Play and Pray Through Lent (PDF Download)

Play is nature's way of extending a child's horizons and understanding of life. Play and Pray through Lent draws on this natural sense of playfulness and creativity to enable children to grow spiritually by linking the world of the child with the great Lenten themes of the Church.

Based on the Revised Common Lectionary, the book suggests ways in which children can engage with the story of Easter during the six weeks of Lent in a creative way. This is achieved using very simple visual items, such as a story cloth and card figures, to give an ongoing focus. The project covers all three years of the Revised Common Lectionary and may be started in any year (A, B or C).

Each week you will find suggestions for:

Getting ready
Theme for the week
Bible focus
Story for the week

Let's play and pray
Story cloth activities
Talk about ideas
Prayer for the week

Celebrating on Sunday
Take-to-church suggestions
Sunday worship suggestions

The material also includes a simple song for each week of Lent and for Easter Day itself, especially written for the project. Each song is sung to a well-known nursery rhyme tune.

'I just had to write and say what a huge success Play and Pray though Lent is. The children at Union Church (URC/Baptist) are thoroughly enjoying the music and playmats etc. It has certainly sparked their play time/learning and understanding. This is a great resource designed for home use and adapted easily to our small Sunday School.

'Play and Pray through Lent as a family resource was wonderful for bringing the different age groups together. Everyone enjoyed singing the songs. My own imagination was encouraged also to use stones to build a mountain. It was very successful in every way.'

We would definitely do this project again, as each year, as my child grows older, he will grasp more significance from the activities and talking points. This project helps to stress the importance of Easter by gradually building up to it.
Parent from Llanfrechfa in Monmouth

From Home & Family - Spring 2006

Packed with stories, activities, resources, and ideas to talk about, this book takes a commonly overlooked church season in terms of children's work and makes it something you can't wait to start! Why celebrate Easter with children without taking a full part in the run up? As the back cover says: 'This project helps to stress the importance of Easter by gradually building up to it'.

MU member Kay Warrington aims the book at fives- to sevens, for use at home or at church, and each session is Bible-based and fun-filled. It even has enough ideas for three years of Lent!

Accompanying the session outlines is a chapter of song words and music, and a chapter of pictures and crafts to photocopy. She also suggests the use of a story cloth and there are clear instructions on this.

I would strongly recommend a GBP9.99 investment in this book.

Reviewed by Rachel Stowe

From STAR News (diocese of London children's work magazine) - January 2006

How can you help young children and their families use Lent as a 'getting ready' time for Easter? Play and Pray through Lent tried to do just that.

It's designed as a lectionary based resource for families to use at home with material which links to into church worship too. Each week the story is retold simply and there are daily ideas for using a story cloth, a song, talking points and prayer ideas. It claims to be ideal for 5-7s, but it feels as though it's aimed towards the lower end of the age range - and probably could be used with 3s and 4s.

If you combined the ideas suggested each week, they'd make a good Lent programme for a Sunday group of 3s - 6s.

• View other titles by Kay Warrington