On January 2, we released our third set of coloring posters for Lent: the Psalms Coloring Posters. Last year we had over 1,400 churches, schools, nursing homes and other communities from around the world using our posters. We’re just as excited about our Psalms Coloring Posters for this year – you can buy them here.
Our Psalms Coloring Posters will include nine unique coloring posters. The Psalms are from the Revised Common Lectionary (Year B) readings for Lent 2018. Each of the illustrations highlights specific themes and emotions from the Psalm. The texts from the Psalms are also incorporated into the drawing.
So whether you’re looking for an intergenerational program, a communal art activity or something different to do for Lent this year, our Psalms Coloring Posters provide a creative, engaging and participatory way of engaging with faith during Lent.
In addition to the large physical coloring posters that we ship, we also offer the following products for Lent 2018:
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- A digital version of the posters
- 8.5 x 11 coloring pages of the illustrations (including a simplified 8.5 x 11 version of the coloring pages for our youngest colorers)
- A Psalms Devotional Guide: This can be used, along with the 8.5 x 11 coloring pages, by individuals at home, or as an accompanying piece for churches who may wish to offer an intergenerational education opportunity focused around the Psalms Coloring Posters.
One of the great things about our Psalms Coloring Posters is that they can also be used anytime you wish, and are not uniquely tied to Lent. While the Psalms come from the RCL texts for Lent (Year B), these are also Psalms that can (and should!) be studied and read and illustrated and colored throughout the year. So it isn’t a problem if you don’t finish all the posters. You can now also use them another time for youth group, a Bible study on the Psalms or….who knows?! Get creative!
We hope you’ll take a few minutes to check out some additional details about our Psalms Coloring Posters below. You can also get a preview of the nine poster illustrations below.
Why the Psalms?
When I was a kid, whenever I’d ask someone where in the Bible I should start reading, inevitably someone would say, “Alright. Close your Bible. Now open it up to about the halfway point. Start reading.”
If you do that, you’ll almost always end up in the Psalms.
Reading the Psalms as a kid was a way into scripture that allowed me to figure out that emotions were a good thing, and that we shouldn’t try to hide them from God. Reading the Psalms as a kid gave me words to express the feelings I had, and helped me to see that the authors of the Psalms struggled with many of the same things I struggled with.
The Psalms are a great source of theological creativity, depth, and wonder, and we’re excited to be able to offer children and people of all ages a way into the Psalms this year for Lent.
Psalms Used for our Psalms Coloring Posters
Below I’ve listed each of the posters with the accompanying scripture, as well as which days in Lent we would suggest using each of the posters. Again, we made these posters for use anytime during the year, but I’ve listed the proposed dates for Lent 2018.
Poster 1: Psalm 25:1-10 (1st Sunday in Lent)- Poster 2: Psalm 22:23-31 (2nd Sunday in Lent)
- Poster 3: Psalm 19 (3rd Sunday in Lent)
- Poster 4: Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 (4th Sunday in Lent)
- Poster 5: Psalm 51:1-12 (5th Sunday in Lent)
- Poster 6: Psalm 31:9-16 (Palm Sunday/Liturgy of the Passion)
- Poster 7: Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19 (Maundy Thursday)
- Poster 8: Psalm 22:1-22 (Good Friday)
- Poster 9: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 (Easter)
Quality Poster Prints on Thick Paper
If you’re new to Illustrated Ministry, chances are you found out about us through our large coloring posters. Maybe you saw them at another church or community or saw photos on Facebook. We’ve had thousands of churches all around the world using our large coloring posters since 2015. Our Psalms Coloring Posters are the eighth set of large coloring posters we’ve released, and we know that you’re going to love them.
Part of the reason our posters are loved by so many is the quality of the posters themselves. We’ve gone through a few different types of paper with our coloring posters, and we are thrilled with the paper we’re currently using. In the past, we used a thick paper that had some coating on it, which happened to make the posters a little challenging to color with markers. However, the 32-pound paper we currently use works great with colored pencils, crayons, and markers. Since we made the switch, we have received zero complaints about coloring the posters.
When you buy the physical posters from us, you will receive the illustrations on an amazingly high-quality paper.
We currently only ship to the United States and Canada. Since we have a large community of international customers, we also provide our poster illustrations as downloadable digital files. We know that for some folks, getting the digital files can be more convenient (and for some, it’s the only option). We are happy to provide that resource.
However, the quality of paper you will get at other print shops (or stores like Staples/FedEx) is not nearly as nice as the quality that we provide when we ship the posters to you.
Don’t get us wrong – it’s certainly not bad (we shipped our very first two sets of coloring posters after having them printed at Staples). But now that we are connected with a local print company in Chicago, they can provide us with a very high-quality paper. And trust me, once you see all the children who will want to color these, you’ll want sturdy paper so they survive little kids wanting to crawl over the posters and color them!
Ways to Use Our Psalms Coloring Posters
The creativity of our customers is amazing! We love seeing all of the creative ways that people use our posters in their ministries and communities. Below are just a few examples of some fun ways that our posters have been used by folks:
While our name is Illustrated Children’s Ministry, churches find our posters to be a slam dunk when it comes to intergenerational ministry. If you’re looking for ways to use these posters intergenerationally, here are a few ideas:
- Host an all-ages education hour during Lent. Use our Psalms Devotional Guide as your curriculum for the class.
- Host a weekly Lenten Soup & Salad Supper and incorporate coloring the posters into your time together.
- Have your children’s ministry or youth ministry take a poster to a nursing home and color with the residents.
- Leave the coloring posters out on tables during Fellowship/Coffee Hour after church for people to sit, color, and talk with one another.
- Send posters (or cut-up portions of posters – see Crossroads Church of Kansas City’s photo above) home with families to work on at home. Then watch your poster come back together at church as people bring their finished pieces to church with them.
More Ways to Use Our Coloring Posters
There are so many beautiful ways to gather intergenerationally and color these posters. Here are some other ways that we know churches have used our posters:
- Children’s Ministry: Find ways to incorporate the posters into your Sunday morning programs for children (whether that’s during Sunday School or during another time)
- During Worship: Dedicate a portion of your worship space to allow young people (and those who are young at heart) to color during worship. We’ve heard this is a great way to enable children to engage with worship in a fun and creative way, and Lent is a great time to encourage people to try something new in worship.
- Youth Ministry: Children aren’t the only ones who like to color. We’ve had hundreds of youth programs around the world use our coloring posters. Give your youth a ‘study break’ or just a chance to take a break from their regular crazy schedules and hang out and color.
- College/campus ministries: We’ve also had many campus ministries use our coloring posters. And we’ve seen photos of our posters in some faculty lounges at colleges where professors have worked on a poster together!
- Private/Parochial Schools: Some private Christian schools have purchased our posters and found ways to engage multiple classrooms in creating a collaborative art project. Use Lent this year as a chance to go through the Psalms as a school, and create art at the same time!
Let us know: How do YOU plan on using your Psalms Coloring Posters this year?
Here’s What You Need To Know
Poster Details & Cost
Our Psalms Coloring Posters include nine 2’x3′ posters. The costs of our posters are listed below:
- Physical Coloring Posters: $85
- Poster Bundle: Physical Coloring Posters + Digital Files: $115
- Digital Files: $50
Ordering Process
We launched these Psalms Coloring Posters on Tuesday, January 2. You can buy the posters here.
Shipping
These posters come in heavy-weight cardboard poster tubes via UPS Ground. Because we use UPS, we CANNOT ship any posters to P.O. Boxes.
We currently ship to the United States and Canada, and the shipping rates are listed below:
- S&H for 48 Contiguous states: $12 (for one set), $18 (for 2-3 sets) and $24 (for 4+ sets)
- S&H for Alaska/Hawaii: $20 (for one set), $26 (for 2-3 sets) and $32 (for 4+ sets)
- S&H for Canada: $25 (for one set), and $35 (for multiple sets)
How Can I Find Out More Information About the Posters?
We hope you’re as excited about our Psalms Coloring Posters as we are. And we’d love to make sure you know precisely when we release them. Here are some ways that you can stay updated on the launch of our posters:
- The best way to make sure you don’t miss any announcements from us is to download this free informational PDF. You’ll get the free PDF as a gift, and we’ll make sure you don’t miss out on anything.
- Following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is another way to make sure you see our poster announcement. And besides, we have a lot of fun on social media, and we’d love for you to join us!
- Finally – if you haven’t joined our Facebook GROUP yet (and yes, this IS different than our Facebook Page – which you should probably LIKE as well), I’d highly recommend it. Our Illustrated Children’s Ministry Community Facebook Group is a fantastic online community. People share ideas and examples of how they’re using our materials. We get a lot of great feedback and product ideas. Plus, there are exclusive discounts/promos given to our Facebook Group from time to time. You can request to join the group here.
We are excited to be able to share with you a sample of our newly-released Revised Common Lectionary worship resource, An Illustrated Summer for Churches. In this downloadable PDF sample, you will find both the Illustrated Children’s Moments and the Worship Activity Shee for July 10, 2016. We focused on the story of the Good Samaritan, and you can view our sample materials 
