What is more important than introducing children to our God, faith and Church? Nothing! It can be a daunting task even for the best teachers, so when I find amazing tools which make my kids eyes sparkle as they make connection, I HAVE to SHARE!
My Little Catechism and A Missal for Toddlers
My Little Catechism – Magnificat ~ Ignatius Press
A Missal for Toddlers – Magnificat ~ Ignatius Press
My kids and I were so excited when we opened the mail to find these! We couldn’t wait to read them. We were on the way to mass for All Saints Day, and I decided to take them in with us while we waited for Mass to begin.
The boys dressed up in colored vestments for All Saints Day as Saint Nicholas and Saint Patrick and were allowed to take their Shining Light Dolls of these saints to mass for the occasion. (You can get St. Nicholas here, or St. Patrick here. Our vestments were handmade by a sweet friend who cut them from felt and drew the designs with gold fabric glue.)
When handed the books, the first thing both kids did was flip them over a few times to examine all the pictures on the front and back covers.
My oldest took My Little Catechism, and he immediately pointed to Jesus at the front of the Chapel and then the birds.
He recognized some of the stories in the little circles on the cover, which made him more excited.
The format of the book is better for older kids, but he loves the pictures and whispered a few of the stories to his brother as he discovered them. The color coding which is used in the organization of the book is friendly and inviting, and the pictures draw the eye keeping further interest and helping kids to remember what they are reading.
The book is organized in subject following the three parts of the Trinity and questions which fall under each roll. For each question there is an explanation with a word or phrase in bold further explained. A Bible verse, an idea for an action to apply it to life, a short prayer and “test yourself” with questions to see how well the subject was understood. I like that it is called test yourself, giving kids ownership of the knowledge as they read. This would be a fantastic gift for kids preparing for their first communion, and if read with an adult younger kids can enjoy it as the adult hits the highlights. Even as an adult I found this book informative! I added this and the two other books in the series to my list of gift ideas. The other two books are The Catholic Bible for Children and Catholic Saints for Children, follow the links to purchase copies yourself.
A Missal for Toddlers is an instant favorite for all of us! The whole family loves the sweet pictures which contain things they can immediately recognize during mass. My two year old pointed at the holy water font at the back of the church just while looking at the cover for the first time!
The book follows a family through mass and teaches children not only what is happening and various parts of the mass which we recite together as a Church, but also appropriate behavior during mass! As a parent I give this two thumbs up!
My four year old fell in love with it as well. With bright eyes during mass he turned to the page to show us the priest as he raises the Eucharist and explaining it to us as the connection had been made in his mind. Few things have ever been so precious than that moment of realization. Even my four month old loves the pictures in this book, so it’s fantastic that it’s a board book made to be handled by little ones. This would make a great gift for baptisms, christmas, or really any occasion for the first several years of life, even beyond toddlerhood.
I have not come across a children’s book from this publisher yet which talks down to children, but rather values them and gives them a sense of dignity even at their earliest understanding. As a mother and their educator, I value this quality and how I watch the kids respond to it. I highly recommend both books and think they would make a great addition to any personal or church library.
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My Little Catechism
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