Teaching Your Kids the Parts of Mass and about Vocations Through Play

Teaching Your Kids the Parts of Mass and about Vocations Through Play: 

Lots of children learn by doing, and one of the best ways to help foster this is to provide opportunities for play. So why not teach your children the parts of Mass through play? Playing Mass not only appeals to visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners, but it also will help teach your children the different parts/order of the Mass—Introductory Rites,The Liturgy of the Word, The Liturgy of the Eucharist, and the Concluding Rites. The next time your family attends Mass, your children will have a better understanding of what’s taking place, because they will have been pretending to say Mass at home. The program, Catechist of the Good Shepherd, is a Montessori-styled program that helps children learn about Mass through the use of manipulatives and play. Sometimes local parishes offer this program for children ages 3-6, so check and see if your parish has it, and if they don’t, maybe you could start this ministry. The Mass set that my kids use was purchased off of Etsy as a combined Feast of Saint Nicholas gift from my husband and I and both sets of their grandparents (my wonderful mother-in-law sewed the priestly vestment for my sons). Catholic Icing, however, has an inexpensive way to make a Homemade Mass Kit  that you can make, or if you have older children, they can help you make. 

Having your children learn about Mass, through interactive play, also provides a wonderful opportunity to discuss vocations— the Sacrament of Holy orders and call to the religious life. Sometimes, I think as parents we forget the importance of discussing these paths with our children because maybe, deep down, we are a little worried they will end up choosing them and will live in a cloistered convent or monastery where we won’t be able to see them. As Catholic parents, however, instead of being fearful, I believe we have the responsibility to open the door for our children to inquire/learn about these vocations, so that they see these are also paths that we will support. Will one of my children become a priest or nun? Maybe and maybe not; but learning that they can consider vocations as a path is something my husband and I feel will only help deepen their faith. So the next time your child/children misbehave during Mass, instead of scolding them afterwards, seize the opportunity to help them learn about Mass through play and discuss vocations as an option for what they might want and be called to be when they grow up.