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Let me set the stage for you…I’m eating BBQ (amazing BBQ) in the Austin airport with a couple of other Edel attendees (psst! Did you hear the announcement!?) feeling excited to go home and see my family and super sad that Edel is over. One of the gals at the table had been one of the vendors at Edel. We strike up a conversation as I gather my belongings and we wait for our flight to board. As we were standing in line, she said that her luggage was really heavy because it was full of sample CDs from Holy Heroes.
“Do you want one? They’re called Glory Stories–audio stories about the saints for kids.”
“Sure!” So I took it home and said “Look what I got you guys from my trip to Texas!” <—(Worst mom.)
Anyhow, my kids didn’t seem to notice I’m the worst and insisted on listening to the dramatized audio story about Blessed Imelda and St. Juan Diego during bedtime. The next day they were telling me all about it and singing the theme song about wanting to be a saint. In short, the Glory Story went over VERY well. And they wanted MORE.
“Okay, FINE. I’ll try to get you more inspiring saints lives stories since you must have them.” <–reverse psychology
So I contacted Holy Heroes and found out they have tons of these Glory Stories and Rosary CDs for each mystery. And beautiful Catholic coloring books. AND free Mass prep videos for kids! But before I get too excited, we’ll start with Glory Stories.
First of all, I always prefer audiobooks and stories to screen time. And these are very high quality dramatized stories. I love playing Glory Stories or the Rosary CDs during nap time/rest time and while the kids are falling asleep. Benjamin was really excited to listen to a Glory Story about Blessed Miguel Pro, one of his favorite saints. In general, he likes any saint who was martyred. “How did so-and-so DIE?” is his first question whenever we’re talking about a saint. And Bl. Miguel Pro has a pretty awesome death story, so win.
I wasn’t sure if the Rosary CDs would be as big of a hit, but they were. I think it’s partly because the prayer is recited by children and hearing children’s voices praying helps my kids connect with it. The CDs also have great explanations about the Rosary and Scripture verses about each Mystery. And because they need something to squabble about, we get to go through the fun nightly argument about whether we’ll listen to the Luminous or the Glorious or the…. When does the squabble-y age end? Is it ever over? I guess I still occasionally squabble with my older brother. Moving on.
The coloring books! OK…I can be kind of a coloring book snob. But I really love these Life of Jesus coloring books. The pictures manage to be kid-friendly and still attractive. Great quality paper and Scripture verses on every page that corresponds to the image. Each one is a great resource for each of the mysteries of the Rosary (Triumph of Jesus corresponds to the Glorious mysteries, for instance). I’m planning to use the Childhood of Jesus coloring book during Advent and the Passion of Jesus coloring book during Lent.
On Monday, Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, I pulled out a beautiful page depicting the Pieta.
Lately we’ve been trying to do the daily Mass readings during breakfast and talk about them, and it’s making me realize that I need to do a better job of familiarizing my kids with Scripture. And now that Benjamin is 5-and-a-half and (mostly) quiet and squirmy-free during Mass, I think he could be getting a lot more out of Mass if we talked about the readings beforehand. And lo and behold! Holy Heroes has free Mass preparation videos on their site every week with kids acting out the Gospel reading and they also have Mass quizzes you can print out for your child to fill out during/after Mass. Benjamin’s reading is great, but writing is more challenging, so I don’t know if he’s QUITE ready for the quizzes, but we’re going to start watching the videos.
And they’re always putting up coloring pages and resources to download, so be sure to check out the web site.
Holy Heroes is sweetly giving Carrots readers 10% off your entire purchase with this discount code: 10Carrots
And they’re offering a great giveaway! The Life of Jesus Coloring Book Pack including the Road to Calvary book and a Glory Story of your choice. So just enter with the rafflecopter widget below! (If you’re reading this post in a reader, you may have to click over to the site to see the widget.) And U.S. residents only, please, for shipping reasons. So get yourself entered!
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Holy Heroes. Review materials and giveaway product was kindly provided by Holy Heroes.
We have those coloring books! I try to photo copy the pages to color them though so that we can use them over and over again (hopefully with multiple kids through the year). But they’re put up high so Lucia doesn’t scribble all over them and I often forget I have them! Love them though. I’ve been looking at the DVDs for some time now, but I didn’t realize there were CDs. I’d get the Miguel Pro one because I’ve been so drawn to him since first learning about him in a modern history of Mexico class in college!
I would love Ss. Anthony and Joan of Arc.
These sound great! I would love them for my Godchildren!
Wish I’d had these when I taught Catholic school! They cover many of the required Saints for fifth grade
St Martin de Porres and St Clare, please!
Saint Joan of arc and Saint Anthony.
My son loves listening to audio stories (it’s slowly growing on the girls). This sounds great and I’d love to have it
It would be hard to decide between the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta/St. Faustina or the St. Rose of Lima/ Maximilian Kolbe!
what a fun way to teach about the saints! i’d love to use any of these for my girls!
Great giveaway! I would love to get a few of these for my little girls.
Oops, I supposed to include which product in particular; I’d probably go with St. Rose & St. Maximilian.
I had no idea this was around! Thanks for sharing. If I win send us a saint with a great death story. My daughter is like Ben in that way.
I really want to get the St. Therese cd one day and the Rosary ones!
These look like great resources! As a convert, I’m just beginning to grasp the richness that the Catholic Church offers through the stories of the saints, and these look like a good way to get started learning along with my kids
I think I’d choose the St Joan of Arc/St Anthony cd. Thanks for sharing!
Oh what a great company! I’d get the St. Rose and St. Max cd… love those two.
Those sound amazing. I want them all!
Start at the very beginning! That’s a very good place to start! Vol 1, Imelda and St. Juan please!
We’re always trying to find good stuff like this for the kiddos. Especially if they can do double duty and be used during Mass.
Hmmm…that’s a hard one to pick. Maybe St. Joan of Arc and Saint Anthony?
There are too many to chose from.
Maybe St. Rose of Lima and St. Maxmillian Kolbe
I love the saints and it would be hard to choose, but I think I’d pick the prayers of the Mass one in the hopes that it would help my little ones’ Mass behavior.
These look awesome! I would love the Mother Theresa one. I love your idea of audio media instead of screen time during the day!
I would love these!
Oops..forgot my CD choice! I would love St. Therese!
It’s so hard to choose, but I would get either St. Rose and St. Maximilian Kolbe or St. Joan of Arc and St. Anthony. We have lots of the others already, and my girls love them!
We use the Sunday mass prep too and do the quiz orally during breakfast after mass. That way even the toddlers can participate! We don’t own any of the audios yet but would love to win!
We only have a few, but would LOVE to hear more of them!!! Such a great site and products, would love the rosary ones
Thanks for sharing, all of these products sound great. It’s hard to choose, but I would probably start with St. Rose/St. Maximilian Kolbe.
We got St. Anthony/Joan of Arc at the MN Homeschool Conference this year, and Bean played it till he had it memorized. So Grandma sent St. Joseph/Katherine Drexel, and now he pretty much has that one memorized, too. I’d probably go with St. Faustina, since we were in a priest friend’s office recently, and Bean was really impressed with the “Jesus with fireworks!”
St. Joan of Arc and St. Anthony
I’d love the St. Joseph glory story for our newest little one, Josephine
I would get St Cecilia…i’m a musician and i’ve heard it before, and it floored even 5th grade students. Love it.
Hmm, not sure to go with the children of Fatima because my daughter is named Lucia for her, or Kateri & Cecilia because of their aunt Cecilia and maybe a future sister named Kateri….
I would love the one including the story of St Juan Diego. My eldest has a special devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe and I am sure she would enjoy this CD. Thank you for the giveaway chance!
So many of the CDs look good! I think my choice would be the Children of Fatima or St. Anthony/St. Joan of Arc.
Glory Stories are Awesome!
we LOVE Holy Heroes and love Glory Stories! we need a new Kateri/Cecilia CD and I have my eye on the other Mexican martyr story from the cristeros war too (we also are huge fans of the Blssd. Miguel Pro story!)
Im excited to try these out! Hope they’ll be a hit with my 2yo!
It is really hard to choose one but I think my top choice is the Glory Story about Fatima. My daughter is very interested about Fatima ever since my mother visited about 5 years ago. Maybe one day we will get to go too.
Oh my! Love the mass prep video:) Those coloring books look great for little ones for mass too.
I think I have beaten my children over the head enough with St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Kateri Tekakwitha, so it is a relief to find other stories for them. I would choose St. Anthony/St. Joan of Arc for my boys. I think they would connect well with both. Especially, and it is a boy thing, because of the swords, Joan of Arc.
I would have to say Sts. Anthony and Joan of Arc. One girl, one boy, one happy family.
Okay, it looks like everyone else commenting likes the ones that I like. I’d like the St. Anthony/St. Joan of Arc one. I like that mix of male and female saints for the kids to learn about.
I think the Children of Fatima one would be neat. To let the kids hear about something that happened to kids – maybe get the idea in their heads that it doesn’t matter how big or small you are, God can use you to help others. Just today in our religion lesson we talked about the faithful and unfaithful angels and they just couldn’t get the idea that someone wouldn’t love God and I explained that we can help reach those people by reminding them that God loves them no matter what. The Children of Fatima cd would be neat to show how they can help others even though they’re just kids.
I think I’d like the one about St. Kateri (because I’d love to learn more about her, so my children CLEARLY must be interested also, right??) and St. Cecilia (same reason!). But really, they all look great, and what a fabulous idea!
I would choose the Catholic prayers one!
I’ve been wanting to try these!
I’ve been wanting to try these and would probably start with St. Joan of Arc.
I would love the St. Juan Diego cd. My kids love Our Lady of Guadelupe. I don’t know much about Blessed Imelda so I would love to hear her story also.
We are hoping to get the Joan of Arc one soon, she’s a favorite saint around here.
I’m so torn! On the one hand, this would be a perfect Christmas present for my niece. My sister is trying to get her interested in saint stories at a young age, and since they live far from the family, they spend a LOT of time in the car. The Sts. Joan of Arc and Anthony CD would be perfect for her!
On the other hand, I’m making a special point to cover Blessed Jose Sanchez del Rio in my CCD class this year. His CD would be perfect way to present the material to the class!
How awesome is this?! I would definitely get the Glory Stories CD Vol 8: Best-Loved Catholic Prayers and Prayers of the Mass!!
We’d love the mother Teresa and St. Kowalska.
Awesome giveaway! I didnt know about the Mass prep videos. We’ll totally start watching them and printing the pictures for something quiet to do during the homily. My son isn’t ready for the quiz, but it might help my husband focus a little better!
I would choose St. Joseph, our patron, and St. Katherine Drexel who I think is really awesome.
What a great catholic resource for kids!
I want to hear the Mother Teresa and the JPII ones!
I am definitely going to get the Sweet Mary and Songs of Faith and Joy CDs!
My boys love the St. Maximillian kolbe story! I hope to collect all of them eventually
I would choose Bl. Imelda and St. Juan Diego.
Those all sound great!
These look so cute. I would love to have a St. Maximilian Kolbe and a St Peter.
I would get the CD with Mother Teresa and St. Faustina! This company seems great, thanks for the introduction
All if them! But I would start with st. Faustina and Bl. Mother Teresa.
How are we supposed to pick only one!?!! I would get Mother Teresa and St Faustina!
These all look great! I would start with Vol 5: The Story of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha & The Story of Saint Cecilia.
I would love something like this. It warms my heart to see my 3 year old enjoy learning about Jesus.
We love Glory Stories! We don’t have the one with Pope Saint John Paul II yet, so I’d probably pick that one.
Mother Theresa and St. Faustian, please!
Wow! Their products look amazing! Thank you for posting, I haven’t heard of them before. We’d love to be in the raffle! Thank you!
The St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Miguel de la Mora CD sounds great. St. Therese is always great and we go to the parish where the KofC was founded, so I think that would be fun.
I just recently signed up for their Sunday Liturgy prep. I can’t believe it took me so long either. Friends had been talking about them but for some reason I never bothered to really check them out. I am excited to find more of these gems. (And I definitely want to look into Edel 2015. It looked simply amazing.)
Also, I would love the whole set – I mean – St Anthony and St Joan of Arc. Love those two (and all of them…)
We love holy heroes!
St Joan of Arc and St Anthony!
These are great! As a kid, I always love the CCC videos, and Fatima was my favourite so I’d go with the Children of Fatima one cause I love it!
I love the coloring books, and can’t wait until my little one is ready to listen to the stories. I’d love Mother Theresa!
GREAT RESOURCES!
I have just discovered reading to kiddos at meals, what a great idea to do Mass readings!
Saint Kateri and Saint Cecilia would be perfect for my little girls!
My kids love hearing stories about the Saints! I would have to go with St. Joan of Arc (being a French teacher) and St. Anthony (being the finder of so many lost things)!
I would choose the Children of Fatima, I just love their story!
I would go for #10 St. Rose of Lima and St. Maximilian Kolbe to start!
So many to choose from!! Maximilian Kolbe and Joan of Arc!
It’s really tough to choose! I think St. Anthony/St. Joan d’Arc OR St. Martin de Porres/St. Clare (my confirmation saint).
I adore coloring books, and agree; I am a total coloring book snob!
Ooooh, I hope I win!
OR St. Kateri Tekakwitha /St. Cecilia -> My husband and I went to CUA, which is right next to the Basilica of the National Shrine, and I loved to look at the Kateri sculpture there. And, we both majored in music!
See? So hard to choose.
Love Holy Heroes!
These look amazing for kiddo gifts!! I’d have to start out with dear JP11 for sure.
Kateri&Cecilia please!
My kids would love these! And I really want to get some of the coloring books!!
Catholic prayers, I think!
I may buy it first, but I REALLY want the one with St. Faustina….so if I buy that one first, then I would want to get the St. Kateri, St. Cecelia one. How do you choose?!?
I would get Blessed Mother Teresa/St. Faustina, but I love the Rosay CDs too!
Would love to check out the mass prep books, and use the coloring books to help occupy my kids at church.
Can’t wait til my daughter is just a litttttle bit older and she starts learning and loving the Mass. Holy Heroes sounds awesome.
I would probably choose the Best Loved Prayers CD set.
We have a little Lucia, so I’d love to obtain the secrets from the children at Fatima.
I would definitely get St. Joseph first.
These look awesome! I would love these for my little girl! Definitely a great present for nieces and nephews also!
Oh this is so awesome!!! I’ve been reading your blog since I was pregnant with my first and she’s now almost 20 months and getting so interested in reading and listening to music and audio CDs! I’m so excited for her to be able to enjoy all of the wonderful resources like Holy Heroes that our beautiful Catholic faith has to offer
I love the idea of the Best of the Catholic prayers and prayers for the mass on CD. Perfect for younger ones!
St. Therese!
We love holy heroes! I often download the free coloring pages and we have the Juan Diego& Blessed Imelda CD. My Kids often request it to listen to at bedtime.
Ok, I am really excited about this! I have a goal to start reading about saints after dinner and this would be PERFECT to help me incorporate it into our nightly routine!! Woot!
Book marking their page for future purchases, too! Yay for you, Haley!!!!! Thanks for sharing!
We absolutely LOVE Holy Hero’s! They make Advent so wonderful too.
We have loved Holy Heroes for many years!
My kids love this one, It’d be hard to choose just one but probably the Rosary one for variety.
We would love any of the CD’s but I think our favorite would have to be St. Therese.
Thanks for hosting this giveaway!
How cool! I will definitely keep these in mind for my kiddo. I’d especially love the Saint Martin de Porres & Saint Clare CD.
I want to add that I have been very moved by many of these Glory Stories and I feel I learn just as much as my children. I have splurged on many of the CDs. I think I will choose St. Rose of Lima and St. Maxmillian Kolbe for our next one. The Children of Fatima and the one about Saint Pope John Paul II are absolutely my favorite.
It is so hard to choose but- Glory Stories CD Vol 4: Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta & St. Faustina Kowalska
Id choose the “best loved catholic prayers” one as we are trying to integrate more of a prayer life in our household!
I’m glad to hear that you guys like the Bl. Migel Pro story. My kids like the little sample from it on the Blessed Imelda disc, but I wasn’t sure if they’d be old enough or like it were we to actually buy it. Our kids are the same age as yours, so thanks for the reference!
Hooray! Something for the big kids to do during quiet time that won’t leave me paranoid I’m melting their brains. Thanks for sharing this!
I just love that I’m in this post. Yay Saints!
My kiddos would love these!
St. Therese of Lisieux & Saint Miguel de la Mora of the Knights of Columbus. I think! So many look awesome!
These look great! I’d be happy with any of them for my kiddos!
I saw these at our homeschool conference but my son is three so I thought he might not be ready for them yet. I would love to try them!
St. Therese of Lisieux or Mother Teresa/St. Faustina!
Have these been around forever? Because they look so familiar from when I was a kid! I would love either the one with St. Cecilia (my confirmation name) or St Maximilian Kolbe (I like modern saints too!).
Thank you for a great contest. I hope to win for my grandson. PS I only discovered your blog recently — love it.
Wow, I would love to have volume 13, The Children of Fatima! These look awesome!
We were introduced to Holy Heroes in June. My kids LOVE them as do my husband and I!! We can’t wait to get all of them!
I think I’d pick: St. Therese of Lisieux & Saint Miguel de la Mora of the Knights of Columbus
So hard to choose! I want them all!
My son is obsessed with the lives of the saints! I am going to check out the website!
Blessed Miguel Pro, please!
we love Holy Heroes and would love the Blessed Jose Sanchez del Rio CD!
I would love the St. Kateri CD. She is my confirmation saint!
I think I would choose Glory Stories CD Vol 7: Saint Martin de Porres & Saint Clare
I would love the St. Anthony glory story for my son!
st. Anthony and st Joan of ark
Vol 1: The Story of Blessed Imelda Lambertini & The Story of St. Juan Diego, because I like to start at the beginning. Thanks for hosting the givaway!
I would probably go with Glory Stories.
I think I would pick Saint Rose of Lima & Saint Maximilian Kolbe. I love St. Maximilian & would love to learn more about St. Rose. Two holy examples for my little guy
The St. Rose and St. Maximilian one!
Wow, Haley, what a great find. Thank you for sharing and for hosting the giveaway. I love the coloring book Life of Christ set. I’d love for my little daughter to enjoy it!