Crafts and Activities for St. George’s Day

I find it hard to believe but it seems to be true that in all these years I’ve never written about St. George’s Day, celebrated on April 23. St. George is the patron saint of England, who was believed to have lived around the 3rd century. He’s usually depicted as a knight, and it’s thought he was in the Roman Army.

He’s associated with dragons because, according to legend, a kingdom was being terrorized by a dragon, and George offered to help if the king would allow his people to be baptized. The king agreed and after a long battle, George killed the dragon. You can learn more about his story and find some good printables to use in the classroom at Twinkl.

Twinkl also has this cute printable story spinner, as well as a knight mask craft and more fun crafts and activities.

Teaching Ideas has a fun St. George’s Day activity pack including a printable banner with the St. George’s flag (white background with a red cross), word search, coloring pages and more. Don’t miss the retelling of St. George’s story in Lego embedded in the post; it’s spectacular.

Grab some St. George’s Day coloring sheets from Hodgepodge Days, which includes the one of St. George shown here, a flag, design your own shield and St. George and the dragon.

Kiddy Charts has a great printable activity book that includes bingo cards, a word search, acrostic poem worksheet, a mindmap for writing the story and a worksheet to write the story on.

And of course you’ll want some crafts, too! I love the St. George shadow puppets from My Baba, though the post just says to draw the characters you could probably trace them from the images in the blog post or find a castle, dragon, horse and knight clip art to use.

I love this simple wooden spoon dragon from The Gingerbread House, and these gorgeous paper plate dragons from Pink Stripey Socks. This St. George made out of a spoon and craft foam is really cute, too. Get the tutorial from Baker Ross.

Michaelmas is one of those holidays that is religious in nature but also has a more secular meaning, especially in England.

Michaelmas is variously known as the Feast Day of saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael or the Feast of the Archangels, and it is generally celebrated on September 29 (or November 8 in Eastern Christian calendars). In England it also marks the end of a quarter both financially and academically (if you’ve ever read a book that talks about Michaelmas term, this is what it’s talking about) and historically the end of the farming year, when accounts would be settled.

In a religious context it celebrates Michael’s defeat of Satan, which also involves slaying, or a least controlling, a dragon, but it’s also a day to mark the progression of the year into fall because it falls near the equinox.

Waldorf educational communities celebrate Michaelmas because Rudolf Steiner believed it was the second most important festival of the year after Easter. They may have a play or a field day celebrating feats of strength and overcoming fears. Season to Gather has a guide available for purchase that includes the story of St. Michael and the dragon, crafts and activities, recipes and more with a Waldorf approach.

I also found this publication from a Waldorf school that has lots of ideas for celebrating Michaelmas with groups of kids, doing things like obstacle courses, rope tugs and races. The booklet also includes songs and recipes to try.

Because they both have to do with saints and dragons, you can pull out your St. George’s Day activities for Michealmas, too, but here are a few more ideas specific to Michaelmas. I’d love to hear about your traditions if this is a holiday you celebrate.

Faith and Fabric has a cute St. Micheal softie project kids or adults can make.

Catholic Icing has a printable pack for purchase that includes stand up figures of the angels in color and black and white as well as coloring pages and the St. Michael prayer printable. She also has a printable party pack with a banner and angels you can use as cupcake toppers.

There are a lot of traditional foods that are involved in a Michaelmas celebration including bannock (a Scottish harvest bread), blackberries and goose (though many people sub chicken or Cornish game hens these days). You can also throw in angel food cake, or devil’s food cake, deviled eggs or spicy foods to celebrate overcoming the devil.

Another traditional activity at Michaelmas is hitting a pinata that is shaped either like Satan or a dragon. You can see this in action and get more details about how one family celebrates Michaelmas at Catholic All Year.

Have you read?

Leave a Reply