DIY Children's Mass Booklet: Part 1

July 27, 2015

Some time ago when my family started attending the Novus Ordo in Latin, I had my girls work on making their own Mass book (aka missals) to help them follow along with the Latin prayers. I figured if they had made it, colored it and drew things about the Mass then they would be more engaged. I was right! They loved working on their Mass books and it gave me a chance to give them a little mini lesson on each part of the Mass.

Since then, however, our Novus Ordo turned into an Extraordinary Form. Still Latin, but there are many silent prayers and it is a lot harder for them to pay attention. We bought them little children's missals but they seem totally disinterested in them. Since I am busy leading the Schola and my husband is busy baby wrangling, their disinterest may be a cause of their inability to find their place in the book without assistance.

Our 6 year old, Violet, is especially disinterested. She is all over the place. She doesn't even stand or kneel at the appropriate times. Mostly because, well, she just doesn't seem to care enough - and I am not there to correct her. This is the price of leading the Schola.

Ivy, our 8 year old, tries her best but I often notice her staring into space. Our 3 and 1 year olds, of course, are totally out of control and my husband just tries to survive as best as he can. I am sure my fellow church musicians at CC Watershed know exactly what this is like. Still, I know that my service is needed so I continue to chug along and hope for the best.

Recently, in trying to come up with a solution to their disinterest, I remembered our old Mass books from the Novus Ordo and decided that what the kids need is a little catechesis on the Mass parts with the accompanying activity. And, because I am sure someone out there in the world will benefit from it, I am going to try and share the activities with you. I will try to post a couple new Mass parts once a week, and more frequently if I can manage!

Parents, I promise - this project is going to be very easy on you!

STEP 1: Buy a small 3 ring binder with a clear pocket on the front cover, as well as a pack of small sheet protectors for each of your children (even if they are too young to write!) The size of the binder and sheet protectors should be what an 8x11 sheet of paper would be if you folded it in half.

STEP 2: Print the cover page and a recent photo of your child. Print out the image and place your child's photo in the center. They can decorate around their picture any way they'd like, or just write their name and leave it at that. I made it double because I am assuming you have more than one child. But if you don't, just crop out the second image. Save the image to your desktop and then drag and drop it into word or pages and print it out from there. If you print the double image, print in landscape orientation and then slice the page in half to separate the twins.

If you can't find a picture of your child, no problem! Have them draw a self portrait! Once your child has finished decorating it, this cover page will go on the front of the binder in the clear cover pocket. Easy peasy, right??

Ok, so you guys have to let me know if this works, with giving you an image rather than a doc! I am sure there is a way to do it but I am lazy and like shortcuts.

UPDATE: Here is what ours look like. We used colored card stock to "frame" their picture. Then I gave them scrapbooking supplies and stickers and let them go to town!