Praying Arm Pretzels are a wonderful Lenten tradition for kids!
I always loving doing fun, food related activities with my
kids.
This year, since I’m teaching 3rd grade, I get to
take those fun activities to the classroom!
And since I’m teaching at a Catholic school, I can really
make Easter and Holy week faith based.
For yesterday’s Holy Week lesson, I brought bread baking to
the classroom!
After lunch, I introduced the Legend of Pretzels. According to legend, a Catholic Monk wanted
to motivate children to learn their prayers.
Since people at that time prayed with their arms crossed over their
shoulders, he made the school children pretzels as a reward for learning their
prayers.
Additionally, the word “pretzel” may have its roots in the
Latin word, “pretiola” meaning little reward!
For a bit more info and a cool printable, click here.
Oh, and as an added bonus, pretzels, divided into three
sections as they are can be a great teaching tool for the Holy Trinity (the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit as the three persons in one God).
Pretzels for the win!!
After discussing the history of pretzels, we moved into a
science/math/cooking lesson and made our pretzel dough. I did the mixing, then had the kids each take
a turn kneading.