What's In Your Mass Bag for Kids?
Okay so everyone who is a mom of small children knows that mass is not an easy feat. It’s not easy to expect such little children to sit quietly for so long and not get restless. I’m a huge believer in taking children to mass no matter how antsy or loud they are. Children are the future generation of our church and we need to instill in them from an early age the importance of the mass.
We can only instill this by first showing the importance of it by making it a weekly priority. We are the first teachers and defenders of our faith to our children. Let’s take them to mass regardless of how hard it gets so that way we can raise up strong Catholics in the future.
Below are some tips that I have found helpful when packing a bag for mass and trying to entertain little ones!
Find this adorable mass bag and Catholic pop its from Gather and Pray
Bring Quiet Toys. Toys with buttons or loud books don’t work well. Vehicles and toy cars often don’t work well either since most boys use sound effects to roll them around or they drop them off of the pew.
Pop it’s! These are all the rage but what’s better than a Catholic pop it? We love the rosary pop it, sacred hearts and glow in the dark St. Benedict pop its from Gather and Pray. These are the perfect things to toss into your mass bag, purse or diaper bag. It’s the perfect quiet toy for antsy children. You can bring them anywhere and they may make for a great conversation starter!
Stuffies. Just bring one beloved stuffy. We love the stuffed Mary and Jesus dolls from Amazon.
Board book. I find regular paper books can be too loud as small, fast hands move through the pages too aggressively. Board books children can be slightly quieter and children are more occupied as the pages are easier for them to flip.
Busy books. We love felt busy books for kids and my favorite is this bible one here.
Color books. These are a last resort for older kids ages 5-6 maybe, but bring minimal crayons. Once crayons start falling off the pew, it’s no long a good quiet toy. We actually try to stay away from color books now just because it felt like it was making things more chaotic. Saints coloring books are prefect for adoration and we enjoy the ones from Catholic Sprouts!
Puffs or cereal. This is our magic trick! Most of the time we don’t even have to pull out the toys anymore for our toddler because he’s so occupied with sitting on our laps and eating a snack cup of Cheerios. He only gets this cup at church so it’s an exciting treat for him.
Essentials for baby. Grab a sippy cup, food pouch, diapers and wipes of course!
Mom essentials. Grab your rosary, your missal and whatever else you may need!
Sit up front! This helps for us because kids are engaged more when they can see more!
Pack lots of grace. It won’t always be easy and sometimes you will leave mass feeling completely defeated and lost. You may even crave a margarita. But eventually the routine of mass will grow and your children will become accustomed to the mass itself and understand how they should act. It takes grace, courage and faith to get there but you will!
They are the future of the church! Never forget that! ;)
We love our mass bag that you can find here
Honestly, I am learning with this that less is more. The more toys you have packed the more chaos it can become when they are raiding the bag, fighting over who gets what and dropping the toys everywhere. Less is more friends…until it comes to Cheerios. ;) Stuff them and hopefully they will remain quiet, ha!
Just remember that your children need to be in mass. Don’t worry about looks from anyone, just bring your babies and participate in the most beautiful sacrament ever.
What’s in your mass bag? Find this adorable mass bag here.
God bless,
Sasha
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