7QT: Bible Story Post It Flip Books

Just in case you needed yet another reason to love post its, here is a quick and fun youth group (or middle school classroom) lesson idea.

Inspired by our favorite part of the Youcat, which of course is the fun little flip book which can be seen as you flip through the pages, (JK, the Youcat is great and well received by students), my youth group kids decided to try their hand at the art of simple animation by creating flip books.

We used stacks of post it notes & black ball point pens, they chose a favorite Bible Story, and about a half an hour later, this is what we had: (also, idk why almost all of the stories include water- easy to draw?  It is a common Biblical theme, I guess...)


1. Peter Walks on Water


2. Faith to Move Mountains


3. Noah & The Flood


4. Jesus Calms the Storm


5. The Flood


6. Jesus' Baptism


7. Wedding at Cana


So how did we do it?  It is rather simple:
1. Make sure the post it notes all stay in a stack.  You don't have to use the whole thing, but should probably have at least 20-30 pages for a good animation.  You can peel off the unused post its at the back when you are done.
2. If you are right handed, draw on the post its with the sticky part on the left and the open pages on the right.  Make sure your illustration is more to the right than in the center.  Leftys, do the opposite.
3. Keep it simple- not a lot of details, easy shapes, & stick figures.
4. Use a black ball point pen.  You could go back and add a little color when you are done if you like.
5. Picture what you want the first page to be and the last page to be.  Think of simple transitions to get from one to the other.
6. When you draw, press hard into the paper with the pen. Then, turn to the next page and you should see the impression from the drawing before.  Use that as a guideline to place your objects and people.  If something needs to be in the same spot, trace the impression.  If you need for it to move in the animation, take note of the impression and draw it in just a slightly different place. Then on the next page move it slightly more, etc.
7. When you are done, flip to see if the transitions work.  You can always go back and add a little more detail to make it seamless.

That's it!

OK- Challenge- Make your own Bible Story Post It Flip Books- and then post them on social media- GO!  Wouldn't that be cool to see popping up everywhere?

And because this is a quick project and there are seven videos and seven steps, I am linking up with Christy at Fountains of Home for Seven Quick Takes!

The Cafeteria is Closed: Marriage

Back up if you are interested in the beginning of this little series go here: The Cafeteria is Closed: A Catholic Youth Group Series. You can also read about our first topic, Indulgences and Eternal Life, here.

Next Topic?  Marriage.

Marriage. Marriage is what brings us together today.

Main questions that the kids requested we explore:

• Is everyone called to marriage?
• Can a Catholic marry a non-Christian?
• Can a Catholic marry a non-Catholic?
• One Man and One Woman.  Why?
• What is the Church’s teaching on divorce and remarriage?
• What does it mean that a marriage must be Free, Total, Faithful, and Fruitful?

Here was the info card added to our Cafe Menu: (click on any image to get the printables)

 

Here is one side of the prayer card:

And the other side:

This was also the night that we did our tactile prayer stations, focusing on praying for our Vocations.  You can read about that (and get the printables) here: Vocation Prayer Stations

We used these songs to tie it all together:

Hold Us Together by Matt Maher

What Love Really Means by JJ Heller

Here I Am by Matt Maher

Restless by Audrey Assad

How to Fall by Josh Wilson

The Cafeteria is Closed- Indulgences

Go here for the summary of how this all started and for the printables for the overall series.

The first chosen topic of our Youth Group series called The Cafeteria is Closed was indulgences and Eternal Life.  

indulgence- n. a remission of the temporal punishment due to sin, the guilt of which has been forgiven (according to The Catholic Encyclopedia)

"An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints." CCC 1471.

The basics?  When we are forgiven of sin, we are forgiven totally and completely, through the power of God's grace.  However, that forgiveness does not take away the consequences and hurt that our sin causes.  Think about about the Prodigal Son: his father completely forgave him, but that didn't change the fact that half of the family farm had been sold.  Indulgences are not conditions of forgiveness, they are a removal of the consequences of sin. 

For more on indulgences:
The Catholic Encyclopedia- Indulgences
Primer on Indulgences
Common Myths About Indulgences

We had a discussion on what indulgences are and are not. The cards that we used for reference and attached in our menu are below.  Usually an indulgence is something that we all should be doing anyways- daily prayer, Bible reading, etc.  This past year during the Year of Faith, one opportunity to receive an indulgence was to renew your baptismal promises.  Read more about that here: Plenary Indulgence During the Year of Faith . We went over to the church and renewed our baptismal promised during Youth Group that night.  A card with the renewal is below.  (Today is the Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, another cool day to renew our baptismal promises!)

Maybe use this as a reflection song:

Or maybe this one:

Click here for the menu card for Indulgence and Eternal Life:

Click here for the Renewal of Baptismal Promises Card:

Click here for the St. Augustine of Hippo Prayer Card:

The Cafeteria is Closed- Youth Group Series

Back in 2005 when Pope Benedict XVI was a recently elected pontiff, I remember the phrase "the cafeteria is closed" being thrown around a lot in the Catholic world.  That catchy slogan summed up his true adherence to the teaching of the Catholic Church, as seen in quotes such as this one:

Click on the picture above for a link to printable prayer cards of this quote.

Looking for a way to do a topic study with my youth group kids on some of those hard "hot button" issues, I decided to use "The Cafeteria is Closed" as a theme.  I started by talking to the kids about relativism.  Is there a truth?  What is truth?  Can it be true for you and not for me?  This led into a discussion on the teachings of the Church- found in the Scriptures and Traditions.  Are they relative?  Are they true?  I told the kids that we were going to work through a series about the hardest topics (of their choice) and look at them through the lens of truth.  The cafeteria of picking and choosing what to believe and when to follow it would be closed.  

Cue this fun brainstorming poster.  The kids were the ones who named the topics that would be the most controversial or most likely to cause someone to say "I believe in this but not in that."  Within three minutes, the group of teens had listed Saints, being spirirual but not religious, Mary, social justice, all male priesthood, abortion, the Catholic hierarchy, euthanasia, indulgences, and marriage.  You can't pull anything over on kids.  They knew exactly what issues people, well, have issues with.

The next step in our series was to consolidate the topics.  Here was the final line up:
-Indulgences and Eternal Life
-Pro Life 
-Mary and the Saints
-Vocation and Marriage
-The Priesthood
-Religious and Spiritual

Then things got interesting.  The kids had to pick a topic to help plan.  That might mean that we met beforehand and they helped flesh out what questions teens really have, it might mean that they helped led a discussion, or maybe that they researched and sent me great youtube videos that helped make points on different sides.  I wanted them to buy in and take some ownership and leadership.

The first teen leader helped me come up with this idea.  We knew that we would take a while to work through this series, so we wanted to keep track of all of the info in one place.  Cafeteria=food=menu.  We came up with "menu" items for each of the six topics.  Corny, yes, but fun.

Everyone started the series with this menu printed on cardstock and kept it to add to throughout the study.  The link to this printable is at the end of the post.

The back of the menu had some great quotes and references about truth.

Then, at each individual study, the kids got a little menu card that fit right over the topic in the menu.  For example, at the session on being pro life, we added the purple card. 

Each card contained YouCat references for six big ideas within the main topic (all of our Confirmation kids and youth group kids have their own copy of the YouCat due to a generous donation).  The back had one specific quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church summing up the idea.  The point was not to cover the topic exhaustively (like that is possible) but to answer their big questions and give them the tools to get started studying more deeply.

We taped them on one side, so that they could flip up like this and all of the info could be seen.

Each session also included a healthy dose of Scripture references, discussion, youtube videos, and prayer time.  We also had a prayer card for each session that included Bible verses and quotes from the Saints.

Click here for the printable menu:

The overall goal of this series, which I repeated a hundred times, was for the kids to know that there is a truth, you can find that truth, and you can follow the truth.

This was not about bashing, arguing, brainwashing.  Anything was open for question, and the answers did not come from the world according to me .  We sought the truth and we found it.  The kids now have an open invitation to follow that truth.

Since this post is already way too long, check back in the next couple of weeks for six more individual posts for each topic, complete with all of the printables we used, prayer cards, links to good info, ideas for video and song use, etc.  I'll also tell you how we wrapped it all up and how my kids impressed me more than I though possible with their knowledge and insight.

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Also, as a brief P.S., I am aware that the YouCat has had circulating mixed opinions over the past couple of years.  You can read the most common questions/issues and some responses here.  Is the YouCat perfect? No. Should it be the only resource used in Catechesis?  Certainly not.  However, is it a tool that can probably be used with the average teen more readily than the standard CCC? I think yes.  It is a starting point, meant to lead them deeper in study and quest and prayer.  In my experience working with teens, something like the YouCat is needed.  I hope to see the publishers take it and revamp a few things in future editions to make it better, but I have been and will continue to use it as one resource among several in my work with teens.

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***Unfortunately, I never finished blogging about this awesome series, but I am happy to share all of the resources, printables, and prayer cards with you here.