The inspiration for this Easter countdown project came from a desire of having a way to see our physical journey through Lent towards Easter Sunday, while also having something we could do to celebrate Lent together as a family (besides our nightly readings). I also wanted to find something that would work for families regardless of their type – whether you’re a family of one, a family of young children, a family of teenagers, or a family in retirement, it was important to me to create something that would work for everyone.
To celebrate Lent this year, try something new with our Easter countdown – at the start of Lent, you create a chain out of forty strips of paper – each of the strips has a simple activity for the day that you are encouraged to do together as a family. As the strips are torn off, and the activity completed, the chain gets shorter and shorter as it counts down to Easter Sunday.
Be sure to check out all the different projects you can do to help your family celebrate Lent, and remember – the best way to keep your Lenten promise is to write it down…and support others in their journey, too.
WHAT YOU NEED:
- printable Lent to Easter countdown
- colored paper (or construction paper)
- clear tape
HOW TO MAKE:
1. Download the printable and print (two pages total).
2. If you want, decorate the back of the paper OR print on colored paper OR whatever you like to jazz it up a bit. I printed ours on two different sheets of colored paper, with the writing on the inside/white portion and the color left for the outside.
3. Cut along the lines until you have all 40 strips cut.
4. Link the strips together with a piece of tape per ring with the text facing inward and your design (if you did one) facing outward.
5. Hang the chain in a central location in your home, and begin using it on Ash Wednesday.
I’d love to hear your comments on the project, how it worked for your family, or how you celebrate Lent with your family! Please feel free to share this link however you like (but thanks for referring back to this as the source).
Love this idea! I will share it this week. Looking forward to the crown of thorns.
Thanks, Kathleen! I'm really excited about this project, and think it's great to have an activity to do together as a family. Love your blog, too – especially your open letter to new mothers.
Love this! Great activitiy that the whole family can do! 🙂
Thanks, Amazing Grace. I'm so happy you can use it for your family!
Again, you should add this to Jennifer's link up! I like how some of your options say "open up the bible…" Thank you for sharing your gifts with others!
Noreen, it's been added 🙂 Thanks! I'm so happy you enjoyed this…and appreciate the comments. I do try to reference back to the Bible where I can, and definitely want to encourage its use. I included several paper links that refer the family/user back to the Bible. Appreciate your thoughts and look forward to hearing from you on future posts. I have a really great project I'm SO excited to share in a day or two!!!
Great post! Thanks so much for sharing! Every Easter we take off gas grill cover to BBQ and have an Easter egg hunt outside. I think I'll add more this year with a countdown. Thanks again!
Hi Jillian – thanks! It *is* nice when the weather changes and we can all BBQ outside, isn't it?