This past Sunday, our Sunday School classes helped prepare our kids for Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent. We gave all the kids a really cool Lenten Calendar from the website catholicicing.com. Here's the link: http://catholicicing.com/printable-lenten-calendar-for-kids/ - She says its her most popular download of all time on her blog. I can see why. It's a great tool for walking through Lent with kids!
During the children's message, we "buried the Alleluia" for the season. I had a banner that says "Alleluia" which we've put in a box and tied it up, not to be opened until Easter. It's one of those children's messages that might have sounded better than it turned out - but we'll see. There's something pretty neat about having that box with the "Alleluia" up front, tied up - a great visual reminder of the season.The kids got to help hold the banner and put the box on the altar table.And we'll pull it back out on Easter and hopefully have it displayed throughout the Easter Season.These are just a couple of things that we've done as a church community. But families can also observe Lent at home. There are plenty of ideas online (how did we survive without Pinterest?!) from making a Lenten tree (very similar to a Jesse Tree during Advent) to suggestions for things to give up or take on. One of the ideas I really loved was 40 bags for 40 days - decluttering the house, cleaning out the excess. Here's one person's list:
With all the good ideas out there for observing Lent as a family, what will your family do during these 40 days? How will you celebrate this season and prepare your family and your homes for Easter?
