'Saints and Symbols Relay' All Saints Party Game

For this year's All Saints Party, each child will be put into one of three teams ~ Team St Anthony ~ Team St Francis ~ Team St Joan of Arc. I'll try to make the distribution of older and younger children as fair as possible.

I've also made up tags for each child's wrist. I did this for a May Crowning about 5 years ago and it was extremely effective and the kids loved it. Why it is such a good idea, is due to the fact you are dealing with LOTS of children, all at different ages, so the younger children won't remember what team there in. The children like the idea of 'identity' and just adds to the fun and excitement of 'team games!!'

There will be a few team games and the team that wins each game will receive three points, the team that comes in second receives two points and the team that comes third, one point. The tally will be kept and there will be a team prizes for the end of the day, as well as prizes for individual winners in each game as well.

I've been thinking about creating new All Saints party team games and I've come up with a few.

The below is my first ~ Saints and Symbols Relay.

In this game each team has to collect the symbols for four saints, one at a time. There will be four symbols to each saint (I know I have some saints below with more than four, but I'll settle on the four best.)

Each team with have four of these cards, each card goes with a saint image.

Each team will be given a card and a saint's image, here is an example of the card for St Jerome:

*o0o*

St Jerome

You are collecting symbols for St Jerome.

Checkpoint Garden Bed ~ Symbol One:

When Jerome, at the end of his life, lived
in a monastery in Bethlehem, healed a wounded ........,
that had a thorn in its paw. The animal remained with him

from then on and is considered a symbol of compassion

conquering brute force.

Checkpoint Shed ~ Symbol Two:

The ............. is among the symbols of a penitent hermit.
This instrument for measuring time is a call to meditate
on the fact that life on earth, does not last forever.

Checkpoint Backyard Corner ~ Symbol Three:

The ....... is a scholar's emblem. In Jerome's case, it refers to
his many writings and how he translated the original Greek and

Aramaic language of the Bible to Latin, called the 'Latin Vulgate'.

Checkpoint Mary's Garden ~ Symbol Four:

The ...... reminded St Jerome that this life does not last forever
and that death and judgement comes to us all. "Remember

man you are dust and to dust you shall return."

*o0o*

At each checkpoint will be a box with the symbols for each of the 12 saints, the team must pick out the right one and attach it to their saint before moving onto the next checkpoint. The Mary Garden will also be the beginning point when the teams are issued their saint and the card that goes with that saint, so the teams must go around four times before the game is finished.

The first team in after four rounds is the winner! (With all saint images (four) with their right symbols attached of course!)

I've just google search all the pictures you see here, the saint is printed on white cardboard, the symbols on white paper, everything is then laminated for stability and protection.

Often I've popped an saint image into paintshop pro and taken out symbols, then printed up the saint. Then I print up the symbols on a separate page. Laminated the sheets and cut out the pictures.

ST JEROME SYMBOLS:

The book - Bible

The skull

Rocks

The Lion

The hourglass

ST BARBARA SYMBOLS:

Crown

Three window tower

Sword

Peacock Quill

Crown

Palm of Martyrdom

ST BONAVENTURE SYMBOLS:

Angelic Seraphim

Minature Church

Mitre

Cross and Monstrance

ST DOMINIC SYMBOLS:

Dog with flaming torch

Star on forehead

Lily branch

Rosary beads

ST JOHN THE BAPTIST SYMBOLS:

Scroll

Lamb of God

Cross

Head on dish

Honeycomb and locusts

ST NICHOLAS OF MYRA SYMBOLS:

Three boys in a tub

Three balls

Anchor

Boat

Book (held in arms)

Mitre

ST PETER SYMBOLS:

Rooster

Keys

Boat

Book

Mitre

Chains

ST ROSE OF LIMA SYMBOLS:

Child Jesus

Roses

Wreath of Roses

Crown of thorns

Anchor

ST URSULA SYMBOLS:

Boat
Crown
Arrows in arms
Palm of Martyrdom

I have made my saint choices and gotten most of my symbol explanations from Saints in Art by Rosa Giorgi ~ a very helpful book indeed, and a beautiful book!