Lent + Easter

The Easter Story is central to the Christian faith, and one that we may find difficult to navigate with children. Lent is the season of preparation for Easter and lasts for 40 days, beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending on Holy Saturday - the day before Easter Sunday.

Here are some ideas to help you journey through lent, reflect on the events of the crucifixion, while celebrating the joy and wonder of the resurrection.

Ash Wednesday

Shrove Tuesday: A pancake recipe, a poem and a reflection. Something for everyone in the family. (SUNZ)
Ash Wednesday Liturgy (Flame Creative Ministry)
Ash Wednesday (SUNZ)

Lent

General Lent Resources

What is Lent about? (Restart)

Sharing Lent in a bag (Build Faith)
Do Lent Generously(40 Acts)
Burying the Alleluia and a Lenten pathway (All Saints Howick)
Going4Growth website (Anglican children's ministry UK)
Diocese of Winchester Lent Course (videos here)
Lent Calendar (Auckland Diocese)

Intergenerational Church resources

2025 Year C Lent 1 - 5: Services for each of the five Sundays of Lent.
Intergenerational Worship Services (SUNZ)
Messy Church in Lent (Barnabas Churches)

Help families celebrate Lent

Our Lenten designed to help our whānau and households intentionally walk through this season - A Sent People, Our Transforming God, or A Pilgrimage of Grace (below)
Guide for Lent & Easter (Jesus Storybook Bible)
Lent in a bag - here, here and here. (Buildfaith)
Lent booklet for families (Flame Creative)
Holy Week resource for families (Strandz)

Bible Explore resources >>

Check out more Lent Media >>

Strandz Intergenerational Lenten Studies

A Sent People

Our Transforming God

A Pilgrimage of Grace

Celebrating Easter simply

This set of simple family devotions, great for small groups and house church formats
No crazy props, a gazillion pipe cleaners or 5 litres of glitter required.

Find out more!

Holy Week

Telling the Story

'What's in the Bible' summarises what Holy week is all about, with explanations for each day. Includes colouring in sheets and info
Dave the Donkey (Lost Sheep)
Mary and the Gardener (Lost Sheep)
Seven Simple ways to celebrate Easter (GodVenture)
Using toys to tell the Easter Story (GodVenture)

All age talks

Holy Week Visual Aid (BRF)
A Lego journey through Holy Week (Build Faith)
Our Strandz article in the Anglican Taonga magazine on Easter. (pages 28-29)
The Sounds of Holy Week (BRF)
Holy Ground (Diocese of Gloucester)
Easter through Punctuation Marks (BRF)
Messy Easter at home 2020 (John 20:19-23). Accompanying Facebook video available here. (BRF)
Messy Easter at home 2021 (BRF)

Intergenerational Ideas

All About Easter: A Resurrection Rhyme (Bob Hartman)
Awesome Easter Pop Up Service (Bible Society)
Easter Trail with QR codes (Together at Home)
Journey to Easter (SUNZ)
An Easter Trail (Bible Society UK) using resources from 'The Super Cool Story of Jesus'
Palms for Holy Week (BRF)

Families and Home

On the Road to Easter Boardgame (SUNZ)
The Amazing Story of Easter - audio story mp3 (Bible Society AU) or this one read by David Suchet.
Journey through Easter (Strandz)
Easter Bubbles (Strandz)

Holy Week at Home (Church Juice)
Easter - a journey (mainlyministries)

Bringing home the mess (Messy Church USA)
God's Big Easter Story: A Holy Week Journey for Families (CRNA)
Holy Week Family Resource - includes daily stations/symbols, questions (Faithful Families)
Bringing Home the Mess of Holy Week (Messy Church USA)

Crafts and Activities

Create an Easter Wordle (SUNZ)
Holy Week Boxes (GodVenture)
Mosaic Resource - A great preschool activity. Print and cut out shapes to tell the Easter story (Indrea Alexandra/Strandz)
Holy Week in a Box (Building Faith)

Check out our Easter Media page >>

Maundy Thursday

Story

The Maundy Thursday story and the Last Supper can be found in Mark 14:12-26
You can also read today’s story Jesus Storybook Bible, The Servant King and A dark night in the garden, p.286 - 301
The footwashing story (BRF)
Re-enacting the Last Supper (Christian Childrens Authors)
Get Messy! Volume 2: Jesus cares for us: Jesus’ last meal with friends (John 13 – 17)

Ideas and Activities

Colouring sheet (Bible Society)
5yrs to 13yrs sheet (Diocese of Dunedin)
3D Printable Colour Craft (Sabbath School Crafts)
DIY Special Cup (Flame Creative Kids)
Printable Chalice Craft (Drawn 2 b Creative)
3D Printable Craft (Catholic Icing)
Last Supper Playdough Mats (Flame Creative Kids)

Maundy Thursday on Bible Explore

Good Friday

Wrapping the Cross - a Good Friday Service (Marciglass)
One Friday - Good Friday images and prayer stations (Jenny Hawke)
A Good Friday Service for all (BRF)
Good Friday Presentation (BRF)
Easter through noughts and crosses (BRF)
Easter Good Friday (BRF) - reinacting four scenes of Good Friday in a family service
Easter Good Friday Presentation (BRF) - A short talk using 3 props: a wash bowl, sponge and dice
Easter Friday (Grace Vineyard) - an illustrated retelling the story of Good Friday, told by children in Christchurch.

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday

Easter Day on Emmaus Road - service ideas for Easter Sunday (Barnabas in Churches)
Easter through Punctuation Marks (Barnabas in Churches)
Get Messy! January-April 2021: The stone’s been rolled away (Matthew 28)

Stations of the Cross

Stations of the cross ideas (Family Feast and Feria)
Create an Easter Wordle (SUNZ)
Stations of the Cross chaplaincy resource (Samuel Marsden School)
Readings (docx file) and images (ppt file)
Stations of the cross - colouring posters and devotional (Illustrated Ministry)
Stations of the Cross video (Episcopal Diocese of Texas.)
Stations of the Cross Worksheets and Coloring Pages (Drawn2be creative)

"This is a very sad story. It is about the one day in Jesus' life, so it's not the whole story about Jesus. Even though the story has a happy ending, it is important to remember what happened on that day"
Stations of the Cross, Episcopal Church of Texas

Make

Craft and Activities

Printable Figures and scenes (My Little House) - a very popular resource for Christmas! (we had over 33k views of our link to their nativity on Facebook)
Easter Crafts and more ideas here

Resurrection Eggs

Using symbols to unpack the Easter story - a creative way to engage children of all ages. Symbols could include a leaf, donkey, small cup, coins, thorn, fabric, nail, dice, cross, stone, and the last one is empty.
Other symbols and instructions can be found here
You can simplify the eggs for preschoolers, like this one here

Easter Gardens

Make an Easter Garden (pdf)
Mini Resurrection Garden (Kirsten Welsh)

Other ideas

Resurrection Cinnamon Roles (Passion for Saving)
Cross Easter decoration
Resurrection Rolls (Eat at Allies)

Media

We have moved our Lent and Easter Media section to another page, as there were too many videos.
We also have a selection of videos and resources on our YouTube Channel

Lent Media

Easter Media