Week 1: Lenten Practice & Activities
Lent Check
- How are you doing? Complete this short review and submit.
Craft
- Make a Lenten Resolution Egg, that can be turned into a beautiful Easter egg later on!
- Crossword Puzzle
Main Ideas
- Learning and living Lent.
- Stations of the Cross – discover them, and pray them as a family. Here is a video for parents. Consider coming up to the church and praying the Stations with others at 9am weekdays, and 7 pm on Fridays during Lent. Obviously when praying with small children, you will want to bring the language down to their level, and try to help them connect Jesus’ stations with things they may have encountered in their young lives, like unfairness, teasing, hurting, and suffering.
Watch
- Watch this video story that we’ve recorded just for you! You, too, can be God’s storyteller!
Stations of the Cross
- Walk the Stations of the Cross as a family. This link will provide you with a great reflection, that is age appropriate for 2nd & 3rd graders! You can use these images as you pray together, or come up to the church and walk the outdoor stations (along the sidewalk between he church and Fr. Michael’s house!
Week 2: Missionary Childhood:
St. Francis, Italy, & CRS Countries
Main Ideas
- Meet St. Francis of Assisi, Italy.
- Catholic Relief Services teaches us about people they serve in three different countries.
Watch
- “Francis: The Knight of Assisi“
- Catholic Relief Services “Rice Bowl Project”
- Intro to this year’s countries
- Madagascar
- El Salvador (where Fr. Michael was a missionary!)
- Timor-Leste
- Meet Aimee from Madagascar
- Stories of Hope
Planning for Lent
- Try these Italian recipes! The CRS web page also has recipes for the countries they feature!
Activities
- Try one of more of these activities to get to know and understand St. Francis a little better, according to your child’s age. I love the idea of making a zoo and blessing the animals. Did you know that St. Francis preached to the animals about God’s love? Perhaps your child may want to line up all of the stuffed animals at home and tell them a story about Jesus!
Week 3: "Called to Protect" Child Safety Program & St. Patrick
Main Ideas
- Following our Diocesan instructions for protecting God’s children, or parents will be our teachers this week, using the lesson plans that have been prepared for you.
- Learn about St. Patrick
St. Patrick
- Watch this fun video about St. Patrick.
Called to Protect Lessons
Week 4: Palm Sunday
Main Ideas
- Palm Sunday we remember the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. All of the people gathered to see him, joyfully shouting praise to him and welcoming Jesus. He was celebrated by the people and they treated him like a king.
- Sing Joyful Praise!
- Just a few days later, Jesus would be crucified in Jerusalem, sentenced to die with criminals.
- There are many ideas included here, choose a few for your family.
Activities
- Who’s Who in Holy week crossword puzzle
- Jesus carries His cross. online jigsaw puzzle
Coloring
- Palm Sunday coloring page
Joyful Praise
Follow these links for some great joyful praise!
Craft
- Make your own palm branches to wave during the procession for Mass, or to help you celebrate at home! Here is one idea to do this!
- Create a Holy Week book for your family! This website will give you some ideas. If you choose to make such a book with your family, bring it to the parish office and I will bind it for you to keep to use next year and beyond! Supplies (including paint) are available through the parish office. Just give us a call! Many of these involve making handprint scenes – so cute!! Encourage your child’s creativity. We’d love to see what you do with this!
Try a Recipe!
Try this recipe as you teach your children the Easter story with Easter Story Cookies! (If making for my children, I would substitute chocolate chips for the pecans!) This is a no bake recipe!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rNEp4_yEHF299n3OFjLGG-dhuMQCF2uE/view?usp=sharing
Share!
Email me your success stories! Photos are most welcome; we like to get excited about your successes, too!