Bible/faith study for children aged 8-11

[EDKidd]

Apologies if this is in the wrong place. A friend and I are about to approach our Priest with regards to offering some kind of post first Holy Communion study for the children in the Parish.

Currently there is lots for teenagers in my Parish, such as YSVP and SPUC involvement but nothing for children who have just gone through First Holy Communion preparation. A Google search brought up ‘Great Adventure’ materials and lots of others but I thought I would seek advice from people at CAF who have experiences with the 8-11 age groups. I would prefer to be armed with suggestions for my Priest so that if he is willing (he very likely will be), I can start canvassing parents throughout the Holy Communion preparations giving an ideas of hat could be covered.

Thanks in advance

 

[Joe_5859]

The vast majority of materials for this age group are organized around the classroom model – as that is the context where the vast majority of elementary level catechesis takes place.

Are you looking for something to supplement or take the place of normal textbooks? There are lots of great textbook series out there (Faith & Life, Image of God, Alive in Christ, etc.).

Emmaus Road does have a few titles in it’s "Come and See: Kids!" Bible study series. That’s a great supplement, but I wouldn’t recommend using it as a replacement for a more systematic approach to catechesis.

 

[Joe_5859]

I noticed you’re from Great Britain, which reminded me of the Come Follow Me catechetical program developed in part by Maryvale Institute in the UK. That program is specifically for just the exact age group you mentioned. You might look into that one.

 

[GWright]

Apologies if this is in the wrong place. A friend and I are about to approach our Priest with regards to offering some kind of post first Holy Communion study for the children in the Parish.

Currently there is lots for teenagers in my Parish, such as YSVP and SPUC involvement but nothing for children who have just gone through First Holy Communion preparation. A Google search brought up ‘Great Adventure’ materials and lots of others but I thought I would seek advice from people at CAF who have experiences with the 8-11 age groups. I would prefer to be armed with suggestions for my Priest so that if he is willing (he very likely will be), I can start canvassing parents throughout the Holy Communion preparations giving an ideas of hat could be covered.

Thanks in advance

Hiya,

I’m not sure if its what you are looking for, but the series of Baltimore Catechisms is renowned as an excellent teaching tool and starts with approx. your groups age range.

There are versions available for different age ranges, each going into age-appropriate depth, and covering all the fundamentals of Catholicism, including the Sacraments. They also have little tests / quiz etc as activities after each learning block

Like many Catechisms, they fell out of print as Schools don’t do Catechism class anymore, but are now back and increasingly popular with parents / parishes.

These could be used to effectively “teach Catholicism” - they are laid out in a question and answer format - and you could use each individual point as the basis for a wider discussion / lesson / activity. The stuff starts off quite simple for the younger kids and gets more advanced as they age.

Baltimore Catechism No. 1 is for ages 9 - 13
cenacle.co.uk/products.asp?partno=B2078#.UWxIopVwYdU

Baltimore Catechism No. 2 is for ages 10 - 13
cenacle.co.uk/products.asp?partno=B2079#.UWxIuJVwYdU

Baltimore Catechism No. 3 is for ages 14 - 16
cenacle.co.uk/products.asp?partno=B2080#.UWxJ9pVwYdU

Each copy is also pretty cheap, meaning it wouldn’t break the bank (and if you didn’t like it you wouldn’t have lost much!)

There is also the Baltimore Catechism No. 4 - which is a manual and development book for teachers/parents using the Catechisms to instruct students or children.
cenacle.co.uk/products.asp?partno=B0786#.UWxJK5VwYdU

4 is more expensive than the other books.​

If I am luck enough to have a family, I will definitely use these to teach my kids!

There is a Catholic book-site - an E-book project -which has free text copies of all four, if you want to have a look at the content before buying a version: (Though as the Catholic faith is not copyrighted, you are within your rights to simply print this internet material).

See this link, under the “reference” section:

saintsbooks.net/BooksList.html#Featured Books

Hope this helps! If not, the Cenacle site has plenty of other books and ideas - good luck!

 

[EDKidd]

Joe5859 & Gwright. Thank you both for your responses. You have given me lots to research and some great resources to show my priest. The ‘come with me’ program looks good as does the Baltimore catechism, particularly as I hadn’t realised the structure of its format was age appropriate.

My parish has quite a large number of children (in uk terms anyway) so it may be that a number of approaches could be a possibility.

Thank you again for responses and Joe5859 please accept my apologies for not offering my thanks with the same speed that you responded to my initial post.