Teaching The Rosary to under 7's

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VivienneJ

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Next month we hope to be introducing the Rosary to my grandchildren, ages 2, 4, 5 and 7.

They already join us in praying both Hail Mary and Our Father during our prayers before school each morning.

I had thought of starting with the Joyful Mysteries and just praying the first mystery until they were familiar with the concept and then building up to the remaining 4 and then teaching the Glorious, Luminous and Sorrowful Mysteries in the same way.

Any suggestions or advice from those who use The Rosary with young children is welcome.
 
We started with one decade at a time and then built up from there. My kids are 4 and almost 2, and we (not always successfully) pray the Rosary on Sundays as a family.

Actually, we have had the most success praying it in the car or at bedtime, not minding if the kids fall asleep while we pray. They are calmer then (or physically restrained ;)). They have their rosaries with extra large beads, or my 4 year old will count on his fingers.

I have not focused much on the actual Mysteries yet (though we do announce them), but we do offer them for particular intentions and the kids are welcome to add their own.
 
pensmama87 said:
We started with one decade at a time and then built up from there. My kids are 4 and almost 2, and we (not always successfully) pray the Rosary on Sundays as a family.

Actually, we have had the most success praying it in the car or at bedtime, not minding if the kids fall asleep while we pray. They are calmer then (or physically restrained ;)). They have their rosaries with extra large beads, or my 4 year old will count on his fingers.

I have not focused much on the actual Mysteries yet (though we do announce them), but we do offer them for particular intentions and the kids are welcome to add their own.
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I agree, I started with the two older ones and then by the time 3 and 4 came along they learned just by following the older ones. my younger ones, knew the rosary, (not all the Mysteries by heart yet) by the time they were 3 years old. did the same thing with my grandkids. Did the same thing with the Stations of the Cross.If they had questions, I always answered their questions right on the spot. Even during Mass briefly. Then maybe explain it better later. Kids are like sponges they absorb amazingly. And if you make it interesting they love it. God Bless, Memaw
 
I came from a very large family, and our parents simply prayed the rosary with us. We joined in as our ability grew. When we were very little, we listened and if we were good had beads to use. When we had learned the Hail Mary, Our Father, and Glory Be, we followed, and then around second grade or third grade or so we learned the Apostles’ Creed, Hail Holy Queen, and the order of the Mysteries well enough that we could take our turn leading. (Third grade was the year that we actually had the Mysteries on tests in the parish catechism class.)

When you teach or talk about Bible stories, refer to the stories, especially those that are Mysteries of the Rosary, by their names. Children can learn the difference between brachiosaurus and triceratops easily enough, after all. They can handle Annunciation, if the expectation is that getting things a bit turned around--which one is Ascension, which is the Annunciation, and which is the Assumption, again?–is par for the course when you are still too young to lead a Rosary.
 
A decade a day, and on Friday a little celebration. this is how I always did it with my Catholic school students. We’d put together a small bouquet of flowers for an image or Statue of Our Lady on Fridays, an enjoy a cookie and lemonade.
Soon, they’ll be praying the whole thing happily.
I didn’t worry about Mysteries at first. I worked that in after several months. I concentrated on the mechanics. Eventually I worked in the meaning of the mystery by telling the story of it. We prayed the Joyful first, (in spring 😉 ) etc.
When they are old enough to understand and see things in a timeline, they can go ahead and memorize the order of the mysteries as the timeline of the life of Christ.
How fun! May Our Lady herself bless your efforts!
 
Many thanks for the ideas.

Did our first ‘lesson’ yesterday. As we have a Portuguese heritage I also mentioned Fatima and referred to the statue brought from there by a family member last year.

We looked at a selection of Rosaries and talked about their use. They have seen their other granny use hers at Mass (due to family sensibilities I did not mention that praying the Rosary during Mass is inappropriate) and all except the youngest have at least one Rosary of their own.

Unfortunately there is no family tradition of praying the Rosary together yet, so that gentle way of learning is not available.

The 7 year old was keen to pray at once; her brothers and the 2 year old were not interested and were simply asked to listen quietly and respectfully. We started with The Apostles’ Creed which I simply asked them to listen to, then prayed The Our Father, 3 Hail Marys and the Glory Be. She prayed beautifully and sincerely and after making the Sign of the Cross, asked, “Where’s Mary?”

We will get there a little at a time.
 
Ours under 3 can say “I love you Mary” or “Pray for me” especially when we see a statue/painting at church or home. They also can fill in the blank after hearing the prayers every night before we go to bed: Hail _, Full of _, the lord is with _. Blessed art thou among _, etc. Also: Our _, who art in _, etc.
 
Personally, I was in my 30s before I could get through a whole rosary, so I think it is asking a lot for a kid under 7 especially 4 and under to say a whole rosary.

I think the best is to say it in front of them and let them participate as much or as little as they want.

Just my 2 cents
 
We pray the Rosary once a week. As a family. 9,7,5,2,0. But every day in a novena or such we pray our Fathers, hail Marys and Glory be’s. If you are just introducing this I would recommend not more than a decade at a time. If they had been brought up from birth with it then I could see them sitting through a whole rosary, but if you are drying to introduce it across several ages… I’d go with a gentle approach.
 
VivienneJ said:
Many thanks for the ideas.

Did our first ‘lesson’ yesterday. As we have a Portuguese heritage I also mentioned Fatima and referred to the statue brought from there by a family member last year.

We looked at a selection of Rosaries and talked about their use. They have seen their other granny use hers at Mass (due to family sensibilities I did not mention that praying the Rosary during Mass is inappropriate) and all except the youngest have at least one Rosary of their own.

Unfortunately there is no family tradition of praying the Rosary together yet, so that gentle way of learning is not available.

The 7 year old was keen to pray at once; her brothers and the 2 year old were not interested and were simply asked to listen quietly and respectfully. We started with The Apostles’ Creed which I simply asked them to listen to, then prayed The Our Father, 3 Hail Marys and the Glory Be. She prayed beautifully and sincerely and after making the Sign of the Cross, asked, “Where’s Mary?”

We will get there a little at a time.
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👍 wonderful! You are an excellent grandmother. I am finding grandparents to be more and more needed In teaching the faith to our young ones. Maybe I just recognize this as my children are approaching marrying ages I may be grandparent one day. 😊

You are doing a beautiful thing. One thing I do with someone not able to do a whole Rosary is to ask their help in finishing my Rosary. I’ll tell them I just have one or two decades left, and could they help me finish? This works when cooking or driving, etc. they take my Rosary, keep track of the Hail Mary’s and sometimes lead the prayers. It is also a nice way to show how important you find the Rosary in that you want to pray it every day. Keep up the great work!
 
MomaMary8 said:
👍 wonderful! You are an excellent grandmother. I am finding grandparents to be more and more needed In teaching the faith to our young ones. Maybe I just recognize this as my children are approaching marrying ages I may be grandparent one day. 😊

You are doing a beautiful thing. One thing I do with someone not able to do a whole Rosary is to ask their help in finishing my Rosary. I’ll tell them I just have one or two decades left, and could they help me finish? This works when cooking or driving, etc. they take my Rosary, keep track of the Hail Mary’s and sometimes lead the prayers. It is also a nice way to show how important you find the Rosary in that you want to pray it every day. Keep up the great work!
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Thank you, it is such a privilege to be sharing my faith with my grandchildren. Whoever I put to bed at night knows that we pray before I tell them a bedtime story.

We will be saying as much of the Rosary as they can cope with in the before lunch time on school days. What we have done so far is to expect those who are not praying to occupy themselves quietly and respectfully while others pray, with an adult leading.
 
VivienneJ said:
Next month we hope to be introducing the Rosary to my grandchildren, ages 2, 4, 5 and 7.

They already join us in praying both Hail Mary and Our Father during our prayers before school each morning.

I had thought of starting with the Joyful Mysteries and just praying the first mystery until they were familiar with the concept and then building up to the remaining 4 and then teaching the Glorious, Luminous and Sorrowful Mysteries in the same way.

Any suggestions or advice from those who use The Rosary with young children is welcome.
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I really wish I did but I’m still learning how to say the rosary . Once I got my head round it then I’ll challenge my self and go in to Latin
 
john1513 said:
Best way to teach prayer is to let them see you pray.
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I couldn’t agree more! Live the faith you want your children to love.

For my 3.5 year old, I don’t require that he participate actively in the prayer if he isn’t interested. Instead, I pull up beautiful paintings that depict the rosary mysteries and talk to him about the context of the scene, usually discussing one mystery for no more than 10 minutes. After all, the soul of the rosary is the contemplation of its mysteries! As he matures a bit, we’ll start working on the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be. When we pray, he likes to say the “amen”, so that’s our personal way of sharing a decade. 🙂

We live within walking distance of our parish, so we drop into the church for Mass or adoration a couple of times during the week, and our conversation takes off from exploring the church (tabernacle, sanctuary, confessional, statues, stained glass windows, stations of the cross, etc.) I want my son to have a deep, friendly, personal relationship with Jesus, and for my son’s temperament, the interactive/discovery aspect of this approach works well.
 
VivienneJ said:
Thank you, it is such a privilege to be sharing my faith with my grandchildren. Whoever I put to bed at night knows that we pray before I tell them a bedtime story.

We will be saying as much of the Rosary as they can cope with in the before lunch time on school days. What we have done so far is to expect those who are not praying to occupy themselves quietly and respectfully while others pray, with an adult leading.
Click to expand...
My kids and grandkis loved leading as soon as they were old enough to learn. Most could lead the prayers by the time they were 3 years old. They would take turns leading a decade and I would announce the Mystery and give a short explanation. Kept them interested and occupied awaiting their turn. Never underestimate the ability of a small child to learn!! I had 2 of my grandaughters reading First grade books, before they ever started kindergarten. I babysit them so I had them all day. God Bless, Memaw
 
All good suggestions so far. Perhaps you could let the younger ones color/draw the mysteries? We did that for a period of time or as an occasional change-up for the littler ones.

Agreed that kids are sponges and will pick it up quickly. Our five year old can lead a decade in Latin, so if they hear it, they can learn it. I think he just volunteered to lead one day, and he did a good job.
 
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