Simple arts and crafts suggestion

This would be great to do with kids as a project.

Buy a frame (I got mine at Walmart) that is "gallery style" for 3 4x6" photographs in a row.

A triptych is a style of painting where a scene is divided into 3 sections placed side by side. They were often utilized in Catholic religious and devotional art.

I like to make one about a specific theme. So today I made one appropriate for Lent. For the first photo I printed on photo paper a holy card that I've had in the family of suffering Jesus crowned with thorns. In the second photo I printed a classic painting of Jesus resurrecting from the tomb. In the third photo I printed a Gothic style image of the resurrected Jesus as the Lamb of God. So this is a time line triptych, rather than the same scene divided into thirds.

You can make these for as I did religious purposes, or holiday, or seasonal, or some sort of theme. You can show children how to select a theme and then find 3 photos that illustrate that theme or as you explain to them "tell the story." For example a child could use hunting for Easter eggs as a theme, where the first picture shows Easter eggs, the second shows they are hidden in a yard, and the third shows a child with a basket full of eggs. Little children learn this way to tell a story using art. It then also becomes easier to introduce Bible stories to them using this method. They could make one that is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or that shows a Bible story in three stages, like Noah's Ark or the Nativity. It's very quick, economical plus it produces a very individual design and art work. I hope you enjoy this suggestion. For a non-technology method you can leaf through a magazine or religious catalog and help the child pick out three pictures for the frame. Either way this is a great family activity for after work or school since it does not take much time and is really effective play and family time.