Liturgical Crafting for the Non-Crafty Moms

I am not a crafty person. I wish I could do all sorts of sewing, embroidering, creating, molding, making, but I can't. I like to bake, I like to arrange things, but that's about it. I am not a crafty person, but my kids are. They enjoy cutting, gluing, coloring, and having a finished product. More than once Ben has taken a piece of paper, glued a mound of cotton balls, clipped paper, popsicle sticks, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners and called it a masterpiece. L and Resa both spend great amounts of time coloring and drawing each day. JF and JP looooove watercolors. All my kids enjoy making it up as they go along, but they also enjoy an official project. 

That's why when I first heard about The Mass Box I was intrigued. Each month / liturgical season they send me a box of crafts to do with the kids that build on the Sunday and Holy Day readings? Yes, please. They ended up inviting my kids and I to be part of their guinea pig program. The deal: They send me a Mass Box for one kid to be used during Lent and in exchange I give them feedback and possibly share about our experience on social media. We did it, way back in Lent, and we really enjoyed it.

I want share some more about our experience with The Mass Box because they will be officially launching this Advent and the First Sunday of Advent will be here in the blink of an eye. Seriously. It goes 4th of July, pumpkin lattes, Christmas music on the radio justlikethat! If you were considering signing up before then this can be your friendly reminder. :)

So let me break down how we used it. 

Depending on how on top of things I was we would either do the project Saturday before Mass, Sunday afternoon after Mass, or whenever in the following week. ;) On my own I would watch the video to get some ideas of what to discuss with my kids and how the project should go. I didn't stick to the plot line all the time, but we did what worked for our family and how I saw the Sunday readings applying to us. 

 

 Next, I would gather however many of the kids wanted to do the craft to the dining room table. We would read the Mass readings - sometimes just doing the Scripture that applied to the craft - and discuss them so I was sure the kids knew what was going on. I will confess that the only time I have ever actually done this - review and discuss the Mass readings - with my children was when we were using the Mass Box. The kid-friendly version of the Magnifcat. the Magnifikid, is included in each box.

Then we did the craft. We got the box for one child but it was easy enough to use the supplies they provide and either divide them up or use extra supplies from our own craft bin. Some of the crafts were easy for even my three year old but some of them worked best for my second grader. However, that's because I preferred to talk to them about it and then let them go for it - I didn't want to supervise each step of the craft.

Honestly I believe that using The Mass Box enhanced my family's Lenten observance. It helped me be intentional about discussing Mass, Scripture, and other parts of our faith the kids. All my kids enjoyed it, but  this was especially a wonderful experience for my super crafty and creative child who has to suffer with me as her mom. 

If you're looking for a simple, ready-to-go way to add some liturgical living to your home I really recommend this product. Or if you are, like me, a parent with a kid who loves to create and you want to give them intentional projects but you're a bit clueless as to how, well this would make a wonderful gift. 

Again, this isn't a paid post, just something that I helped with and wanted to share with you. If you are interested, they are currently taking subscriptions to roll out for this coming Advent. You can secure yours here.