These are some of my favorite books and art supplies.
Some of these are affiliate links. This means I get a teeny tiny commission if you happen to click on a link and then order something. It does not change the price for you at all, but helps me continue to run this website. All of these items, are things I personally own and recommend. Aside from the Amazon affiliate account, I get no commissions from book authors, art supplies or anyone else for recommending these, so you can be assured of my honest opinion on these 🙂 Thanks
I am often asked about favorite Catholic and Saint Books, so here’s a list of my very favorite ones (we have many others not mentioned here):
My go-to book(s) about saints are the two below. I love saint books, but sometimes you just need a 5min story about the saint. Either you have children with short attention spans, or you are trying to incorporate a story about a saint into your school day and can’t devote a whole hour of reading time to just the saint, or maybe both. These two volumes have a saint for each day of the year, and each story is about a page long. It’s perfect for a {short} but valuable story-time about a saint. Don’t feel obligated to read a saint every day, just use it as you need to. Perfect for little kids who can’t listen to a whole picture book~!
Saints for Young Readers Volume 1
Saints for Young Readers Volume 2
The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane
Is a beautifully illustrated book. We used this when studying about the period of time when monks copied the Bible by hand and added beautiful illumination to it. I can’t get over how much I love the pictures in this book.
Saint Francis and the Nativity
Saint Francis has so many books, it’s hard to choose, and probably you can’t go wrong. I do love this one because of how the story involves a little shepherd child and can give inspiration to children about their important roles in God’s work. (and I love the illustrations~! which I guess is a theme in my children’s book choices)
I love this saint story, and the soft beautiful pictures in it~! Our youngest is also named Elizabeth 🙂
This is a neat rendition of the story. It’s recieved awards for the illustrations, which are (again) beautiful~! It looks like it has a flare of illumination. I will warn you, I feel like it is long for a picture book. As in, more than 20min of reading if you chose to read aloud as we often do. But I love it, and the pictures have enough tiny details to keep even the little ones engaged while you read.
This is a cute story showing how children celebrate St. Lucy’s day. In case you’ve ever seen the crown of leaves with candles, or boys with star hats and wanted to incorporate those into your own family traditions- this book is perfect. It even has some patterns and recipes included.
Ok, this is one of my all time favorites. Like, you should choose to read this one aloud when other adults ‘happen’ to be in the room. It is a wonderful story that has meaning that the littlest ones to the oldest ones will grasp. Beautifully written, amusing illustrations and a message we all need to be reminded of sometimes.
Tell Me About the Catholic Faith
A great book for homeschooling, catechizing or just read aloud without too much commitment. Each 2 page spread is a different subject within Catholicism, so it makes for a great 5min read aloud about a specific Catholic ‘thing.’ We’ve never read it cover to cover- just scanned the table of contents and found the part we were learning about, and skipped there. It has a variety of illustrators which keeps things interesting.
Catechism of the Seven Sacraments (the Lego comic book one!)
This was a genius concept, to use legos to illustrate the sacraments. I mean most kids have legos, and it spurs the idea of holy play with them. This was a pretty well done book. It’s not a ‘story read aloud’ kind of book, but rather a comic book style with lots of lego people having word bubble conversations. Despite it’s light hearted illustration, it tackles teaching the seven sacraments with all the seriousness they need.
Art Supplies
If you ever wonder what I use to draw, paint or color- here’s the list of my favorites. I am a firm believer in giving your kids REAL artist tools once they are old enough to use them properly. As in, real watercolor paints and real paint brushes for my 6 yr old and up, NOT those $1 paint pallets with the plasticy “paint brush” with plastic bristles. No one will ever love art if that’s all they get to use. Now, anyone under 6, sure give them a cheap paint pallet, they’re just painting giant blobs and themselves and the furniture around them anyway 😉
My Ink Pens- Sakura Micron Archival Ink
I usually start anything with a pencil sketch, but then if I’m going to scan it and make a coloring page, I’ll outline it with these ink pens. Honestly, you don’t need all those sizes. I usually stick with my 02, 05, and 08. I do use the smaller ones for art for CSH copywork though. In general, the fatter the lines the younger the coloring audience 😉
These color pencils bring coloring to a new level. I was so hesitant to spend real money on coloring pencils, the crayola (and other brands) are SO much cheaper. But these have incredible color, lay down smoothly, AND unlike crayola (and other brands) you can blend these (as in color with one, and then color over it with another and get nice blending effects). I often color the demo/picture versions of activities in these, and will let my oldest child use them with supervision. My only worry with children using them, is their getting dropped on tile, which breaks the lead on the inside. And we all know how frustrating it is to sharpen, only to realize the lead is broken into tiny chunks and you’ll never be done sharpening.
Watercolor Paints- Windsor and Newton
I have this paint pan, that I love love love. I also have the tubes, which I love. I actually use the tubes to refill the little wells in this paint pan. I also use the tubes to make little pallets for my kids to paint with. (Here, you can be cheap and buy those dollar store plastic paint pallets). I wish Amazon sold this paint pan, but maybe you’ll get lucky and find it in Hobby Lobby. You can get similar ones on Amazon, but this is the actual one I own and love.
I think there is a huge difference in cheap watercolors vs actual watercolor paints. Even the ‘nice’ watercolor pallets don’t compare to Windsor and Newton watercolor paint. So don’t fool yourself thinking “I bought the $5 paint pallet for my child, surely it’s better than the $1 paint pallet.” I let my 6yr old and up use my real watercolor paints and brushes. Everyone loves painting at my house.
These leave bold color on your paper. Just watch out- they WILL bleed through paper easily, so protect your table/surface etc. I do NOT think these are appropriate for kids though (unless they are older like 12 or something). They bleed through paper, and the lids are hard to snap on and off. The few times I’ve let me kids use them, half the lids were not properly put back on. Thankfully my high anxiety personality meant I checked all the lids (and counted all the markers) before any damage was done. I personally love to use them for my own coloring.