Celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross with Kids

It's no secret that my family likes to celebrate the liturgical year in our domestic church - and sometimes out and about with friends.

   

Last year, we did both for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14th.  We enjoyed a simple meal at home and an easy, yet engaging, nature hide-n-seek game outside with friends.

Enjoy a Simple Symbolic Meal for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

In the morning I put together a simple symbolic meal for breakfast, which we lingered over chatting about the history of the feast day, the meaning of the cross, and more.  

We also read related excerpts and stories from Saints: Lives and Illuminations and Angel Food for Boys & Girls, Volume IV.

For our meal, I knew I wanted three symbolic things:

• red foods and drink to remind us of God's sacrificial love for us.  

• basil because tradition holds that sweet basil grew over the hill where St. Helena found Holy Cross and in Greece the faithful are given sprigs of basil by the priest. 
• something that could be made into the shape of a cross that could be taken apart.

Looking at what I had in our cupboards and fridge, I ended up serving red juice (for Jesus' blood shed on the cross for us)...

...cherries (to remind us of Jesus' heart), salad greens (to remind us of the hill where the True Cross was found by St. Helena) and eggs with basil (the eggs to remind us of our new life through Jesus Christ since eggs are a symbol of new life and the basil to remind us of traditions for this feast day)....

...apples (which continued the red symbolism but also hearkened back to original sin and Jesus' triumph over sin),and toast put into a cross shape (which we could take parts of, much like people took parts of the True cross).

We also decorated with a red cloth (again, symbolic of sacrificial love), a globe with a crucifix atop it (because the cross of triumph is usually pictured as a globe with a cross on top to remind us of the triumph of our Savior over the sun of the world)...

... and an image of Jesus overlaid on the cross (to remind us of how the cross - once an instrument of torture and death - became the instrument of our salvation through Jesus' death and resurrection).

Enact St. Helen Finding the True Cross by Playing a Nature Cross Hide-n-Seek Game

Later in the day, friends met us at a local park where we continued our fun and learning.  

There, I set up a blanket with a few candles, a globe, a cross, and a copy of Story Library of the Saints.  

Then, after praying and chatting with the children about the Exaltation of the Holy Cross a bit, I challenged them to go find natural materials that they could make a cross with while I read them the story of Helen of the Cross from the Story Library of the Saints.

After that, I marked one cross with red - as our "True Cross", then, had the children take turns hiding that cross and two others...

while the other children hid their eyes...

...then went our to seek the "True Cross" just like St. Helen did.

We played round after round of our this easy Exaltation of the Holy Cross hide-n-seek game, enjoying ourselves so much!

It's such an easy game to prep and play, reminds children of the story of the cross, and gets them up and moving, too.

I encourage you to try it!

If you're looking for other ideas, you might enjoy:

Celebrate the Memorial of the Exultation of the Cross with Food, Reading, and More!

A Quick and-Easy Craft for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Plus Some Ideas for Mary's Birthday Today!)

Have a wonderful Exaltation of the Holy Cross Day!

O God, who willed that your Only Begotten Son should undergo the Cross to save the human race, grant, we pray, that we, who have known his mystery on earth, may merit the grace of his redemption in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

~ The Collect Prayer as found on Catholic Culture

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Get Your FREE Printable Pack of 10 All Saints Day Party Challenge Sheets!

{Disclosure: Some links which follow are affiliate ones.  If you click through them and make any purchase, we may receive compensation at no extra cost to you.}
 
All Saints Day is less than a month away and, last night, I was inspired with the idea of making a pack of game challenge sheets to match the ten saints introduced in the book Jackie's Special Halloween - a must-have picture book for All Saints Day.

So, today I got my creativity on and did just that, creating a FREE printable pack of 10 All Saints Day party challenge sheets.  I am sharing them with you so you can pick and choose a few to use at home or use the entire pack at a group party!

Each sheet in the pack includes:

• a game title
• an image of the saint
• a short description containing information about the saint that connects to the challenge
• a brief challenge (the game or activity!) to remind children - and adults - how to play.

The ten challenges are:

• Build a Church like St. Francis of Assisi, where children will build a church structure with cross in it or on it using whatever materials you provide: recyclables, Duplos, Legos, K'nex, rocks, blocks, etc.(This is a long-time favorite of ours that we've used every year, even when having belated parties due to sickness.  The challenge sheet is updated only slightly.)

• Be Humble and Willing like St. Martin de Porres, where children will sweep cotton balls (or any other material you decide) around obstacles, remembering how St Martin is often depicted with a broom as a symbol of his humility and willingness to help. 
  
  
  
  
  
  For St. Martin de Porres, you could also opt to do the 7-Station Obstacle Course I have previously shared.

• Honor Our Lady Queen like St. John Paul II, where children will pray to Mary while pinning a crown onto her.

• Teach with a Stick in the Dirt like St. Teresa of Calcutta, where children will recall how MotherTeresa began her ministry with “poorest of the poor” by walking around the slum, finding some small children and begining to teach them using a stick in the dirt and will try their hands at communicating a message using only a stick in dirt, Pictionary style. 
  
  My intent is to have either real dirt or sand or homemade "dirt dough" in a tray with a stick and Bible heroes cards (like the ones in this set) next to it.  Then, children can play in pairs, with one child drawing a card and then using the stick in the dirt to get the other child to name the Bible hero, before the other child goes.

• Send Roses from the Heavens like St. Therese of the Child, where children will toss roses from a chair or ladder (as Heaven) into a basket (Earth).

• Knock Down Poverty’s Effects like St. Vincent Vincent de Paul, where children will bowl down plastic pins marked hunger, poverty, thirst, loneliness, sickness, and abandonment with a ball marked charity, much like we've done in the past when knocking out sin like St. Rose of Lima.

• Travel with Tears and Prayers like St. Monica, where children will use a dropper to move "tears" from one cup to another one a distance away while repeatedly praying, “Dear God, I pray for conversion.” (I will likely set up two of these next to each other so kids can race.)

• Balance St. Augustine’s Books, where children will balance books just like we have done in the past for St. Thomas Aquinas.

 

• Make a Church for Our Lady like St. Juan Diego, where children will build a church with a cross and an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe as we have before with an instant challenge, or using prayer cards, printed images, or pencil and paper along with recyclables, Duplos, Legos, K'nex, or blocks.
  
  
  
  
   
• Create Stick Crosses like St. Kateri Tekawitha, where children will fashion a cross of sticks to remind them to pray no matter where they are. 

I am excited to use these this year, and hope you enjoy using some of them, too!  I'd love to hear how your celebrations turn out and would also welcome ideas and links to other favorite All Saints Day party recipes, games, activities, and prayers.  Please do take a moment to share yours with me.  Thanks!

You can find all my All Saints Day posts here.

Saints in Heaven, pray for us.

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Will the Underground Church Succeed? {A Tabletop Game Review}

Our family was introduced to Chara Games last year and, immediately, fell in love with the way they aim to create tabletop games that families and friends can enjoy while exploring historical and modern Christianity.  Thus, we were excited to be able to try out their latest card game:  Unauthorized - a 6-12 player, 30 minute, social deduction game about the underground church that can, in our experience, be played with fewer players, too.



Unauthorized is basically a role-playing card game that mixes strategy and chance.  Intended for ages 12 and up (but, in our home, happily played by children 7 and up), the game is focused around state vs. an underground church.  This, of course, makes for a natural conversation opener about life for Christians in some other countries, as well as about what it was like, for say, the first Christians in the centuries after Christ was born.

In the game, each player is assigned a role and each role has specific abilities.  Every game has both a pastor and a police officer among the cast of characters.

Experience cards are dealt to each player with the police getting 7 red cards and the pastor getting 7 green cards, while all other players get a mix of cards. The experience cards tell players whether they are loyal to the state or the church (by chance).

Then, the game is played in three rounds where strategy comes into play and intensity can get ratcheted up as players can become imprisoned or even executed and no one can be sure where loyalties lie until the end of the game.

At the game's end - which we found takes 20-45 minutes depending on the number of people playing  - if at least one Christian remains out of prison or there is a Christian majority, the church wins.  Likewise, if there is no Christian majority or all Christians are imprisoned, the state wins.

Does this sound interesting and fun?  It is!  Does it sound confusing to get started with?  It can be for those like my children and me who are not practiced role playing game players.  Thankfully, there is a helpful instructional video about the game online:




Between this video and the direction booklet, my children and I were able to get games up and playing without much trouble and with a lot of fun, imagination, strategy and chance.

My children also liked to simply use the cards to make their own storytelling games and card games.  Yep!  The cards are full of characters and circumstances that ignite my kiddoes' imaginations!

So far, we've played the game as directed - although often with only 4 or 5 people with one or two doubling up hands - several times, and, I've also found the children playing their own imaginary solitaire and small group games with the game cards.

What the Kids Thought

 
I asked each of my children for their thoughts about the game.

My seven-year old said:

"I liked being the bad guy in the game to see what it's like, because I don't like to be the bad guy in real life.  The bad guy in this game can execute a person or put people jail.  He is powerful.  I made him have some virtue, because I never murdered anybody."

This was an honest assessment from him!  He did love playing "the bad guy", but also gave his policeman heart (which I found encouraging from a mom-perspective even if it may not have been the best game strategy.)

My ten-year-old daughter said:

"This game was fun, because you don't really know what side you're going to be until to draw your cards, and it's fun trying to get people out of prison, share facts with neighbors, and try to win. 

The police try to win by imprisoning everyone on the pastor's side, and the pastor tries to have at least everyone out of jail on his side.  You have to try to guess if people are on your side or not.  That's interesting.

I did not like that once you are executed, you were executed for the whole game. So, Mommy gave me her cards to play so I could keep playing.

I was confused when I saw boy and girl pastors, but learned some Christians have girl pastors.

This game showed me how some people might be good people, but just following orders like when Christians are really persecuted.  I think in real life people should only follow orders if they are good and just, so innocent people are not killed."

As you can tell from my daughter's concepts, thoughts were churning and conversation flowing during and between games with us - everything from, "Mommy why would they have girl priests?" (which made me aware my children did not know how some other Christians worship), to "Mommy, I don't want to do what the rules say..." when card said allegiance went with "wrong", to "Mom, it's sad the way people have treated each other..."  Plenty of conversations about Christian martyrs of old and the act that people are still dying for their faith came up, too. 

My oldest, at eleven, said:

"This game was awesome!  I like how it is a battle between church and state. Our state is not like this, but in some places, people are killed for their religion.

I don't like how there are girl pastors, because I am Catholic and in Catholicism there are no girl priests.  There are nuns, but girls cannot be pastors.  Besides that, I liked the cards.  I liked the illustrations and the graphic design. 

When you play, you never know who is on your team.  It's a game of chance, change, betrayal...  The double cards are interesting, because they can affect you either way.  You choose.  It's like real life.


I don't like this game as much as other Chara Games that I've played, because it takes so many players, but I still like it."

Again, a candid review that was spot on with what I observed as my oldest son played the game.  He quite enjoyed the cards - and often used them as he led his siblings in imagined conversations and self-made games.  However, he was bummed that the game called for six or more people to play 'for real' since we only have five in our family and, more often, just three available to play.

He tends to opt for the Chara Games 3 Seeds more often than Unauthorized for actual game play as directed, then, but surely used the Unauthorized game cards a lot for self-created fun!

Played as directed, or by our own adapted rules, Unauthorized has been a hit in our home, then, and we'd happily recommend it to others (and have already done so in person prior to writing this review!)  Christians and non-Christian alike can enjoy the mix of chance and strategy in this well-designed game.  Christians can also appreciate the thematic element of it.  

I certainly LOVE that the game engages and entertains while focusing us on the reality of church challenges now and throughout history.  So many other role-playing card games include mythical creatures and fanciful, dark themes.  It is refreshing to have one that centers around truths of this world.

Really, the only negative thing I could say about the game - and it is not really negative at all - is simply that two of three of my children did not like to play the police/state-sympathizer roles.  It was hard for them (and me!) to play these rules, because, of course, we want faith to always win. 

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If you're looking for other Christian tabletop games, you might like our review of Commissioned.

Chara Games also puts out 3 Seeds, which is a favorite of my children's!

 

You can find Chara Games at:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharaGames/ 
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CharaGames/

 Forty-six Homeschool Crew Review families tested out this game.  See what we each thought!

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