12 Awesome Lent Activities for Kids
During Lent, you have an opportunity to have your kids participate in some of the best activities in their lifetime. Sun Valley states that ‘Lent is derived from Old English Language that means the ‘springtime.’ Christians should fast for 40 days during this event as Jesus Christ did. The purpose of observing Lent is to encourage Christians to observe the death and resurrection of Jesus.
As years progressed, different individuals and Christians observed Lent in different ways. Some activities are suited for kids and adults. In this article, we shall look at the 12 Lent activities that kids can get involved.
12. Make an Empty Dough Tomb Craft
You realize that Easter is a few days away. The death and resurrection of Jesus largely feature during the Lent season. To give your kid a clear understanding of the event, you can make them make an empty dough craft. To make the dough more attractive, the kid only needs 2 cups of flour, 3/4 cup of warm water, 1/2 cup of salt, and a few drops of black (or your preferred color).
The procedure is simple: you place a glass bowl on a cookie sheet upside down and roll out the dough to make a tomb-shaped figure. Bake the oven-shaped dough for some time and place it on a white sheet when it is ready. Ensure that it has a special opening that looks like a door. The ‘tomb’ closing dough can have Biblical messages embedded to make it more attractive. The activity is very involving and requires parental guidance.
11. Observe the Passover
Through the observation of the Passover, your kids get to understand the Liberation of the Jews from the reported exploitation by the Egyptians. During these suppers, the kids are reminded of their Christian values and why they should appreciate Jesus. At the event, people will drink 4 cups of wine each, have meals, the story tells, and even sing.
Stories of self-liberation are told during these feasts. They can predict when Lent shall be held from different churches’ common understanding and agreement. In 20022, it was celebrated on April 15, while in 2023, it is expected to take place on April 5 to 13th, and in 2024, April 22 to 30th. By taking your kids to these events, you empower them to understand the dynamics of the Passover and why it is held.
10. Building a Candle Lenten Cross
Kids that can make a Lenten Cross feel almost the same as those who have the Advent wreath. They do so by putting candles on their tables and lighting one week in a week out until they get to Easter time. It is not a must that the candles appear like a cross; they can even be circular on in a liner position. To make it more significant, the kid should ensure the color of each candle matches the specific Sunday.
Traditionally, the Lenten Cross is made from the Christmas tree. According to Catholic Icing, for you to come up with a Candle Lantern Cross, you need to have trays that can hold some sand. (The sand represents the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness). You can use a simple tray and fill it with sand. Using candle jars, you can hold candles of different colors to mark different Lent Sundays. The exercise also made the kid appreciate color-matching activities.
9. Practice Being Present
Concentration for kids is a huge challenge, especially when engaging with others. The Lent season demands that we should pay a lot of attention to what others are saying or what they have to offer. To improve in this skill, kids can learn to converse when they are not engaged in any other distractive activities, such as talking to others when they are not on the phone, avoiding mainstream media news when they are discussing a topic, or even choosing not to read any newspapers at that time.
Children who do so shall have their reasoning from being influenced by their external world, and they can examine their ability to reason independently. Parents should also take the chance and ask their opinions on different matters to test their independent reasoning on Christian and general matters. ‘Practicing Being Patient’ also helps kids improve their concentration in school.
8. Making Their Rooms or Homes a Desert
Lent is celebrated to signify 40 days of suffering for Jesus in the wilderness. Kids can appreciate the event by reducing the items in their rooms and creating a desert-like environment. Emptying their closets, removing posters from the walls, keeping rugs and comforters away, and throwing away toys that have overstayed or outfits that are no longer needed to signify the creation of such an environment.
Kids can bring other activities, such as fasting, to their rooms. They can also remove excess plants if they have them in their rooms. The idea is to create a scenario in which the child has a Jesus-like feeling while in the wilderness.
7. Bake Pretzels
Before the recent changes facing the Church, Pretzels were only made for Lent. The simple cakes were made out of flour, water, and salt. Main meals such as meat, eggs, and dairy products were prohibited. However, in some modern communities, they are baked as common means. The simplicity of the ingredients used simplified attention and commitment. The activity is fit for kids between 11 and the age of maturity. Besides parental guidance, you require only a package of yeast, 1 and 1/2 cups of warm water, salt, sugar, flour, and egg to bake the cake.
Following a step-by-step recipe in the Catholic Rising, you shall come up with the best Pretzel cake. Besides being an alternative Lent meal, you share benefits from the cake’s calories (34.6%), sodium, carbohydrates, protein, fatty, and amino acids. For true Christians, this is a meal they should have only during Lent though it can be served in some hotels as the main course.
6. Making Prayer Chains
Prayer chains are more suitable for kids who have improved their praying skills and understand how to pray for different needs. The activity involves identifying an individual with a special prayer need and creating a list of people who can help pray for that person. The first step towards the creation of a prayer chain is deciding the persons whom you should include in the prayer chain. These should be persons who are dependable and available.
Using a website like the Caring Bridge, you can post and send prayer requests to persons with different spiritual needs. After receiving the prayer need, you can pass them to your ‘spiritual seniors’ or place them before your prayer chain for effective action. As you engage in all these activities, ensure that you maintain privacy and the right of reply for persons who could have forwarded their prayer needs through you.
5. Writing Thank Notes to Spiritual Leaders
Your kids have persons who are dedicated to teaching them spiritual matters. They can be your immediate church pastor or their Sunday School teachers. These are the persons responsible for ensuring that they master Lent and all other activities and must be appreciated. Kids can make specially designed thank notes dedicated to these spiritual leaders. The notes can include letters or hand-drafted thanks cards. Through the thank notes, kids express their appreciation to their leaders.
They can also use them to give their opinions on the activities they would like to engage in before Lent’s end. It is also a rare opportunity to test your kid’s creativity and writing abilities. Ensure that your kid’s thanks note stands out by having your kid quote some relevant Bible verses. In addition, they should not send them on the last days of Lent to enable the recipients to respond within the same period.
4. 40 Bags in 40 Days
The Vintage House Wife introduces the 40 Bags in 40 days as an activity that involves filling a bag in the 40 days of Lent with stuff that the kid no longer wants. They should involve all family members if you want the exercise to be more interesting. Parents can choose bags of different sizes for each day until Lent is over. Each bag can be made for specific items.
For example, on the first day, the bags may be with adult clothes, while on the following day, they may be dedicated to kids only. At the end of the 40 days, you can have bags stuffed with different items you can give out. You can also give them out to a religious or non-profit organization that best identifies the people needing the bags. The activity helps in helping children identify the items they should give out.
3. Reading Easter Books
Lent comes just three days before the Easter Holidays. Reading these books will help your kid understand the correlation between the two Christian events. According to Pioneer Woman, some of the best Easter holiday books are: A Spoonful of Faith, The Berenstain Bears Meet the Easter Bunny, Little Critter: It’s Easter, Little Critter, Happy Easter, Curious George and The Story of Easter among others. Al, these books are suitable for kids and your family.
They help in giving your family a chance to share possible Easter events during the Lent period. They not only help in teaching your kids to transition from lent to Easter but also help in preparing them on how they should behave and conduct themselves. A clear understanding of the relationship between the events shall help your kids grow their Christian faith in a coordinated and co-related manner. It is also one of the best ways to keep your kids engaged in educational material during Lent.
2. Learn How to Give Out Something
Forty days of Lent are a long period. You can take advantage of the Lent season and teach your kids how they should give out something during the Lenten period or on the social Fridays allocated for Lent. Kids can gift their meals or personal belongings with the option to stay indoors and give out things they could have used. The main idea behind giving out is to teach children that there are other members of the societies who are vulnerable, and they appreciate our daily blessings. Parents who deliver gifts to places such as the children’s homes should have their kids accompany them to impact the salving culture on them.
1. Learn to Pray
Praying is an active process that we must teach our children from one age to another. It’s usually assumed that only parents should know how to pray. However, it is supposed to be an activity for all. During Lent, parents have at least 40 days, excluding Sundays, to educate their children on how they should pray. The 40 Prayers in 40 Days is a printable prayer card that can cost you an average of $4.99, and it will teach your kid how to pray.
Their colorful design attracts your kid to study the prayers therein. Each family has the liberty to request a specific design that they feel that it best suits their kids. You can also order improved cards that enable their kids to learn more complicated prayers. This is a gradual process that should be taken up on each level.
In Conclusion
Lent is one of the most important activities among Catholic Christians. The activities provided above will make your kid very busy during the period. For non-Catholics, you can choose one of the activities and help your kids understand the alternative faiths. As seen in the various activities, they are also some of the best ways to prepare for Easter. Each activity has its complexities and requirements; we advise that you first study them before choosing them for your kid. Where parental guidance is required, kindly avail yourself, and your kid’s Lent shall be one of the best.
You can also read:
- 15 Awesome Holi Activities for Kids
- 20 Awesome Palm Sunday Kids Activities
- 20 Awesome Ramadan Activities for Kids
- 20 Mindfulness Activities For Your Teen
