Book Review – Celebrating Saints and Seasons, by Jeanne Hunt

Late last year, as I began to plan out some faith-based activities for this year, I was given the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book is divided into the 12 months of the year, beginning with January (to me it would have made more sense to begin with Advent, as does the liturgical year, so it would not begin in the middle of Christmas; however, I do understand that in many ways perhaps beginning in January was just easier).  There is an additional section at the end for “Special Occasions Throughout the Year”, such as birthdays, deaths, etc.

Each month is divided into sections: major celebrations, saints and heroes, and prayers.  Each individual activity is marked with (F) or (S) to indicate whether it is appropriate for Family or School use.

I expected this book to have activities appropriate for the various seasons, saint’s days, feasts, and other celebrations of the Church.  I did not realize that a good portion of each month’s section would relate to things like Groundhog Day, April Fool’s Day, First Moon Landing, National Ice Cream Day; or that there would be items like a Leap Year Day Prayer, and a Tomato Psalm.  I agree with making the ordinary extraordinary and finding God in simple everyday occasions, but finding these sections seemingly on par with sections about holy days and canonized saints was a bit disconcerting and distracting.  Some of the “prayers”, apparently written by the author, for a variety of occasions were a bit… cheesy (in my opinion).

The subtitle of this book is, “Hundreds of Activities for Catholic Children”.  Many of the suggested ideas for saints’ days and special feasts are great - for example, making Hawaiian leis on May 10th, in honor of Saint Damien of Molokai, a missionary to lepers in Hawaii.  An idea for the 12 days of Christmas is to have each family member give one another a small gift each evening, and then something long-desired on the evening of Epiphany.  More of this type of idea would have made this a great resource book for Catholic families, but as it is, one might be better off searching the internet for ideas, or simply getting a book about saints and using the stories to come up with extension activities.

Thank you to the Catholic Company for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book to review.  All opinions stated are solely mine.

Indoor exercise for those long, long, long, loooong winter days

In Minnesota we are used to winter.  This doesn’t mean we like it, but we are used to it.  Some days, like when the wind chill is 30 degrees below zero (fahrenheit), we don’t go outside.  I know that at least 20 minutes outside every day, regardless of the weather, is one of the best things for children.  But seriously, when it’s dangerously cold out and it takes 30 minutes to bundle them up and 30 minutes to unbundle them, not to mention mopping up wet floors and making hot chocolate and etc. etc. etc. – the going outside thing is just not going to happen.

And since this year it’s winter pretty much everywhere, I thought I’d share some great kid exercise cds we’ve found and have been putting to good use lately.

I know that most kids don’t need something structured like this to act wild inside, and get their “exercise”; but after several days inside I’ve found that M needs a little something to get him up off the floor where he’s staring at his trains going around and around and around.  I try telling him to get up and do something!  But inside the house there’s just not as much inspiration for something active to do, like there is outside.  And since I don’t really want him deciding to sled down the basement stairs on his old crib mattress (yep!), these cds come in very handy.

We’ve checked out many from our library, but here are our top 3:

Wiggle Wiggle and Other Exercises, by Bobby Susser.  This is a fun one, with exercises put to song – there’s one for stretching and strengthening your muscles, one for just wiggling to the music, etc.  They are basic, pretty easy, and easy to follow.  M loves the one about Marching in a Circle.

Silly Willy Workout, by Brenda Colgate is probably my favorite, because not only is it super fun, but there’s also a short narration for each song that explains what to do as the song plays.  There’s also a great variety of exercises.  This cd also has the option of listening to the songs without the beginning narration, once you are used to doing them.

Preschool Aerobic Fun, by Georgiana Stewart – this cd has warm up, moderately vigorous, vigorous, and cool down exercises.  Each one is labeled on the cd, so when we don’t have time for the entire cd, I just program our player to play one or two songs for each category so we still get in a warm up, active exercise (which will give you some REAL exercise!), and a cool down.   This one also has instrumental selections like the bunny hop, which is so much fun!

Have a beautiful, energetic day! :)