Supplementing the Curriculum

No curriculum is perfect and CCD teachers need to from time to time supplement with activities to help teach their students. Using various resources provides your students with a variety of activities that helps enhance the lesson and allows them to understand more and have a lot of fun in the process.

I teach first grade CCD and I use several books to supplement our curriculum. Below are some of the books and links that I use most.


The Usborne Children's Bible by Heather Amery- A collection of 44 favorite Bible stories, all very accurate retellings from Scripture that are easy for children to understand and enjoy. Very colorful and beautiful illustrations.

Limited preview- See some of the book.



The Great Bible Big Fun Activity Book by Toni Lind- Lots of great mazes, dot-to-dot, color by number, picture puzzles and more for children to do and learn about the Old and New Testament.



Hidden Pictures: Grades Grade 1 - 3 (Fun Faith-Builders) by Linda Standke- Fun and creative Bible story based hidden picture puzzles that the children love to do. A great fill in activity for CCD.

To see some of the book then click on Sample



Bible Wheels To Make and Enjoy by Carmen Sorvillo- A great way to supplement your Bible stories and help your students to remember the lesson. 14 Old Testament and 16 New Testament Bible Wheels that the children can make. Cutting is simple but for younger students you might want to cut out some of the craft prior to class.

To see some of the book then click on Excerpt.



More 365 Activities for Kids- 365 puzzles, mazes, dot-to-dot, spot the difference, put in the correct order, find the mistake, etc. of Bible stories activities from the Old and New Testaments. Tons of fun for the kids!

Limited preview- See some of the book.



Mini Bible Story Books: (children make and color)

christianpreschoolprintables- Several to choose from (3 pages).

dltk-bible.com- Adam & Eve, Creation, Life of Jesus, Lord’s Prayer, Men of the Bible, Noah and His Ark

psscentral.com- 20 Old and New Testament mini books

lambsongs.co.nz- Several Old and New Testament mini books. Click on black & white cover and booklet to print out for the children to color.



What do you supplement your curriculum with?

Catholic ABC's (The Book)- A Catholic Preschool Curriculum

Lacy at catholicicingblogspot.com has just came out with a Catholic preschool curriculum that you have to check out. It includes separate teacher scripts for both homeschoolers and classroom teachers. You could use this book to teach your child, a group of children in your home, a class at a Catholic preschool co-op, or a whole preschool CCD class- your options for teaching are limitless, and this book makes everyone a teacher. This book has new crafts, 5 brand new unit studies, guides for setting up your classroom and organizing your materials, bible verses that go with each lesson, visual aids of full color artwork from the religious masters, and more! It also has unit studies, to learning the alphabet, to crafting, singing, and counting- this book strives to make learning (and teaching) fun! All the templates, coloring pages, etc that are needed for Catholic ABC's are included in the "Master Copies" section of the book. They're bound in so they won't get lost.


catholicicing.blogspot.com- Catholic ABC’s (The Book) Preschool Curriculum

CCD Curriculums

Each parish must choose a curriculum to use with their CCD classes. It is a hard decision to make, but one must be chosen and used by the catechists to teach their students from. The curriculums are usually approved by the diocese and is in full accord with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and all the doctrinal and moral teachings of the Church. The priest and/or the DRE usually review various curriculums and make recommendations. Finally a decision is made and the curriculum is purchased.


There are numerous curriculums out there and I was wondering what everyone was using.


What curriculum do you or your parish use for CCD?

Special Needs Curriculum

Children with special needs can have a hard time participating in most Sunday school classes. Well-written curriculums designed to meet the needs of these special children are extremely rare, but here is one that I found- Special Buddies from Lifeway.




Special Buddies (for kids with special learning needs)

Fast-paced typical church activities can be overwhelming for children with special needs. Bible Teaching for Kids Special Buddies intentionally slows things down and makes time for plenty of repetition, application, and review of biblical concepts. Two Bible stories are presented per month, rather than beginning a new story every week. Lesson plans are in a pick-and-choose format. Teachers choose from more than 12 activities for each story. This enables you to select activities based on the individual skill levels of learners.

Special Buddies works well in all kinds of situations with children of varying developmental levels.

Try it out with...
• a self-contained classroom of school-age children with special needs.
• an individual child who receives one-on-one care at church while parents attend Bible study.
• a child with special needs who attends a typical Sunday School setting but responds well to modified lessons and individualized attention.

And that’s not all! Any teacher who works with any child with special needs at any time during the church week can pick up Special Buddies and use activities to review and boost learning that began last Sunday.

Special Buddies Leader Guide provides multisensory activity ideas for two Bible lessons each month that match stories found in all other Bible Teaching for Kids books. Each lesson includes enough ideas to use for two weeks.

Special Buddies Learner Guide goes hand-in-hand with the Leader Guide. With adult assistance, children complete the activities on each page with little or no reading or writing. Parents may repeat the activity for review and also use the included Parent Tip to build on Bible truths at home.


Learn more about Special Buddies Curriculum


Free samples of Special Buddies

Learners Guide

Leader Guide