On August 11, we celebrate the feast of St. Clare of Assisi. She is the patron of clairvoyance, eye disease, goldsmiths, laundry, embrodiers,
gilders, good weather, needleworkers, telephones, telegraphs, television.
In the Philippines, the faithful bring eggs to the Monasterio de Santa Clara in Quezon City as offering for fair weather. Lately, I ask her intercession when doing the laundry. Its the rainy season here in the Philippines and even though the weather forecast can be easily accessed through the internet, the weather can still be pretty unpredictable. While doing some research and planning activities for my little one to honor her on this day, I learned that St. Clare is also the patron of laundry!
Dear St. Clare, I ask your intercession for clear skies; and help me today with my laundry.
So here are three activities I have came up with. They're simple and doable.
1. Cook and eat eggs. The little one and I have done scrambled eggs a couple of times. I let him beat 2 eggs in a large bowl (to avoid spilling); and used a balloon whisk (so he can hold on to it easily). Of course I had to beat the eggs a couple of times before I poured it in the pan. He sits on the kitchen counter and watches as I cook. So we're doing this again on August 11.
note: make sure your child is at a safe distance while you cook. This can be another lesson on safety too.
You can also ask questions or talk about the process. Go over the steps with your child. 'First we prepare the bowl, then we crack the eggs in, then we beat the eggs.' This simple activity helps your child develop his executive function skills.
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| Watching the clothes spin around and around. |
2. Help with the laundry. Little kids love to do grown-up things! Your child may help load up the washing machine and watch you put the detergent in. Because toddlers love pushing buttons (I mean both literally and idiomatically), I let the tot push the start button. You may have to restrain you toddler a bit while you program the washing machine though.
They can also be 'in charge' of handing you the clothes pins. Older toddlers can sort clothes by color. Sorting (learn more about it here) is an early stage of math development while doing the laundry, well, I consider it a life skill.
We'll pray and seek St. Clare's intercession for good weather and to keep us in high spirits as we tackle this chore.
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| T hands me the clothes pins |
3. Beading. Since St. Clare is the patroness of embrodiers and needle workers, I think this activity would be appropriate. You may need a little preparation on this one. But I'm sure you'll have the supplies. All you need are toilet paper tubes and rope or a ribbon. I got the awesome idea here. This activity helps your toddler develop his fine motor skills. Also, his focus and attention. This can be done with very minimal adult supervision, you probably just have to show your child how to do it the first time.
4. Coloring. For preschoolers and older kids who can sit and color for a longer period of time, here's a free downloadable coloring page of St. Clare. And a cute one here.
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| St. Clare, BW |
So these are the activities we will do on St. Clare's feast day. And I pray all goes well, if not, its OK. We'll just laugh and laugh and laugh all day!
Since she's also the patroness of television, maybe we could watch a little TV too. (wink!)
Oh, talking about watching, we might be viewing this from Catholic Online and this as our virtual field trip. We hope to make a pilgrimage to the monastery too.
NEW: Coloring pages can be used for any media! Here's a video using watercolors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No8d-AmzIZI
