Sunday Preschool Lessons for Catholics
When teaching Catholic preschoolers Sunday school lessons, remember that many religious concepts can be difficult for them to grasp. Keep it simple and focus on the basics, such as God's love and power, the Creation story and the story of the Nativity. Hands-on projects will help little Catholics visualize these concepts and increase their understanding of the religion's doctrines.
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Creation Bulletin Board
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The purpose of this exercise is to illustrate Creation and God's power along with the biblical verse: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1) Explain how God created the earth and sky and the plants, trees and animals. Tell the children they're going to create a giant bulletin board that shows God's great work. You'll need construction paper of various colors, safety scissors and glue. Design the basic outline of the landscape for the board. Next, have some children draw animals, some draw trees and others the moon, sun and stars. Cut them out and glue them on the board. Then have the students create paper doll images of themselves and glue them to the board. At the bottom, write, "God Created Us!"
Creation Blocks
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This project also helps young Catholics understand the story of Creation. You'll need seven empty cube-shaped tissue boxes. Wrap each one in plain, white wrapping paper. Each box will represent one of the seven days of Creation. (Day One, God created light and called it day and the darkness and called it night; Day Two, He created the sky, which separated the water on Earth from the water above; and so forth.) You can create your own drawings to represent each day or use templates found online, and glue one to each box. Tell the youngsters the Creation story with the blocks -- out of order -- facing them. When you finish the story, ask the children to help you put the blocks in the proper order.
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Lent Lesson: Toy Time-Out
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Lent is the Catholic tradition of fasting in order to become closer to God before Easter. Fasting is only observed by Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59, but there is a way to get preschool children involved. Because kids can't fast in the traditional sense, ask the students to give up a toy to symbolize the fasting. You can explain it to preschoolers by calling it a "Toy Time-Out." Once a week, have them pick one toy to give to their mother and father to hold onto so it won't be played with. Have them discuss it at the end of the week at Sunday School.
Nativity Scene Project
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Kids love Christmas, but the meaning can be lost amid the crush of holiday gift giving and all the revelry. During the Christmas season, read the children the Christmas story of Mary and Joseph's sojourn to Nazareth, where they were turned away at the inn and force to spend the night in a manager, where Jesus was born. With a cardboard box, straw, paint and modeling clay (or Play-Doh), help the children construct their own Nativity. Turn the cardboard box on its side (you can paint it brown if you'd like) to represent the manager. Have the children use the clay to create the figures for the scene: Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, some cows and donkeys, the three wise men, some shepherds and angels. After the clay has dried, help the kids paint them. Lay some straw down on the manager floor and place the figures in the appropriate locations.
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References
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