Pope St. Gregory is a Doctor of the Church. He is the patron saint of musicians, singers, teachers and students. He loved the poor and generously gave the donations made by wealthy people to them.
There is an old church in Majayjay, Laguna called the Iglesia de San Gregorio Magno. Doing this painting got me curious about St. Gregory so I started reading about him while I worked on this painting.
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Anyway, here are the three activities I've planned for us to celebrate St. Gregory's feast:
1. Listen to Gregorian Chants. It is said that St. Gregory might have also established the "cantus planus" or gregorian chant. I sometimes play this playlist during Teo's nap time. We will listen to some parts of it during our music & movement time. We do active listening in Kindermusik class and it helps Teo develop his focus and attention. We'll try to hum a tune too if he's up to it.
2. Give alms. St. Gregory is known to give alms to the poor. So I've planned to buy some bread and water so we can hand them out to the kids who sell vegetable spring rolls and rags outside the school where we do Kindermusik. It would be a great way to teach our children to love the poor by modelling right? And Pope Francis has declared this year as the extraordinary jubilee of mercy, why not feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty? That's two out of the seven Corporal Works of Mercy.
3. Pre-writing activities. St. Gregory has written a lot of books and he is often depicted in paintings and iconography holding a book or writing on it. So I have made a couple of activity sheets, nothing fancy, for Teo to do. You can download and print for your little one too. While the closest thing Teo does to writing is scribbling on his sketch pad, we do a lot of pre-writing activities like playing with playdough; scooping (and scattering) beans, then picking them up - this is very good practice for pincer grip, so I let the toddler scatter away; or using tongs to pick up pom-poms.
And of course, a coloring page of Pope St. Gregory the Great.
I hope you can do these activities with your little one too.
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And of course, a coloring page of Pope St. Gregory the Great.
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| Click here to download |