At our morning meetup in February, we talked about what we can be doing to celebrate Lent and Easter well with our children and young people. Have a look at the list below for a range of ideas of resources that we talked through.
As you’re planning what to do with those in your community, we want to encourage you to alleviate any pressure you might be feeling for this season to have all the bells and whistles. Lockdown is hard on all of us in different ways so be kind to yourself as you plan. There are a lot of great ideas and resources here which could be a bit overwhelming to take in as you decided what to do. Before you look, why not take a minute to work out the 2 or 3 values you want to overarch what you do. For example, screen free, family focused and flexible. Or story focused, interactive and daily. You can’t do it all so having these 2 or 3 things will help you sift through the good idea to find what’s going to be great for you in your context.
Happy planning!
Ideas for Lent
- 40 Days of Kindness calendar – Send out this wall chart or make your own to encourage kindness in your community.
- Lent in a bag – Pack a bag per-family with ideas and a gift to encourage families to engage with Lent. Together at Home have a booklet that you could use or adapt to go in this.
- Roots on the web – liturgically based Lent resources for all ages
- Children’s Society – includes video talks, discussion questions, activities and prayers for small groups. Designed for online use.
- Easter Countdown Calendar – Godventure – A calendar with stories of Jesus and stickers to count down through Lent. Costs £6.50 but also available in packs of 10 or 20.
- Lent Prayer Garden – Hope and Ginger – A calendar aimed at slightly older children than the one from Godventure, who already know the Easter story. There are still stickers(!) and an opportunity to pray each day. Costs £12.50
- The Hope Filled Family – 30 different resources for families during Lent
- adventureswithgod.life – Includes resources for home, collective worship, services/small groups and a community trail.
- Broken Bits & Weirdness (Find it on Amazon for £8.99) – Meet nine of the Bible’s most dismal failures and find out how God still loves them. Explore their stories through Bible notes, craft, cooking, outdoors activities, mindfulness colouring, and lots of other imaginative resources.
- #LiveLent 2021: God’s Story, Our Story from the Church of England national team – A ‘family challenge’ for each day throughout Lent.
- Raise money for the Diocesan Lent Appeal as a church or group of young people
Ideas for Easter
- 10 ideas for Easter for children, families and young people, at home and in the community
- Roots on the Web – Holy Week worship resource
- Together at Home – Lent and Easter resources
And finally here’s a Facebook group you can join with lots of other Lent, Holy Week and Easter ideas!