Preparing for Pentecost

Editor’s note: This post originally appeared on Traci Smith’s website and is shared today with her permission. Traci is a mom, author, and pastor with a true gift of connecting everyday family life to the Christian faith. One of the highlights of my week is opening her Treasure Box Tuesday email that is packed with relevant liturgical and family resources. It’s one of those emails that I always click through and end up sharing with friends and colleagues. It’s how I found this Pentecost post and knew I wanted to share it with you! —Allison

Pentecost is the day when the Holy Spirit comes from heaven like a rushing wind. It’s full of symbolism… flame, wind, water, the dove. It’s a rich time to do fun crafts or activities as a family to celebrate this important day in the Christian year. The color of pentecost is RED.

In Faithful Families, I suggest families make a windsock or fly a kite to make a connection between wind and spirit. Here are ten ideas from other sources that are easy, inexpensive, and meaningful:

1. Make an origami dove  – the link here links to a youtube video as well as written instructions in the video caption. Definitely looks like an activity for teens or adults (or exceptionally patient older elementary children.)

2. This dove is made out of a paper plate and is a lot less elegant, but more suited for younger children.

3. These ribbon streamers would be fun for anytime, but with red, yellow and orange ribbons to represent flames, they would be perfect for pentecost. Make some on your own and take to church on Sunday!

4. A ribbon mobile like this could look really cool in your house or child’s room. Perhaps each ribbon tied on could represent a prayer or a person for whom you are praying.

5. One of the significant parts of the pentecost story is that people who spoke different languages were able to understand one another. Take that idea and learn something in a different language together as a family. Here’s a resource that has “I love you” in 100 different languages. How many could your family learn?

6. I love this idea of making flames with paint, a plate, and a salad spinner. Crazy fun! (But who has a salad spinner anymore?!) Might need to find one just for this activity.

7. This camping lantern looks very fun (and useful for camping after pentecost is over!)

8. Here’s a wonderful collection of pentecost prayers. Pick one that resonates with your family and pray it at the dinner table.

9. Sky Lanterns are amazing! They would be perfect to launch on pentecost…

10. Make a red velvet cake. This recipe looks great!

For tons of practical no-prep ideas for use with your family, check out my book, Faithful Families, Creating Sacred Moments at Home