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Do you want to teach about the saints in your homeschool or classroom, but don’t have time to add extra schoolwork? And you want saint lessons to be fun and enjoyable?
We’ve got you covered. Here is a quick lesson you don’t have to prepare ahead of time.
If your kids like coloring, you can print a coloring page while the kids watch the video. There are three here, and lots more if you search “Immaculate Conception coloring page.” Grab the crayons and your lesson is ready to begin.
There are a lot of Marian feast days. Why focus on this one? Because this feast is very misunderstood. Many people think that the Immaculate Conception refers to Jesus’ conception, when it actually refers to Our Lady. This common misconception makes it an important feast to teach our kids.
1Explain the Immaculate Conception
Tell the kids:
Today is the feast day of the Immaculate Conception. Do you know who we are talking about when we say “Immaculate Conception?” We are talking about Mama Mary.
What does it mean when we call her that? It means she was the only person who God made without any sin even before she was born. Jesus also didn't have any sin, but he was God and a human being, while Mary is just a human.
Why do you think God made her without any sin? He knew she was going to be the mom of Jesus. She would be the mother of God, so he was getting her ready.
Today we celebrate how special and amazing it is that God made Mama Mary without any sin. She was perfect, and she is our mother, who loves us like God loves us. We can ask her to pray for us today and every day.
For older children, you might make a connection with the story of Adam and Eve and the origin of Original Sin:
You remember how sin didn’t used to exist, but it entered our world with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Their sin broke all humans’ connection to God, making a “hole” in our souls, so that something was missing in us. What was missing was God’s grace, which means the life of God in our souls.
When you were baptized, your baptism washed away the stain of Original Sin and filled that hole inside with God’s grace. It made you part of God’s family, forever.
But Mary didn’t need Baptism, because she was born with God’s grace already in her soul. That is why the Angel Gabriel called her “full of grace” even though she hadn’t been baptized. Isn’t that wild that she was the only person in history (besides Jesus) who was full of God’s grace from the moment she even existed?
Because we are part of God’s family, Jesus gave her to be our mother too, and not just his mother. Today is the day we celebrate that very special thing about our mother, Mary.
If time allows, you can share with the kids this 28-minute video explaining the Immaculate Conception for kids:
2Work and discuss
Working with their hands helps a child connect with and retain a lesson. After watching the biography video, pass out the coloring page or set up a drawing tutorial.
Drawing tutorials are very popular with children and wonderful for use in the classroom or at home. This video takes kids through how to draw an Immaculate Heart of Mary in less than two minutes:
Talk about what you learned while the kids work on the coloring page, or after the drawing tutorial video.
Ask:
- What did you hear?
- Who is the Immaculate Conception?
- What are we celebrating today?
- Is there anything you would like to say to Jesus about Mama Mary?
- Is there anything you want to ask Mama Mary to pray for, for you?
3Pray together
You can end the lesson with a prayer, like this one by St. John Paul II (included below), or these three prayers to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
You might want to light a candle and look at an image of Our Lady during this time. Ask the children if one of them would like to read the prayer.
Let us turn our eyes to the Immaculate, all Holy and all Fair. May Mary, our Advocate, Mother of the "King of Peace," who crushes the serpent's head, help us, the men and women of the third millennium, to resist the seductions of evil; may she rekindle faith, hope and charity in our hearts, so that, faithful to our call and ready to make any sacrifice, we may be fearless witnesses to Jesus Christ, the Holy Door of eternal salvation.
Dear Mama Mary, pray for us!
