Children's Ministry Programs Ages 3-5

[_bbq]

My wife and I have been unhappy with the lack of any religious material in the nursury at our church. Our parish does have a good children’s church that occurs during the mass, but its material is targeted toward ages 7-12. We would like to approach our youth ministry leader with some suggestions for improving the instruction to the youngest members of our parish, including our daughter (age 3 1/2) that basically only get unstructured “play-time” during mass.

Can someone recommend some good catholic materials geared toward 3-5 year olds or any programs that you have seen successfully used in your own nursuries?

Thank you!

 

[ArAnMike]

We don’t have a nursery at our church, so I am not familiar with any programs. If young children become noisy, we have a cry room. Usually it is babies and children around the 2 year old mark that go in there with their parents. It works really well. Having said that, the best teachers at this age is the parents, not only in church, but at home as well. At 3 1/2 , it would probably be a good idea for her to start learning the rhythm of the mass, and hearing the prayers in the mass. Such as the Our Father, Nicene Creed, and Holy, Holy, Holy. I think that you will be surprised at how well she behaves, especially if there is singing involved.

 

[puzzleannie]

good preschool instructional materials will only have value if there are good preschool instructors to keep the program going. preschool is usually staffed by the parents, who take turns, working in teams, and so most programs are written to be used with minimal prep. Our Sunday Visitor has programs for both 3 and 4 yr olds, also a Kinder program, so does Loyola Press, and most of the regular Catholic textbook publishers.

 

[mamacita]

** I went to catholicmom.com and they had some info on Sunday school programs for preschool age on up…another one you could google is magnifikid.
I have seen their material but not sure if it would work for kids in preschool. **