Celebrating All Saints' Day with the Kids

Happy All Saints' Day, friends! Did you celebrate Halloween yesterday? Just like in the past years, our family celebrated Halloween quite differently than most families. Let me share how we celebrated it this year and what activities I have planned for today and in the next days. I will also share some of the ways by which we celebrated it in the past years.

 

This year, just like in previous years, I planned to introduce two Saints to our kids especially to our eldest who recently turned 5 years old. The Saints whose stories I shared with our kids this year were St. Matthew the Tax Collector and St. John the Baptist. I chose these two Saints because my sons were named after these Saints. Our eldest was named after St. John the Baptist; while our second child was named after St. Matthew. I used some videos to help me tell the stories of these Saints.

 

Below are the links to the videos I showed to my kids last night after Mass and dinner. 

 

 

 

We also read one of their favorite books - Book of Saints by Father Lovasik, SVD (Part 4). My son Mateo's favorite story in this book is the story of St. Dominic. It caught his interest because St. Dominic was shown with a dog, an animal that Mateo is fond of.

You may read about our All Saints' Day activities in the past years in these previous posts.
- Celebrating All Saints' Day Meaningfully and Establishing a New Family Tradition
- Celebrating Halloween and All Saints' Day Differently by Focusing on the Saints
- Why our family does not participate in the usual trick or treats and Halloween costume parties

Let me share some pictures of our All Saints' Day activities 2 years ago when I was still pregnant with Mateo. We introduced St. Peter to our eldest son then. We told him that St. Peter was a fisherman before he was called by God to become a fisher of men. We taught him how to make paper boats which he later played with in a basin of water. Then we had fish for lunch. We also told him the story of St. Peter denying Jesus because he was afraid and let him play with my younger brother's rooster.

Then, we prayed our night prayers before sleeping. One of my joys every night is hearing my sons (ages 5 and almost 2) saying their own night prayers. Both kids know how to pray spontaneously for whatever they are grateful for that happened during the day. They compose their own prayers to say thanks before every meal. They also know how to intercede for others especially those who are sick. My eldest son has already memorized a number of formula prayers. He now helps me teach his younger brother how to say these prayers. What he usually does is he encourages Mateo to fill in the blanks when he recites or leads in praying formula prayers. It's such a delight to hear Mateo (who is turning two years old this month) utter the right words to complete the prayers. I wouldn't be surprised if Mateo would memorize the Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be and the prayer to the Guardian Angels before he turns three years old.

 

This morning, we are playing a cd of Mass songs so the kids can practice these songs. Both kids love to sing during the Mass. Even my youngest loves to sing during the Alleluia and Amen part.

 

Later, we will go to Mass in the evening. I do my best to bring the kids with me every day to attend daily Mass.

I also plan to teach a new song to my eldest son later that's related to the verses that pertain to St. John the Baptist as the one who prepares the way of the Lord. I learned this song when I was still in college.

 

On November 7, my kids will join an All Saints' Day party of our homeschool group called ROCKERS. Thus, one of  I'm busy with these days is planning their costumes and props for next week. By the way, we'd be bringing St. Matthew's offering (chocolates that look like gold coins) as our contribution to the party. ;) You can read more about this event here and here.

For more inspirations on what to do this month of November, just click here. 

Note: I'm linking this post to the Catholic Bloggers Network November 2013 Monthly Link up Blitz.