Teaching straight line painting and the True Presence of Jesus!

I realize this is a bit late for Corpus Christi, (I've been keeping busy.) But it's not too late to teach kids the awesome mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist!

This is a simple art project to help kids practice painting straight lines. Practice makes perfect and even young kids can learn to paint straight lines, with a little practice! But the best part of this simple art project is that it's a great reminder that Jesus is truly present in the Host at church during Mass.

All kids have different abilities, so I've added a few different paintings to show you a few different ways to create this. Choose what's best for you based upon your child's age and ability! My 8 year old could make the monstrance, but my 3, 5, and 6 year olds made the simple rays and glued on a paper cross and host.

You will need:

• Stock paper or construction paper (color of your choice - We used black and white)
• paint - we used:
   white and yellow on black paper
   yellow and red on white paper
• brown paint or brown paper for a cross (optional)
• paintbrush
• Host printable (It's free!)
• glue
• newspaper to cover the painting area

First add a quarter size "glop" (that's art talk for large drop) of paint to the middle of your paper. (If you plan to create a monstrance you will need to make your rays off to one end of your paper.)

Now work the paint out in straight lines. Start at the center and go straight out from the center. Do this all the way around. ALWAYS start in the center and go straight out away form the center. This is the straight line practice. 

My kids made a chant,

 "Middle, go straight out...Middle, go straight out...Middle, go straight out."

It worked well for them.  ;-)

I held my 5 year old's hand and directed her paintbrush. Then she was able to do a second painting on her own. 

Now add a second color to the middle and do the same as the first. 

You might want to do another "glop" of the first color again and the second color again, too. You can decide how many layers you wish to do.

If you are creating a Monstrance, add the stem and base. The stem goes straight down and the base goes straight across. 

Let that dry. Once it's dry add a cross, if you like. Use brown paint to go straight down and straight across.

If your little one hasn't quite figured out how to create straight lines with paint, cut out a few strips of brown paper and create a cross shape. Now cut out a host from the printable and add your Host in the center of your cross or the center of your monstrance.

There you have it!

Hope you enjoy!