A Tour of the Church Student Worksheet

teaching fourth grade

One activity that many catechists include in their repertoire is taking the students on a tour of the Church. This is an excellent way to provide a hands-on experience for kids, introducing them to the sacred spaces and objects that are a part of our Catholic worship and inviting them to develop their Catholic vocabulary.

I’m a firm believer in always putting the responsibility on the students to show comprehension. I rarely show a video or take kids on such a tour of the church without putting a worksheet in their hands for them to fill in as the activity unfolds. With that in mind, I’ve put together a Tour of the Church Student Worksheet and an accompanying Answer Key. I was inspired by an email I received from a confirmation catechist (Kimberly) in New York who was asking about a resource for a tour of the church. It occurred to me that I’m hoping to do this later in the year, so I put the worksheet together while the thought was in my head! Thanks Kimberly!

On a related note, check out the DVD Preparing Together, which includes a Tour of a Church as well as a segment on Your Role at Mass and another on Ritual Matters. I had the pleasure of doing some of the writing for this DVD! BTW, these segments are also offered in Spanish on the same DVD. One suggestion I have is to show the Tour of a Church segment and then take them on their actual tour, locating many of the same things they just saw in the DVD.

About Joe Paprocki 2758 Articles
Joe Paprocki, DMin, is National Consultant for Faith Formation at Loyola Press, where, in addition to his traveling/speaking responsibilities, he works on the development team for faith formation curriculum resources including Finding God: Our Response to God’s Gifts and God’s Gift: Reconciliation and Eucharist. Joe has more than 35 years of experience in ministry and has presented keynotes, presentations, and workshops in more than 100 dioceses in North America. Joe is a frequent presenter at national conferences including the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, the Mid-Atlantic Congress, and the National Conference for Catechetical Leadership. He is the author of numerous books, including the best seller The Catechist’s Toolbox, A Church on the Move, Under the Influence of Jesus, and Called to Be Catholic—a bilingual, foundational supplemental program that helps young people know their faith and grow in their relationship with God. Joe is also the series editor for the Effective Catechetical Leader and blogs about his experiences in faith formation at www.catechistsjourney.com.

21 Comments on A Tour of the Church Student Worksheet

  1. Thank you for such a fine worksheet! I will be using it every year.

    I was actually thinking about creating something like this awhile back; but found it quite cumbersome. I had to spend a lot of time looking all over the internet for appropriate pictures then copy and paste to Power Point, another software package I have to teach myself.

    But then the Holy Spirit saw my frustration & decided “I think she needs some help.” I attended a diocesan catechist conference this past Saturday & spoke to a Loyola Press rep who told me about this website. The rest is history!

    • Jeannine, I’m glad you found this to be helpful. I know what you mean about it being cumbersome to assemble such a worksheet using pictures and images which is why I’m happy to share it with folks who don’t have the luxury of the time and resources that I have at my fingertips to work on such projects. Let me know how it goes when you actually get around to using it.

  2. Hi Joe,
    I know this is an old post but I’m wondering about the DVD you mention (Come and See). I teach confirmation prep (we have a 2 year program and I follow the kids through both years – so 8th and 9th graders) and also adult confirmation (not together, obviously). I always do a tour of our church with each group. Our physical church building is new – had to be rebuilt recently and was finished in 2007. So I am lucky enough to have the write up the parish used when the new building was finished about why things are the way they are. Anyway, I was once lucky enough to have one of our Deacons around while I did the tour and he gave us a tour of the sacristy which was a great experience for us! I’ve never given either group any paperwork to do while we’re in there, I guess I’ve never felt the need, they seem genuinely interested. But the DVD you mention, what age range is that suited for? I’m not so concerned about the tour part of the DVD but maybe more about the Mass and our role. I’ve been looking for a good video to help present the Mass to the adult group. Any suggestions?

    Thanks!
    Jennifer

  3. Joe,
    Thank you for the Tour of the Church worksheet – it’s a wonderful resource that will work well with 5th grade religious ed. class! Thank you also for your wonderful books too!

  4. Thank you so much for this I have been doing a church tour for a couple of years for kids in second grade but never had a simple work sheet they could use and now I do God bless you

  5. I could be wrong but I learned that the Ciborium is the vessel containing unconsecrated hosts which is brought up to the altar with the other gifts.

    • Hi Jean. The Ciborium usually contains consecrated hosts kept in the tabernacle. A paten usually holds unconsecrated hosts.

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