Each section in this collection reflects a season in the liturgical year. Though written for teachers of preschoolers, these ideas also work well for families and teachers working with kindergarten through second grade.

To help your children connect the activities suggested in the sections with the church year, introduce them to the liturgical calendar.

Learning and Living the Liturgical Year

While young children do not have a clear sense of time and sequence, teaching them about the Church’s liturgical year need not be difficult. Unlike the secular calendar, with its numbers and month names, the liturgical calendar is read by color. Add symbols children recognize, and their natural sense for seasons and celebrations will do the rest! This will help children link their every day lives with that of the Church year, making life much richer.

Click here for directions on creating and introducing a felt board liturgical calendar.

You can introduce the calendar any time of the year, but this explanation is written for when a new year is about to begin (the first Sunday of Advent).

Activities Based on the Liturgical Year

These activities can be used both at home and in classrooms. They accommodate children between the ages of 2-8.

December: ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS

• Advent: A Time to Play at Waiting
• Joyful Gift-giving
• Our Season of Hope
• Advent Pantomime: a story for home or classroom

January-February: ORDINARY TIME

• It really is a New Year
• A New Year, A New Responsibility
• Hope in the New Year
• Saint John Bosco
• Getting to Know Jesus
• Taking Valentines Beyond Cartoon Figures

March/April: LENT, HOLY WEEK AND EASTER

• Learning Lenten Symbols
• Lent and Family Life
• Loving Actions for Lent
• Creating Lent and Holy Week with Symbols
• Celebrating Easter

May/June: MARY, THE EASTER SEASON AND PENTECOST, AND ORDINARY TIME

• Mary Booklets
• May Crowning
• Easter Season and Creation
• Pentecost
• Jesus and Water
• A Play about Saint John the Baptist
• Saint Paul Story and Booklet

July/August: ORDINARY TIME

• The Sacredness of Summer
• Introducing Feasts and Seasons the Easy Way
• Saint Stories for Ordinary Time
• Summer Reading: Saints for Adults and Children
• Movie: “Babies”

September/October/November: Ordinary Time

• Holy Spirit and the Beginning of the School Year
• Ember Days
• Celebrating Babies
• Guardian Angels
• Hands of Peace
• Halloween
• Days of the Dead: Los Dias De Los Muertos
• The Gifts of Observation and Thankfulness