Lent Preparations

Now that Valentine's is over, I am beginning to think about Lent and how to celebrate it with my husband and little ones. There are several no-brainers that have worked so well that we will continue to use, such as:

• Lent Countdown with Resurrection Eggs, counting down each day with opening a new egg. To see how to make your own set of Resurrection Eggs, check this out. 

• Our Playdough Mountain, inspired by Noel Piper, where we bake a mountain-shaped piece of playdough together and follow the life, death and resurrection of Jesus by moving the little stick figures to where they need to go. For example, on Good Friday, we transfer Jesus to the cross, later that night he is buried in his tomb (which is on the opposite side) and we cover the opening with a stone. On Sunday morning, the kids wake up to see that the stone is gone and Jesus is alive. He is risen! We celebrate and even put out balloons, streamers and such to celebrate that He is Risen indeed! Here is the link to the origin of this:

Noel's Playdough Mountain

• And I am also thinking through making some sort of banner to put the contents of our resurrection eggs once we have opened them each day. Sort of a "display" so that we can walk past it, remember it and have the kids memorize the sequence of events leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection. I will let you know what I come up with once I brainstorm it some more. 

What Lent ideas do you have??? What readings to you go through during the season of Lent?

Resurrection Eggs

Today is the day we are starting our Resurrection Eggs!

We thought it would be fun for our kids to open one egg per day for the 12 days leading up to Easter. Since the eggs tell the story of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, we will plan to review the eggs we've already opened on previous days and then be able to review all of them on Easter Sunday. It's similar to our preschool Advent calendar that told the story of Jesus' birth.

Ours are "homemade" since the branded kind are so expensive! We made them with our MOPS group for less than $2 a piece, as compared to $20! Here are some pics:

The things that we had to gather up were:

Palm Branch
Silver Coin
Cup (we used a little plastic communion cup)
Praying Hands (we used a laminated picture)
Piece of Leather
Thorn
Nails
Dice
Spear (we used a small lego sword)
Linen
Stone
Egg Cartons
Plastic Eggs

Here are the scriptures we are using with the items:

1. Palm branch

“Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,’Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.’”


The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks (coats) and sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road."
Matthew 21:1b-3, 6-8

2. Silver coins

“Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, ‘What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?’ So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.”
Matthew 26:14-16

3. Cup

“Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying,’Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’”
Matthew 26:27-28

4. Praying Hands

“They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death’" he said to them. ‘Stay here and keep watch.’ Mark 14:32-34

5. Leather Whip

“ Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged (whipped) Him.” 
 John 19:1

6. Crown of Thorns

“Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said.”
Matthew 27:27-29

7. Nails in the Cross

“So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.”
John 19:16b-18

8. Die

“When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
‘Let's not tear it,’ they said to one another. ‘Let's decide by lot who will get it.’
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said,
‘They divided my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.’ So this is what the soldiers did.”
John 19:23-24

9. Spear 

“The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.” 
John 19:32-34

10. Linen Cloth

“As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.”
Matthew 27:57-60

11. Stone

“There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.”
Matthew 28:2-4

12. Empty

“The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.’”
Matthew 28:5-6

It's not too late to make your own! This is a great activity for Easter Sunday if you can pull it together before then.