Every every for Lent, I like to have a creative activity for my kids to do – something more than just giving something up.
Since Lent is a season for reflection and preparation for Easter – and not just about fasting – there is great potential for exploring creative practices that will draw your whole family closer to God.
Here is a list of creative Lent ideas for kids that you can use to help your family grow closer to God as you prepare for Easter.
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Creative Lent Ideas for Kids
- Make a construction paper prayer chain.
- Use a good deeds jar for 40 days: put a lima bean into a mason jar for each good deed witness, and then exchange the lima beans for jelly beans on Easter.
- Use a thankfulness jar: count your blessings with pennies or nickles and donate the money to charity at Easter.
- Make a jelly bean jar: each day the kids earn a jelly bean of whatever colour they followed through on (green for good deeds, red for sacrifices….). This works great with the jelly bean prayer.
- Make resurrection rolls leading up to Easter: use some puff pastry and a marshmallow to tell the story of Easter.
- Read Easter books. The Jesus Storybook Bible is one of our favourite kid books about Jesus. It has some excellent Easter stories. You can also find some great Lent and Easter resources for kids below.
- Make empty tomb crafts. Like this craft using salt dough and pipe cleaners. Or make an empty tomb from a paper plate, or from donuts, cookies, and coconut.
This year, my kids and I are going to be working through a lot of the good vs evil, spiritual warfare imagery in the Bible for Lent: with crafts, activities, stories.
Since I have two almost-7-year-old boys who basically turn everything into a battle scene, we’re choosing to embrace and redeem that impulse this year and dive into the spiritual battles of Scripture. What better time to do that than Lent, when we remember Jesus’ battle with, and victory over, the devil?
Lent and Easter Books and Activities for Kids
These kid-sized devotionals and activity books will keep your children busy – and making room for God in their hearts – for the whole 40 days leading up to Easter.
You can also find a great collection of Easter storybooks for kids here.
 | Make Room: A Child’s Guide to Lent and Easter By Laura Alary / Paraclete Press Lent can be a difficult season for children. Unlike Advent, which is filled with delightful anticipation and growing light, Lent is a journey through dark and frightening places. Make Room presents Lent as a special time for creating a welcoming space for God by weaving together episodes from the life of Jesus with a child’s reflections on how these stories can shape their own choices and actions throughout the season.This book offers simple and practical activities like cleaning a room, making bread and soup, turning off the television, clearing clutter, or inviting a neighbor for supper, that encourage kids to learn how to live like Jesus. |
 | Every Day Of Lent and Easter: A Book of Activities for Children, Year A By Liguori Publications Every Day of Lent and Easter, Year A is the perfect resource for teaching children in grades 1 to 3 the meaning of Lent and Easter. This 48-page booklet is packed with games, puzzles, mazes, and other fun activities that instruct about the traditions of the season and provide opportunities for kids to practice penance, prayer, and almsgiving. |