The Working Rosary Board

Many children today are not familiar with the rosary. Many do not know our basic prayers. Our Father ,Hail Mary, Glory Be etc. They are not in the habit of making the sign of the cross and reciting the words to go with it. Many don’t know that it reminds us of our baptism or that it is a reminder that Jesus died on the cross for us and each time we make the sign of the cross reciting: In the name of The Father and of The Son and of The Holy Spirit we give glory and honour to the Blessed Trinity.

The Working Rosary Boards can help to teach all these prayers. The boards are beautiful visual aids and they capture children’s interest very easily with their brightly coloured beads.

They can be used in many different ways. Children soon learn the prayers of the rosary when they are allowed to pick roses from the ‘Garden Board’ and hang them onto the Rosary Board each time they say one of the prayers off by heart. They like building up the rosary with the beads.

Once children know all the prayers they can start to learn how the rosary is recited, they can see how the rosary grows with every prayer they say and can relate their little personal rosary bead to the large ‘Rosary Bead Board.

When a good working knowledge is established the mysteries can be introduced. The three mysteries each have their own background colour. Joyful mysteries are orange, Sorrowful mysteries are green and Glorious mysteries are yellow. There are five plaques to each mystery, with an explanation text underneath. All of the plaques are numbered. Children learn the mysteries quite easily by colour recognition and they gain an insight into the life and passion of Jesus through praying the rosary with the aid of the boards.

When they are at home with all the different aspect of the rosary, children can set up the boards for themselves ready for use and they enjoy being asked to do so.

On a non teaching basis the boards can be put into the church for use after Mass/anytime . Adults can bring their children to the boards to say a few Hail Mary’s

or the Our Father and then pick the rose beads and build up the rosary. This is a very good visual aid to have in the church for Our Lady’s months of May and October.

Each set of rosary boards comes with a message board which reads:-

Rosary means Rose Garden

Each time we pray the Our Father a Hail Mary or a Glory Be while praying the rosary we give Jesus and Mary a beautiful spiritual rose. If we pray one decade it makes a lovely bunch of roses. While a whole rosary makes a wonderful bouquet. Before you start the Rosary look at the picture on your decade and spend a minute thinking about what it is telling you. Offer the prayers of the rosary for people who are suffering and for all who are at war in the world today.

The working rosary consists of two boards supported by easels and standing 4ft 6in high. One has a ‘Rosary Bead’ marked out on it the other a ‘Rose Garden’. Pegs mark each bead of the Rosary. Beautifully coloured roses which hang on pegs on the ‘Rose Garden Board’ are picked off and hung on the rosary bead board each time someone prays an Our Father or a Hail Mary. The fifteen mysteries of the Rosary are moveable along with their three title plaques. Each title plaque is painted in the same colour as its respective mystery. (SEE PHOTO)