Forty Lent Activities for Kids to countdown the days to Easter. Learn about Lent, service, prayer, and manageable fasting ideas for children.
This 40 day countdown will help your family learn about the season of Lent. It will also encourage them to think of others with ideas for small acts of kindness and prayer. There are also ideas for small doses of fasting that are much easier for young children.
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My son is currently going through the exciting year of first reconciliation and first communion. To be honest, we haven’t spent much time with religious studies since he and his sister were in the Montessori preschool associated with our church.
This year, and the time we have spent learning about these sacraments, has really gotten me thinking about how often we really focus on Jesus in our house. It’s not much… or, at least, not enough.
So, for this season of Lent, I want to do something to help us all keep in mind what this time is for. With activities and a focus each day, presented in a beautiful and fun way for the kids, I suspect this will be our best Easter ever!
New! Lent Resources for Kids and Families
The Three Pillars of Lent: Fasting, Prayer, and Almsgiving
‘Give alms…Pray to your Father…Fast without a gloomy face…’ (Matthew 6:1-18)
While the rest of us may have some difficulty fasting from something for 40 days, it’s nearly impossible for little ones. That’s why, when thinking about Lent activities for kids, having a different focus daily is a better approach. Therefore, we include a mixture of Lent crafts and activities to teach different parts of the story, ideas for prayer, almsgiving – or service to others, and days of fasting. It keeps things interesting for little ones and keeps each lesson fresh in their mind.
During our 40 days of Lent activities for kids, we try to space these out and keep a good variety. If you want more information on almsgiving, fasting, and prayer during Lent, I enjoyed this article.
Lent Activities for Kids
Many of these activities were inspired by ideas I found while searching Easter and Lent activities for kids. I’ll link some below, and you can find more ideas by following our Easter Crafts, Recipes, and Decor Pinterest Board.
Lent is described as 40 days, but in reality it is more. Sundays are not counted, so be sure to skip Sundays or add in more activities to open on Sundays during Lent.
Make sure to check out these other Lent Resources for Kids and Families! These are things I noticed other families buying along with the organza bags, dowels, and twine to make this countdown!
40 Days of Lent Activities for Kids
Prepare Lenten Candles. This is a new one for me. However I love the idea of something visual that we can have out through all of Lent. This ideas is from Catholic Icing. The candles are placed in a plate of sand to represent the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert and each candle is lit on a particular day during lent. You can also buy a beautiful candle holder specifically for Lent.
Bury the Alleluia. During Lent, Alleluia is not said in mass – which I actually didn’t know! Burying the Alleluia is a interesting activity to give you a chance to talk about why this is. I got this idea from Catholic Icing as well. She puts their alleluia in a box, but I think we will bury it under the sand with our Lenten Candles.
Start a jelly bean jar for sacrifices and good deeds. I’ve seen a lot about the color representations of jelly beans for Easter, but I love the description from Catholic Mom. Since we will be following these prompts as we countdown to Easter, the kids will have plenty of opportunities to earn a jelly bean each day.
Pray for your grandparents.
Read an Easter book. There are a couple on Amazon that look pretty cute – God Gave Us Easter, The Barenstain Bears and the Easter Story, and Jesus is Risen!: An Easter Pop-Up Book.
Help plan some Friday lunches and dinners with no meat. It may even be fun to try a vegetarian or vegan cookbook! Plant-Powered Families and Vegan Lunch Box look like fun ones to try!
Pray for the homeless.
Color something purple and talk about why purple is used during lent.
Give up complaining for the entire day.
Pray for someone who has passed.
Do something to help the earth. It’s always a good idea to get kiddos to think about how they can help the earth, we like these hands-on ideas to help kids care about the environment.
Make a list of things you are thankful for. Thank God for everything on the list.
Write a card for someone you love.
Give up sweets for the day.
Read the story of the Last Supper and prepare a meal or snack together. You can read about the last supper straight from the bible or in a children’s bible.
Surprise someone with a special note.
Decorate a cross. Let the kids take some liberty with this. They can color the cross, create one out of sticks, mold one out of clay. Let them decide.
Learn a new prayer. A children’s prayer book can help or you can look up a simple prayer online.
Do something nice for your teacher. This would be a great time to make our DIY Teacher gift room spray.
When making a decision, let someone else have their way.
Pray for someone who has been unkind to you.
Smile at everyone you see today.
Give up television for the day.
Make an egg carton empty tomb. There are many ways to make an empty tomb project, but will be an easy one with recycled materials.
Read a bible story.
Dye Easter eggs. Talk about how eggs symbolize the resurrection of Jesus and new life. Also, how the hard outer shell represents the sealed tomb and the cracking of the egg represents the resurrection. Just a tip if you like less-mess egg dying. We used Paas Color Snaps and the kids could just color the dye on the egg. It worked great!
Write down ways you can be a good friend.
Learn an Easter song. I like Christ the Lord is Risen Today, and you can find other Easter Hymns here.
Do something to help out around the house.
Go the whole day without saying something negative.
Fill a bag or box with toys to donate to kids in need.
Make a cotton ball lamb and talk about why Jesus is the Lamb of God. These little lambs make it pretty easy.
Do a chore without being asked.
Research a Saint. This activity and coloring book would be a fun resource. Amazon also has a series call Stories of Saints for Kids that you can stream for free with Amazon Prime.
Create a Crown of Thorns and talk about this as a family. You can get creative with this as well. The kids can draw, make the crown out of clay or twigs, etc. Call Her Happy had a great idea to remove a thorn for each good deed your child has done.
Listen to a Christian song.
Write/draw something you love about your brother/sister.
Pray for a new friend.
Go a day without tattling.
Tell someone you love them.
Don’t forget to check out these Lent Resources for Kids and Families
40 Day Countdown of Lent Activities for Kids
Now that we have these 40 Lent activities for kids, it’s time to display them in a cute and fun way. It’s also very easy!
Another great Pinterest inspiration struck from an advent calendar I had seen with small bags hanging on sticks. We already have a gorgeous advent calendar, so I saved this idea in the back of my mind for Lent.
Part of the reason I wanted to do this so much is because I already have 100 colorful organza bags that are perfect. We used them last Easter when it also fell on April Fools Day. The Easter Bunny left a note that the Easter eggs had turned into bags. A little note about the bags, the colors are random and we didn’t receive about half the colors shown, so you never know!
Supplies
- 4 sticks or dowels
- Twine
- Colorful organza drawstring bags
- 2 sheets of paper
Assembly
First, write your 40 Lent activities for kids on 40 small pieces of paper. I used two sheets of computer paper cut down to about 1″ x 2″ which left me with quite a bit leftover from the second sheet of paper. Place each one in an organza bag.
Next, find four sticks or dowels and cut them to your desired length. I had my dad collect sticks from their yard and chose my favorite two and sawed them in half. I ended up with roughly 21″ pieces. If using natural sticks, it may be wise to give them a quick spray with a varnish or sealer. My sticks were pretty dry and did leave a bit of a mess.
Once you have your four branches, space them out to your desired distance. I used 7 inches between branches. Double your twine in half for the hanging piece to add some strength and then tie to each end. For the sides give yourself a little extra and tie to each branch, starting at the top.
Hang ten of the organza bags on each row. I faced the writing to the back to keep each day a surprise and tied the tops with a loose double knot to keep them in place.
Remembering Lent and not rushing to Easter
I hope this helps your family and mine remember what Lent is all about. For us, I know it will be a wonderful chance to learn and grow, to think more about what Jesus sacrificed, and to examine how we are living day-to-day.
Also Read: Bunny Birthday Party activities and crafts and DIY Bunny Hair Tie
Please let me know if you have any family traditions for Lent. Do you give something up as a family or donate to those in need? I want to hear it!
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We in Pakistan can read and get ideas from you. but we cannot order any thing from you though we would love to. We cannot send you the price. please send us anything to print out and use. we are a hostel for Christian Pakistani girls who study up to Matric. They come from vilages where there are few High Schools. Many who come are orphans or from otherwise broken homes.
Hi there! Thank you so much and I’m happy to hear you like these ideas! I don’t have anything to print at the moment. I just wrote everything out by hand from the list provided in this post. I hope you were able to do so as well. Thank you so much for what you do!