July 18: Saint Frederick

History

Saint Frederick was a priest who taught new Christians about the faith. When he became a bishop some years later, he had a pretty frustrating job, because a lot of people were mixed up about what it meant to live as Christians. Saint Frederick would try to explain the way they were supposed to go with gentleness and love, but some of the people didn’t want to give up their sinful ways, and they hated him.

Activity

Saint Frederick never gave up on trying to help people go in the right direction. Today, make a traffic light out of an egg carton to help you remember how to live the way Jesus wants us to live.

Materials:

1 egg carton (makes enough for four children)

Either red, yellow or green kid-friendly tempera paint and paint brushes OR red, yellow and green construction paper and school glue

Black marker or crayon

Hole punch

String

Directions:

1. A parent needs to cut the bottom off an egg carton, cut it in half lengthwise and then crosswise so each child has a section of three cups in a line. Turn your section of egg carton bottom side up so that the cups become the “light bulbs”.

2. If you are using paint, paint the bottom of the cups red, yellow and green to be the lights and set aside to dry. If you are using construction paper, cut 2” circles and proceed to step 3 before gluing them onto the egg carton.

3. Use the black marker to write “STOP” on the red bulb and “Don’t sin” in smaller letters under that. Write “SLOW” on the yellow bulb and “down and pray” underneath. Write “GO” on the green bulb and “do what God wants” underneath.” If you are using construction paper, you can glue the circles onto the egg carton now.

4. Punch a hole about 1/2” from the edge of the egg carton, centered over the top the red bulb. Thread a string through the stoplight to hang it in your room. (When you hang it, the red should be on top and the green should be on the bottom). 

Saint Frederick, pray for us!

More reading for parents:

365 Rosaries

Catholic Online