Stations of the Cross Cards

One of the most popular hits on my blog is the little pamphlet for the “Stations of the Cross for Children”. My family used this version of the Stations of the Cross, and my mother remembers using it in her childhood. The prayers are so beautiful and moving; the prayers are not watered-down language for children, but aimed directly at the child in all of us. My sons want to pray them every day.

After 3 years, I’ve revamped, reformatted, and providing a few new options for the booklets. I found some wonderful Stations in Black and white, so for many of the files, I’ve provided the B&W option.

The newest addition is Stations of the Cross cards to carry:
The newest way to print these stations is to print them double-sided on cardstock and hole-punch on the top and place on a ring. This is similar to the cards we created in My Little Advent, using 1 inch book or binder rings or larger.

My children love to hole-punch, and then use a lanyard or pipe cleaners to create their own portable Stations. These are larger than the Advent cards; there are 4 per page, about 4″x5″ each.

Stations of the Cross Cards color
Stations of the Cross Cards B&W

Print these double-sided on cardstock.

Updated 2014: I have reformatted these so that the two sides line up exactly. But for little ones who are still learning to cut, I advise you to cut out from the text side so the text won’t be cut-off, and hole punch all through the same side, so the cards will line up evenly.

See the Stations Pages under the tab “Living the Liturgical Year”, Lent for all the other options.

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I share my printables for free and I hope you enjoy them. A small donation of a few dollars can help me continue to create and share my work for free. Thank you for your generosity!

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We always use a display flip easel with vertical pages with the Stations of the Cross prints that can purchased from CHC or Leaflet Missal Company. During our family prayers the children take turns turning the pages. They enjoy having a visual aid that is bigger than the little booklets.

Beside our flip easel, we also have a Stations box inspired from Joe and Irene Starrs and and also the Stations cards from Kathryn to put into the box (see this 4Real thread for details). It’s all so very tangible, and gives a variety for inspiration during prayer.

Stations of the Cross Box:

Station 1 Jesus is Condemned to Death — a string to represent the rope used to tie Jesus’ hands
Station 2 Jesus Carries His Cross — a small cross
Station 3 Jesus Falls the First Time — three band-aids in the box to represent Jesus’ three falls. He explained it to my toddler (almost 2 at the time) as band-aids for Jesus, who fell down and “hurt the knee”.
Station 4 Jesus Meets His Mother Mary — a plastic rosary to represent the Blessed Mother
Station 5 Simon Helps Jesus — small wooden heart painted red to represent Simon’s generous help in carrying the cross.
Station 6 Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus — Joe took a rectangular piece of white fabric (cut from one of his old undershirts, actually) and drew the face of Jesus on it
Station 7 Jesus Falls the Second Time — bandaid
Station 8 Jesus Comforts the Women of Jerusalem — a tissue for their tears
Station 9 Jesus Falls the Third Time — bandaid
Station 10 Jesus is Stripped of His Garments — a small square of purple felt to represent His purple cloak
Station 11 Jesus is Nailed to the Cross — a large nail
Station 12 Jesus Dies on the Cross — a crucifix
Station 13 Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross — a laminated holy card depicting Michelangelo’s Pieta
Station 14 Jesus is Buried — a stone to represent the stone rolled in front of the tomb

Praying the Stations of the Cross together is a wonderful way to contemplate the mystery of Christ dying for us. God bless you during this Lent.