Teaching and Living the Faith with Catholic Family Crate

Just because I’ve been a mom for 13+ years and trying to give my children a faith-filled upbringing doesn’t mean I have it all figured out. Many days I’m half-way through my day and approaching my own hangry tantrum before I remember to offer a prayer and invite the Lord of Mercy and Creator of the Universe (and the loving Gift-giver of my family, ahem) into my life. I’ve failed to answer many questions well, forgotten to bring out saint stories at bedtime, and only this year have we started attempting to celebrate Baptism anniversaries.

I’m the gal who loves the idea of liturgical living but stumbles through the reality of messy, harried, loud, days. “Domestic Church Mom of the Year” will not be a title anyone ever associates with me. 

Saint stories and lovely Catholic picture books are in every room of my house, including a box or two in the garage. I’ve bought sacred art coloring books, hoping to use them for morning time in our homeschool. I’ve mostly had good intentions, and then waylaid my best ideals when my loosely-organized self couldn’t muster a plan to actually teach or engage my kids. To be perfectly honest, we’re still working on everyone sitting respectfully through 5-10 minutes of bedtime prayers.

I’m also a huge fan of Catholic goodies and well-curated sets of anything intended to help an individual or family grow in faith intellectually and in practice. So when I heard about the new Catholic Family Crate, I couldn’t wait to try the subscription. 

We received one box–the first ever–so far. I opted for an additional craft kit so more than one of my boys would be able to color and work on the hands-on activity. This first crate included two coloring pages and a clothespin craft to make a cute Jonah and the Whale toy. My boys started coloring when we opened the box, and I’m going to use the rest of the coloring pages and the activity itself for an intentional sit-down time to learn about the story more. 

The artwork included for parents to use as home decor is beautifully done by Erica from Be A Heart (and I assume that the artist will be different each month, so you’ll be exposed to and supporting a wide variety of Catholic artists). I love the little wooden block figure of Jesus, which is so sweetly illustrated and perfectly sized for small hands. This may end up tucked into my purse for Mass times. (see the Jesus block in both photos above).

One aspect I really appreciate about this box is the booklet that comes with all the goodies. It’s full of instruction to lead the family in prayer, discussion, and learning more about the faith. As I said, I don’t have this parenting gig figured out, and passing on the Catholic faith has been more challenging than I expected. This box is going to be part of our family time and homeschool learning time, giving me the tools to engage my young children and spend enjoyable quality time with our faith together.

A few notes about who I think this box is good for: Any Catholic family with children ages 4 and up, thought the materials seem to me to be best for about age 10 and younger. The booklet has sections for “older kids, 8+”, so when I see that my two oldest boys are in the “older kids” group I know that this is a bit young for my 12 and up crowd. However, the faith is for everyone at any age and I’m hopeful that my girls will participate in our discussion even though the activities aren’t exactly at their level.

Interested? Check out the website for subscription options available!