Saintly Friends Bingo Game

Iron sharpens iron. I want my students to understand that holiness often grows exponentially among groups of friends or family members who are all choosing to pursue God and His will for their lives. So many of the Saints who have gone before us have been companions or family members of other Saints- holiness begets holiness.

So for Catholic Schools Week, we are going to play this Saintly Friends Bingo with our Buddy Classrooms (older grades with younger grades). The game features a Bingo board with 24 pairs of Saints who knew each other in real life. The "calling cards" tell a short fact about the pair of Saints before the players cover them on their Bingo cards. (With room for variations- play it like trivia, tell a story about the pair, tie breakers using facts, etc.) I think this game would also be perfect for St. Valentine's Day parties!

There are 24 different Bingo Cards- great for a classroom set. And if you want to save a little paper, you can print them two per page and make mini Bingo cards that are still perfect for play. If you are only going to play one round, kids can color each square as it is called. Or you can use any small object for Bingo markers (math manipulatives, dried beans, legos, etc.) An "O" shaped marker like cheerios or lifesavers would be super cute- like a halo for each Saint! You can also take the game a step further and have the students flip over their card and draw a picture or write a list of facts about one of the Saint pairs. Reading the card can also function as a special Saintly Friends litany. Lots of possibilities!

You can read more about Saints growing in holiness in pairs or groups in these articles here, here, and here. This list is comprised of married couple who are canonized (or on their way!). And Kendra has my very favorite "Love Like the Saints" Valentine Cards in this post- they are so cute!

My Confirmation students complete an activity called "Saintly BFFs" where they try to connect their chosen Confirmation Saint to Saintly friend or family member- it's always awesome to see how many connections they can find! I started a doc as a resource list for me that I plan to continue to add to, but if it's helpful check out this growing list of Saintly friends and family members.

I hope you have lots of fun with this versatile Saint game!

Click here for the Saintly Friends Bingo Cards:

Click here for the Saintly Friends Clues:

If you are looking for books to go along with your Saintly Friends Bingo game, here are a few that feature some of these holy pairs. (I'm sure there are many more- this was just a stack I pulled out to use! Feel free to add your favorites in the comments.)
(Amazon Affiliate Links)

Books about Saints who were friends:

• Brigid and the Butter by Pamela Love (Brigid & Patrick)
• Saints and Their Stories by Maria Loretta Giraldo (Joachim & Anne)
• Joachim and Anne, Love for Generations by Barbara Yoffie
• Louis and Zelie Martin, Saints for Matrimony by Barbara Yoffie
• Saintly Rhymes for Modern Times by Meghan Bausch (Therese, Louis, & Zelie, and Lucia, Jacinta & Francisco)
• The Children’s Book of Saints by Louis M. Savary (Francis & Clare, John Bosco & Dominic Savio, Martin de Porres & Rose of Lima, Jane Frances de Chantal & Francis de Sales)
• A Catholic Child’s Illustrated Lives of the Saints (Francis & Clare, John Bosco & Dominic Savio, Martin de Porres & Rose of Lima, Jane Frances de Chantal & Francis de Sales, Augustine & Monica, Joachim & Anne, Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier)
• Holy Friends: Thirty Saints and Blesseds of the Americas by Diana M. Amadeo (Rose of Lime and Martin de Porres)
• The Holy Twins, Benedict & Scholastica by Kathleen Norris
• Stories of Daring Teen Saints by Colleen Swaim (Kizito & Charles Lwanga, Dominic Savio & John Bosco)

Saint Cards- Check Out This New Game! (and how to win a set for yourself!)

If you've been around the blog for very long, you know that I LOVE Saint cards- I love collecting them, sharing them with people, and even had a classroom management system built around Saint cards.  I think they are an incredible way to tangibly teach about our heavenly heroes and inspire virtue.

So when I heard about this new Saint Cards game set, I checked them out, and was super excited with what I saw.  I backed them on Kickstarter, and my game set arrived a couple of weeks ago.  I am so impressed with the thought and detail that went into this family-created game.  The set includes 147 cards, storage box and bag, jewels (for keeping score), and full color detailed instructions.

The cards themselves pack in a HUGE amount of info about each featured Saint, amounting to an entire biography in symbols and colors.  I love that there is so much to be learned while playing any version of the game.

The set comes with references and detailed instructions for group play (as well as solitaire) but there could be tons of variations.  (You can see the rules and even watch videos of standard play here.) Already a set of my students were playing and adapted the rules to play more like Uno.  I also used them for an out-of-your-seat large group activity where the students drew a random card and then were challenged to find another person in the room with the most common characteristics.  They then had to introduce their Saints and explain all the connections for them to count.  I also think the cards would make a great discussion starter for families to pull out one Saint at a time and talk about the attributes of the that virtuous person.  The possibilities are really limitless and could be adapted to be used with preschoolers all the way through adults.  It's so nice to come across a faithful, well made, flexible game, so I wanted to share it with you!

And, Saint Cards was excited to share as well, so they sent me two extra sets to give to you! Along with Jared Dees' new book Christ in the Classroom (reviewed in my last Katie Reads Post) and two Wee Believers Vocations Doll, two people will win a whole set of catechetical goodies over on my Instagram account.  Click here to enter before Sunday, September 30th at midnight!

(Just a note- this isn't a sponsored post- I purchased my own set of Saint Cards, but love them so much I wanted to share them with you too!)

Catholic Words & Games {Review}

Can you believe that it is already back to school time? (I can't!)  Whether you are a parent, teacher, or catechist, I bet a lot of you are thinking about shopping for school supplies, preparing for being back on a schedule, and planning for changes and opportunities for the new year.  With all of that looking ahead, it's also a great time to explore new resources that can be used in the home or classroom to strengthen your child's faith, and I've got a few new ideas to share with you today!

Catholic Words & Games sent me these free products in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions and ideas are my own.  I only recommend resources I know and love and think you might like too!

Catholic Words & Games and The Mass Explained offers a set of incredible resources to provide catechesis for ALL ages on "the source and summit" of our faith.  They have physical evangelization tools like card games, tshirts, and clever buttons, as well as a set of awesome apps for both kids and adults are fun, attractive, well made, and faithful.  Today, I'd like to share with you the Catholic Words Memory Match Card Games, Courageous Catholic Saints Coloring Book, and Catholic Words and Games App, but I'd also highly recommend you go check out the Mass Explained App for older kids and adults! (And there is also a fun Catholic Word Search App for you puzzle-loving people!)

First up, these stellar Catholic Words Memory Match Cards.  There are two decks available, each with 26 different pairs of Catholic vocab words.  The words are all items used during Mass or other Sacraments, and each card also contains a well illustrated full color image.  I can't speak highly enough of these graphics- they are easily discernible while still being detailed and are child-friendly without being childish.  The cards could be used with littles to introduce basic Mass articles and then add more and more items and info for older kids.  The decks are set up to be used to play memory with matching pairs of cards, but also could be adapted to play old maid, I have who has, go fish, etc.  They also have a companion definition sheet available as a free download here.  I'm totally excited to add these to my Mass teaching resources and can see tons of applications for the classroom.

Using the technology in the best way, the Catholic Words and Games App corresponds with the Memory Match cards but allows the user to flip through flash cards, read their definition, play matching and naming games, etc.  It has both the great illustrations I described above as well as real photographs, making it easier for kids to locate these articles in their own church.  The games have music, sound effects, and time and accuracy challenge options.  There are tons of options and settings to make the games as easy or as challenging as desired, so I can see applicable uses with preschoolers all the way to RCIA candidates.

And finally, look at this sweet Courageous Catholic Saints Coloring book.  I have to admit, sometimes I am disappointed by the illustrations in Catholic coloring books, but I LOVE these.  They are simple for even young artists, but also contain details that tell a little about the background and lives of the Saint depicted on the page.  Thirty-two varying Saints are included, and in the back of the coloring book there are little biography cards for each Saint that shares a few paragraphs about their lives, birth and death dates, canonization, feast day, and patronages.

Make sure you also check out their free resources here (I love the matching cards and the priest craft!), and to help out those ready to order catechetical materials for the new school year, they are offering 10% off in their webstore Agnus Gift Shop with the code "TENOFF" at checkout.

AND last but not least, they also sent me two extra sets of cards and coloring books to give away!  Head on over to Instagram and enter to win them for your own home or classroom!