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lovebeingamom
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| Posted: July 21 2010 at 8:16am | IP Logged
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How and what do you use to plan your liturgical year for little ones (4 and 2 yo)?
Any, and all, suggestions would be graetly appreciated.
Thanks!
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JennGM
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| Posted: July 21 2010 at 9:39am | IP Logged
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There are some stickies at the top of this forum: FAQ Liturgical Year threads
Liturgical Year Planning Threads
They give lots of ideas. But that CAN be overwhelming. Decide right now that you don't have time for everything, simple is better, less is more, and there is always next year. Really. And every family is unique!
And then, after you get that down pat,  for planning for younger ones, there are things you have to determine for your family.
1) First and foremost is establishing and aligning your thoughts with the Church on what IS the liturgical year and what is the purpose of "living" it in the home?
Understanding that the liturgical year is what shapes our liturgy, that is not willy-nilly feasts here and there but a definite pattern of following the Redemption, with an order of precedence in feast days, helps greatly.
So this step there is much reading, books listed in the previous threads, also reading the Catechism and other resources that explain our connection with the Church and her liturgical year.
2) Aligning with the Church means pointing back to the Liturgy. Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy reiterates that point.
So that is my basic plan, what is the season or feast, and what are the Mass readings and prayers of the day? That is the foundation for me. The first priority for high feast days is attending Mass, but if I can't do that, I still reflect on the liturgy of the day.
3) There are different ways to bring the points home, besides reading, but incorporating the senses, especially at the younger ages. This is where the ideas can be overwhelming, and you need to determine:
::What are your strengths and weaknesses in teaching?
::Are you hands-on crafty?
::Detail oriented?
::Great at making lots of plans and follow-through?
::Books are more your style?
::Like Visual aids?
::Do you prepare displays or let your children do the art?
::Music your forte?
::Are you the sorld's best chef or baker?
::Are you many of these, all of the above, bits and pieces, depending on the time of year, etc.?
Those kind of questions help you filter through different suggestions for living the liturgical year.
Generally I like to have some kind of reading, possibly art display or picture, music. That's my first plan, then I prefer adding food for the feast, liturgical colors on display, then possibly a craft (minimally a coloring page).
3) Don't think you need to celebrate every day. The Church's year has both a temporal and sanctoral cycle. The temporal or time cycle is following the mysteries of Christ's redemption, so this is a focus on the Life of our Lord, with the Paschal Mystery (Easter) being the central point on which all feasts flow. Sundays are another little Easter.
The Sanctoral cycle is the supporting cast -- the saints and Marian days, mostly fixed dates.
Understanding the order of precedence of feasts (Table of Liturgical Days is extremely helpful).
As mentioned,
Easter is the highest feast
Sundays are another Easter
Solemnity (all Sundays and Holy Days of obligation are Solemnities)
Feast
Memorial
Optional Memorial
To me it is important that my children understand the difference between the levels of feasts. I don't mean knowing all the priorities, but understanding in small ways that a solemnity is the highest feast, so we do ______, and for saint days we do a little less celebration.
But I also go through the calendar and pick days that are important to us -- name days, birthdays, anniversaries, favorite patronal saints (solider saints for our boys). These will have special significance in our family, and maybe not others.
I try to have reading on the saint or feast day, and include it at least in our bedtime reading. And we add the saint of the day to our night prayers.
I'm sure others have some great ideas.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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JennGM
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| Posted: July 21 2010 at 4:00pm | IP Logged
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Now that I mentioned all the cerebral stuff, some practical stuff that we do:
::Liturgical Year poster (We like the LTP laminated version
::Picture books around the Liturgical year. Catholic Mosaic has a good start for a list, and we have added on. We have graduated to some chapter books that we read throughout a season, like Lent or Advent.
::Liturgical Color Emphasis. Based on the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, you'll see some references for "Father Oak" or others that teach the liturgical colors. I use colored tablecloths for all the seasons except Ordinary Time, and light blue for Mary.
::Different Prayers. Daily rosary is emphasized in Lent, May, and October for us, a decade or more, Stations of the Cross during Lent, Stations of Light during Easter, O Antiphons and Jesse Tree during Advent.
::Hymns and Chant. Depending on the season or feast, I try to incorporate different Church hymns. There is also a monthly dedication during the Church year. see this list for ideas.
::Dessert. I have to admit that I do equate high feast days with treats. If you're at a loss for food ideas for the feast days, Catholic Cuisine has loads of ideas.
The liturgical seasons, like Advent and Lent, the time of preparation, have their own flavors. We do the traditional Advent Wreath, straws in the manger, illustrate the story of Redemption through the Old Testament. Lent is more interior, teaching about sacrifices and the Passion of Our Lord, developing the personal relationship with Christ.
Not sure if any of this is helpful....sometiems it's hard to analyze what we do for the liturgical year because it seems a bit seamless.
But like Erin and a few moms have said before, the extra plans don't happen unless they get written down, so that is something I'm doing, too.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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ekbell
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Back when I only had had four and two year olds, I concentrated on the big seasons (Advent/Christmas/Lent/Easter) plus Sundays and Days of Obligation.
The Sunday coloring sheets at this site http://new.catholicmom.com/category/sundays-gospel/ include a short summation of the gospel and activities suitable for young children.
This site was very useful to me for big season activities
http://www.domestic-church.com/ (see fridge art section)
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Erin
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ekbell's advise is good, with little ones this is the time to start creating your family traditions. It gives you time to prayerfully decide what reflects your family
I beg your leave to share something I wrote for my sister a while back on Creating Traditions as it explains best what I mean, whilst this letter was on Advent it applies to the entire liturgical year;
There is no correct way, there is no way you can 'do it all'. How you celebrate Advent/Christmas will be a combination of many factors; they will include, what traditions you and your husband bring into your marriage, which ones are important to you/him? You need to go carefully here, tact and compromise are essential ingredients. And then you will want to forge new traditions, traditions that say " We are a family, this is our family."
On a more practical note as Jenn shares I'm finding I really do need to write it down. This past week I finally planned what feasts we will be celebrating for the next two months. I opened the months I needed at Faith Filled Daysand with pencil in hand jotted down the Feasts I wished to celebrate, basically I selected my children's name days and major Feasts. I kept in mind the wise advice from the ladies here to start small, to only select one or two a month. I selected the type of activities that best reflected my abilities, so our plans do not include elaborate cooking or crafts, They include simple ways, not too many and lots of books, they reflect me as I am the driving force.
Start small. Have fun 
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Erin
Faith Filled Days
Seven Little Australians
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Lacy
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I post a lot of ideas I find for celebrating the liturgical year (many from the awesome ladies on this site!) on my blog:
Catholic Icing
My children are young (4 and under) and this school year I'm going to be running through a Catholic Alphabet based preschool program with them and posting it on my blog each week. So feel free to follow along for Catholic crafts A-Z this year!
Hope this was helpful. God bless!
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Lacy
Catholic Icing
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Q's re: Planning Your Liturgical Year
