Holy Week with children seems like a time we could be cultivating rich traditions. It is, after all, at the heart of our faith. But, does it ever sneak up on you or pass you by without you giving any real intention?
If you’re anything like me, you can feel overwhelmed finding ideas to make Holy Week “a thing.” Well, guess what? We’ve saved you a ton of time! We did the research and found five ways of keeping your family’s Holy Week holy this year.
We’d love to hear what traditions, new or old, you’re doing this year to celebrate Holy Week with children. So, don’t forget to leave your comments below!
Cultivating a Rich Holy Week with Children
Do a Holy Week Easter Egg Hunt. Most of us do an Easter egg hunt annually. Yet, how often does the Easter Egg hunt communicate the significance of Easter?
So, how can we use this tradition to invite our children to reflect? It only takes a bit of prep in filling some of the eggs with Easter symbols. Head over here to learn how to make it happen.
Bake Easter bread or rolls. Baking is a really fun activity to incorporate into Holy Week with children. Of course, they get to learn a valuable life skill. Also, if you’re having family or friends over for a meal, the children enjoy showing off their creations.
Baking bread for Easter morning breakfast is a great option. For example, a yummy recipe can be found here. Alternatively, resurrection rolls are fun and easy to make. Head over here to learn how.
Take time to pray each day. During Holy Week, really any week, we often feel like we don’t have enough time. Parents and caretakers are often spread so thin. Perhaps this year, take the opportunity awaiting you to engage in your own spiritual practice with greater intention.
So often our children gather up our attention along with our jobs, the grocery and to-do lists, other activities, the house cleaning, on and on. But, as we all know, we cannot give from a well that is all dried up.
So, each day of Holy Week, carve out a couple minutes of stillness to say one prayer. A wonderful list of Holy Week prayers are here.
Plan to do a coat giveaway. During Holy Week, we remember the crowds laying their coats down for Jesus as he entered Jerusalem. Additionally, we reflect on the sacrifice Jesus made for the world.
Spread love around to others by donating coats that your family no longer uses. Local shelters and charity organizations can almost always use more warm apparel. And consequently, opportunity opens to reflect on these two stories with children.
Enjoy a Seder meal together. Attend an interfaith Seder meal as a family. The Seder is a meal shared on Passover in the Jewish tradition in remembrance and celebration of new life after liberation from slavery.
Invite your children to learn about the Seder meal prior to going. Find concise, valuable material here and here about what to expect and the meaning of the Seder’s symbols. With a little bit of preparation, the experience can be meaningful for your whole family and give way to illuminating conversations.
We hope you have a rich Holy Week and blessed Easter. And we hope this list has been helpful in making that so. Don’t forget to share your Holy Week traditions with all of us. We look forward to reading them!
This year’s Lenten devotions are based on the Gospel passages from the Revised Common Lectionary scripture readings (Year B) and are written so they can be used by both children and adults. We believe you’ll find questions and discussion topics in each devotion that will work for all ages. Each devotion consists of the below elements. We invite you to take a look at the devotions and see what will work best for your family.
JBB: I was overjoyed when St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Wilmette sent each child home from its Ash Wednesday service with “An Illustrated Lent”. I love colored pencils, fountain pens, and good paper and my kindergartner loves crayons so it was a match made in heaven. Once a week we would read the featured scripture verses, talk about the theme of the week, “serve, give” etc., and post it on the fridge. Then after dinner each night, or whenever the desire struck, we would spend time coloring the page of the week (we each had our own book). Now to be clear, my five-year-old and I were not having deep spiritual conversations but, as importantly, we were making time in the day to slow down, spend time together—sometimes talking, sometimes not—and every time we opened the fridge we’d ask how we were doing with our commitment to “serve, give, listen” that week.
JBB: The illustrations are beautifully drawn and invite—almost compel—one to get out the markers and spend time with it. The devotions that are assigned to each week are easily adapted for whatever age person is in the conversation. They don’t presume that you’ve been to seminary to engage the questions and they serve as prompts for how we are called to live as Jesus would have us live.