Wow today, I have the coolest thing for your kids. Well, I think it’s pretty cool; you’ll have to tell me what your kids think about it.
I made for you all, a giant printable paper rosary. The coolest part is, all the prayers are written ON the printable ‘beads.’ The download link below will take you to the 16 page pdf printable rosary. Instructions are included in the download, but instructions with pictures are here in this post (keep reading!)
Download the Giant paper rosary
There are a few options on how to use this printable! I included it in color AND in black and white. So your children can color their own beads if they wish, or if you want something more uniform, you can just print the colored ones. I went with mostly purple since it is our current liturgical color, and they are in watercolor to give them a more personal feel rather than digital coloring.
You can use the printables to make an entire rosary, or to make a one decade chaplet. If you have a large family, maybe you just want each child to make a chaplet (especially if they are at the age where you will be doing most of the cutting or threading).
A full rosary can be hung in a room, or we actually taped it to the door.
But my daughter really wanted to color her own, and this is where the chaplet option was perfect. I knew as a 4 year old she’d not be able to color all 50+beads of a full rosary, so I let her color 10 Hail Mary beads and the cross, and here’s how it turned out:
She loves it! My daughter has always loved being read to, and for some reason reading the prayers off the beads has made this traditional prayer new and novel again to her. I don’t understand why. The words are all the same, but for whatever reason it’s more fun to read the prayers than to say them from memory. But I digress….
The printable has an abridged set of instructions but here are some in more detail with pictures!
You will need:
- about 12ft of string or yarn for a full rosary, about 2ft for a chaplet
- all your beads printed on cardstock
- scissors
- hole puncher
- crayons/colored pencils/ glitter glue/various other colorful crafting supplies – if you print the black and white version
- tape (to make treading easier)
Instructions:
First print your ‘beads’ on cardstock:
Cut them all out (if you’re really careful, you can stack all the Hail Mary pages and cut out 5 beads at a time- be sure not to let the papers slip)
(not sure if you can tell I stacked the pages here)
Hole punch the little white circles at the top and bottom of each bead. (don’t stack for this, it’s hard to get it just right)
Cut your length of string. Wrap tape around the end to prevent fraying (and to make it easier for little fingers to thread the beads).
Tie the cross to the end.
Add an Our Father Bead, 3 Hail Mary Beads, a Glory Be, and an Our Father. (If you want it to look more like a traditional rosary, you don’t have to include the Glory Be- I just felt like it should be included since all the other prayers are written)
Thread the beads by going INTO the bottom hole and OUT the top hole:
Thread through the yellow Hail Holy queen on the right side.
*Add 10 Hail Mary beads, 1 Glory Be, and 1 Our Father. Repeat from the * four more times for a full rosary. Skip to the next step for a 1 decade chaplet.
Tie the end of the string to the left side of the Hail Holy Queen.
Ta-da! You have a huge rosary! How can you use a huge rosary?
- Tape it to the door and read off of it as you pray.
- Lay it out on the floor, and let your little ones physically move around it as you pray the rosary (pointing to, or touching the bead you’re on)
- Hang it from something tall in your house like a bookshelf, TV stand, dresser.
- Tape it to a wall- I suppose it could be decoration? Probably better for your kids to stare at than a movie poster.
- We added the chaplet to our Rosary basket.
- Or maybe you just need something to keep them busy on a rainy or snowy day. Even if you don’t tape it, hang it or lay it out- it’s still a fun crafting activity for keeping the kids hands busy on something constructive!
What will you do with your giant paper rosary?
If you’re visiting for the first time, and love rosary printables make sure you check out:
Thanks so much for visiting! I hope you’ll come back for more Free Lent Printables!
