Can you believe that it is already back to school time? (I can't!) Whether you are a parent, teacher, or catechist, I bet a lot of you are thinking about shopping for school supplies, preparing for being back on a schedule, and planning for changes and opportunities for the new year. With all of that looking ahead, it's also a great time to explore new resources that can be used in the home or classroom to strengthen your child's faith, and I've got a few new ideas to share with you today!
Catholic Words & Games sent me these free products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and ideas are my own. I only recommend resources I know and love and think you might like too!
Catholic Words & Games and The Mass Explained offers a set of incredible resources to provide catechesis for ALL ages on "the source and summit" of our faith. They have physical evangelization tools like card games, tshirts, and clever buttons, as well as a set of awesome apps for both kids and adults are fun, attractive, well made, and faithful. Today, I'd like to share with you the Catholic Words Memory Match Card Games, Courageous Catholic Saints Coloring Book, and Catholic Words and Games App, but I'd also highly recommend you go check out the Mass Explained App for older kids and adults! (And there is also a fun Catholic Word Search App for you puzzle-loving people!)
First up, these stellar Catholic Words Memory Match Cards. There are two decks available, each with 26 different pairs of Catholic vocab words. The words are all items used during Mass or other Sacraments, and each card also contains a well illustrated full color image. I can't speak highly enough of these graphics- they are easily discernible while still being detailed and are child-friendly without being childish. The cards could be used with littles to introduce basic Mass articles and then add more and more items and info for older kids. The decks are set up to be used to play memory with matching pairs of cards, but also could be adapted to play old maid, I have who has, go fish, etc. They also have a companion definition sheet available as a free download here. I'm totally excited to add these to my Mass teaching resources and can see tons of applications for the classroom.
Using the technology in the best way, the Catholic Words and Games App corresponds with the Memory Match cards but allows the user to flip through flash cards, read their definition, play matching and naming games, etc. It has both the great illustrations I described above as well as real photographs, making it easier for kids to locate these articles in their own church. The games have music, sound effects, and time and accuracy challenge options. There are tons of options and settings to make the games as easy or as challenging as desired, so I can see applicable uses with preschoolers all the way to RCIA candidates.
And finally, look at this sweet Courageous Catholic Saints Coloring book. I have to admit, sometimes I am disappointed by the illustrations in Catholic coloring books, but I LOVE these. They are simple for even young artists, but also contain details that tell a little about the background and lives of the Saint depicted on the page. Thirty-two varying Saints are included, and in the back of the coloring book there are little biography cards for each Saint that shares a few paragraphs about their lives, birth and death dates, canonization, feast day, and patronages.
Make sure you also check out their free resources here (I love the matching cards and the priest craft!), and to help out those ready to order catechetical materials for the new school year, they are offering 10% off in their webstore Agnus Gift Shop with the code "TENOFF" at checkout.
AND last but not least, they also sent me two extra sets of cards and coloring books to give away! Head on over to Instagram and enter to win them for your own home or classroom!
