Mary’s Sorrowful Heart for Kids
Are you looking for a fun and creative art project for kids for the month of September that ties in with the Liturgical Calendar? Then, I have just the art project for you!
The month of September is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, and it really got me thinking how I could do more to share with my children more about Mary and her life on a deeper level. Last month, we made a mixed media heart art project on the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which is a little bit different.
The Sorrowful Heart depicts 7 swords piercing Mary’s heart, and each one represents a difficult moment in Mary’s life. The amount of pain she must have felt watching her Son die on the cross moves me to tears because I just cannot comprehend it, especially as a mother myself.
If you ever find yourself wondering why we celebrate sorrowful feast days, especially Mary’s sorrows, check out this video from Catholic Answers… I found it very enlightening and gave me a better understanding before explaining it to children.
BUT bringing it back to breaking this down for young children, we love to incorporate picture books and prayer that focus on the importance of Our Blessed Mother of God this month.
THE BOOKS
This page contains affiliate links. This means I may earn a commission should you chose to make a purchase using my link.
Here are some picture books that tie in beautifully to this art project and feast day:
- A Garden for Mary by Neena Gaynor
- Hail Mary by Maite Roche
- The Rosary for Little Ones by Kimberly Fries
- Let Us Pray by Katie Warner
- As It Is In Heaven by Eric Puybaret
- My Momma’s Garden by Mary Williams
Anytime we focus on Mary in the Liturgical Calendar, I love to turn children to the Rosary. The Rosary for Little Ones is a great resource for including children in prayer and reflection in the Rosary with its simplified language and child-friendly explanation of the mysteries. Even though all of the Sorrowful Mysteries aren’t the same as the Seven Sorrows of Mary, a few of them overlap. The idea is to help children understand a little bit better the difficulties Mary experienced. And this book can really help with that. (This book doesn’t feature a lot of illustrations, but the simplified text is very helpful for young children).
I also have a free Rosary Pack download for young kids (ages 2-5) you can grab by clicking the box below:
PREP YOUR SUPPLIES
Here’s what you need to make this project:
- 12″ x 18″ white sulphite paper
- Scrap pieces of white paper for the swords
- Liquid watercolors (or pan)
- Large round brushes
- Cup of water
- Kwik Stix (paint sticks)
- Flower stickers
- Scissors & glue
- Oil pastels or crayons
VIDEO
Below is a video demonstration of a similar project we did for the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It follows the exact same steps, except we added 7 swords symbolizing her seven sorrows.
Check it out HERE.
STEP 1:
Fold the 12″ x 18″ piece of paper in half. Paint one half of the paper pink and red for the heart. Paint the other half of the paper warm colors like yellow, orange and little bit of red. I like to use a wet-on-wet technique where you paint the paper with just water first, then add the wet watercolor. This has the colors bleed together. If you don’t have watercolors, regular paint or paint sticks work too!
Set aside to dry completely.
STEP 2
While the watercolor paint dries, take some white paper and rub black and white oil pastels onto the paper. Cut out 7 longer strips and 7 short strips. Glue the short strip over the long one to make 7 swords representing the Seven Sorrows of Mary. They are as follows:
1. The Prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:34-35)
2. The Flight into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-21)
3. The Loss of Jesus for Three Days (Luke 2:41-50)
4. The Carrying of the Cross (John 19:17)
5. The Crucifixion of Jesus (John 19:18-30)
6. Jesus Taken Down from the Cross (John 19:39-40)
7. Jesus Laid in the Tomb (John 19:39-42)
*taken from the Catholic Company.
STEP 3
Once the paint has dried, cut the paper in half separating the pink/red from the yellow/orange.
Draw half of a heart on the back of the red/pink paper along the folded edge. Cut out to create a symmetrical heart.
Repeat this for the yellow/orange side to create a flame.
STEP 4
Using warm colored Kwik Stix, add lines over the dried paint for a pop of color and contrast.
STEP 5
Glue the flame to the heart, followed by the seven swords. You can also add sparkly foam flower stickers representing Mary’s purity like in the Immaculate Heart of Mary image.
If you make this project, be sure to give us a shout out on Instagram with tag @littleholyhearts!
