Free printable Mothers Day greeting cards, saints holy cards and prayer cards

Hello and welcome to Catholic Activities, the blog where we share all things pertaining to our Catholic faith, geared for children. I bring to it  44 years in various teaching roles, licensed in gen ed. and special education.  I'm a veteran homeschooling mom of four, and now an Omi (grandma in Dutch) to 13 whom I have the pleasure of "Omschooling" via my blog "Free Printable Lesson Plans." I'm also a convert to Catholicism (class of 1993). When I began homsechooling in the early 1990s, I dove into Catholic Christianity with joy. This blog is a culmination of all that. 

We just celebrated the Octave of Easter and now we make our way towards Ascension Thursday and we'll explore that further in another post. But first I want to focus on that beautiful holiday of Mother's Day which falls in May 10, 2026 in the US. In the UK it's called Mothering Sunday ( I love that way of phrasing it) and it fell on March 15 this year. 

Family is at the core of our life and our faith. So I'll be sharing some Mother's Day activities for kids shortly. First I have a special intention for those who struggle at this time of year when everyone else is celebrating mom. 

This is for those whose mothers have passed, who are unable to be with their mothers or who are estranged from them for whatever reason. I also offer a love to those who have lost children. My little Mary-Therese and Isobella Raine live in heaven now. The Blessed Mother holds us all in a special place. Know that I care and if you would like to share the name of a loved one in the comments, I'll offer up prayers for you all."

And now for the Mother's Day activities for kids. A great way to engage children of all ages in the festivities is by making greeting cards for mom. Even my youngest baby grands Flora, Max and Cassius can participate. Flora and Max you can color and baby Cash, your job will be to creatively fold the cards! 

• Free Printable Mother's Day Greeting Cards from Homemade Gifts Made Easy (they have 132 different designs!). These are free to print only for home use. 
• Visit HP Mother's Day Printables for coloring pages and craft projects to print free. There are games, puzzles, word games, craft projects and color your own greeting cards to celebrate mom also. 
• We can't forget Miss Marilyn, The Toymaker on Mother's Day! Visit her blog for charming free printable Mother's Day paper crafts. And click around because she has made free printable paper crafts for other holidays such as Valentine's Day, that you might like to make for Mother's Day. 
• Next, visit First Palette for an assortment of printable Mother's Day crafts for kids to make for mom. There are also free printable Catholic prayer cards for mom from the Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Washington. 

• This image is AI generated by Google Gemini specifically for my blog and that's another source for images to print free. Just ask your AI editor to create an image based on your description and you will have a beautiful image to print and share. If you want to turn them into coloring pages, just print in grayscale. You'll love how intuitive Gemini is about choosing colors. I love the rose, blue and purple shades of flowers that represent the Blessed Mother. 
• Lastly, here's a site I just discovered with free printable Catholic saints holy cards and prayer cards. The site is called Holy Reflections and the artwork on the holy cards is gorgeous. It's vintage pastel like the holy cards older folks like me will recall from childhood. The Sacred Heart image is stunning. You can print confirmation and baptism holy cards for greeting cards too. My favorite are the children's prayer cards. These are free to download and print for personal use only. You could use them in homeschool classroom too. 

Good Friday and Holy Saturday lesson plans: Stations of the Cross shoebox dioramas

Hello my friends of this blog on Catholic Activities. The purpose of this site is to make our Catholic Christian faith more real for us all but especially our children. Here are ways to personalize Good Friday, Lent and Holy Saturday so it is relatable to children. As a Montessori educator and homeschool mom from way back I make lesson plans "hands-on" and interactive. 

To do so, we make Lenten craft projects and use them as devotional aides. Here are Catholic lesson plans to make Bible Easter dioramas that show the Stations of the Cross. Make these Lenten craft projects for Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday Good Friday or any time during Holy Week or Lent. As Easter often falls in April, Earth Month, we'll use recycled materials in our recycle bin crafts for Easter. Here's a free printable old city Jerusalem map to show where the present-day Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows--is. This can help you visualize the stations of the cross in situ.

Pro-Tip for Busy Families: Fourteen shoeboxes is a big project! Consider choosing the "Major 3" (Crucifixion, Burial, and Resurrection) or assign one station to each child in a classroom setting to create a full set together.

What You’ll Need: The Ultimate Recycled Supplies List

Here's what you'll need for Bible Easter dioramas depicting the Catholic Stations of the Cross. Your recycle bin is your best friend here 

recycled shoebox with lid

egg cartons

small cardboard boxes

recycled toilet paper and paper towel tubes

foil pieces

milk rings

plastic dishes

toothpicks

broken pencils

clear orange or red plastic from bread bags 

round head clothespins

fabric and yarn scraps

beads

bits of greenery

sticks or twigs

glue  or glue dots

misc nuts, bolts and screws (for students to use as needed)

lentils spray painted silver for Judas's 30 pieces of silver. 

free printable Stations of the Cross coloring pages and images for backdrop

Free printable Way of the Cross coloring pages

free printable stations of the cross with prayers

scrap jewelry for chains

scissors and tape

Directions for Easter shoebox dioramas.

Stand the shoebox part upright inside the lid. Tape in place. The lid becomes the stage on which to arrange characters, props and setting details in Bible Easter dioramas. The open shoebox is the theater, so to speak. Make one shoebox diorama for each of the Stations of the Cross. Small boxes and paper towel tubes become buildings in the temple courtyard, praetorium, steeples or the pillory where Jesus is whipped. 

Small plastic containers, cups or egg cartons form rocks or hills. Invert and paint green or brown. Create crosses from sticks and twigs found in the yard. Glue to an inverted butter tub or dish for Golgotha (Calvary) where Christ was crucified in the Stations of the Cross.  

To create the city of Jerusalem and Via Dolorosa, make a "ramp" of cardboard to show Jesus at each station of the cross. Make baskets, containers and windows from milk rings or bottle caps. Use foil and toothpicks for armor, nails, water, swords or chains. Make fire from clear orange plastic bags. Use broken pencils for logs in a fire, depending on what is at each scene. 

Make characters in Bible Easter dioramas using round head clothespins. Make Jesus, Pontius Pilate, Pharisees, Mary the Mother of God, Veronica, Simon the Cyrene, Roman soldiers and other people Jesus meets at each of the Stations of the Cross. Cut Jesus's robe, character clothing and hair from fabric scraps or yarn. Make a tiny image of Jesus for Veronica's shawl. Draw wounds of Christ in red marker or paint pen.

Use yarn for Roman soldiers' whips and fabric for trees or plants. Use burlap for rocks, dirt or ground. Make a tiny crown of thorns from brown cloth or wire. Cut pictures from magazines for backdrops or figures in background. Make crosses of twigs, cardboard, sticks or clay. Use cotton for clouds. Cut chains and clasps from old jewelry. Set out assorted beads for fruit, vegetables. You might depict Stations of the Cross where Jesus falls in front of a crowded market. 

Provide a "buffet table" of supplies and then let students alone to design their Easter dioramas. Use Catholic Lenten craft projects in devotions for Ash Wednesday or Holy Week. Make Bible Easter dioramas to explore history, social studies, culture study, biography, literature and religious education. Use Lenten craft projects for Sunday school, Catholic CCD, Orthodox Christian kids' groups or Vacation Bible School. You could even make Old Testament Bible dioramas for Hebrew or Islamic school, AWANA or any church school. Dioramas could depict Bible stories, lives of saints, spiritual and stories behind holy days and holidays--Rosh Hashanah, Ramadan, Passover as well as Easter. 

My children really got into not only the creativity part of this Good Friday lesson plan but also the intuitive spirituality. As they "told" Jesus's story, they lived it too. It was as if they walked the way of sorrows, or Via Dolorsa with Our Lord. 

Free Printable Holy Week, Good Friday, Easter Triduum activities for Lent

Hello my friends! The Catholic church just celebrated Palm Sunday going into Holy Week, counting down to Easter. We are ending our Lenten observations and that is always a happy-sad time for me. I'm so joyful for another wonderful year with my dear ones. And a little sad that time passes so quickly. And on a larger scale, is the grief of the suffering our Lord endured on his way of sorrows for our sins. But without the sadness there is not joy. Without the penitential season of Lent, there is no Easter. Without the suffering there is no resurrection. So to that end, I'm vowing to make the most of every moment. Lent is a somber-glad time when we focus on Jesus in his suffering. We walk with him to the cross and resurrection.  

Lent is the holiest season of the Catholic and Orthodox Christian church year. During Lent, we "follow" Jesus on His journey to Calvary. We practice prayer, fasting, giving things up and almsgiving, in imitation of Christ's suffering and in reparation for our sins. Lent counts down to Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and Holy Week. We follow the Way of the Cross (Via Dolorosa) also called that Stations of the Cross. The last three days of Lent are called the Easter or paschal triduum. "Paschal" refers to the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. The Easter Triduum begins at sundown on Holy, or Maundy, Thursday and continues through Good Friday, Easter Vigil (Holy Saturday) and on to Easter Sunday. 

Follow your Catholic Relief Services Operation Rice Bowl calendar. There are Lenten lesson plans and Holy Week countdown to Easter activities. I have used the CRS Operation Rice Bowls global recipes with my children, grandchildren and students. Print the Lenten and Holy Week calendar here. I choose one country each day to focus on and we make and enjoy a meal from that country. Check out some of the free Amazon resources on global food and zero waste cooking. 

Here are more free printable Holy Week and Easter Triduum activities to explore Christ's passion. Print Catholic crafts, Christian games, Bible activities, Sunday gospel worksheets, religious puzzles and Easter lesson plans. Easter Coloring offers free printable Easter Triduum coloring pages. Scroll through the pages of Bible Easter coloring pages. Images include Stations of the Cross and Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. Print and make an Easter countdown coloring book. 

DL-TK has free printable Vacation Bible School lesson plans, Bible crafts and Christian children's activities that would work very well for Holy Week lesson plans. I really like the parables of Jesus lesson plans. All of these are provided for you to use free with families. 

Watch "Jesus of Nazareth" free on Britbox on Tubi. The Internet Archive has a copy as well. It's free on Amazon with Prime subscription. This is by far the very best adaptation of the Passion of Jesus. The Greatest Story Ever Told (free on Youtube) is another good one but Jesus of Nazareth is more relatable to children. 

Use these free printable lesson plans to guide children's' prayers and devotions. Print one booklet per child. Tell children to take their prayer books to a private prayer spot in the home or outdoors. Go to a local park or nature trail. Have kids to spend quiet time visiting and "waiting with Jesus" as He asked the disciples to do in the Garden of Gethsemane before His crucifixion. 

Children might color images and write a little meditation or prayer in response to Our Lord's passion. Perhaps they could write a letter, thanking God for sending his beloved son. Mom and Dad, you can help little ones color their booklet. Ask preschool children to tell you what they want to say to God as they look at the pictures of His Son. Remind kids that God loved Jesus (and us) like we should love each other.

Give young children one word to write for each picture: cross, Jesus, God, resurrection. Give early readers phrases: My Jesus I Love Thee Thank You, Dear Lord, Dear Jesus, I'm sorry. Good Friday after the noon mass is a great time to do this activity. These booklets make good keepsakes. Reuse each year during Holy Week and the Paschal Triduum.