Lent with Kids: chocolate cross

Sunday, March 11, 2018

"Are we going on an Easter Egg hunt?" my little one asked excited.
I rolled my eyes but I unrolled them when I remember that chocolate for Easter really made me happy as a child.
I gave her the best answer I had at the moment.
"Sure, we'll find one. Just remember that the reason for Easter is found in the Bible."
You could see her little brain turning.

We don't celebrate Lent as most people do, yet, I jump on any bandwagon that encourages me to seek Jesus' truth. 
This year, one of my friends sent me a printable lent calendar and we've been using it. 
The goal this year is to read all the stories surrounding the resurrection of Jesus with the kids.
The goal is also to teach them to find new facts they didn't know before. I'm teaching them to learn something from the text every time we read it.

chocolate crosses 
40 days of lent is a long time, even for adults. 
The calendar helps us to see how closer we are to Easter. 
The Bible stories help us to get our info straight from the source. That's right, I'm not using a special book because I am hoping to teach Bible literacy. I also hope to take away any hesitation the kids might have to reading the Bible for themselves. 

I went to my favorite chocolate store last week and I saw they had an Easter corner. I couldn't resist buying chocolate crosses. 
I didn't want to wait until Easter to give them to the kids. After we read a Bible passage, I asked them to close their eyes and think about what they read. 
When they opened their eyes, I said, "remember that each passage we read, leads to an empty cross." 
They were super excited to get the chocolate. 

Growing up in Brasil, we got huge chocolate eggs filled with truffles for Easter. I miss those days. I'm glad it's okay to be both a Jesus lover and a chocolate lover. Haha! 
Here's the moral of the story: I will teach Bible literacy and insert a little fun here and there. Jesus will for sure take are of the rest. 

How do you celebrate lent with your kids?