Lent & Easter Resources for Families

If Easter is truly the most important holiday of the year for Christians, then preparing our hearts to celebrate it matters. Gearing up for Advent seems easier than getting ready for Lent. More resources exist and, in America, a good chunk of people celebrate this special season. 

But Lent is a chance to reflect on what Jesus did that forever changed the trajectory of our eternity. We can communicate this truth without the entrapments of consumerism in simple ways in our families. 

Lent starts on February 14, 2024. Let's carve out a few moments to point our families toward the immense worth of Christ this spring. Here are some resources to prepare our families' hearts for Easter:

PRESCHOOL

The Easter Fix (Ages 2–4)

This book explains why Jesus dying and rose again matters.

Jesus Rose For Me: The True Story of Easter (Ages 2–5)

This book unpacks the importance of Jesus' death and resurrection in kid-friendly ways.

The Story of Easter (Ages 3–5)

Preschoolers walk through Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, the death of Jesus, and His resurrection and contains beautiful illustrations.

The Garden, the Curtain, and the Cross Storybook (Ages 2–6)

This remains one of my favorite books to teach preschoolers about Easter. I used this when I was a Children's Ministry Leader and appreciate how kid-friendly, yet biblically solid the story is. Such a fresh and creative way to engage preschoolers with the Bible.

ELEMENTARY

The King of Easter: Jesus Searches For All God's Children (Ages 4–8)

This award-winning book is a part of a series, but unpacks the meaning of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection and emphasizes how Jesus came for all people.

The Easter Storybook (David C. Cook) (Ages 4–10)

This storybook contains 40 Bible stories from Jesus as a boy in the temple until his resurrection. Each Bible story includes a Bible passage and family discussion question.

The Easter Story (Ages 5–11)

This book focuses on telling the Easter story through John 3:16.

Amon's Adventure: A Family Story for Easter (Ages 5–10)

This chapter book contains family devotion reflections and ideas to make Lent impactful for your entire family. Through story, dive deeper into understanding the importance of Jesus' resurrection.

The Jesus Tree: 48 Ornaments for Lent (Ages 3–7)

This resource contains short daily devotions, Scripture, a discussion idea, prayer, and a simple coloring activity for kids. When I used this with my own kids, I made two copies of the "ornaments" so my two kids could each color one and then we taped it to the wall. But you can also hang the paper ornaments on a small tree. My kids loved this (they were in preschool and kindergarten at the time).

FAMILY DEVOTIONS

Easter Around the World (free digital download)

Use this free resource from Wycliffe Kids for the five weeks leading up to Easter. Each week contains fun facts about a different part of the world (Pacific, Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas), an activity, and Scripture reading with questions. This is a simple, yet globally-minded way to prepare your families hearts for Easter. 

Darkest Night Brightest Day: A Family Devotional for the Easter Season

This Christian Book Awards 2023 Finalist for Young People’s Literature contains Bible stories from Palm Sunday through Jesus' ascension along with family discussion questions. 

The Wonder of Easter: An Easter Journey for the Whole Family

This flexible family devotion contains 34 days of content and each day can be done in 10 minutes. It includes different questions for each age group, ranging preschoolers to adults! When I used this with my family, I appreciated how I could scale it up or down based on our time and interest on a given day. You can even miss days without guilt. 

A Jesus Easter: Explore God's Amazing Rescue Plan

This 30-day family devotion walks readers from Genesis through Jesus' resurrection. It includes a daily Bible passage, discussion questions, teaching, and a prayer. Application questions are suitable for younger and older kids and families have space to journal about that day's lesson.

No matter the route you choose, may this be a season to marvel at Jesus and His great love to make a way back to God for us.

Easter is Greater Than Christmas

“Which of your Eids is bigger?” my Muslim friend kindly inquired one lazy afternoon. Her mahogany eyes glistened with curiosity as she waited for my response. Two of the largest holidays of the year for Muslims are Eid—one was big Eid (lasting four days) and the other small Eid (a three-day celebration).

I hesitated. I had never given much thought to whether Christmas or Easter was “bigger.”

I picked up my cup of green tea, cardamom wafting through the air, and took a sip to stall. As I reflected on American culture, it seemed like Christmas was the holiday everyone scurried to participate in some way. Festive lights twinkle on homes and in apartment windows. Friends and families gather for parties. Children write letters to Santa and open Advent calendar doors. Garland and red bows adorn poles throughout downtowns across the country.

Easter, on the other hand, seemed relinquished to a three-day weekend, egg hunts, and a single meal. It seemed Americans spent more time celebrating Christmas.

“I think Christmas is our big Eid and Easter is our small Eid,” I cautiously replied. But as the words tumbled from my lips my answer felt like a wrong note played during a piano recital.

Read the full article on Christian Parenting.

*This piece was originally published on Momma Theologians.

The Jesus Tree

The Jesus Tree is a great Lent resource to use with preschoolers and younger elementary-aged kids to prepare your family's heart for Easter.

Brief overview:
Each day your kids can color a picture, read a Scripture passage, hear a short Bible story, ask a simple question, and say a short prayer together.

Recommended age range: 3-8

Strengths:

• Simple but meaningful way to prepare your family's heart for Easter
• Great visual element with the story pictures for kids to color
• Well-suited for preschool and younger elementary kids

Additional Notes:

• Instead of creating an Easter tree, I just had my boys tape their "ornaments" to our wall. This created a great overview of the stories we covered and how it culminated in celebrating Easter.
• Even if you can't hit all 48 days, it's worth sprinkling in this resource during the Lent season.

Overall rating: 8 (out of 10)

EASTER IS GREATER

Celebrating the Magnitude of Jesus' Resurrection 

“Which of your Eids is bigger?” my Muslim friend kindly inquired one lazy afternoon.

Her mahogany eyes glistened with curiosity as she waited for my response. Two of the largest holidays of the year for Muslims are Eid—one was big Eid (lasting four days) and the other small Eid (a three-day celebration).

I hesitated. I had never given much thought to whether Christmas or Easter was “bigger.”

I picked up my cup of green tea, cardamom wafting through the air, and took a sip to stall. As I reflected on American culture, it seemed like Christmas was the holiday everyone scurried to participate in some way. Festive lights twinkle on homes and in apartment windows. Friends and families gather for parties. Children write letters to Santa and open Advent calendar doors. Garland and red bows adorn poles throughout downtowns across the country.

Easter, on the other hand, seemed relinquished to a three-day weekend, egg hunts, and a single meal. It seemed Americans spent more time celebrating Christmas.

“I think Christmas is our big Eid and Easter is our small Eid,” I cautiously replied. But as the words tumbled from my lips my answer felt like a wrong note played during a piano recital.

DISSESCTING CULTURE FROM CELEBRATIONS

According to a survey by Gallup, 93 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas (1) while The National Retail Federation estimates 79 percent celebrate Easter. (2) More Americans are content to celebrate Christmas than Easter.

While Christmas is the biggest holiday in America, Easter should be of greater significance for Christians. The resurrection impacted the ancient church so much that they changed the community day they worshipped God on for centuries from Saturday to Sunday—the day Jesus rose from the grave.

Our understanding of what holds significance in our lives should be shaped by what the Bible teaches rather than society. Our culture can easily steer us away from grasping this reality; only two percent of Americans consider Easter to be the most important religious holiday. (3)

As I returned home after visiting my friend that day, I pondered my answer. Perhaps I had allowed culture to creep into my heart and captivate it more than it should.

Christmas is a significant religious celebration for believers and we don’t need to celebrate it less, but I wondered if Easter truly held the same value in my heart. Did I anticipate and rejoice in the resurrection and Easter as much as the coming of the Messiah at Christmas? I feared perhaps not.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RESURRECTION

Culture can subtly dictate what we prize and we must remind ourselves of the priceless nature of the resurrection—again and again. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, the church was struggling to be set apart from the culture, resulting in sexual immorality (1 Cor. 5:1), idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14), and incorrect theology about the resurrection of believers (1 Cor. 15:12). Scripture exhorts believers to pursue the path of holiness as His beloved people (Deut. 7:6; Lev. 20:26; 1 Pt. 1:15; 1 Pt. 2:9). Throughout his letter, Paul speaks truth in love to the Corinthians so they can realign themselves with the gospel and fight against worldliness.

The battle against culture and our minds can be treacherous and hard to see when we are in the midst of it. Even as Paul corrects the mistaken theology of the church, he highlights the centrality of the resurrection to our faith and points us to be mindful of how society can shape our thinking and actions. Diving into the past, future, and present implications of the resurrection that Paul lays out for the Corinthians can instruct us in exalting Christ as we face the pressures of the world.

Read the rest of my Easter article on Momma Theologians.