 at 8:52 am

    I like your idea about using Q tips to make a cross! My son isn’t much into coloring either, but he loves using scissors, glue, and tape. Scissor practice is my go-to fine motor skill right now because he loves it! Once he gets better at it I’ll have him try cutting out simple religious images like the Eucharist or the cross. I can’t wait to try prayer journaling with my little guy!

    • Amy says

      February 6, 2017 at 9:31 am

      I completely understand – my son is the exact same way. He loves to cut!

  3. Christy says

    February 6, 2017 at 8:52 am

    Love these ideas! Definitely going to check out the etsy site!

    • Amy says

      February 6, 2017 at 9:32 am

      Be warned – she has adorable jewelry for little girls too!

  4. Nicole Mezquita says

    February 6, 2017 at 9:01 am

    I love to dot paint with my kids.

    • Amy says

      February 6, 2017 at 9:32 am

      Do you use a wine cork too? lol

  5. Kate C says

    February 6, 2017 at 9:48 am

    Great ideas! We are big Play-Doh people around here! Girls love playing with it.

    • Amy says

      February 6, 2017 at 9:51 am

      Xavier likes playing a game with play-doh where I hide coins inside the doh and he has to find them!

  6. Brandi says

    February 6, 2017 at 11:43 am

    That’s adorable! What a great way to combine fine motor skill practice with Bible study! LOVE!

    • Amy says

      February 6, 2017 at 2:45 pm

      Thank you Brandi!!!

  7. Sara says

    February 6, 2017 at 11:52 am

    Amy, you have totally sold me on the idea of prayer journaling, and now I want to try it with my kids too! I was envisioning the whole “let’s all sit quietly and write for fifteen minutes” too so thanks for giving me some direction!!

    • Amy says

      February 6, 2017 at 2:45 pm

      That is so awesome Sara! Thank you! We’ll have to swap ideas!

  8. Ginny says

    February 6, 2017 at 12:35 pm

    So cute. Passing this along to my homeschool grouo.

    • Amy says

      February 6, 2017 at 2:46 pm

      Thank you Ginny!!

  9. Paula says

    February 6, 2017 at 12:35 pm

    I love things she can use her imagination with. I’m totally not crafty and I hate messy things like playdoh (I REALLY hate playdoh lol). I do like painting though so I am not completely hopeless.

    • Amy says

      February 6, 2017 at 2:47 pm

      This dot painting is the favorite activity in this house right now! We used fingerpaints and a wine cork!! I’m totally not crafty either, so I understand!

  10. Laura Soto says

    February 6, 2017 at 12:38 pm

    I love these! I have 2 under 2 right now so we aren’t even into coloring yet really, but these will be awesome in the future!

    • Amy says

      February 6, 2017 at 2:48 pm

      You’ll be ready!!! Thank you Laura!

  11. Laura @ Life is Beautiful says

    February 6, 2017 at 2:22 pm

    You have the cutest ideas!! Love the idea of a prayer journal for little ones! So simple but so impactful.

    • Laura @ Life is Beautiful says

      February 6, 2017 at 2:23 pm

      And for my giveaway comment 😉 I like play dough or stickers for fine motor activities.

      • Amy says

        February 6, 2017 at 2:49 pm

        Both fun activities!!

    • Amy says

      February 6, 2017 at 2:49 pm

      Wow – thank you! Seriously, you are making me smile 🙂

  12. Elizabeth Clare says

    February 6, 2017 at 3:04 pm

    Thanks so much for the great giveaway and GREAT idea! I love it!

    • Amy says

      February 6, 2017 at 4:49 pm

      Thank you 🙂

  13. Leah says

    February 6, 2017 at 8:53 pm

    I love these prayer journal ideas! Such a great idea to incorporate the faith into the basic pre-k subjects of reading and writing!

    • Amy says

      February 6, 2017 at 8:57 pm

      Thank you so much Leah!!!

  14. Anni says

    February 6, 2017 at 10:14 pm

    These are great ideas, and such an awesome way to tune in to your son’s strengths and work on areas that need a little extra attention. Way to go!

    • Amy says

      February 7, 2017 at 5:59 am

      Thank you Anni!

  15. Amy Ferguson says

    February 6, 2017 at 10:53 pm

    These are all such great ideas for the younger kiddos. I have started journaling with my two kids, but I might have to incorporate some of the ideas you shared here.

    • Amy says

      February 7, 2017 at 5:59 am

      Awesome! Thank you Amy 🙂

  16. Kaitlyn Facista says

    February 7, 2017 at 8:47 am

    My daughter would love having her own journal like this to practice writing in! Thank you for sharing Hess great ideas!

    • Amy says

      February 7, 2017 at 9:30 am

      So glad you like it!!!

  17. Christina says

    February 7, 2017 at 8:17 pm

    I love this and think I may use it for my CRE class!

    • Amy says

      February 7, 2017 at 8:32 pm

      Awesome!!! So happy you like it 🙂

  18. Nicole says

    February 8, 2017 at 2:15 am

    We love play dough here!

  19. Gretchen says

    February 8, 2017 at 7:55 am

    Coloring is big in our house

    • Amy says

      February 8, 2017 at 8:01 am

      I hope it gets big in this house! I love to color 🙂

  20. Mary says

    February 8, 2017 at 10:42 am

    My kids love to make puzzles. My 3 year old does a lot of colour by number pages.

  21. Dawn says

    February 8, 2017 at 12:21 pm

    Love this! We are trying to conquer writing his name, and these ideas will help so much, thank you!

    • Amy says

      February 8, 2017 at 12:29 pm

      I hope it all helps!!

  22. Samantha says

    February 9, 2017 at 7:53 am

    These would be perfect fo use with my son in our home school preschool year!

    • Amy says

      February 9, 2017 at 8:08 am

      Awesome!

  23. Bethanie says

    February 10, 2017 at 11:10 am

    I love all the ideas! We’re really working on trying to get James to color better. In his pre-k classroom, his artwork sticks out like a sore thumb, he’s so bad at coloring. It’s sad because I love adult coloring books! So that would probably be the skill we’d most work on in a prayer journal.

    • Amy says

      February 10, 2017 at 2:58 pm

      I know EXACTLY how you feel! Xavier has no desire to color!

  24. Wendy says

    March 6, 2017 at 3:32 pm

    My 5 y.o. starts kindergarten in the fall and is insistent that we work more on her reading. LOVE the Catholic ABC/Preschool printables! Thanks for sharing. I think we might do a prayer journal for her and my 6 y.o.

    • Amy says

      March 6, 2017 at 6:20 pm

      Awesome! Glad you like it Wendy!

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Dear Lord, help me to be who you want me to be and Dear Lord, help me to be who you want me to be and set the world ablaze!!!
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On vacation; just happen to be staying in a house On vacation; just happen to be staying in  a house next to a church that organizes an incredible celebration for the feast of the Assumption every year! 

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There is so much I’d love to tell you about the There is so much I’d love to tell you about the 12 year old girl who colored these pictures. 

But, I hear in my heart those moments in Scripture where “Mary pondered these things in her heart”. 

What I was assured of this week by the example of more than one “junior high student “ is this…. 12 year old girls still love to color.

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You and I both know that the Rosary is not just fo You and I both know that the Rosary is not just for white haired Grandmas… but how do we convince our friends and loved ones to embrace this powerful prayer and meditation on the life of Our Lord Jesus?

Honestly, with me in my 20’s… it started by being a gathering of broken hearts.

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The first Prayer Wine Chocolate Retreat was held i The first Prayer Wine Chocolate Retreat was held in 2016.
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So excited… REGISTRATION is now open for the Pra So excited… REGISTRATION is now open for the Prayer Wine Chocolate Retreat!!!!
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Be Yourself: a Journal for Catholic Boys is a grea Be Yourself: a Journal for Catholic Boys is a great way to encourage your son to write this summer!!
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My husband Matt gives each of our children a bless My husband Matt gives each of our children a blessing before they go to bed at night.
I asked him if his parents did that … and he said, “no”.

He said that his father would bless him with holy water in church, so he was doing that with our son one day and the priest who said Mass saw him do it. The priest then told Matt, “you know, a parent blessing his or her child is one of the few blessings a lay person has the authority to give.” 

Since then, he has given them a blessing almost daily.
The words he uses as he makes the sign of the cross on their foreheads are:
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Keep him (her)safe, good and holy and protect him (her) from all evil, Amen.”
I might have to ask him or the kids what I’m missing or if I messed that up a little… but you get the idea.
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I read that a blessing realigns our world with heaven by acknowledging all is a gift.

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Hi there!!!! I am so happy you are here and we ar Hi there!!!! 
I am so happy you are here and we are connected on “the gram”!

My name is Amy Brooks… and I started the Prayer Wine Chocolate blog with the intention to share how my husband and I grew our family through adoption-without signing up with an adoption agency.

I also wanted to create gift guides that had Catholic gifts on it.

I share this today because my word of the year is “laugh” and when I thought of posting a “Friday introduction “ I immediately recalled the saying:
“Want to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans!”

What starting this blog has led to- through the grace of God- has been amazing!
I realized that I had what @jenniferfulwiler would call a blue flame inside of me - writing.
Once again, I have to laugh because my English grade in 8th grade was so bad my dad pulled me off the soccer team and when I started college I had to take a remedial English class. God has reminded me over and over again that through Him all things are possible!

One of the greatest experiences in this journey has been meeting incredible people who love the Lord and who are truly kind and compassionate. It was through meeting @windhovering Jerry Windley-Doust that motivated me to write the Be Yourself Journals that our now published by @osvcatholicbooks . I also have been extremely blessed by the community of Catholic Social Media now known as @catholicsonline . If you are trying to evangelize or minister with the help of social media, I invite you to join us! 

I’m the oldest of 5. I asked my brother to give a speech at my wedding reception because I think he’s so funny that he truly could be a stand-up comedian. He ended up giving a speech so touching, I published part of it one boy’s Be Yourself Journal. He also cracked everybody at the wedding up 😂.

Somewhere in this group of pictures there is a picture of my parents. In that picture, my dad has his face painted. One of my siblings overheard him talking about him having this done as a “once in a lifetime experience “! 😂 He’s 72… apparently last weekend was his first opportunity to have this done.

Ps. My younger son recently asked me if I had water when I was a kid. He then asked me if soap was invented yet.
SUMMER JOURNALING can be fun!! I have 2 Be Yourse SUMMER JOURNALING can be fun!!

I have 2 Be Yourself: a Catholic Journal for Girls in stock and only a handful of the boy’s journals in stock!

I’m jumping on the #smalloverprime specials and anyone who purchases (or donates) a journal in the next 24 hours will get the coloring pages download for free!!!
That’s 20 inspirational quote coloring pages!!!! And trust me- they are fun for all ages!

Plus… this is the last day you can get the Plan Your Own Prayer Wine Chocolate Retreat Guide for over 40%off! 

Links are in my bio!
Happy Summer 😎🍉🕶🌻☀️!
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