Our church held our Our Lady of Fatima retreat for Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts this weekend. It was amazing in that we had double the number of scouts we had hoped for!

The Girl Scouts earned the Our Lady Of Fatima 100th anniversary patch from the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry. We had planned a program based on requirements for Cadette level, and it went wonderfully!

It is amazing how things work out when you’re not looking. We were blessed in that we were given beads and acrylic paints other troops. And we found we had leftovers of nearly everything else – from canvasses to jewelry string – so our event cost was so minimal.

The kids really loved creating paintings inspired by the Miracle of the Sun and making their own rosaries using pony beads.

We also made pool noodle rosaries to donate to the preschool at our church. The teachers were thrilled with the giant rosaries and guessed they could for 6 kids around a rosary!

If you’re planning either rosary craft I would recommend that you prepare materials in advance. Precut the pool noodle pieces and assemble the cross. Count out beads and purchase or assemble the bead crosses for each child.

My copresenter had the brilliant idea of printing and laminating sheets on how to pray the rosary. That way kids could follow along and mark completed prayers with a dry erase marker.

From a faith perspective, it was wonderful to help the girls learn about a religious and historical event!