My oldest daughter is only five, so I don’t expect her to draw up a long list of sacrifices. However, it’s my firm belief that even the smallest children can begin their journey to the cross with Jesus during Lent. Here are a few ways I make this liturgical season come alive for my little ones (and I’d love to have others share how they approach Lent with their kids as well):
1. We give up sweets as a family except on Sundays and special saints’ feast days. I know this is cliche, but it’s an easy sacrifice for kids to understand. It’s also a good way to detox from all the sweets we scarfed down back in December. Now I consider myself an understanding mother, so I allow my children to savor their last treat on Fat Tuesday. (Who am I kidding? I NEED the last hooray for myself.) So on Tuesday night we’ll be eating ice cream for dinner. It’s our feast before the fast, and Madeline looks forward to it every year (I score some serious cool points for serving ice cream for dinner).
2. We have a tradition of making Lenten Sacrifice Mice. We tie a knot in each mouse’s tail for every act of kindness my children perform during Lent (without Mom’s prodding, of course). By Easter, the mouse should have a short, knotty tail. Since young children are tactile and visual, telling them to do good deeds or make sacrifices in honor of Jesus may not be enough. A visual reminder they can touch is helpful. Plus, you have to admit these little guys are pretty cute.
In the past, we’ve made two-dimensional, felt critters. This year I got a little more creative and helped the little ones in our homeschooling group make these mice. All you need are baby socks (now you have something to do with all those lonely socks that lost their mate), stuffing (you can find this at a craft store), googly eyes, pink felt, yarn, small pink pom-poms, and a permanent black marker. Let little hands fill the mouse with stuffing. Then tie a tail around the end to close it up. Allow kids to glue on the eyes, pom-pom nose, and ears, and draw the whiskers.
3. We also plan on making another Lenten Lamb to countdown the days until Easter. This idea is courtesy of Karen Edmisten. She has a great post with other ideas on how to make Lent more meaningful for young children.
4. Last year we started praying the Stations of the Cross at home every Friday. Here’s what we’re doing to bring the stations into our home: I light a candle and then I read a brief description of each station, say a prayer, and finally ask my daughters to find an object from a small box. The small objects symbolize each station and provide something visual and tangible for the girls to hold in their hands.
I’m using the following objects to represent each station:
Station 1
Pilate condemns Jesus: A red string (because Jesus’ hands were bound)
Station 2
Jesus carries his cross: A cross made from two Popsicle sticks
Station 3
Jesus falls for the first time: A Band-Aid (to remind us of how much Jesus was hurting when he fell)
Station 4
Jesus meets his Mother: A rosary (to remind us of Our Blessed Mother, the pain she endured watching her son suffer, and that she remains close to Jesus even now and can bring our prayers, joys, and sorrows to him)
Station 5
Simon helps Jesus carry the cross: A small piece of white felt with the letter “H” drawn on it (“H” stands for “help” and is a reminder that we should always seek to help others)
Station 6
Veronica wipes Jesus’ face: A cloth with a drawing of Jesus’ face on it (here we discuss how we must reach out to others and see Jesus in all things)
Station 7
Jesus falls for the second time: Another Band-Aid
Station 8
Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem: A tissue (to remind us that Jesus is always here to comfort us and to wipe our tears away)
Station 9
Jesus falls for the third time: a cutout of my daughter’s hand made of cardstock (serves as a reminder for us to lend a helping hand to those who fall since we could not be there to lift Jesus up when he stumbled)
Station 10
Jesus is stripped: A piece of purple felt (the piece of cloth represents Jesus’ garments. I chose purple since this is the liturgical color for repentance and preparation. We talk about how Lent is a time to prepare for the joy of the resurrection.)
Station 11
Jesus is nailed to the cross: A nail
Station 12
Jesus dies: A small crucifix
Station 13
Jesus is taken down from the cross: A postcard of Michelangelo’s Pieta (we talk about the sorrow Mary must have felt holding her dead son in her arms and yet, she remained faithful, believing in God’s eternal promise)
Station 14
Jesus is buried: A stone (to remind us of the sealed tomb that enclosed Jesus’ body)
Station 15
Christ rises from the dead: A picture of our Risen Lord resplendent in his victory over death!
*UPDATE: My aunt, a former homeschooling mom whose kids are grown up now, shared this idea with me and I adapted it for my family. I was unaware that a father came up with this idea and his family shared it over at the 4 Real Forum. Here’s a link to it. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. :) Also, one of my fave bloggers, Michelle of Rosetta Stone, wrote a great Stations of the Cross for Kids.
5. Other plans: We’re signed up for the Holy Heroes Lenten Adventure. This is more for my five-year-old, but both girls enjoyed watching the videos and making the Jesse Tree ornaments during the Advent Adventure.
I’d like to incorporate some ideas from Pinewood Castle’s Lent Circle Time, too.
Muttering Mother passed along this helpful website (based out of the United Kingdom). I downloaded the children’s Count Your Blessings program, and plan to help my oldest daughter rise up to the challenges like giving up television for a day.
Catholic Mom also has an entire webpage devoted to children’s Lenten activities (HT: Catholic Mommy Brain).
I think this is a good start, no?
More resources for celebrating different seasons in the liturgical year can be found in this great book.
Anyone else have any good ideas or resources to help children embrace the season of Lent?
—
This is an older post, but I’m now linking it to the wonderful Lenten Link-Up over at Catholic Icing. There are tons of great ideas over there on how to make the most of this liturgical season with your family. Be sure to check all the posts and resources over there.
Thanks for this….this is a fabulous resource link!!!! I love all your ideas, or link of ideas!
Much love!
Thanks for posting all these ideas! I'm definitely going to use some!
Thanks for sharing your links, I'm going to be checking them out. :) I'm mostly a "lurker" around here…but wanted to share some ideas I had for Lent with my kiddos in this post here:
http://candacemercyisnew.blogspot.com/2010/02/lent-plans_10.html
One thing we are doing this year is extra jobs around the house for coins…that will go to Haiti. I think my young children will really grasp this and get into the whole spirit of giving in this way!!
What a great list! I'm not sure my kids would notice an absence of candy and sweets during Lent, we have them so rarely. I love the idea of the Stations of the Cross box and the sacrifice mice (so cute!).
These are such great ideas! My little guy (8 months) is a little too young for them now but I'm saving this for future reference.
Thanks!
I am mightily impressed with your list. And those mice, they really ARE adorable. What a great idea. My kids are 4, 7, 9, 12 and 14. You'd think I would have had a long list like yours of helpful Lenten ideas built up over the years, but alas, I do not. I definitely will reference your blog, though, in a future post. Finally, I'll be interviewing Karen E. on our local Catholic radio station in the morning (9:30 CST), so if you head over to either her or my blog, you'll be directed to the link where you can catch us live if you have the time. Blessings in the week ahead, especially with Lent peeking round the bend.
Candace, thanks so much for sharing your ideas. Can't wait to check them out.
Roxane, do you regularly host a radio show? So cool, and I love Karen E. I'll have to see if I can tune in.
Amy, I was a planner like you. When my first was still a baby, I started clipping and stashing ideas for throughout the year and filed them by month. It seemed a little silly at the time, but now I'm so glad I did it. God bless!
What an awesome list. Thank you so much!!!
Thank you for sharing the list and additional resources.
Kate,
These ideas are fantastic, and I really needed them! Thanks for sharing!
Peace,
Jennifer
Finally, mate-less baby socks will have a purpose!
I love Lent. Even as a little girl I tohught of Ash Wednesday as a day to draw nearer to the Lord, a fresh start, a true New Year’s Day! This was a beautiful post, and I loved the Doug Wilson post, too. May you and your family have a blessed Lent season! :)
I love all your ideas Kate! Thanks for the awesome list.
What age did you start doing the stations idea with your kids?
Tina, my daughter was 4 last year when I started and loved it. She asked to do it again every day. Recently, she discovered the box with the small items and asked when we were going to do the "Jesus' stations thing" again. I'd say 3 or 4 is a good age to start. I follow a children's book with prayers related to the stations that unfortunately isn't available. You could edit as you see fit (either for fidgety children or if the material is too much for a sensitive child). Hope this helps.
If any one has a good children's stations of the cross book that still in print, let us know!
Kate, thanks for the wonderful ideas. I love the stations box, especially – very tactile, Montessori; the kind of activity that I love! I am printing this out and putting it into my 'ideas' file for later!
Hi Kate,
I just want to give credit to my husband, Joe, for being the person who originally thought of that Stations of the Cross Box idea. He first made boxes for our older girls around 10 years ago now. I've shared the idea in a few places online, and I assume it's still being passed along via Catholic blogs.
We still use our boxes for the younger girls every year!
I wrote a Stations of the Cross for Children and posted it on my blog. The intent is to make it adaptable for different ages (omit some things if you have only little ones). One day I hope to have it bound and include practical suggestions for doing them with children of all ages.
My 2 year old enjoyed doing them, so you can start younger siblings even earlier than age 3. But for an oldest child, 3 or 4 might be a good age to start. (Younger children tend to follow the crowd).
Michelle, thanks so much for this. Can you share a link with other readers to your Stations of the Cross for Children?
Irene, thanks for letting me know about your husband's idea. Can you link to it? I actually started this last year after my aunt, who has older children now, shared the idea with me. She used to homeschool and told me about it, and then I came up with some of the items for the box and mini meditations. I'd never seen the idea before but would love to hear exactly what tradition your family has. We're always looking for new ways to live the liturgical seasons in our domestic church. I'm sure lots of parents have creative ideas for Stations, and I'd love for this to be a place for others to share links/tips for helping to make Lent more meaningful for kids of all ages. :)
Now I ought not to be commenting during Lent given my fast. :) (Tsk, tsk!)
God bless.
I DID mean to leave a link, but then was distracted by life.
The document is here. If anyone has trouble opening it, I can email it directly (Word document). My email address is theREITstuff AT gmail DOT com.
Thanks, Michelle. I linked to it with my Google Reader as well.
Irene, I found the link to your husband's idea: http://4real.thenetsmith.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3140&KW=stations+of+the+cross+boxes&PN=0&TPN=2
It sounds a lot like my aunt's stations plan that I adapted for my family. Her kids are a lot older and she did this a long time ago when her kids were little; I'm not sure where she originally got the idea, but I'll be happy to link to your husband's idea on my original post. :) Sorry about that!
Many thanks for this splendid advice which I will pass on to my grandchildren.
Armiger Jagoe, editor of
The Joyful Catholic
http://thejoyfulcatholic.wordpress.
com/
I linked to this and a few other awesome Lent posts on my weekly roundup – thanks so much for sharing!!