The seven sacraments—Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion, Confession, Marriage, Holy Orders, and the Anointing of the Sick are one of the many reasons I love being a Catholic! “The seven sacraments were instituted by Christ Himself and are outward signs of an inward grace acting in our souls.” I love that they are celebrated (you know I love a good party) and each sacrament I have had holds great memories for me and has helped me grow in my faith. Through the sacraments God has given me many Graces that I am so thankful for.
This week in Faith Formation we learned a little about the Seven Sacraments. Basically, my goal was for the third grade students to name each sacrament and state a simple sentence about the sacrament.
Before I started I found the websites below helpful.
I really love the ideas and wording in this post… Great reading before you teach about the Sacraments.
Also, this is perfect way to teach about the sacraments…
http://www.catechist.com/blog/archives/195-20100113.html – “In each Sacrament, God announces one simple, astounding message—something we all long to hear: “I love you.” No matter what else your students learn about each of the Sacraments, this reality stands at the heart of the matter.”
Some Matching Games!
http://itsonmytodolist.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/seven-sacraments-game-final.pdf
For my introduction, I printed out each of the pictures found by clicking here. I taped the name of the sacrament on the board and as we discussed each sacrament the children taped the picture under the sacrament.
The best part of this discussion is hearing the children’s memories of Baptisms they have been to. Also they love discussing their first Holy Communion and their first time in Confession. When I asked them what it felt like the first time they had communion one little girl said, “It felt so special, like God was holding my hand.” I love the memories they share about these special days in their life and faith growth.
After we have put the pictures under the correct sacrament and have discussed each one, I break them up into pairs and have them play memory with the sacraments. I made a memory game using the pictures found at the link I shared above. I can show you an image of the cards I made but cannot share the document as I do not own the copyright to the images… but it would be easy to make on your own. 
I gave each student a set of cards they were to cut out. Once the cards were cut-out, they flipped them over and played memory by matching the picture to the sacrament. The pictures on the board were a reference. It worked great. I loved seeing them studying the picture and then the one on the board to know what sacrament to look for. When we were done playing they seemed to have all seven pretty much memorized.
Below is a great Children’s Book to match this lesson!
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