Follow and Do Series: Catechism for Little Ones
Updated from original post on Necessary Roughness on October 16, 2005.I got to take a look at our recently purchased Issues Etc. books of the month for October, the
Follow and Do series. Good stuff. The books are sturdy and small enough for kids. All the books are contain the six chief parts of Luther's catechism with illustrated. In five of the books (the exception being the one on The Lord's Supper) there is also a simple sentence or two that is either a summary or an example of the catechism. In the pages for the Fourth Commandment, there was an illustration of a parent telling the child to clean their room, and the child says, "OK". The Fifth (murder) was summed up as "Let's all be friends."
I test-read the Apostles' Creed and The Ten Commandments with my more vocal twin, and she loved them. I would read the simple sentence first, and she would immediately try to repeat the sentence. She immediately picked up the idea in the Sixth Commandment. The illustration was a kid in a store, and the explanation was that we pay fir candy before we take it home. We've done that before with toys and books. In the book on The Creed, when we got to Luther's explanation of the Second Article in all its glory, the illustration simply had five kids singing
"Jesus Loves Me". I don't mind that at all, provided the second verse is sung as well—one can find Law and Gospel in there.
I like these books and was glad to find out my kids aren't too young for them. They can either look at the pictures and say what they think is going on, recite the simplifications, or surprise me one day and recite the Explanation of the Second Article. My three-year-olds don't have the patience yet for the original catechism text, but it won't be long until they'll want someone to read that to them too.
CPH recommends the books for four-year-olds. If you have a child that is developing language skills early, these can be used as young as age 2.Feedback