In my previous post I wrote some of my thoughts and practice for Lent this year, as well as the resource we are using in our family called the Jesus Tree. You can read that here.

In this post, I list some more ideas that families and/or churches might consider for Lent and Easter.

An Illustrated Lent for Families contains devotionals, activity sheets and colouring sheets for families to journey through Lent together. The resources from Illustrated Children’s Ministry have theological depth, are beautifully illustrated, engaging and affordable!

Prayer Chains are a simple and effective way to visually count down the days of the lenten season while also providing daily prayer prompts. All that is really required is paper and the ideas for prayer! You could use this free, downloadable Prayer Chain Resource from The Purposeful Mom. Or you might want to create your own. One year I created one assigning a name of a child/family and my volunteers to each day and I used that as my own personal lenten prayer activity. Another idea is to plan a family or intergenerational prayer chain event in which you provide 20 strips of paper that have prayer prompts already printed on them and 20 that are blank. Families and/or individuals come up with the other 20 prayer prompts and assemble the chains.

Here is a great idea to prepare and distribute to the families in your church. This tangible resource could provide a lot of very meaningful faith discussions and be a great way to encourage and support your families as they disciple their children.  Full details for Lent in a Bag from Building Faith

There are some great ideas for things that kids could do throughout the Lenten season on this post: 40 Acts of Lenten Love by Homeschool with Love. Perhaps this might even give you some ideas of your own!

Here is a fantastic visual resource you could print out and give to families. This free printable Lent Calendar can be found at Never the Same Thing Twice

Another great idea that you could either do as part of children’s ministry at the beginning of Lent or give to parents as idea to try at home is using pretzels. Perhaps you want to bake pretzels together or you could purchase them and tell the story of the creation of the pretzel. There are lots of opportunities to develop some great object lessons from this. It could even be something that you use each week throughout Lent as a visual and snack that prompts prayer times in your children’s ministry. Check out Pretzels for Lent for some ideas and a free recipe/prayer card to download.

Resurrection Eggs are a popular resource for teaching kids about the Easter story using objects that correspond to Scriptures contained in easter eggs. One year Walmer Road Baptist hosted a Preparing for Easter family event where families were invited to create their own set of Resurrection Eggs.

Here is a simplified version of the Resurrection Eggs idea that would be great for young children.

A few more ideas to get you thinking…

Read about a great idea that Queensway Baptist Church shared of their Intergenerational Easter

This free, downloadable Easter story wreath craft from wee little miracles is a great way to teach the Easter story to kids and is a fun activity for them to create.

I loved the idea of creating a Resurrection Garden when I first came across the idea. One year I developed my preschool lesson on Palm Sunday to include kids making their own mini Resurrection Garden based on idea from here.  I purchased wheat grass seeds from the health food store because it grows quite quickly. We covered the seeds with wet paper towels and I did spray them a couple times throughout the week. The following week, Easter Sunday kids were so surprised to see their gardens and it provided a great visual for the Easter lesson I had prepared!

What are some ideas you have tried in your church or family for making Lent a meaning experience?