Several Divine Liturgy Resources for Young Children

We have previously shared the lovely board book “What Do You See at Liturgy?” by Kristina Kallas-Tartara. As we mentioned in that blog post, the book consists of a gentle rhyme paired with pictures of what a child will see when they go to the Divine Liturgy. We continue to recommend this book as a helpful tool to help little ones enter into the service when their attention needs to be redirected.

Recently, it came to our attention that Kristina has written a second beautiful board book for young children, and that she has created other useful resources as well. The second book she has written is called “What Can I Do at Liturgy?” It carefully walks a child through the liturgy, emphasizing the things that they can do. Too often, children experience the “can’ts” in church. It is easy for us adults to slip into “can’t” mode when shepherding young ones through the Liturgy. We say things like, “No, you can’t run around right now; You can’t go out for a fifth drink of water; You can’t make siren noises as you pretend to put out the fires you see;” etc. This book offers us the opportunity to find and encourage the “cans.” Every page is full of pictures and suggestions of all that children CAN do (and SHOULD do) during the Liturgy. From lighting a candle to signing themselves with the cross to communing to looking at icons to singing, praying, and sharing. This book is packed full of suggestions of things that the children can do in the liturgy! Here is an example: one spread shows a series of Orthodox children, each doing part of the sign of the cross. They’re ordered sequentially, and using a hand that young readers will mirror to correctly make the sign of the cross. (What a brilliant idea, to use the left hands of the children in the photos so that the readers will naturally mirror it and use their right hand!) We highly recommend this beautiful and useful book to any parent, godparent, or Sunday Church School teacher who is helping young children to more fully participate in the divine services.

The author has another fine resource which we recently discovered. She used the photos that were taken to create her two charming books to create an Orthodox “memory” game! The durable “chunky” photo cards can be utilized in a variety of ways. Parents and teachers can employ the cards for vocabulary review, to play a matching game, or to play a number of other games. Directions for 6 different games and 4 fun classroom activities are included with the card set. This little set of cards will be used again and again by families and Sunday Church School teachers. They offer a fun way to learn, and are yet another way to “bring home the faith” with children.

And last, but not least, Kristina Kallas-Tartara has a blog called “Raising Orthodox Christians”. Its byline is “Helping Children Experience the Orthodox Faith”. On this site, you will find activities, lessons, recipes, and more. Parents and teachers will find ideas for educating their children and students at this site, and may want to follow the blog so as not to miss new resources that she posts! Check out her blog site here: https://raisingorthodoxchristians.com/

We hope that you find these resources helpful. What other Liturgy resources for small children do you recommend to the community?

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If you missed the blog post introducing “What Do You See at Liturgy?”, find it here: https://orthodoxchristianparenting.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/a-handful-of-helpful-books-for-children/
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Find Kristina Kallas-Tartara’s book “What do You See at Liturgy?” here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/196402444/what-do-you-see-at-liturgy-orthodox .

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Kristina Tartara’s book “What Can I Do at Divine Liturgy?” is available here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/466843238/what-can-i-do-at-divine-liturgy-orthodox

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In case you missed it, a few years ago we shared some thoughts on how important it is for children to be part of the Divine Liturgy in this blog post: https://orthodoxchristianparenting.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/the-work-of-the-people-includes-children/
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In case you missed it, this blog post offers ideas of ways to help children participate in the Divine Liturgy: https://orthodoxchristianparenting.wordpress.com/2016/05/18/on-helping-children-to-participate-in-the-divine-liturgy/

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To purchase the Orthodox Matching Game, visit: https://www.etsy.com/listing/476655247/my-orthodox-matching-game

 

On Winter Fun and Learning

It is winter in the northern hemisphere. For some of us, that means it is very cold outside! In an effort to lift our chilled spirits, we have done some research and found a few snowy lesson ideas that we hope will be helpful to the community. Keep reading to find some links that offer ideas of ways that snow can challenge us spiritually, help us to encourage and challenge our students, and further everyone’s growth towards the Kingdom of Heaven! We will also include a few fun wintry activities that can be used in conjunction with the class discussions.

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With younger students: Cut a paper snowflake as you lead (an Orthodox version of) this discussion. http://freebiblelessons.net/object-lessons/whiter-than-snow

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Find a variety of winter-themed Bible lessons here. The site is not Orthodox, but these lessons can easily be used in an Orthodox Sunday Church School classroom. https://cherigamble.com/2015/01/08/10-cool-and-easy-bible-object-lessons-experiments-for-cold-winter-days/

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Find more winter-themed Bible lessons on this page. The site is not Orthodox, but these lessons can easily be used in an Orthodox Sunday Church School classroom. Many of these lessons include a recipe that can be made in class. https://cherigamble.com/2017/02/19/more-cool-and-easy-bible-object-lessons-experiments-for-cold-winter-days/

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This lesson plan, although not Orthodox, can be easily adapted to be used in an Orthodox classroom. It includes a simple coffee-filter-snowflake craft that is part of the lesson. http://www.aboutthechildrensdepartment.com/2011/02/free-snowy-lesson-for-children-whiter.html

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With middle year students: Talk with your students about this verse: “Though your sins be like scarlet, they may be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). How white IS snow? Most often, it appears to be super white, especially when the sun shines on it. However, in reality, the snow is millions of translucent ice crystals, all reflecting the light. Since they reflect all of the light (every color in the light spectrum), they appear to be white. If we live lives of repentance and virtue, as Christians should, our hearts will be clean and our consciences clear. Then we will reflect the Light of Christ, radiating His purity to all. Before class, you may want to read the science behind snow’s “whiteness”, here: https://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/atmospheric/question524.htm

The “God’s Fingerprint In Creation” section of this page (this magazine is not Orthodox, but this particular article could be used in an Orthodox setting) explains it very well for your students: http://archives.kidsviewmag.org/article/94/view-previous-issues/december-2009/why-is-snow-white.

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With older students: Read Isaiah 1:18 together. Ask the students what they think it could mean. Then discuss the following words of St. Nikolai Velimirovich, with regard to this verse:
“O, the boundless mercy of God! In His greatest wrath upon the faithless and ungrateful people, upon the people “laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters” (Isaiah 1:4), as “princes [rulers] of Sodom” (Isaiah 1:10) and upon the people who have become as the “people of Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:10) – in such wrath, the Lord does not abandon mercy but rather calls them to repentance. Just as after terrible lightnings, a gentle rain falls. Such is the Lord long-suffering [patient] and full of mercy and “neither will He keep His anger forever” [Psalm 102:9 (103:9)]. Only if sinners cease to commit evil and learn to do good and turn to God with humility and repentance they will become “white as snow.” The Lord is mighty and willing. No one, except Him, is able to cleanse the sinful soul of man from sin and, by cleansing, to whiten it. No matter how often linen is washed in water with ashes and soap, no matter how often it is washed and re-washed, it cannot receive whiteness until it is spread under the light of the sun. Thus, our soul cannot become white, no matter how often we cleanse it by our own effort and labor even with the help of all legal means of the law until we, at last, bring it beneath the feet of God, spread out and opened wide so that the light of God illumines it and whitens it. The Lord condones and even commends all of our labor and effort, i.e., He wants us to bathe our soul in tears, by repentance to constrain it by the pangs of the conscience to press it, to clothe it with good deeds and in the end of ends, He calls us to Him: “Come now,” says the Lord, “and let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18). That is, I will look at you and I will see if there is Me in you and you will look upon Me as in a mirror and you will see what kind of person you are. O Lord, slow to anger, have mercy on us before the last wrath of that Dreadful Day.” ~ St. Nikolai Velimirovich, The Prologue of Ochrid, Book 2

How does this apply to our life today? What will each member of the class do, or how will we live “so that the light of God illumines… and whitens…” us?!?

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There are so many winter/snow/ice-related science experiments that can be done to help our students learn. Some of these can be used in conjunction with aforementioned lesson ideas. Others may inspire you to create your own wintry object lesson! http://lemonlimeadventures.com/must-try-winter-science-experiments-for-kids/ (Many of these do not require actual snow.)

https://igamemom.com/fun-snow-science-for-kids/ (These require snow.)

https://igamemom.com/winter-science-activities-for-kids/ (200 winter science activities for those of us whose students really love science!)

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Some of these snow-related indoor games could be used in conjunction with wintry object lessons. Check out https://www.momooze.com/indoor-activities-winter/ or https://confidencemeetsparenting.com/indoor-snowball-activities/.

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Some of the craft ideas here (for example, some of the snowflake or snow globe craft suggestions) would blend nicely with a wintery object lesson. http://www.kidactivities.net/category/Seasonal-Winter-ArtsCrafts.aspx

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Create your own super-white snow for each student to play in and take home. They’ll each need one part white hair conditioner to 6 parts baking soda (½ C conditioner to 3 C baking soda is suggested in this video). If your students mix their own, they’ll need a bowl to mix it into, a baking tray to play on, and a sealable container to take it home. See this for details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZbjrYcNpPs

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Help your students to create a “snowflake cross” as illustrated here: https://raisingorthodoxchristians.com/2017/12/07/finding-christ-amidst-the-snowstorms-of-life/#more-158161