Offerings of Joy

To learn the story of how the Holy Spirit helped Philip and to understand how the Holy Spirit is with us too

The children will be able to explain how the Holy Spirit helped Philip and how the Holy Spirit is also with us.

• Bibles
• Large cut-out of dove from white poster board
• Stencils of doves
• White construction paper
• Pencils, pens, crayons, markers
• Scissors

• Before the children arrive, cut out a large dove from a sheet of white poster board. Write across the top of the dove, The Holy Spirit Helps Us to Share.
• Engage the children by explaining to them that the dove is one of the symbols used to represent the Holy Spirit.
• Ask them to share what a dove looks like and why a dove might be used as a symbol (it's white, peaceful, has wings).
• Tell the children that the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove in all four Gospels. Therefore, the Church often uses the symbol of the dove during Pentecost.
• Invite the children to follow along silently as you read aloud the passage from Acts of the Apostles 8:26-38.
• Allow a few moments for reflection after the reading. Then briefly discuss the story with the group and focus on how the Holy Spirit helped Philip to share Jesus' love.
• Ask the children to consider the question: How can I share Jesus like Philip did? Write their responses on the board.
• At this time, ask the children to work with a partner to discuss their responses to the question. Encourage the pairs to think of ways they can offer their help to someone at home, at school, or in their community. (Allow the children to refer to the larger group's list of ideas as they work.)
• As the pairs discuss ideas, display in the room the large dove you have cut out.
• Next, provide the pairs with paper, coloring materials, scissors, and stencils of a dove for tracing.
• Instruct the children to trace the shape of a dove on their papers and cut it out.
• Ask the children to write their names clearly somewhere on their doves.
• Then ask the children to work on their own to decorate their doves however they like.
• When all the children have completed their decorations, gather the group around the larger dove and invite them to glue their personal doves to it in a ceremonious fashion. Perhaps play instrumental music in the background and have each child, one at a time, glue his or her dove to the larger one.
• Encourage the children to tell how they plan to share Jesus' love with others.
• Display the group's dove collage somewhere in the room or parish.

Art/Space Smart, Nature Smart

The children might want to decorate their doves with pictures of themselves. Before the activity, invite the children to bring in small photos of themselves. The children can paste their pictures on the individual doves?this might brighten the collage if you choose to display it outside the classroom.

Some children may have difficulty understanding the symbol of a dove for the Holy Spirit.