After reading Take Back Your Family by Jefferson Bethke, it’s been a big goal to create a family culture in our home. So when I thought about Lent coming up this year, I knew I’d need to plan ahead a little more than usual trying to figure out what Lent study or book I’d read.
Years ago, Vivi made a step of faith during Easter week. This has stayed with me and I never want to blow past such a sweet opportunity to share the Gospel with Vana in multiple ways this season.
So I went on the hunt for some ideas to think about the Lent season as a family. I scoured Pinterest and I’ve basically curated a very non-DIY list of Lent resources. So if you’re like me and all the printing and supplies kinda paralyze you, I think you’ll appreciate this list!
And if you’re looking for something to add to your personal devotional time this Lent, check out our free Lent Prayer Guide!
ASH WEDNESDAY
1. Give up something together.
This is pretty basic Lent stuff but I am oddly excited to go through this season of really recognizing what we’ve been saved from. It’s a somber time but one I’m grateful to have as a rhythm in my year because it’s easy for the gravity of Jesus’ death and resurrection to lose its meaning to those who’ve talked about it for decades.
I want to talk as a family about this. I think it may be TV during the week or desserts after dinner or takeout. I’ll have some ideas, but I want this to be a family decision.
ANYTIME
2. Read through the Gospels before bed.
I’m still trying to find the right resource for this that pairs reading straight from our Bibles and a little devotion. Two I’ve found are here and here.
3. Make pretzels.
What do pretzels have to do with Lent? The tradition goes back to the 5th century and there’s actually quite a few stories that could be fun to share about this tradition so definitely research and see what you’d like to share with your kids! Because of the simple list of ingredients, this was something eaten during the Lenten season and the folded parts of the bread are like folded arms for prayer. See this post for more history as well as a recipe!
4. Take a virtual tour of Jerusalem.
Search YouTube for videos of places Jesus walked to help make it come alive to your kids. We shared several photos of key spots from the final week of Jesus’ life on the blog last year. I mentioned how impactful The Passion of the Christ was for me when I saw it as a teenager. So often when we share the Easter story with our kids, it’s easy to forget it’s not just like the fictional stories we read about.
PALM SUNDAY
5. Talk through Resurrection Eggs
As I already mentioned, this list is for the mom who might be like me and all the crafts tend to paralyze you and make you do nothing at all. I’ve seen tons of DIY ways to talk through Easter but if that gives you hives, just grab Resurrection Eggs (they literally say over a million sold so you aren’t alone! 😜) You can obviously find them on Amazon but if you want to support a Christian chain, Mardels has them for ½ the price right now!
MAUNDY THURSDAY
6. Have a foot-washing ceremony.
Read the story of the night before Jesus’ death including when Jesus washes the disciples’ feet (John 13:1–17) and have your own foot-washing ceremony. This blog post shares how to talk about it and questions to ask after.
GOOD FRIDAY
7. Have time of silence.
From the hours of 12-3pm (representing when Jesus died) have a time of silence. For small children (or teenagers, honestly) this might look like no technology instead of no actual words spoken.
8. Make hot cross buns.
Good Food Ireland blog says “They are symbolic of this significant day in the Christian faith when Jesus was crucified. Each bun is decorated with a cross made from flour paste, which represents the cross on which Christ died. The spices in hot cross buns are said to represent the spices that were used to embalm Christ after his death.”
RESURRECTION SUNDAY
9. Have an Easter egg hunt.
I saw an idea mentioned here to hide puzzle pieces of Jesus in the eggs (along with candy if you like!) and at the end, they put together the puzzle and it’s a picture of Jesus! This miiiight be really cheesy but we’re giving it a try this year! The Woerner gals love a good puzzle and I think getting a glimpse of Jesus beyond their books will be great!
Not too overwhelming right?? What other ideas do you have for a low-key but impactful Lenten season?
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Comments (4)
When I was younger me and my siblings would make resurrection cookies with our family. It was a tradition that I still remember to this day. Each step of the making the cookies is tied to a part of the Easter story. When you are finish making the dough you put them in the preheated oven (that is then turned off) overnight and then on Easter morning they are ready to eat and hollow inside to represent the empty tomb. I would highly recommend this process if anyone has younger kids. If you search “resurrection cookies” you can find lots are articles explaining the process. After a quick search myself I found the following links that looked pretty comprehensive: https://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/resurrection-cookies-easter-scripture-eggsactivity-day-idea/ and https://www.theidearoom.net/easter-story-cookies. I don’t know what exact article my mom used but any of these should work!
I’m so glad you shared this Brooke! Such a great idea and I love that it’s something you remembered doing as a kid!
These are great, Val! Thank you for rounding them up! 🙂
Thanks Emily! I’ve been meaning to tell you how refreshing your blog has been to read!! It reminds me of the old school style, no pretense, just sharing your life and what you learn and I can’t get enough!!