Each week I prepare my students for the upcoming Sunday Gospel. Last Friday we talked about the Baptism of Jesus. 

Of course, with preschoolers one always begins with a review: Christmas, The Feast of the Holy Family, Epiphany. To introduce Jesus’ baptism, we watch a clip from the movie, Jesus of Nazareth.

After the video, We talk about baptism and how now most of us are baptized as babies. The kids love hearing about how they were held in loving arms as the priest gently poured holy water on their foreheads!

We visit the virtual church at EWTN Kids and look at the Baptismal font. We imagine how Jesus must have felt just like we did during his baptism. Only instead of Mary or Joseph holding him over a Baptismal font while Father poured holy water over him, John the Baptist used water from the Jordan River.

Then for the best part: We all got to baptize the classroom baby dolls. You should have seen how tenderly the little ones held their babies during this holy sacrament!

Introducing 3- and 4-year-olds to Jesus is a wondrous experience for them … and for me. We all felt refreshed and renewed and blessed … and just a little bit wet. 🙂