Other times, children are a bit sleepy-eyed.
At still other times, they are on the move.
So, what can you do to get children to pray (and play!) together eagerly on All Souls Day or any day when you want to focus on praying for the Faithful Departed?
Try the simple activity we engaged in on All Souls Day.
We circled up on the floor, held the die our parish gifted our son who is preparing for First Communion with, and made up an activity that engaged all of the children.
First, we wondered aloud and asked questions in order to engage the children in discussion about what All Souls Day is, who the Faithful Departed are and why we pray to them.
Then, we recalled some of the Faithful Departed we know and said a special prayer for them.
Finally, we asked who would like to continue praying for other Faithful Departed using our prayer die to help us.
My thought was that each member of our family would take a turn rolling the die and offering a prayer for a specific person or group of people who have passed on. However, the children enjoyed praying for the Faithful Departed in this way so much, that we all took more than a single turn. In fact, the children offered both formal prayers, as written on the die, as well as spontaneous prayers, for deceased family members, neighbors, friends and family of folks we know, "all people named Nina", "all people named Jack", "all Daddies", "all Mommies", "all Lukes", "all children", "all who were sick", "all who had brown eyes" and more.
Some may think their intentions were silly. To us, they were heartfelt and beautiful. Preceded by thoughtful expressions or delighted grins, each intention sprang from my children's hearts and minds to their lips to be shared by our family, praying together for departed souls.
Easy. Meaningful. Engaging for our children. Increasing their understanding of our faith and their desire to pray together. Yep, this activity is a keeper!
How do you share the meaning of All Souls Day with young children? In what ways can you engage them in praying for the Faithful Departed?
If you would like a prayer cube to help your family, you can order them through a number of places, including, of course, Amazon:
(If you receive this post via email and cannot see the linky, be sure to actually click over to the blog to read browse the rich catalog of ideas there.)
As always, we thank you if you choose to click through the Amazon link in this post to make a purchase, or do so with other affiliate links on this site. Doing so does not cost you anything, but it may help us earn a small percentage of your purchase price to continue training up our children. Thank you! If you would like a prayer cube to help your family, you can order them through a number of places, including, of course, Amazon:
(If you receive this post via email and cannot see the linky, be sure to actually click over to the blog to read browse the rich catalog of ideas there.)
Training Happy Hearts:
A Call to Faith Formation for Young Children
You are invited link up anytime with posts -- old or new -- that share your ideas, wisdom, reflections, activities and practical tips and tales about training up young children so that they may have happy hearts, united with God. Henceforth, this link-up will be posted anew each Sunday, but will contain all linked ideas to date, creating, in effect, a library of ideas for sharing our faith with little ones. Enjoy browsing the links as well as adding new ones each week. Thank you and God bless!
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
(Cannot add links: Registration/trial expired)
This post was revisited at:
Logging you in...
theologyisaverb 9p · 542 weeks ago
Thank you so much for linking up with us this week! :D I LOVE the idea of the prayer cube! I lead Children's Liturgy and their prayers of the faithful would melt the hardest of hearts. When one of our community lost her dad suddenly, they all prayed for her and her family. Such a beautiful reminder that we are all connected.