Stained-Glass Illustrations

To examine Mary's commitment to God

The children will be able to portray their understanding of Mary's commitment to God.

• Colored paper
• Colored tissue paper
• Glue sticks, scissors
• Crayons and markers
• Bible

• Say to the children: Advent is the season when we prepare our hearts to welcome Jesus at Christmas.
• Ask the children to share how we prepare to celebrate Christmas with our families (shopping for gifts, decorating a Christmas tree, preparing a special meal).
• Encourage the children to recall what they know about Mary's visit from an angel.
• Invite the children to listen to your reading of the story from Luke 1:26-33, the angel visits Mary. Encourage them to close their eyes and imagine the angel Gabriel's visit with Mary as you read aloud the story.
• Next, provide the children with several colored sheets of tissue paper, colored paper, scissors, markers, and glue sticks. As you pass out the materials, ask the children to think about the stained-glass images portrayed in some of their church's windows.
• Tell them that they will be making their own "stained-glass images" similar to the images in the windows at their church.
• Invite the children to use pieces of tissue paper to illustrate Mary's visit with the angel Gabriel.
• Display their "stained-glass images" in the room.

Art/Space Smart, Self Smart

If possible, try to provide the children with glue sticks to make working with tissue paper a little easier and less messy. Bottled glue will easily leak through tissue paper.

Create your own "stained-glass window" to use as an example for the children. Providing the children with an example might help to save time in your explanation of the activity.