
Menu 


  • The Bible in a Year
  • The Catechism in a Year
  • Podcasts
    • Let Love
    • Ask Fr. Josh
    • All Things Catholic
    • Catholic Classics
    • Every Knee Shall Bow
    • Girlfriends
    • Sunday Homilies Podcast
    • The Fr. Mike Schmitz Podcast
    • The Jeff Cavins Show
    • The Tightrope
    • La Biblia en un Año
  • Videos
    • Fr. Mike Schmitz
    • Sunday Homilies
    • Fr. Josh Johnson
    • Jackie and Bobby Angel
    • Franciscan Friars of the Renewal (CFRs)
    • The Bible Timeline Show (with Jeff Cavins)
    • The Bible Timeline Show (with Jeff Cavins)
    • Encountering The Word: Year A
  • Articles
  • Prayers
  • Shop

4 Hands-On Activities for All Saints’ Day

by Aimee and Colin MacIver | Oct 29, 2024 | Ascension Articles | 0 comments

art depiction of the communion of saints for All Saints Day

The Solemnity of All Saints is November 1. The canonized saints create a diverse family portrait that includes men, women, and children from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. On the feast of All Saints, we also celebrate the many unknown saints who have not been canonized. These classroom activities can help bring to life this feast—and the Communion of Saints—for your students. 

For your children and students, All Saints’ Day marks an ideal opportunity to dive deep into our own universal call to be saints. As Pope Francis said during the Angelus on the Solemnity of All Saints in 2013, “The saints remind us that the goal of our existence is not death, it is Paradise!” These activities for All Saints’ Day will remind all your students of their call to sanctity.

Saintly Pumpkins 

The eve of All Saints’ Day is Halloween—“All Hallows Eve.” This is one of those activities for All Saint’ Day that brings together all the seasons. Use the pumpkin-decorating season to connect the holiday and the holy in your students’ imaginations. 

The day before your pumpkin decorating: Assign each student a saint or ask each student to choose a saint from the list below. Instruct students to do basic research on their saints. 

The day of the pumpkin decorating: Provide the pumpkins and various craft supplies, stickers, glue, paint, and brushes so students can decorate their pumpkins to resemble or symbolize their saints. Helpful supplies may include printed images for students to cut out, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and yarn, as well as construction paper and fabric scraps. Invite students to decorate their pumpkins creatively to represent their saints. Display the finished pumpkins for the rest of the school. 

A Saint’s Playlist

Continuing our activities for All Saints’ Day, this one encourages students to consider the details of a saint’s life.

The day of the activity: Assign a saint to each student or ask each student to choose a saint from the list. Instruct students to do basic research on their saints and then create a playlist of at least five songs that capture something special about their saint’s life. Have them consider the themes of their saint’s life, significant events, and quotes from their saints. 

Alternative: Create your own playlist of songs that relate to several particular saints. Place students in small groups. Ask them to listen to the songs and then write down which saint they think corresponds to each song and why. 

Saint Show-and-Tell

The day before your show-and-tell: Assign a saint to each student, or have each student choose a saint from the list. Instruct students to do basic research on their saints, and then bring a physical show-and-tell item that symbolizes their saint. For example, maybe it’s a flower for Thérèse of Lisieux or a soccer ball for Carlo Acutis. Remind them not to bring anything valuable. 

The day of the show and tell: Sit the group in a circle and have students take turns explaining why they chose their show-and-tell objects and how these objects connect to their saints. 

Communion of Saints “Tapestry”

Wrapping up our activities for All Saints’ Day, this one encourages students to reflect on the way God made them unique. The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles houses a beautiful collection of tapestries entitled Communion of Saints. The twenty-five tapestries depict 135 saints and blesseds of all ages, races, vocations, and occupations from the early Church to now. With them are twelve anonymous figures, including children, who represent the unknown saints in heaven. You can see images of the tapestries here.

Have your class create its own “tapestry,” using each student as a model for a different saint. Lay down a long piece of banner paper or butcher paper on the floor. (The length will depend on how many students you have.) Invite each student to draw himself or herself on the banner so that the entire class is depicted together. Instruct students to draw themselves as saints; for example, they can draw halos, prayer hands, or other symbols that indicate holiness. Be sure to emphasize that students should draw themselves as themselves; the universal call to holiness means we are called to be saints in our own unique, unrepeatable ways.

Saints for Students 

 

  • St. Thérèse of Lisieux
  • St. Francis of Assisi
  • Blessed Carlo Acutis
  • St. Jacinta Marto
  • St. Francisco Marto
  • St. Tarcisius
  • St. José Sánchez del Río
  • St. Kateri Tekakwitha
  • St. Josephine Bakhita
  • Venerable Augustus Tolton
  • Blessed Chiara Badano
  • St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio)
  • Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
  • St. Joan of Arc
  • St. Gianna Molla
  • St. Anna Wang
  • St. Joseph
  • St. Maximilian Kolbe
  • St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa)
  • St. John Paul II
  • St. Maria Goretti
  • St. Dominic Savio
  • St. Sebastian
  • St. Zélie Martin
  • Venerable Henriette DeLille 
  • St. Bernadette Soubirous 
  • Blessed Miguel Pro
  • Servant of God Dorothy Day
  • Servant of God Thea Bowman 
  • Blessed Stanley Rother 
  • Blessed Sára Salkaházi
  • St. Agnes
  • St. Charles Lwanga 
  • St. Cecilia
  • St. Nicholas 
  • St. Clare of Assisi
  • St. John Bosco
  • St. Aloysius Gonzaga
  • St. Ignatius of Loyola
  • St. Teresa of Ávila
  • Venerable Pierre Toussaint
  • St. Peter Claver
  • St. Martin de Porres
  • St. Kizito
  • Venerable Mary Elizabeth Lange
  • St. Paul Miki
  • Venerable Satoko Kitahara
  • St. Lorenzo Ruiz
  • St. Louis Martin
  • Blessed Laura Vicuña

Colin and Aimee MacIver

Colin and Aimee MacIver are authors, speakers, and teachers with decades of combined experience in writing, ministry, formation, and presenting. Their award-winning books and programs with Ascension include Belonging; Quick Catholic Lessons with Father Mike; Receiving Jesus and Renewed by Jesus; Encounter (with Mark Hart); and their most recent, Envision: Theology of the Body for Middle School. You can follow Colin and Aimee’s weekly Catholic Q&A on Instagram @freequestionfriday. Colin is also a musician and campus minister. Aimee is a visual artist and writes ThyShip.com, a Catholic lifestyle blog and newsletter that you can follow @thy.ship. The MacIvers have been married for twenty-one years and have two children.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ascension Articles
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Internet’s Top Questions About Nuns
The Internet’s Top Questions About Nuns

What are some of your questions about nuns? When do religious sisters retire? How do they get their names? What's the difference between nuns and sisters? (...Is there a difference?). These are the most-asked questions about nuns and religious sisters—according to the...

Why Be Catholic and Not Just Christian? From Fr. Mike Schmitz
Why Be Catholic and Not Just Christian? From Fr. Mike Schmitz

There are many similarities and differences between the Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations. Fr. Mike Schmitz narrows the differences down to one thing that sets Catholicism apart from other Christian Churches. What's the Main Difference Between the...

Top 5 Miracles in the Bible (According to You)
Top 5 Miracles in the Bible (According to You)

If you could witness any miracle from the Bible, which one would it be? We asked Catholics this question, and their answers may surprise you! After sifting through nearly 1,000 responses, here are the Top 5 Miracles in the Bible with a few honorable mentions. 1....

About Us

Careers

Newsroom

Frequently Asked Questions

Fair Use & Licensing

Contact Us

Shipping Policy

Return Policy

Resellers & Distributors

Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions
© 2025 Ascension Press. All rights reserved.
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow