Three Ways Catholic Scouting Religious Activities Can Help You Plan Lessons

Written by Theresa Dirig, Chair of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting (NCCS) Religious Activities Committee

Catholic school educators planning for the next school year may want to know about a FREE faith-focused series of activities that help students learn about the Catholic faith and provide real-life examples of ways to engage with each lesson.

You can use Catholic Scouting Religious Activities to supplement your lessons as you see fit!

  1. Catholic Scouting offers eight series of Religious Activities lessons PLUS a special Religious Activity focused on the Eucharistic Revival–totaling more than 50 individual activity programs. Incorporate any or all of these Religious Activities into your lesson planning!
  2. Each Religious Activity features a downloadable informational sheet that serves as a teaching aid with learning opportunities, hands-on exercises and links to additional related resources, with different options for various age levels of students. As an example, here is the downloadable teaching aid for Blessed Carlo Acutis, a teen who will soon be canonized.
  3. You can download and use any Religious Activities and order patches for students who complete an activity. A person doesn’t need to be a Scout to earn a Religious Activity patch. Download this handy overview of all the Religious Activities along with images of their patches.

While using these resources last December, a teacher taught lessons about Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe and gave each student a patch for completing each activity. The students showed their parents the patches they earned, and later that night the teacher received numerous calls. Parents wanted to know more about Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe, so the teacher sent home the teaching aid to help parents learn about them. The teacher taught lessons about a different Religious Activity each month through the rest of the school year and continued sharing the teaching aid so parents could learn more at home.

Want to order patches for activities you plan to have students complete during the upcoming school year? Use the code “NCEA2024” in the NCCS shop which gives teachers a 33 percent discount on any Religious Activity patch or American Saints trading cards through the end of September 2024.

Have questions about Catholic Scouting resources or want to explore starting a unit at your Catholic parish or school? Contact us using this quick and easy inquiry form.

Catholic Scouting is a program of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting (NCCS) and is the only Scouting program sanctioned by both the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and Boy Scouts of America (BSA). NCCS is a Church committee of concerned Catholic laity and clergy, which is advisory to the BSA and relates to the USCCB through its Episcopal Liaison. NCCS-sponsored Catholic Scouting is the only Scouting program sanctioned by both the USCCB and BSA. There are nearly 100,000 Catholic Scouts in more than 5,000 units led by nearly 40,000 Catholic Scouting leaders across the U.S. Find out more about Catholic Scouting.