We love Brother Francis around here.
That happy little friar has been a wonderful addition to our liturgical listening (and a great screentime option that doesn’t melt my kids’ brains and tank their behavior) for years.
Last year, Brother Francis collaborated with one of my other Catholic Favorites, Saintly Heart, and produced a gorgeous Stations of the Cross Pray and Play Set that I salivated over.
This year, we have a copy, and holy cow is it awesome.
So first, the specs: I love the high-quality wood and paint. The pieces are proving to be quite durable (and believe me, Ben has tested them). They’re also beautiful and intricate in a way that many kids’ toys aren’t these days. All of the parts of the Passion are included- even the hyssop branch!!- which makes it perfect for helping my kids understand and engage with the Stations of the Cross.
Here are 3 ways I’m using the Stations of the Cross Pray and Play Set from Brother Francis this Lent:
As part of Catechesis
Since we homeschool and I am very much a Montessorian at heart (but you knew that already), I love for our religion lessons to look more like Catechesis of the Good Shepherd than a traditional classroom.
For those who aren’t familiar with CGS, many of the lessons (or presentations) are given using figures following Maria Montessori’s foundational principle of using concrete items to help children understand abstract concepts more fully.
For the early elementary crew:
This Pray and Play Stations of the Cross set is perfect for walking Lily and Charlotte (both age 6) through the Passion narrative in a Montessori way. We set up the figures, we talked about how each person might be feeling in the moment as they held them. We talked about it what it meant for Christ to die on the cross for our sins in a deeper way than they would have done without having objects that represented that death in front of them.
For the preschool crew:
For my 3 year olds, Ben and Leo, I’ll be using this same set to explain the Passion in a different way. For them, we’ll practice recognizing and naming the figures in the story so that they’re able to follow along with the story when we pray stations together as a family.
For the older elementary kids:
For my big 4, I’ll be letting them practice telling the Passion narrative to the younger crowd throughout this Lent. The big kids love helping the littles learn, and this set will help them practice narration skills and in the telling will solidify the story in their minds. (This is very Charlotte Mason-esque as well as Montessori).
The Pray and Play Stations Set as Play
It’s in the name, so it may be silly for me to even say this, but we are definitely going to use the Pray and Play Stations of the Cross Set in play this Lent.
Whether in its handy-dandy canvas bag or in a basket on the floor of our library (where we have family prayer time), the set will be available for all of the kids to take out and play with whenever they want.
Ben has already done that several times and Lent is only a day old. He takes the pieces out and talks to them. He makes “the guys” talk to each other. He tells himself the story of Christ’s death. Sometimes Jesus takes a ride in a truck instead of walking.
Paired with My Stations of the Cross
We pray the Stations before lunch on Friday afternoons. It’s a time that works well for us because the kids are still alert and engaged. (For more tips on how to make Stations realistic for your family, see this post)
I am 100% biased, so we use my own Stations of the Cross book. (seriously go grab a copy, it’ll make your life easier)
We’ll have this set out each week during prayer time for the little guys (baby Mary Catherine included) to play with and (hopefully) help keep them peaceful during the process. Based on what I’ve seen so far of how they interact with the set, I’m guessing it’s going to be a brilliant addition.
Seriously, seriously, head over to the Brother Francis Store and snag yourself a copy of this amazing resource. You won’t regret it. It’s beautiful, durable, versatile, and engaging.