Cute Lent Activity for Kids (Easy to Do Too!)

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These Lent Activities for Kids can help your little ones form good habits while learning to be more like Jesus!

Lent Activities For Kids

Are you looking for a cute kids’ activity for Lent? We always do Resurrection Rolls as one of our family traditions, but I love hearing what other families do!

When is Lent?

The lenten season varies based on when Easter is each year – here are the next few seasons:

Lent 2026: 2/18 – 4/2
Lent 2027: 2/10 – 3/25
Lent 2028: 3/1 – 4/13
Lent 2029: 2/14 – 3/29
Lent 2030: 3/6 – 4/18

During Lent many families prepare for Easter by deciding on something to sacrifice or working to become better and more like Jesus. One way to get kids involved in this concept is this cute activity!

Reader Jenny sent in this Lent idea for kids and we thought it was super cute and wanted to share:

Easy Activity to explain the meaning of Lent to Kids

The activity is simple – set out a jar for each child. Beside the jar set out a bowl filled with beans or pom-poms or anything else you like (Beads, buttons, anything will work!) and give the kids a challenge to strive for.

Here are some ideas to use to fill your jar:

Do a Good Deed
Help Someone
Respect Someone’s Wishes (Like when a sibling hollers to STOP – and they actually stop) 😉
Be Kind
Forgive Someone
Make a Sacrifice

Anytime the kids do a good deed – you can let them know you noticed and allow them to move a pom-pom from the bowl into their own personal jar.

As Lent goes on – they focus more on doing good and hopefully some good habits form. On Easter morning – the puffballs in the jar are replaced by pieces of candy! You could do jellybeans, or chocolates. Or if you want to avoid candy, you could do a mix of stickers, fruit snacks, and other little items. We have a HUGE list of Easter basket filler ideas you could use!

There is another more involved version of this Lent Idea called the Jellybean Prayer Jar. In that craft each color jellybean takes on a special meaning and kids add them to the jar when they do the matching deeds or prayers. Easter Morning ends with the parents adding a bunch of white jellybeans which stand for God’s Grace – since God’s Grace can’t be earned. (They could only add colored beans during Lent).