Things to do to help small children understand Lent:

1. Pick a sacrifice: everyone in the family write down little things that everyone could do to sacrifice, then each morning or the evening before pick one out of the jar and that’s what everyone does that day. For example, you may have no TV, give up dessert, do someone else’s chore (i.e. make a sibling’s bed or take out the trash for Dad), no video games (or for Mom or Dad: no Facebook!), etc.
2. Prayer chain: each day write a special intention for someone on a slip of paper and staple it into a ring, then each day you add a new ring, making a nice long chain to remind you that others are in need of our prayer support.
3. Visit a nursing home together as a family. Bring along little pictures the kids have drawn or colored to give out to the residents. Some nursing home residents don’t get many visitors.
4. Make a crown of thorns: with homemade clay (the kind that dries when left out, http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/crafts-by-material/clay-crafts/clay-time-709026/2/ ) braid together a crown then stick a bunch of toothpicks into it. After it dries, leave it on the table as a centerpiece. Each time a child does a good deed or gives up something, they get to remove one of the “thorns”. Hopefully, by Easter, the crown is no longer thorny and they can see that their small sacrifices help Jesus.
   1. Variation: draw a crown of thorns on a piece of paper and get some flower stickers, each good deed gets a flower. At Easter you should have a wreath of flowers instead of a crown of thorns!
5. Collect gently used clothes and toys from the house and donate to St. Vincent De Paul or Scotty’s House or the homeless shelter.
6. Print out a copy of the Children’s Stations of the Cross and pray it with them. You can make your own set of Stations using simple crosses cut from construction paper or you can buy art prints of the Stations. http://www.catholicmom.com/stations_kids.htm
7. When children do something special for Jesus, tell them how happy it makes Jesus and you! This alone will help keep them on track.

If you have any other ideas, post them in the comments below to share with others!