Every once in a while, I receive a question like this one "Where can I find materials for a 2 year old to teach them about Jesus & God?" Today, a parishioner was looking for materials to teach her 2 year old grandson about Jesus and God, so she asked for guidance.
First of all, YES! I have to commend grandparents and parents for recognizing that faith is something that needs to be taught, not just caught. This is a well used expression in Church circles to explain what used to happen in Catholic families. Faith was something that permeated every aspect of family life prior to Vatican II and up through the 1960's or so. Church was the center of a families social life, spiritual life, and generally speaking, people knew what the Church taught and what was expected. Partially because things were very dualistic/black and white. - The merits of this can be debated, but that's a different blog post. In this world, faith was caught precisely because it was everywhere, people regularly talked about their faith and belief in God, Catholic statues and other sacramentals were visibly present in homes. In short, children caught the faith.
Now, as societal changes have occurred, people find community in other settings, we have come to realize that faith formation must be taught, intentionally. If we want our kids to learn the faith, we have to make an effort to teach them.
Starting with bible stories is a great place to begin. Kids' imaginations are captured by the epic stories of the Bible, particularly Noah, Moses, Abraham and Isaac and stories about Jesus' miracles and the Last Supper. Small children can be just as "into" bible heroes as they can superheroes.
Find a local Catholic book store. In our area, we have Pauline Books and Media http://pauline.org/Publishing/Contact-Us/ID/6/Redwood-City-California where the Sisters are very knowledgeable and will spend time with you choosing the perfect book for your little one.
Loyola Press, a Jesuit Ministry http://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/family/catholic-kids also has wonderful resources for you to use with your children, many things online for free and others that you can order.
If you like to do activities, check out our St. Matthias Faith Formation Pinterest Board which is organized by month and topic https://www.pinterest.com/smff2013/.
I know that sometimes children ask questions that we parents, might not be prepared to answer. If this happens in your family, share the question with Kate and I am will try to give you a solid, theological answer - but also one which is based in real world experience.
Welcome to another year of faith formation at St. Matthias!
