My 2 year old (now 33 months) loves music and I find the best way to catechize her is through the audio series Cat Chat (http://www.catchat.ca).  At 18 months she was trying to sing along to the songs....her favorite one is I believe.  Now she can sing along to the Our Father and Hail Mary.  This is a great resource and I thank the Montpetit’s for putting this all together!

We have a couple of bible story books with pictures that are appealing to little children. I find that the cartoon-like ones are not as nice as the more realistically depicted drawings. Although a two-year-old can’t really sit through the whole text that usually accompanies a bible storybook meant for first graders, she has more to look at. We just talk about the pictures. Also, we have a lot of religious art on the walls, plus a family altar with a large crucifix. Our two-yr-old knows that it is a representation of Jesus. We just talk about how much he loves us and how we want to do things to please him. At this stage, that’s all she needs to know. Finally, we say the Hail Mary and the Our Father before bedtime (as a family) and she knows most of the words, even without any explicit teaching. Two year olds are little monkeys—constantly copying what they see older people do. Just living a life of faith and prayer usually gets them catechized up through four or five.

I love this topic! I have those dreaded theology degrees and catechetical certificates too....achieved before children of my own. Now I have a 6, 4, 2, year old I can definitely say it is much different to actually catechize your own children (as opposed to writing about how others should catechize theirs!). But, since you asked....
I think those little ones need to focus on the “smells and bells”. Sign of the cross, genuflect, holy water, the bells at the Consecration...to the babies I always whisper “Jesus is here!” and then prompt them to say “I love you Jesus” and to the older ones I have begun to say “It looks like bread, but it’s Jesus”....a very basic understanding of transubstantiation (changing bread and wine into Jesus).
If your parish church is beautiful take advantage of that during quiet times when no one is there. Whisper and help instill awe. Also, seize every chance you get to visit other churches especially older ones, cathedrals and pilgrimage sites. Know the ones in your town and make them regular places to visit. When you go, first find the tabernacle, then the tabernacle light and practice that genuflection. Go and find statues and stained glass windows and oohh and ahh with lots of feeling. Whisper. If you make it a routine, they begin to want to visit churches and go through the routine....even routine can instill awe! When we had the great blessing of visiting Rome as a family, I made some little sticker books...simply a picture of a tabernacle, or a tabernacle light, or a chalice or something on each page. They put little stars on that page every time we popped into a church and found those things. In Rome, there is a Church on every corner. But even in the US there are cities/towns with numerous churches. Each of these moments is a catechetical moment, a chance to teach, to practice prayers.

...and now I have gone on too long. Sorry.

Honestly, I think you are doing what is right for this age group.  Just including your children in your faith and making it a part of your daily life is incredibly important. 
jen in ok

Arwen-

My son will be 21 months in two weeks so it looks as if he and Camilla aren’t too far apart in age.  I’m sure you know by now that your daughter is a sponge.  She wants to copy anything you do.  So my husband and I have found that this is the best way to teach him what being a Catholic is about before he’s ready to comprehend the more complex portions.

He 100% copies us when we genuflect, when we do the sign of the cross, and he knows when to say Amen.  All this without us having to tell him to do it.  His favorites are giving the sign of peace and singing Alleluia. 

But MY favorite is when we walk into church and he sees the huge crucifix behind the altar and yells, “HI Sheeshus!” as if He’s a long lost best friend.  And shouldn’t he think of Jesus that way anyway?  If he knows who Christ is and wants to be his friend, I think we’ve got a pretty good start.

I don’t know Arwen, I think it might be cute to hear how your daughter might pronounce “perichoresis.” I vote for you teaching Church doctrine on the Trinity.  Seriously though, it sounds like you’re doing a marvelous job.  To speak of our Lord to this age group is the most important thing. They haven’t developed our hang-ups (or the jadedness that even some eight years seem to have now a days) and are so beautifully open to hearing how much God loves them and what He wants for them.  Peace.  ~~~mary

I have three boys, ages 4, 2 1/2 and 1.  I’ve had the same questions too.  We try our best to live our faith at home.  Our four year old goes to preschool with the Carmelite Sisters, which I love!  Our 2 1/2 year old will go once he is potty trained, which we’re hoping will be soon...but that’s a whole other topic. 

What I have found difficult is trying to explain Jesus’ death.  My four year old came home one day and said, “Mommy, did you know Jesus dived?” Once I figured out what he meant, I tried my best to explain it, but he just looked so upset.  So I too wonder at times what to say and how to say it.  Thanks for posting this, I’ve enjoyed reading the comments.

We took our boys to church with us at a very early age to show them what church is all about!  And, had books, etc. to read to them and when they were of reading age they would read them and take them to church!  We would talk with them about the different things about our Catholic faith as their age permitted.  They grew up with the teaching of our religion every day!

Did you mean “transubstantiation”?  The Transfiguration is what happened to Jesus on the mountain, remember?

My daughter is almost two and a half, so I’ve had similar concerns.  Like some of the other mothers have said, I think at this age they learn by copying.  I have been pleasantly amazed that she points to the crucifix when I ask where Jesus is, pretty much knows the sign of the cross (sometimes she gets a little confused), and knows that we say prayers as a family at certain times like before meals and at night.  Sometimes she says the prayers with us.

Like Jenny’s son, my daughter likes to sing and the sign of peace.  It’s wonderful to see her participate, even if she doesn’t fully understand everything.

I invite you to check out First Heralds a blog some other Catholic mothers and I occasionally write at that is dedicated to the subject of catechizing toddlers.

I think the most important thing is to introduce them to incorporating prayer into their daily lives and giving them the chance to know the love of God by sharing in our love for Him. I don’t know how much toddlers understand but I know they love to repeat rituals and words we say, to look at pictures and to copy our actions. I think that watching them and how they interact with the world gives a solid foundation for understanding what they are capable of learning and doing.

Some things I do with my two year old--
I started doing many of these things when she was one and now they are very much habits:

1. I keep holy cards in my Liturgy of the Hours prayer book and when I sit down to pray she always asks for her cards. She loves to flip through them. At the end of prayers she brings the cards back to replace them in the book. We go through them one at a time and I say the name of the saint pictures and “Pray for us” and sometimes I read the prayer on the back of the card. She especially loves the pictures of Pope John Paul II whose birthday she shares and of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

2. When I’m praying I often try to choose one antiphon that seems easy for her to say and get her to repeat it after me. One I particularly remember is “The Cross of the Lord is the Tree of Life.” How beautiful to hear her repeating that all day!

3. We keep a holy water bottle and at bed time prayers we begin by having everyone in the family put holy water on their hands, make the sign of the cross and then bless everyone else by tracing a cross on their foreheads. I even guide the 5 month old baby’s hand in this. The two year old loves this and sometimes brings me the holy water bottle at other times of the day. I always stop to help her bless herself.

4. We say a Hail Mary when we hear sirens of a firetruck or ambulance. I started doing this when she was very little and now she does it automatically, reminding me when I forget. (She can’t say the whole prayer but she does say her version of it.)

5. When we pass a church I make the sign of the cross and say a little prayer. Also when we see a statue or picture of Mary or the saints. And when she plays with the cross and miraculous medal I wear around my neck, I’ve taught her to say, “Holy Mary pray for us,” and “Jesus I trust in you.”

6. We have several prayer books with pictures and she loves flipping through them with me and listening to me say prayers. Sometimes I find her flipping through them by herself saying her version of the Hail Mary, “Hail grace, womb, Jesus.” We made one prayer book ourselves by pairing the most common prayers we want her to learn with beautiful Catholic artwork I found online. She loves it.

The fact that after I have introduced her to a practice she continues to do it without my prompting and even reminds me when I forget, suggests to me that she has made it her own and it is meaningful to her.

Something that we have started doing before we pray our family rosary at night is have our 3 year old say some prayers of his own.  It has 3 parts.  First, we ask him to thank Jesus for things specific to the day, then we have him think of something he needs to tell Jesus sorry for from the day, and finally he tells Jesus he loves Him and good night.  I hope that this will help him to develop a habit of personal prayer as the years go by.

Mrs. H, you’re right!  I did mean transubstantiation - I must have made a typo.  I’ve fixed it now.  I do think it’s funny that I wrote transfiguration by accident on that particular day!  It being the feast, I must have had transfiguration on the brain.

Anyway, thanks for pointing out my mistake!

We belong to a parish with an incredible family catechesis program called Family Formation.  If you’re interested see http://www.familyformation.net or read a post on our family’s site, eccdom.blogspot.com under that title.  My children are very young (expecting number five in December and my oldest just turned six).  I’ve been amazed at the amount they can remember about the Faith--and they’ve taught me so much about loving Christ as a child does.  Our two-and-a-half-year-old can recite the St Michael prayer, Hail Mary, Our Father, and the prayers included in the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.  (And it’s NOT because we’re so amazing as parents about teaching our children, it’s because we pray aloud together as a family and she eventually began to chime in!) Their little minds can really soak in more than I ever imagined!

Catechizing our Children is something that has really come quite naturally to us.  Like you, I have a degree in theology.  As a teacher, I find that I am constantly teaching my little Christopher (who will be 2 in September) and my husband does the same.  It is all part of our efforts at creating a family “culture” that is centered around our Catholic Faith.  We talk to Christopher during Mass too - don’t worry about the giant terms, but rather focus on the reality of what is happening.  “Jesus is coming now.” As we get ready to go up for communion, we’ll say, “let’s go see Jesus.” (Side note:  have you ever noticed that a baby who is fussy will ALWAYS stop fussing when he gets to the front of the communion line and is face to face with Our Lord?  I have NEVER seen this not happen.) Anyway - we go to adoration on Fridays, and Christopher knows that we’re going to see Jesus and talk to him.  He knows that we bow before teh monstrance.  He blows kisses to our blessed Mother. 

I really think that it’s all in the culture that you create.  The in-depth catechesis will come with time.  It’s a developmental thing, and it works that way for all of us.

Another thing that we do is go over to Church during the week when it’s empty.  We talk to him about where we are (Jesus’ house) and about the saints and our blessed mother.  We wave at Jesus and blow kisses as we drive by.... Kids are so practical, and also so sensitive to the spiritual.  So I say, just keep talking to her.  You’ll be amazed at how much she’s taking in.