How Lent Went (3)

:) 1. artwork    2. lenten tray    3. countdown cross

The Jesse Tree has been such a meaningful part of Advent in our home that I thought perhaps we could do something similar during Lent.  I searched and searched and searched some more, but couldn’t find anything that seemed just right for us.  So, of course, I ended up making something of my own.  By the time I had everything figured out and ready to go we were well into Lent.  But it has turned out great, and we’ll use it for years to come, I’m sure.

I decided to use a flannel board as our background; it just works so nicely, and I like having the softness of felt pieces to place on it.  A simple flannel board is super easy to make!  Ours is about 30” high and 20” wide.

I cut a large cross from brown felt and tacked it onto the board.

All of the pieces we put on this were made by printing pictures and images onto transfer paper (like for t-shirts), which I then ironed onto white felt. 

We began with this little piece, made for Ash Wednesday (although, as I mentioned, we were a bit late): 

Then we had tiny little flower bulbs, numbered from 1 to 40 for the days of lent, and we placed the correct one on the cross each day: At this time we’d also read the Bible reading for the day, or, if the story seemed a little too much for M’s understanding, we would read from our Little Acts of Grace book. 

Each Sunday we read two of the Sunday readings - one Old Testament story and one New Testament story - and placed small pictures illustrating the stories on the flannel board.  Here are the ones for the second Sunday – Moses striking a rock in the desert and water coming out for the thirsty people, and Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman:

 

Sundays are not part of the 40 days of Lent, so no flower bulbs those days.  This is how it looked about one-half of the way through:

We also had some special pictures for Holy Thursday (The Last Supper), and Good Friday (a crucifix):

Then Easter morning came and…

Alleluia was freed from it’s little tomb and placed high on our board:

And…

All the flower bulbs had burst into bloom!

A picture of the empty tomb was in the center of the cross:

It was really beautiful, and such a nice way to really make Lent this year a more meaningful part of our life.

This went over pretty well with M, although he does like the Jesse Tree more, because he gets “a yummy piece of candy” every day. :)  I felt like something was missing each day with just putting a flower bulb on the cross.  I think it would be nice to add something else – perhaps a list of little things to do, letting M pick one per day at the same time he places the bulb on the cross…. I’ll have to think about this some more! 

Just a little feather to put in your cap and think about… I am planning on making this available as a printable eventually, with more detailed instructions, daily readings, etc., and I plan on making a complete second set and holding a giveaway for it on my blog sometime early next year. :)  So if you are interested, make sure to check in around early February in 2012, if you can remember! :)

Have a beautiful day! :)

 

How Lent Went (2)

:) 1. artwork    2. Lenten basket

Inspired by Montessori-style seasonal baskets, I decided to make a small grouping of items for M to look at and use as a springboard for his own little reflections during Lent.  I feel like I could’ve added a lot more to this, but I wanted to keep it simple, and honestly couldn’t come up with a lot of ideas that would be quick to put together (Lent had already begun when I finally got around to this – next year I intend to be a bit more on the ball).
I used a large rectangular basket, covered it with a purple cloth, and put the following items in it…

First, a wooden cross from Dollar Tree, which we’ve been using to learn about the various liturgical colors.  I originally came across this idea in Maria Montessori’s book, The Child in the Church , and then saw some “Father Pines” over at Catholic Icing.  I made simple little vestments for our cross and M enjoys changing them depending on the season and/or day.  To prepare the cross M sanded it a bit:And then gave it a good rub down with some olive oil, which apparently didn’t make it onto the camera, darn it.
We also have a little laminated flip booklet with the stations of the cross:I used scrapbook paper and stickers (Dollar Tree!) on the fronts of the cards, and some meditations and prayers, found here, on the backs of the cards.  We have gone over these, simply by stating what each station is called, looking at the picture, and thinking a bit about it.  I’ll save the meditations and prayers for another year, as this seemed to be enough for M right now. 
The sticker pack had two sets of stickers in it so I used the other one to make simple little stations, backed with felt:M used these to match up to the cards mentioned above, and he could also place them on the flannel board if he wanted.
I also placed a wooden crucifix into the basket (this is a San Damiano Crucifix, which I absolutely love):
We read quite often from Little Acts of Grace: So into the basket it went too.  It’s a sweet book of little ideas for showing our love for Jesus.
Last of all, the “A” word was hidden in an egg, and taped shut. :)  All through Lent we refrain from saying “Alleluia”, and then on Easter morning the Alleluias break out all over the place. :)  It really makes for a joyful Easter!  We placed our little felt Alleluia inside a purple egg, taped it shut, and waited.  This was a big deal to M; he loved the idea of a secret word!  Then Easter morning we took it out and placed it high on our Lenten Countdown Cross, which is what I’ll post about tomorrow. ;)  Stay tuned!
Have a beautiful day! :)