I am the proud mom of a high energy, smart as a whip, sweet and temperamental almost 5-year-old boy. I think he's a pretty cool kid, and I'm only somewhat biased by the fact that I'm his mom. But I swear to you, I did not have that much energy at his age. Holy guacamole! He if full-throttle, highly verbal and usually moving. I love it. Except for those times when it's more appropriate for him to be quiet and still. Like going to church.
I know that sitting quiet and still is not a skill most 4-year-olds are great at for long periods of time (basically, anything over 2 minutes is awesome, right?). That's one of the reasons I enrolled him in the children's program through our church. But he gets to go to that only on the weekends he spends with me; on the other weekends, we attend a later mass during which the children's services aren't offered. I was bringing toys to keep him entertained, but I'm beginning to think that's counter to the whole point of bringing him to mass with me.
So I'm looking for faith oriented toys that will relate to the service, help him to understand what's going on (generally ... he is only 4!) but be entertaining enough that he's not trying to climb under the pew, borrow toys from the kids behind us or try to get an impromptu play-date going with the kids in front of us (and that's just within the opening hymn!). Most of the activity things I've found seem to be geared toward older kids who are reading on their own (he's smart, but he's not there yet!).
While I've found a few things that might work, I'd love to hear if you have some suggestions!
