< Previous page

Saint Charles Lwanga

Charles Lwanga was a little African boy who loved to sing and play with his friends. Missionaries came to tell him about God's love. Charles was very happy to hear that God loved him, and he told other people about God's love. A bad king told Charles that he could not listen to the missionaries. He could not be a Christian or they would kill him. Charles and his friends would not change their minds. All the way to the place where the soldiers were going to kill them, Charles and his friends sang happily. They knew they would soon be in Heaven.

Charles Lwanga and his friends liked to sing songs about God. You can make some simple instruments to play while you sing happy songs about Jesus.

Take two paper plates. Put a few beans or rocks on one. Staple or tape the plates together all around the rim so the beans won't fall out. Shake your plate rattle as you sing.

Put some beans in an empty oatmeal box. Tape on the lid. You can shake this instrument, too. You can use an empty oatmeal box for a drum. Use a spoon to tap one end of the box to make a drum sound.

Ask an adult for two large nails. Tie a string to one nail and dangle it from your left hand. Hold the other nail in your right hand and use it to strike the dangling nail to make a sound.


Put some clean empty bottles on a table. Leave one empty. Add a little water to the second one. Add a little more water to the next one. Keep adding water until all of your bottles, except the first one, have some water in them. Blow across the tops of the bottles to see how many different sounds you can make.

Blessed Francis Seelos

It was carnival day in the little town of Fussen, Germany. The children wore costumes and masks and played tricks on the people. Little Francis Seelos dressed up in his father's best clothes and joined the fun. Luckily his father caught him in time to rescue his best clothes, but the children had already had many laughs at the little boy in the floppy big clothes. When Francis grew up, he became a priest. He went to America to help the German immigrants who lived there. He always stayed as cheerful as he had been on carnival day. He was gentle, too. Francis said that a priest should always be gentle and kind to the people. He reminded the people that Jesus was very gentle and kind.

Father Seelos reminded people to be gentle like the child Jesus. Sometimes we forget that Jesus was a little child like us. You can make a picture to remind you of Jesus as a little boy. Click the diagram below. Trace it on heavy colored paper or cardboard and bend it as shown to make a stand.

< Previous page