DIY Angel Gabriel

One of my favorite things about teaching Faith Formation, besides sharing my faith with the kids obviously, is coming up with fun and informative lessons. Sometimes it can be a real challenge to find things that aren't too babyish or labor intensive—I've been overwhelmed by Pinterest more often than not. BUT, as with the Thankful Turkeys we did before Thanksgiving, I came up with these simple Angel Gabriels and it worked really well for our class of 26 six and seven year-olds.

We made these after our first Advent lesson, when I felt like the kids had a good grasp of not only whom Gabriel was but also why he is so important to us. I love this craft because it is super easy and super cheap to create in bulk. A lot of times I find awesome crafts on Pinterest, but they require seven different specialty products and when you're trying to create 26 of them it gets expensive. The only downside to this craft is the toilet paper rolls that make the body. Usually I send out an email to parents and have everyone bring one in. Otherwise, everything else needed is basic. Relatively quick too!

Supplies
Toilet paper roll
White and yellow construction paper
Basket style coffee filter
Scissors
Glue stick
Stapler
Writing instrument

Directions
Take your white construction paper and fold it into thirds, ripping at the folds. This will serve as the covering for the toilet paper roll body. Wrap the white paper over the roll and glue in place. Using your writing instrument (some kids used crayons, some used pencils, I used a pen) make sure your Angel Gabriel has a face!! For the wings, take a flattened basket coffee filter and fold it in half. Using a stapler, attach the coffee filter to the prepared body to create wings. Make small cuts along the ridges of the filter to give your wings some depth! Taking the yellow paper cut a small circle for the halo, gluing it to one side.