Guardian Angel Activities for Preschoolers

Katie Fitzgerald shares ideas for teaching young children about their guardian angels. 

The church celebrates the Memorial of the Guardian Angels each year on October 2. This is a great opportunity to introduce the concept of angels to your preschoolers. Here are some great activities you can use to commemorate this day with children under five.  

Make simple craft projects.

Suggestions for making your own angels abound online, but I find that simple is best. Often Dollar Tree has its Christmas merchandise out early enough that you can find a set of the foam angels they sell for Christmas crafts and have your kids decorate those. (I have also been known to buy these in December and save them until the next October.) In lieu of foam angels, a Google search for a paper template will serve you just as well. The goal is to create some artwork that gives kids a visual reminder of the invisible reality of angels and encourages them to think about their own guardian angels.  

Pray the Guardian Angel prayer.

Because it rhymes, this is an easy prayer to teach little kids. It can also be sung to a couple of different tunes. One is the tune for the Advent hymn “Creator of the Stars of Night.” The other, which is helpful if you sing your kids to sleep at naptime or bedtime, is “Rockabye Baby.”  My little kids have always enjoyed holding either a handmade angel or a Shining Light doll and singing this prayer.  

Sing “Dear Angel, Ever At My Side.”

Another great option to sing with younger kids (and older siblings, too!) is the hymn “Dear Angel, Ever At My Side” by Frederick William Faber, which I learned from Traditional Catholic Living’s hymn study website. The words are a bit more complex than in the Guardian Angel Prayer, but they provide a wonderful explanation for the role of our Guardian Angels and our relationship to them.  

Read the Catholic Children’s Treasure Box series.

The Catholic Children's Treasure Box is a set of books for young Catholic children edited by the Maryknoll Sisters and originally published in the 1950s. Paperback and ebook editions are now available from TAN Books. Most issues include a story about Wupsy, an angel who is sent by God to guard an African boy named Sunny. Each story shows Wupsy influencing the life of young Sunny and keeping him safe spiritually and physically. My kids have loved following the adventures of Wupsy and his cute young charge.  

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Four simple ways to help children under 5 learn about their Guardian Angels. #CatholicMom

Angels are fascinating to young children. By engaging little ones through art, song, and stories, we can help them to appreciate the reality of these special helpers from God and encourage them to seek the help of their guardian angels and to thank them for their loving care.

Copyright 2023 Katie Fitzgerald
Images: Canva