CCD Lessons - Church Tour and Sacramentals Resources For Fun and Learning



Side Altar Honouring our Blessed Mother

Get to know God, by learning about His house and Mass tools.

As I kick off a new CCD teaching/learning year, I thought that I would take you along on our weekly journey.  I will share lessons, resources, and ideas as much as I can in the hopes of helping other catechists or parents who choose to prepare their children for the sacrament of Reconciliation and First Eucharist outside a formal parish program.  As our CCD program meets weekly for 75 minutes, we are limited in what we can accomplish with the children.  Once a month we meet in the church instead of our classrooms for special prayer time and presentations.  For October we will be having our annual church tour.

The church tour is very special for the children as each class not only goes through the church building itself, including all the nooks and crannies, but they also get a special tour of preparation for Mass including in introduction to vestments, a bit of church history, a chance to touch the Chalice, altar linens, and thurible, smells the oils and incense, examine the tabernacle, learn the history of our church relics and so much more.  It is such a wonderful evening and one of my favourite nights of the year.

To help my children stay a bit focused, I made a fun and simple Mass Tour worksheet that I attach to a clipboard and have them take on the tour.  I put a medium sized pencil on a string and tie it onto the clipboard as well.  As we go around the church, the children fill out the sheet.  Our sacristan, who presents all of the information for the Sanctuary and serving tools, teaches to the sheet which is very helpful.  Children are allowed to ask questions and many oooohhs and aaahhs are always heard.

From every class period then on, I use the following resources to keep the tour information fresh in their hearts and minds.  Of course I always encourage Mass attendance to see how each of the tools is directly related and used to celebrate our Catholic Faith.

Church Tools and Article Games can be printed here in both colour and b/w.  These use pictures of articles directly from our parish.  These are great for class play and review.  I have used these for years and once laminated they can be used year after year.  I prefer to use 3mil, heat laminated covers for these game pieces.  Parents may even want to make sets for home use.  It is hands on, Montessori style learning that ALWAYS brings smiles and fun.  parents can learn lots from playing these games with their children too.  To play, simply mix up and match word to picture in concentration or go fish style, call out words and have class teams find the picture.  You may set up a few matches with one that contains an incorrect pair as an alternative method of play as well.  Sometimes teams will try and trick each other too.  Kids will come up with great ways to play games if you are just open minded.



Some pictures used in our matching games are also available as Montessori sets here.  They are easy enough for families to make at home or teachers to print off for children to use in class activities.  You will also find other sets for Catholic instruction including Sacramentals, Stations of the Cross, and more.  Using heavier bond paper or laminating plain paper adds to the longevity and durability of the cards, especially if you have a larger class.

  

Sacramental Themed Calendar pieces



Reinforce church articles using our specially themed over sized monthly wall calendar.  Create the board, laminate the pieces and use mack-tack or even Velcro for ease.  Once this project is laminated, it could be used month after month, year after year.  I like to use the 5mil, heat laminated style products for this project.  See this and other themed calendars here.  These are always a hit with children. 



Another nice thing I use is a beautiful little video we made this past year using pictures of our church and music from a gifted musician from our parish named Keith Philips.  He wrote the song and lyrics to this song inspired by the work of Blessed Mother Theresa.  It is just perfect for children.  You can learn more about Keith here and listen to his entire album at no cost.  The video is great to reinforce different parts of the church and sacramentals found in it. 



 

If you have never considered having a church tour as part of your CCD year, I highly recommend it.  If you already do one, consider continuing the learning for review and fun using some of the resources mentioned above.  Have a blessed learning year.

Feel free to contact me with questions or comments via our website here.

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team