Engaging your kiddos during Lent may be something new for you, but we’re here to help!
Essentially, Lent is a 40-day observance leading to Holy Week and Easter. The purpose of participating and engaging in this time of preparation is to come closer to Jesus – and it’s a great time to engage your kids in some fresh, new ways of processing their faith!
The links below include 10 ideas aimed at helping you experience this season of Lent with focus, intentionality, and being open to the work of God in your lives as a family.
1. Make a Lent countdown chain or a construction paper prayer chain.
2. Each week, take part in a *family-friendly recipe, discussion questions, and picture book recommendations. A great way for the whole family to experience the beauty of the Bread of Life. (*purchase required)
3. Read Easter books. The Jesus Storybook Bible and The Easter Story are a couple of our favorites. Check out your library, local bookstore, or Amazon for these and others!
4. Make resurrection rolls leading up to Easter: use some puff pastry and a marshmallow to tell the story of Easter.
5. Serve 40 ways in 40 days! These could be in grand acts of service or simple acts of kindness. Check out this link on 100 Acts of Kindness for Kids for some ideas big and small.
6. Create a Lent Art Journal by reading portions of the Easter story over the next 40 days and then art journal in response to what was read. These can be DIY, or are available at the Kids Min resource area!
7. Get them involved. Ask them how they would like to observe Lent and use their ideas. Kids are more likely to be into something where they have heard and validated ideas, and sometimes, they are way better than anything we could come up with.
8. Print out this 40 day Lent Calendar with activities to engage the whole family, or pick one up at the Kids Min counter!
9. Use these made-for-you lessons from now through Easter. Each lesson provides an engaging opening, an explanation of the theme, a prayer, and an extension activity for further play.
10. Fast with your kids by doing an all-family fast. Whether it’s choosing not to go out to eat or drinking only water – do something to ease them into the idea of fasting. And remember: Sundays are feast days, so you can break from the fast each week.
Two things to to remember about fasting with your kids:
- Talk often about the reason your family is giving something up. It is not to punish yourself, but rather to empty yourself so that a reliance, focus, and filling up is coming from Christ.
- Something helpful to consider from Bible teacher and author Erin H. Moon: “I don’t recommend forcing your child to give something up, mainly because a forced fast is just abstaining under duress. There’s no soul work happening when I tell my three-year-old he’s not allowed to play with trucks for 46 days. Well, there’s soul work happening, but it’s my soul and that’s not the point. If your child is curious about fasting, let them take the lead on it. Don’t force, don’t mandate, don’t cajole. Your kids will be naturally curious about the thing you are doing, so let that behavior guide the conversation.”
Another fun way to engage your kids is through this Spotify Playlist – full of songs about the parables!
Additional Easter books…
- Petook: An Easter Story written by Caryll Houselander and illustrated by Tomie dePaola
Unfortunately, this book is out of print, but you can watch a read aloud on YouTube if you have difficulty finding the book secondhand. - The Story of the Easter Robin written by Dandi Daley Mackall and illustrated by Anna Voitech
Purchase a copy here. - That Grand Easter Day! written by Jill Roman Lord and illustrated by Alessia Trunfio
Purchase a copy here. Contains lots of repetition for little ones.
Whatever you choose to do, our Kids Min Team is praying for you as you stoke the faith of your child— in the big and the small ways! These are sweet and sacred days and we are honored to get to walk with you in them.
