Introducing "Read Like A Saint": A Summer Reading Program for Orthodox Christians!

We are so excited to announce a new summer reading program for Orthodox Christian of all ages (yes, adults too!!). We love books, we love reading, and we love summer reading programs… so of course we had to make our own!

Here’s how it works:

  1. Download the Summer Reading pages here, and print them out. If you don’t have a printer, you can just make your own list.

  2. Kids ages 0-7 need to read 10 books (read alouds are fine!), and ages 8+ read 5 books. The books should be Orthodox in theme or books of the Bible. We included a suggested reading list of some of our (and our kids’) favorites!

  3. Fill out the form and take a picture of it! Make sure to include the relevant information like name, age, and address. E-mail the picture to hello@drawneardesigns.com by July 31.

  4. We will mail everyone who completes the summer reading challenge a surprise pack of goodies (like a sticker and a prayer card) for FREE!

jesus prayer card, transfiguration sticker, and Orthodox Christian sticker

We’re excited to see who takes us up on this challenge, and what your favorite books are!

We hope this encourages you and your kids to dive into some new Orthodox books this summer, learn about saints, and the beauty of our Faith! You can find many of the books on our recommended reading list on our website, however you should also check out your church library and ask friends if you can borrow books. (Another idea.. request your favorites at your local library! It would be great to have the public libraries carry more Orthodox books!) HAPPY READING, FRIENDS!

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Orthodox Christian Engagement and Wedding Gift Ideas

The season of engagement, planning a wedding, and the joyous sacrament of Marriage is such a special time in a couple’s life! If you want to celebrate them with gifts, you can find beautiful treasures AND helpful resources in our Shop.

For a newly engaged couple, the book Crowned is a helpful guide to planning an Orthodox Christian wedding. It has information that’s important for planning the day, with space to write your own lists and thoughts.

Orthodox Christian Wedding Marriage Candles

Wedding candles are a beautiful part of the Orthodox sacrament of marriage!

Make sure you check with the couple first because they might have different plans for their wedding candles, but these beautiful beeswax wedding candles would make a lovely gift (and useful, too!). They are 14” pure beeswax candles, made by the nuns of Holy Nativity Convent. They are decorated by hand, with care, by an Orthodox mother. One features an icon of Christ, and the other an icon of the Theotokos, embellished with pearls and white ribbon. (As a note, the pearls are actually on pins and we have never seen one fall off! Such a smart way to make sure they stay put!)

If it’s time to celebrate the newly married couple with a gift as they begin their lives together, the Marriage Gift Set here is an easy YES. It includes a print from Emilia’s Post with a quote from St John Chrysostom, a set of spiral beeswax candle tapers, a notecard with a floral cross watercolor painting on it (if you include a gift note we’ll write it in this card), a letterpress prayer card with a prayer for marriage from Poustinia Press, and a set of 55 Maxims of Christian Living mugs!

A wall cross would also be a beautiful addition to the couple’s home. We have a wide range of sizes, colors, styles and wood types to choose from, all made with care by Orthodox artists.

The Blessing Plate is another popular gift for weddings! As the new couple begins their own family unit, it’s nice to have meaningful and easy traditions to incorporate into their lives!

There’s lots of other options like 100% cotton tea towels (the one pictured above would pair nicely with a copy of the Akathist of Thanksgiving, from which the prayer on the towel is taken), mugs, art prints, and beautiful candles to decorate their new home. You can also get a gift card to Draw Near Designs so they can choose their own treasures, and special “Crown them with Glory and Honor” cards to with with your gift! As an added bonus, everything we sell is either made by us (a small business run by 2 Orthodox Christian mothers!) or other Orthodox small businesses, so you can be confident that your support is directed straight to Orthodox families, artists, and monasteries!

Education Resources for Orthodox Christian homeschool, Church School, or supplementary activities!

Whether you homeschool, are involved with Church School, or just want Orthodox resources to supplement your child’s education… well, you’re in the right place! We’ll break it down by age, but first we’ll start with some options that are great for all ages.

Coloring! Whether you want coloring books, printed coloring sheets, or digital downloads of coloring pages, we’ve got it! Our favorite “all ages” coloring books are Seasons with the Saints and Beautiful Days, while the packs of 20 assorted saints/feasts coloring pages are great for pulling out at quiet time or during read alouds. We also offer a digital download of coloring sheets for all of the great feasts (and it’s just $5!), which is helpful if you need to print multiple copies for Church School classes, co-ops, or just to have at home!

Orthodox Pebbles learning sets! These felt sets are an interactive learning tool to help kids better understand the feasts and icons that they represent. You cut out the pieces from a sheet of felt (I’ve done it, and it took me about 30 minutes), and use them to act out or piece together the elements of the icon. You can use these year after year, and as a bonus you can find printable activities on her website that go with each learning set (you’ll find a code to access them on the back of the card that comes with the learning set).

Books! We love ALL the books we offer, but the Children’s Synaxarion set from Potamitis Publishing is a wonderful resource to use as part of your homeschool day, in Church School, or just to add to your home library. They feature a saint for everyday, and include a short biography, map, and fun facts. They are full color, beautifully illustrated, and true treasures! Other favorite books are 101 and 102 Orthodox Saints from Ancient Faith, and the Elder Cleopa series from St Sebastian Press.

Feast Day Fun card set! Each set comes with 78 cards that detail the icon, name, date, Troparion, and Fun Facts of each great feast plus Pascha. Families can use these cards to play matching games, Go Feast, or band together to put the feasts in order chronologically (it’s harder than you think).

Tea Time with the Saints! Written by a priest’s wife, these sweet books have 5 bite-size bits about a saint for each week, designed to be shared daily with your family over a cup of tea. We also love the icon studies that they include, and you get a pack with a couple of icon cards to display, quotes from saints, and themed recipes. These are available as printed books and packets or as a digital download, and each volume is 2 months at a time.

Now let’s talk preschool and early writer resources! For learning the alphabet, favorites are “Teaching the Alphabet Using Orthodox Christian Terminology, Saints, and Images,” “O is for Orthodox,” and “My Saints’ ABC.” “Today My Priest Wear White” and “The Orthodox Search and Find Book Jr” are perfect for practicing colors, while “My First Church Counting Book” is great for practicing numbers! If you’re ready to practice writing, “Little Saints Book” is a copywork book, and the Early Writers version has Scripture, saints’ quotes, and poetry for the child to trace, and you can choose a spiral bound version or a digital download to print your own. “Orthodox Kindergarten” is a sweet book for preschoolers with simple activities to read together.

For lower elementary kids, “I Believe” (also available as a digital download) and “The Creed Coloring Book” are wonderful resources for memorizing the Creed. “Wisdom of the Saints” and “Little Saints Book” (lower elementary, printed and digital download versions) both provide edifying options for copywork. The Orthodox Basics activity book can be enjoyed by itself, but also pairs with the series of videos that Orthodox Pebbles created for Ancient Faith Kids’ youtube channel. The Family Prayer Journal provides a sweet opportunity for the child to practice writing and drawing, while creating a prayer book that you can use daily and is personalized for your family!

Upper elementary kids can start their day with the “Prayer before school” from Pray Always. Royal Saints is a wonderful coloring book for older kids, with detailed drawings of saints who were also royalty in addition to a short biography surrounded by a hand drawn border to be colored! “Little Saints Book” is also available for upper elementary students, as both print and digital download versions. The study journals from Family Chotki are incredible resources for deep dives into the feasts. They way that they are written and arranged (more like someone’s journal with lots of illustrations) make them easier for kids to read rather than just blocks of text.

Now some resources for the incredible people who facilitate the learning… the teachers! For the classroom, this poster of the Liturgical Calendar of the Orthodox Church is beautiful and educational. “Accessible Church School” shares wisdom and practical advice about setting up a classroom and preparing lessons that enable children with many learning differences to fully engage and learn. “Since God Loves You and You Know It Sing Out Loud!” is a fun book with text for songs about the Bible, Saints, and Orthodoxy, set to tunes you already know like “Old MacDonald had a farm”! “Into the Flames” (plays about saints) and “Old Testament Games and Relays” take the work out of coming up with engaging activities. “A Walk Through Acts” is a full year of Church School curriculum (and we’ll be carrying the new curriculum coming from Ancient Faith and Illumination Learning this summer!). We also offer a brand new Vacation Church School curriculum (that is a digital download) all about St Herman of Alaska!

There are also wonderful, FREE resources, like Illumination Learning, Sparks 4 Orthodox, Orthodox Pebbles, plus art tutorials, videos about saints, and catchy songs on Ancient Faith Kids Youtube channel. If you know of a great resource that we’re missing, let us know by e-mailing hello@drawneardesigns.com!

ST. NICHOLAS DAY!

We are almost to the feast of St. Nicholas on the New Calendar! We have put together a packet of resources for your family to teach them all about this saint who cares so much for children!

DOWNLOAD ST. NICHOLAS PACKET

This packet has the text from our brand new board book inside, telling the story of the life and miracles of St. Nicholas. It also includes a coloring sheet and fun facts and songs for St. Nicholas Day.

For more resources for this festal day, you can check out our Pinterest Page or St. Nicholas Center.

Blessed feast of St. Nicholas!

St. John Kochurov

An icon with various scenes from St. John’s life

St. John Kochurov is a modern day saint that was martyred during the Bolshevik revolution. He is especially near and dear to us as we featured him in our Modern Saints calendar in 2021 and were able to spend some time learning about his life, which is filled with bravery and love for God.

We hope you are able to take some time today to learn about this amazing man. Here are some resources to help with that!

St. John Bio on the OCA Website

Akathist to St. John Kochurov

We’ve also made a coloring page - I especially love the detailed line drawing that Marian did of him for our calendar. We included the info from the 2021 calendar as well! St. John, pray to God for us!

DOWNLOAD COLORING PAGE

PENTECOST PRINTABLE

Pentecost is just around the corner!

One of the most frequent requests we received on a recent Instagram Survey was more printables!! We got right to work and are excited to share this latest Feast Day Workbook with you all. You can find other Feast Day Workbooks like Annunciation and Elevation of the Cross on our blog!

This workbook includes a maze, craft, recipe, fill-in-the-blank copywork, and an excerpt of the account of Pentecost from Acts 2 that you can read aloud while your kids work.

Click the link below to download

PENTECOST WORKBOOK

Orthodox Mother's Day Gift Ideas

Mother’s Day is nearly a week away!

It can be difficult to choose a thoughtful gift when there are so many options out there! We’ve gathered up some meaningful suggestions for mothers of all types and stages and linked them below. We hope they’re helpful!

MOM OF TODDLERS

 

MOM OF TEENS/OLDER KIDDOS / GODMOTHERS

 

ANY MOM (just lovely gifts!)

Gifts for Any Mom! (not just Orthodox): Magnolia Card Set // Fern Candle // Dayspring Farm Soap Collection // Lavender Bath Soak

Pascha Basket Ideas

Pascha is quickly approaching! We’ve gathered up some of our favorite products for different age groups and made some sample baskets for you and your crew! We’ve linked all the products below.

TODDLER PASCHA BASKET IDEAS

ADULT PASCHA BASKET IDEAS

TWEEN / TEEN PASCHA BASKET IDEAS

Christmas 2023 Gift Guide

We have compiled a list of gift ideas from our shop that we think would be perfect for certain age groups! Take a look for some gift ideas to get you into the spirit. Just click the links in the text below each picture to find your items!

YIA YIA / BABA’S GIFT BUNDLE: Prosforon Necklace // Festal Foods Tea Towel // Koliva Stencil