Category Archives: Children Movies

Brother Francis, Children Movies, The Bread of Life, the Holy Eucharist

Brother Francis: The Bread of Life {Catholic Children’s DVDs}

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If you missed my review on Brother Francis: Let’s Pray, here’s the link!  Today I’d like to help promote another wonderful DVD by Herald Entertainment, Brother Francis: The Bread of Life (the Eucharist)!  It was a perfect addition to our family as our son is preparing for First Confession and First Communion.  In this in-depth DVD Brother Francis makes great comparisons and explanations about the importance of Christ in the Holy Eucharist yet he does this so simply and clearly that even my five and three year old understood!  I did tell you in my first review how much my children love Brother Francis right?  They ask for these DVD all the time! Particularly this one because they love the story of Saint Imelda!  They sing the catchy tunes as well.  I’m totally in love with him too, he’s funny and smart, and athletic, a real ‘super hero’ of sorts that any mommy would  want their kids to love as well!

Honestly, this DVD is jammed packed with so much:
1. the parable of the fruit and the vine
2. the Last Supper
3. about Saint Imelda and the Miracle of the Eucharist
4. staying healthy both body and soul

Here’s a great little preview to just give you a taste of this wonderful DVD:

This really is a fantastic addition to our family DVD library.  I love it and the coloring and activity book we received in addition to the DVD, lots of beautiful pictures to color and activities to do.  LOVELY!  I seriously think this would make a perfect First Communion gift for any child!  I wish I had this for my eldest, but feel super blessed that now my four smaller kids will get to grow up with Brother Francis as part of our family and their First Communion journey!

Here’s a description from their website:

Join Brother Francis in this delightfully inspirational and instructive presentation that teaches children all about the sacrament of the Eucharist!
This episode contains:

  • “The Last Supper”: animated presentation of Jesus instituting this blessed sacrament.
  • “The Story of Blessed Imelda Lambertini”: the Patroness of First Communicants
  • “I am the Bread of Life”, and “What More Can He Give”: two visualized songs
  • “Brother Francis: The Bread of Life” is an exceptional way to prepare children for their first Holy Communion.

So as I sat here typing this when my almost seven year old walks in and sees me and asked what I was doing.  I told him I was writing about how awesome we thought that Brother Francis DVDs are and he said, “well that’s special to me!”  He then said he wanted me to tell everyone this:  “Brother Francis is a great teacher!  I think he is a good guy who loves God very much.  He teaches about the Eucharist and that is super important.  The Eucharist is God and St. Imelda really wanted to receive Him.  I want to receive Him too and I’m very excited about my First Holy Communion coming soon!  It will be one of the BEST days of my life!  Thank you Brother Francis for teaching me the way!”  (That was word for word my friends of what he said, I need not say any more right?)  🙂

This mommy is happy that her kiddos are learning about the faith with Brother Francis!  🙂

Want to buy one?  Here are all the details: 
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Brother Francis, Children Movies, freebie

Kids DVD Brother Francis: Free Thanksgiving download

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Brother Francis has become a family favorite around here.  I’ve reviewed the first DVD on Raising {& Teaching}Little Saints and will also be reviewing the other two:  all three are FANTASTIC DVDs and I, personally, think that EVERY CATHOLIC HOME should have them available for their children.  Even my three-year-old sings the theme song in the van and asks questions about what he learned from Brother Francis.  On their website, Herald Entertainment has two other FREEBIES:  1.  a Brother Francis Wallpaper for your desktop and 2. a sample Coloring book.  Here’s the link to the free Thanksgiving download:

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Brother Francis, Catholic kids dvds, Children Movies

Brother Francis: Let’s Pray! {Catholic Children’s DVDs}

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You know my love for seeking out solid Catholic kids DVDs right?  I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot with this new one, it’s called Brother Francis and it’s created by Herald Kids.  Who is Brother Francis and what is this Catholic series about?  Here is the description from their website:

“Join Brother Francis and his friends as they inspire children in their Catholic faith.  This entertaining and instructive series features stories, visual examples, music and practical application!”
Practice makes perfect! This is a true saying whether one is playing basketball, drawing a picture, reading or even praying! In this wonderfully fun inaugural episode the ever-joyful Brother Francis will help your children establish a personal relationship with God!

This episode features:

  • “The Sign of the Cross” — a catchy tune about an important prayer gesture.

  • “Let’s Pray!” — a captivating song showing us how we can pray anywhere!
  • “The Our Father” — the traditional prayer sung to a moving melody.
  • “With God’s Love!” — a song that encourages us to serve others.
  • “The Little Way of Saint Therese” — a visualized story . . . and lots of fun!





Faith Formation Features
The DVD we watched today is called Let’s Pray! and it features two basic but important prayers,  The Sign of the Cross and The Our Father
and presented Saint Therese and her Little Way of doing things with big love.  It also includes two other authentic songs, “With God’s Love!” and “Let’s Pray!”.

I love how this DVD starts and how Brother Francis compares prayer to sports (something kids can relate to) and basically to anything you want to do right, you have to practice it.  My kids laughed so much when Brother Francis explained the importance of attitude during prayer, if you want to make prayer boring, you pray in an uninterested way.  (Brother Francis goes on to pretend to fall asleep, my kids couldn’t contain their laughter -wonder if they were relating to him?  LOL)  You don’t want to have a conversation with anyone when you aren’t interested in them do you?  Well why would you with God?

Animation
The animation is fantastic!  There are different kinds throughout but I just love how the main scenes of the video, although cartoons, the sky is always a real sky…which gives it a beautiful feel and a real one at that.  When the video went to talk about St. Therese the animation changed a little and made it look like it was older, which was neat because we were going back in time to learn about the little Saint!

Multiple Learning Styles
I also like that the video includes music and sets the prayers to music.  This helps all of our different kinds of learners, visual and auditory.  🙂  I like that you can print activities out afterwards for the more tactile learners.  Each DVD has a set of print out pages with activities associated with the theme of the video and coloring pages as well.  There are a couple of pages recapping the main lessons of the video with some of the same illustrations from the DVD; I thought this was a neat feature.  My favorite page is the one called, “Lord, Help to be Holy”, because it makes the kids really think about what they just learned in the DVD and almost make a little “pledge” or “promise” to God asking Him to make them Holy.  This page looks like this:

Languages
Since one of my goals this year is to expose the kids to more Spanish (my first language), I really love the fact that you can play the videos in English or in Spanish, El Hermano Zeferino.  We actually watched it in Spanish after watching it in English, it was great!  The Spanish was neutral Spanish (if you teach Spanish or a speaker, you know what I mean).  It was easy to listen and understand and follow.  This will definitely one of my go to resources to teach my kids prayers in Spanish!

Evaluation

Overall, I give this Brother Francis DVD entitled Let’s Pray! an A+ for awesome illustrations, music, story line, and message!  This would make a great resource for every Catholic homeschool and also fantastic to have in our parishes as part of their Faith Formation programs.  Interested in ordering your own copy of this or any of the other Brother Francis DVDs?  Please visit Brother Francis at his website.

Get social with Brother Francis:
Facebook - Catholic Children dvdYouTube - Catholic Children AnimationTwitter - Catholic Youth Animationtumblr - Brother Francis Blog

Blessings,
Erika

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CCC of America, Children Movies, Kids, Kids Movies, Movie Review, Reviews

Catholic Children’s Illustrated Movies {Review and Giveaway}

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Have you been looking for good Catholic movies your kiddos can watch?  Maybe in the van on the way to a family reunion this Summer or just to keep them busy while you clean something up?  If you are like me, you want your kids active as much as possible but there are unavoidable times that the TV becomes the sitter and well, if that is going to be the case I want my kids watching something educational.  By educational I mean, enriching their minds, hearts, and souls because after all that is what our whole being is all about {made in His image and likeness}.  I’ve been searching high and low for these kinds of movies for a couple of years now.  It was such a blessing when I came across CCC of America! 

If you are not familar with them, the are the makers of Catholic Animated movies for children.  Maybe you’ve seen one but didn’t know the company’s name?  Or maybe you never knew there were some great movies for kids out there covering the lives of saints and the apparitions of our Blessed Mother?  But yes, dear friends, they are out there! So I decided to contacted them and asked if they would be willing to send me some videos to preview and review for them – guess what they said?  YES!   Is that awesome or what?  It gets better, read on.

In case you missed my initial post about Catholic Children’s Animated Videos.

Here are the three great movies I was so blessed to get review:

1) The Day the Sun Danced, the True Story of Fatima

Description From their website: In 1917, three children named Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta experienced a great miracle. While herding a flock of sheep outside the tiny village of Fatima, Portugal, the Blessed Mother visited them, not once, but many times, telling the children great and wondrous secrets that would affect all of creation.
When the children tried to share the joyous news of Our Lady of Fatima, no one believed them, until the day the sun seemed to dance in the sky. It soon became clear that they had been chosen by the Blessed Mother to share her message.

(All ages/English/Spanish/French/30 min)

MY RATING:
2)  Nicholas – The Boy Who Became Santa

Description From their website:  Nicholas was still a young child when he discovered a very special secret that changed his life forever. It was the gift of giving, by which he brought happiness to many people; but in sharing this gift Nicholas had to face many dangers. Here is the fascinating story of the boy whose love and care for others make him one of the most popular figures of all times, Today, more than sixteen centuries later, the entire world celebrates the kindness and generosity of the man we call Santa Claus.
Base on historical facts and traditions, Nicholas The Boy Who Became Santa, is the beautifully animated film worth watching all year long.

(All ages/English/Spanish/French/30 min)

MY RATING:



 3)  Juan Diego – Messenger of Guadalupe                                                   


Description From their website:  In 1591 Juan Diego found himself between two worlds…that of the Spanish conquerors and that of his own Aztec heritage. Because of his love for his people and his strong faith, Juan Diego turned to Jesus and His Mother, Mary for help in uniting his people. The answer to Juan Diego’s prayers has become one of the greatest events in the history of the Americas.
JUAN DIEGO, MESSENGER OF GUADALUPE is the true story of how the Blessed Mother chose a hero for a key role in a beautiful miracle that would united diverse peoples and change the course of history. In the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City the miracle of the tilma of Juan Diego may still be seen, just as it was seen by the bishop in 1531.

(All ages/English/Spanish/French/30 min)

MY RATING:

Why did I rate all three movies with Five Crosses = A+?  Well because simply my kids devoured all three movies, from my toddler to my kindergartner, they just loved it! 

Our 2 year old watching St. Nicholas, it was his favorite!
Our 2 and 6 year olds watching the Fatima Movie.

Another reason why I gave these three an A+ was that the animation was great…it wasn’t cheesy like some other Catholic/Christian Children’s videos we’ve seen.  In addition, I just LOVE that I can play the movies in three different languages.  We’ve seen them in English and in Spanish.  So not only do they compliment our Religion curriculum but also our Spanish one!  I love it because as a child, I learned all of my prayers in Spanish.  🙂  The thirty minute videos are also perfect for small, active little ones!

These were the three fantastic Catholic Children’s movies we received!

Ready to buy one (or two, or more) for your family?  The movies can be ordered online at CCC of America or by phone Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Central, at 800-935-2222.

I will share in another post our adventure with the Juan Diego DVD so as to not make this so long {and to not keep you from the Giveaway portion}, .  Once I post that one I’ll link it on here!  So the part you’ve been waiting for…{drum roll please}

THE GIVEAWAY

One Raising {& Teaching} Little Saints friend will get a chance to win your very own copy of the Juan Diego movie (a $15.00 value)!!!  It’s easy to enter:

REQUIRED:  Visit CCC of America, come back and leave a comment with which movie you would love to have in your home = 1 entry.

BONUS ENTRIES (1 entry each):
1.  Like CCC of America and RLS on Facebook.

2.  Follow RLS on Twitter

3.  Follow us on Google Friend Connect (click the follow button on the right).

4,  Tweet about this giveaway.  {you may do this daily 1 entry per tweet}, make sure you leave us a link to your tweet
5.  Post this give away on your Facebook Status with a link to this post {you may do this daily 1 entry per status}, make sure you come back and leave us a link to your status

6.  Share this on Facebook.  let us know that you did this by leaving a comment

7.  Subscribe to our RSS Feed or via e-mail (place your e-mail addres in the box on the right).

8.  Blog about this giveaway (just don’t completely repost it…add a teaser and a link back to us).

For each item that you do listed above, please leave a comment here telling us what you did.  Remember, each item you do is an entry!  Also, if you already subscribe to any of these listed, please leave a comment, “I already follow you on Google Friend Connect.”

SUPER BONUS ENTRY (= 5 entries):
Read another post (that isn’t a review or a giveaway) and leave a comment.  Come back here and tell me where you went (the title of the post).

Official Rules:

One winner will be chosen via random.org. Only entries that follow the above rules will count. Entries close May 10th, 2011 at 11pm EST. Winner will be announced on May 11th, 2011.  US ONLY!

About CCC of America, our Sponsor:

CCC of America is a media company that distributes and produces “entertainment you can believe in.” We pride ourselves on producing and distributing a full line of wholesome Christian family entertainment to promote sound moral values in an engaging way.

CCC of America is committed to the production and distribution of quality family entertainment that is not only enjoyable, but also conveys moral values. We are determined to provide wholesome fun for families, wherein they discover stories of real heroes of the faith who lived lives of courage, love and truth.

Best wishes,



Disclosure (ah, yes, the fine print): Special thanks to CCC of America for partnering with Raising {& Teaching}Little Saints on this giveaway. CCC of America, is provided us with the Juan Diego DVD for our contest. I was compensated with three free DVDs from their collection for offering this review and awesome giveaway!




The winner is  entry #4, Judy (Benmakesten)!!!  Congratulations Judy!!!!  Go visit her blog and congratulate her!  🙂  Thanks to everyone who participated in this giveaway and thanks to CCC of America for offering this wonderful DVD to a lovely Catholic family! 


Judy, please e-mail me with your mailing address so that I may forward it to CCC of America!  🙂  raisinglittlesaints {at} gmail.com


Blessings everyone!


Mama Erika


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