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Last year, I wanted to make rosaries with my kindergarten and first grade Sunday School class so we could learn how to pray with them. The first time around, we ran into a few issues. Sadly, I underestimated how long it would take to complete, so my class didn’t get to finish. Also, I had some issues with the holes of certain beads being too big and other beads getting stuck inside of them. I also tried using elastic string but that unraveled pretty easily. This year, I was much more prepared. All four kiddos in my class made their very own rosaries and they were so excited about them!

Supplies

Here are the supplies you will need for 1 rosary:

• 36 inches of string
• 16 perler beads (preferably of one color) to use as spacers
• 53 pony beads to use as Hail Mary beads
• 6 special beads to use as Our Father beads (for example, star beads)
• 1 larger bead to use as a Hail, Holy Queen bead (for example, a heart bead)
• 1 cross pendant
• scissors

*Tip: be sure to get special beads with ~2 mm holes. You don’t want the perler beads to get stuck inside the other beads because the holes are too big.

DIY Rosary Instructions

1. Print out the PDF file(s) above so you can follow along more easily.
2. Tie a double knot around the loop at the top of your cross. One tail should be very short (2 inches or so) and the other tail very long (34 inches or so).
3. Start stringing the beads on the long tail.
   1. 2 spacer beads
   2. 1 Our Father bead
   3. 1 spacer bead
   4. 3 Hail Mary beads
   5. 1 spacer bead
   6. 1 Our Father bead
   7. 2 spacer beads
   8. 1 Hail, Holy Queen bead
   9. 2 spacer beads
   10. 10 Hail Mary beads

       

   11. 1 spacer bead
   12. 1 Our Father bead
   13. 1 spacer bead
   14. 10 Hail Mary beads
   15. 1 spacer bead
   16. 1 Our Father bead
   17. 1 spacer bead
   18. 10 Hail Mary beads
   19. 1 spacer bead
   20. 1 Our Father bead
   21. 1 spacer bead
   22. 10 Hail Mary beads
   23. 1 spacer bead
   24. 1 Our Father bead
   25. 1 spacer bead
   26. 10 Hail Mary beads
4. Tie a double knot with the long tail between the 2 spacer beads above the Hail, Holy Queen bead and the first set of 10 Hail Mary beads.
5. Cut off the extra string on the long and short tails (but leave a 1 cm piece on each).

*Tip: To prevent your string from fraying, put a small amount of glue on the tip of the string. The glue will eventually harden and make stringing easier.

*Tip: To keep things organized, pick out your beads first and put them in separate cups organized by Hail Mary beads, Our Father beads, spacer beads, and Hail, Holy Queen Bead. If you don’t, this is what your classroom or home will look like:

How to Pray the Rosary

As a child, I prayed the rosary on occasion and I remember having a little booklet that told me step-by-step what to say. Of course, I have since lost that booklet. Now, I can’t always remember what prayer to say when much less which mystery I should be reciting. After looking around on Pinterest, I found this great document with every single prayer all in one place! Click on the image to see the full size and print it out!

Well, I hope you found this tutorial useful. Even more, I hope it gets your students and/or your own children excited about praying the rosary!

Check out my other Sunday School crafts here.