Start with their names and their faces. That’s it. You don’t need a curriculum or a master plan. Just point to an icon and say, “This is Saint Nicholas. He loved Jesus and helped poor people.”
Kids learn saints the same way they learn about grandparents they’ve never met, through stories, pictures, and hearing you talk about them like they’re real people who matter. Because they are. The saints aren’t dead historical figures we study. They’re alive in Christ, part of our family, praying for us right now.
Make It Part of the Day
The best way to teach children about saints is to weave them into your regular rhythm. Read a short saint story at breakfast or before bed. Ancient Faith has a “Saint of the Day” podcast that’s maybe two minutes long. Play it in the car on the way to school. Your six-year-old doesn’t need to remember all the details. She just needs to hear that there was a woman named Saint Mary of Egypt who struggled and repented and became holy. That holiness is possible. That the Church is full of people who found their way to God.
When it’s a saint’s feast day, acknowledge it. Light a candle. Sing the troparion if you know it. Bake something special if you’re feeling ambitious, but even just saying “Today is Saint Michael’s feast, he’s the one our church is named after” plants a seed.
Little kids need concrete details. Saint Stylianos loved children. Saint George fought a dragon (yes, really, though what the dragon represents is another conversation). Saint Nicholas punched a heretic and also gave secret gifts to poor families. Pick one or two facts and let them stick. You can fill in the theology later.
Icons Are Your Teaching Tools
Put icons where your kids can see them. Not just on a shelf they can’t reach, down at eye level. Let them touch the icons, kiss them, ask questions about the pictures. Icons teach theology without words. The gold background means heaven. The saint’s face is peaceful because they’re with God. The objects they’re holding tell you something about their life.
When your four-year-old asks why that lady is holding a cross, you get to say, “That’s Saint Thekla. She was so brave. She loved Jesus even when people tried to hurt her.” You’re teaching courage and faithfulness without a lecture.
Age Makes a Difference
Preschoolers need short, simple stories with clear pictures. Elementary kids can handle longer narratives and start connecting saints to virtues, Saint Xenia’s kindness to the poor, Saint John Chrysostom’s beautiful preaching, Saint Photini’s boldness in talking about Jesus. Middle schoolers can read fuller lives and start seeing the saints as people who struggled with real temptations and doubts.
Teenagers often need something different. They need to see that saints weren’t plaster figurines. They were people who screwed up, got angry, doubted, failed, and repented. Saint Moses the Black was a gang leader before he became a monk. Saint Mary of Egypt spent years in serious sin before her conversion. Teens respect honesty about struggle.
The Antiochian Department of Christian Education has resource lists with books and activities sorted by age. Check your parish library or ask your church school director. There are printable saint fact sheets, craft ideas, even board games that help kids learn feast days and stories.
Let Them See You Ask for Prayers
Kids learn what they see you do. If you ask Saint Seraphim to pray for you when you’re anxious, your children learn that the saints are our friends who help us. If you never mention the saints except in church school, they’ll think saints are just a religious education topic.
Before a test: “Saint John, pray for Sarah as she takes her math test.” When someone’s sick: “Holy Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damian, ask Jesus to heal Grandma.” When you’re traveling during hurricane season here in Southeast Texas: “Saint Nicholas, protect us on the road.” Simple, direct, natural.
Your kids will start doing it on their own. And when your eight-year-old asks Saint Anthony to help him find his lost shoe, that’s not superstition. That’s communion with the Church.
Don’t Overthink It
You’re not trying to produce miniature theologians. You’re introducing your children to their family. The saints are the people who’ve gone before us, who know the way, who cheer us on. Tell their stories. Show their icons. Pray their prayers. Let your kids see that the Church isn’t just the building on Eleventh Street, it stretches back through centuries and forward into eternity, and we’re part of it right now, today, with all these others who loved Jesus and still do.
