Lent!

I know...I'm late! But here is a link to last year's post with some nice Lent activities and a printout!

I hope you enjoy and are off to having a wonderful Lenten season.

Click Here for Post with Lenten Path Printout!

Click Here for My Good Deeds for Lent Printout!

Click Here for Planning a Lent Lapbook!

Click Here for Ideas on Celebrating Lent!

Today marks the beginning of Lent! I've actually been really excited to start this season, which has been the case more and more each year. The reason for this is that every year my kids get older, their understanding increases, and they are more fully able to participate! It's really wonderful to be able to celebrate Lent as a family with mostly understanding persons (as opposed to celebrating Lent as a family of mom & dad with a couple of toddlers who don't know the difference between wearing diapers and wearing underwear!).

We started the day with our usual morning prayers/offerings. But we added a few more things into our religion. We started our Lenten learning with "The Reading of the Strips"...or at least that's what one of the kids yelled out when I told them to gather around the table so that I can read all the Lenten Deed tickets to them. "Guys!!!! Mom's gonna do the reading of the strips!!!"

Now our Lenten Deed jar is full and the kids are all itching to see what deed they get to work on for the week. "Can we switch tickets if we don't like what we get?" NO!!!

Another fun addition to our day today was the beginning of our Lent Lapbook from Lapbooks for Catholics. We worked on the cover and the kids were coloring and cutting while I read to them the history of Lent and asked them questions. We'll be working on the lapbook for another week or so and then I'm planning on taking it out during our religion time to review from it.




Of course, Isabella will be working on 2 different faith lapbooks. This past Sunday, she had her Sacramental Prep class and they went over the things we see in church. This was perfect since she is currently working on "The Things We See in Church" lapbook from Lapbooks for Catholics. It's so much fun to be able to do all these fun and educational things with the kids!




But what about the littlest members of our Catholic crew? Well, lets just say that they have plenty on their minds to keep them busy. Ummm....yea. That's little Jimmy with a box on his head. He was pretty adamant about putting it on and walking around. The kids and I got a good laugh from it!



And let's not forget about our little school room altar. Our Father Nick just got a change of vestments to go with the season! And you'll notice that we have yet to change the color of our tablecloth. I know I put that purple "altar cloth" somewhere!!

Good Deeds for Lent.

I've been working hard on making some preparations for Lent not only for my children, but also for my 5th grade Faith Formation class. It's nice that I can use the same resources for both! A Lenten activity we have done in the past is making a sacrifice/good deed jar. It's a great way to get kids more involved during Lent.

So I decided to go ahead with this activity for my 5th grade class as well. In the past, I would have my kids put a bean into a jar for every good deed or sacrifice they did. This year I am changing things up a bit to make it easier for classroom use. I created "Lenten Deeds" tickets to put in a bowl instead. Each ticket has a certain deed that has to be done in a week. The "deeds" correspond to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Whether it be giving up video games for a week (fasting), reading from the Bible (prayer), or collecting food for the needy (almsgiving)...it's something that kids can do and feel good about.

The tickets have a space for the kids to sign their name once they complete their deeds as well as a space for the parents to sign as well. Coming up with good deeds and sacrifices was a lot harder than I thought!! But I think I have a good mix to keep things going all through Lent. Take a look at my tickets below!



I'll probably be printing this on some light purple, colored paper. But I'm loving that it's done and am excited to have it out for both my Faith Formation class and my kids at home!

Love it too? Well, just click on the links below and you can print them out for personal use! I made 3 different pages. Yes...I'm just that nice. ;)

Lenten Deeds Page 1
Lenten Deeds Page 2
Lenten Deeds Page 3

Approaching Lent and Preparing Activities.

So last year, we did a Lent lapbook. It was fun, educational, and the kids loved it. But for the life of me, I can't find it!!! I can't even find a picture!! So sorry to all who have been asking if I could post something. I'll keep looking!

But in keeping with making things education and fun, we'll be working on another Lent Lapbook using Lapbooks for Catholics, Lent: A Journey Towards Easter. You can click on the title and it will take you to the webpage where you can purchase the whole thing for only $10!!

Other things that we are getting ready is our "Walk the Lenten Path" countdown to Easter. Last year we used this cute one from Catholic Icing and the kids loved keeping track of the days. Here is a picture of the ones the kids colored last year. They loved them!



This year, however, I actually made my own to use with my Faith Formation 5th grade class. I'm going to be letting my own kids choose which one they want to print out and color too, and so far they like the look of the new one!! I made one in black and white for my older kids to color and I also made one with the pictures already colored in to make it easier for my 3 year old. (You can see my color one below).

To countdown the days, they just put a sticker on each square every morning. But you can leave your squares blank and have your kids color them instead...my kids just love stickers, so I went that route. If you want to download a copy for yourself here are the links!!! Just click on "File" on the left side and then print.

Color Lenten Path Countdown
B&W Lenten Path Countdown

Also in the pipeline are some Stations of the Cross booklets for the kids to color and use on Friday's when we do the stations together. A picture posting of that once we get them printed and colored!!

So in the mean time, I hope these ideas get you started on your own Lent preparations! I also apologize for all the emails and messages in regards to my Lent lapbook from last year. Once I find it, I will be sure to take some pictures and post them ASAP!!

Celebrating Mardi Gras and Lent.

This year is the first in a looooong time that we have failed to make it to Mass on Ash Wednesday. Having a daughter with a broken arm that hurts, a child with croup, and another with a stomach ache didn't help our situation. So I decided to skip it and tend to my children at home instead.

But we are off to a great start this Lent season, nonetheless! On Tuesday, we celebrated Mardi Gras with some fun crafts that our friends from co-op dropped off. The kids spent much of the afternoon coloring, decorating masks, and making crowns. We then topped off the night with breakfast for dinner...purple, green, and gold pancakes and all!! It was a big treat for everyone!



On Ash Wednesday, we also colored our path to Easter Sunday. You can find this download at Catholic Icing. Each day the kids will be putting a star on the day mark it off. We will also be doing other crafts and activities about every other day to celebrate Lent. These are scheduled into our school days so that I make it a priority to actually do them!



Here are a list of activities to help you do things at home.

• Lent Lapbook (we did this last year and learned a lot!) My link can help with ideas, as I have not created a file for it.
• Sacrifice Beads (we have these made already, but I like to stress their use during this time)
  
• Prayer Jar
• Pretzels
• Way of the Cross (Stations of the Cross) candle craft
• Stations of the Cross coloring book
• Family Chart
• Crown of Thorns
• Sacrifice Jar
• Merciful Cross

I might add to this, so keep checking for updates!

Holy Week.

This week we are wrapping up our Lent Lapbook study. Actually, we are doing most of the work for the lapbook this week (the actual putting together of it). Last night, we made our Holy Week book and it was incredibly moving. Today we'll be finishing off our Stations of the Cross and reading some stories about the miracles of Jesus.

In the end, our lapbook is going to very simple. I didn't dedicate as much time to it as I would have liked, but the kids still learned in a fun way.

Here are a couple of links that we used during Lent.

• For our Holy Week book, we went here and printed out the story of Holy Week.
• Catholic Mom offered lots of our activities including Mosaic Crosses, Stations of the Cross, and prayers.
• There are some coloring pages at this website, which I used during our reading times.

If you want to spend the rest of Holy Week making your own Lenten Lapbook, you can visit my old post for ideas on what to include.

Ash Wednesday.

This morning was a rush. A rush in that I had to get everyone ready, out the door, and at church by 9am. We attended morning Mass for Ash Wednesday and so began our Lenten journey. I love car rides with the kids, as it is a time where we always have great conversations and so much teaching takes place. Today's car ride to church and then back home was no different. We talked about Ash Wednesday, Lent, and what things we could do as a family together to prepare for Easter. Here were some ideas.

"I think we should not eat. What is that called again?" -Marco

"Let's go visit some poor people and feed them." -Anthony

"Maybe we can go and feed some animals. They get hungry too." -Isabella

"Let's give our money to other people." -Marco

Although so simple, I think the kids came up with terrific ideas!! Of course, after each suggestion we talked about how we could implement the idea and I explained why there are certain things we do during Lent (like fasting and abstaining from meat).

As for what we are giving up...that is the ultimate question that seems to drive me crazy every year. Not because I don't know what I'm going to "give up," but because I take that as a very personal thing between myself and God. I always do come up with something simple to share...like "I'm giving up TV...or chocolate." But the real thing, the hard thing, is always kept between me and God.

So...what are you giving up for Lent?? :)

Planning a Lent Lapbook.

Ash Wednesday is fast approaching and I'm still wanting to do a Lent lapbook with the kids. I have made a list of what I'm thinking of putting in it; and with the help of Dinah Zike's Big Book of Books and Activities, I'm also listing what paper fold I'm planning on using (this is the over-planner in me!). I might add some things as we get into Lent and I might take some things away. But for the most part, I feel like I have enough to start off with.

Lenten Lapbook

• What Is Lent? (hamburger fold)
• Why Do We Celebrate Lent? (hamburger fold)
• Mini Stations of the Cross booklet
• Prayers (booklet)
• Saints and Feast days. (envelope fold)
• Examining Our Conscience (hamburger fold)
  
• The 10 Commandments (layered look book)
• Ways We Help Others (layered look book)
• Corporal Acts of Mercy?? (layered look book)

Some activities that I have planned include the following:

• Decorating a family altar
• Make a crayon stained glass cross
• Stations of the Cross
• Make a banner
• Make an alms box or jar
• Lenten Cross

There is so much to do during Lent and I don't want to overwhelm the kids with any project or activity. This is just a brainstorm list I have gathered from my Lent books and resources. Now that the kids are getting older, I know that they are able to grasp so much more than when they were younger. I'm hoping that this is a starting point for us and I'll be busy preparing for our Lenten journey as a family. I'll make sure to post things as we complete them, along with resources.

Preparing for Lent.

I have been thinking a lot about Lent lately and how it seems to sneak up on me year after year. Today I decided to prepare for it a little in advance. Today I ordered some books to help me with presenting Lent to the children. I'm thinking of making a Lent lapbook; working on small activities every day. I think this will help the children not only learn about Lent, but how it's such an important part of our Catholic heritage.

Here are the books I'm hoping that will help me prepare and guide me through the Lent season.

I really feel like I am lacking in Lent and Easter materials overall. The good thing is that my church is awesome and they have a nice little library with lots of resources that families are free to check out!

I'm hoping that between these books, the books from church, and maybe some videos thrown in there...I'll be fully prepared to present Lent to the whole family!