LENT & EASTER IDEAS

from Kathryn and Sara at Redeemer Lutheran, Waverly

Last Supper Rotation for Sunday School
Grades 2 - 5 with five stations featuring different activities:  

• The Arcade -- Learning games
  Bible Jeopardy using a heavy shower curtain with Ziploc bags taped on with packing tape.
  Tic Tac Toe

• Solid Rock Productions -- Recreation
  Bowling

• Creation Station -- Arts and Crafts

• Computer Station -- Computers donated by members with software for kids to play

• Cinema on the Mount -- Puppets, dramas, and skits 

Other Ideas for Lent:

• Seder Supper -- presided over by a Rabbi

• Reenactment of the Last Supper

• Sunday Software

• Eastern Wisconsin Synod -- swap lessons, http://www.feautor.org/en

from Bev and Diane at Zion, West Union

Bulletin inserts -- clip art printed on half sheets of paper. The inserts were placed in bulletins during Lent for children to color. People were encouraged to place the art on their refrigerators at home.

Christian Education Sunday -- In May all classes presented something from what they have been working on all year:

• Sing the books of the Bible

• Preschool- Table prayer

• K -1 Lord's Prayer

• 3-4 Ten Commandments

• 5-6 Apostles Creed

from Teresa at Bethlehem, Cedar Falls

Mission Trip to Minneapolis -- planned for summer for middle school students. A possible worksite is Mary’s Place, Minneapolis.

• www.sharingandcaringhands.org

• www.30minuteseder.org

from Elayne at St. John, Nashua

Lenten Fair -- family oriented event during the learning hour on Sunday morning. Sunday school classes rotated to a variety of booths and tables. To use a Mardi Gras theme, schedule the fair before Lent.

Lenten Fair Activities:

• Prayer Placemats -- to be colored with markers and decorated with stickers. A small booklet with meal time prayers that went with it.

• Plant a Seed -- planted a seed to watch it grow.

• Butterflies -- made from tissue paper and clothes pins. The kids made the butterflies and then wrapped them with a strip of paper with the words from II Corinthians  5:17 “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new.” Then the butterflies were wrapped in a small brown bag and sealed with a label that said “do not open until Easter.” The kids were encouraged to open them on Easter morning.

• Cross Necklace -- made out of beads and string.

• Pretzels -- pre-made pretzels for snacks

• Fish Pond -- no connection to Easter, but it nicely cleaned out the director's supply closet

• Guess the Number of Eggs in the Jar -- a prize for the person guessing the closest without going over

• Information Tables -- about camp and family ministry

Other Activities:

• ID cards

• Pancakes

• Decorate a cookie or cupcake

• Witness bracelets

• Easter in an Egg -- plastic egg filled with symbols for Easter

• Kings Cake -- joyful celebration from Mardi Gras. Part of the fun is finding the baby Jesus in the cake, which is very similar to a cinnamon roll/braid. Here is a oink to a simple recipe and background about how Mardi Gras is tied to Epiphany, http://www.holidays.net/mardigras/cake.htm. Cakes are also available at local grocery stores but must be ordered in advance or they will not come before Ash Wednesday. From the standpoint of the traditional use, it would be inappropriate to have King’s Cake during Lent.

• Music and decorations reflecting the season

from Paul at St. Paul, Waverly

KinderLent/KinderAdvent -- family-friendly service aimed at small children

• Offered at 5:30 p.m. for 25 minutes max.

• 6 services during Lent, 4 services during Advent

• Songs

• Children’s message

• Something to take home or work on

• Artsy activity - create a puzzle piece, a night scripture

• Cross made out of heavy paper and family tapes together

• Mime drama team

from Lisa at First, Cresco

Congregational Resource Center in Clear Lake, www.lutheranresourcecenter.org

• Before and After Easter by Debbie Tafton O Neal

• Lenten Candle Cross

Creative Communications for the Parish -- www.creativecommunications.com

• Lenten calendars

Veggie Tales Easter Carol -- a fun video to use during the season, www.bigidea.com. Event kits for movies/DVD’s are also being released.

Decorate for Holy Week-- with family and others

• Palm Sunday-Palm Leaf from the Worship service

• Maundy Thursday-Challis and bread

• Good Friday-Cross

• Easter-Butterflies

from the Texas-Louisana Gulf Coast Synod

Dramas and skits get people involved and working together

Living Lent – animals tell the story)

Watchers on the Hill – intergenerational  activity of overheard conversations of people standing on the hill during crucifixion

Lent University – debriefing the drama afterward

Reflection and Questions – video curriculum by BlueFish  (4 sessions), invite people to put questions in a box as they go through the video

Seder Meal – bbq instead of lamb

Easter Egg Hunt – usually the Saturday before Easter. Gather everyone together and do Resurrection eggs – each egg is color-coded and has something inside to help tell the story.  Works really well with 4^th grade and under

Camp Hope Day – during Lent and Advent, a Saturday where high school students work with children.

High School Youth Study Death – the whole grieving process and everything connected with death and dying. Sent letter to parents to give them the heads up, but asked them not to tell students (did get some push back initially). Used guest speakers: a talk about suicide, a funeral home rep, a family counselor to talk about the steps of grieving.   

Activity: Students had 15 minutes to prepare their space for a conversation about death. The teacher brought in a box of black items -- leftovers from Halloween, black construction paper, etc, tape and scissors. Instead of using masking tape to hang things…one student traced a body on the floor, like a police chalk line. On Easter morning, the students completely shifted the room and redecorated it in bright colors

Looked at promises for life after death – scripture, studied death emotionally and spiritually. Interestingly enough, the group experienced four deaths in the months that followed (car accident, a friend’s suicide, death of a mom from cancer, father died suddenly of aneurism). The youth were prepared to talk about death with their friends, taught their friends about stages of grief and the promise of life after death from their study of Romans 8. They were able to take what they had learned and use it in their life.

Timing: In the fall the group is still forming, but in the spring they are ready to go deeper.  Best learning time was from January to spring break to get into more serious topics. That window closes after spring break till May. In the summer there is the mission trip opportunity. Start and end times to what she is teaching helped them re-enter and invite friends.
 

Journey to the Cross – Students moved from place to place in the facility and heard the story and did an activity at each stop. Very interactive – they really lived the passion story. 

Download these related resources:
Journey to the Cross
Lenten Resources for Children
Prayer Workshop

Cry the Whole Congregation – from the book Ragman and Other Cries of Faith  by Walt Wangerin -- interactive and emotional worship service

Prayer Partners -- Invite the congregation to be prayer partners with children during Lent. Run labels for each child K - 5. Students in junior high and high school and adults each took one. People need to know that the gift here is taking the time to talk to each other. The beauty of doing this during Lent is that it has a beginning and ending time, making it easier for people to commit for six weeks. Some of these connections are still ongoing.

Can gather prayer requests using pagers/texting.

Prayer chain can help families create rituals and traditions around Lent and Easter. Make out of linked paper and put names or things to do on each link of the chain

Decorate a Cross – Students decorate a cross each week and hang them on the wall of the confirmation room. 

Pulpit Exchange – with local Rabbi. Includes joint learning of the Holocaust museum at the beginning of Lent. By getting outside their own understanding of their faith, students will be prompted to ask the hard questions.  

Interfaith Dialog – moderated discussion over dinner between several faith traditions. 

Lenten Series – by David Anderson and Paul Hill based upon the “Frogs Without Legs Can’t Hear.”

Garden Club – families plant seeds in the ground on Good Friday and watch them grow, tending them over several weeks. If you plant grass seed or beans soak them first and they will come up in 3 days. Google “gorilla gardening.”