Embracing the Lenten Journey: A Homeschooling Mom’s Guide to Preparing Little Hearts

Lent begins February 18, 2026

As we quickly approach the sacred season of Lent, it’s a beautiful time to reflect on our faith, deepen our spiritual practices, and involve our little ones in the journey towards Easter. As a homeschooling mother, incorporating Lenten traditions into our daily routines provides a unique opportunity to instill a sense of reverence and understanding of this holy season.

Let’s explore how to prepare for Lent with little children and make it a meaningful experience for your entire family.

Setting the Stage for Lent in Your Homeschooling

Begin by creating a Lenten atmosphere in your home. Consider decorating a designated space with purple and violet hues, symbols of repentance and penance. Our home altar is located in our homeschool space (pictured above) and I also decorate our dining room buffet for the liturgical seasons as well.

If you have a home altar, prayer space, or even a corner of your dining room or kitchen you can dedicate to liturgical decorations, be sure to add in some purple and some physical reminder of Lent.

Let children help you with decorating for the season of Lent and engage them in conversations about the significance of this time.

Now is a great time to go over how the world focuses on consumerism surrounding Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and the excessively commercialized Easter and Spring-themed items. While the world focuses on consumerism, remind children that our focus is on something much greater than colored eggs and the Easter Bunny, emphasizing the importance of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. This sets the tone for a spiritually rich homeschooling experience during the Lenten season.

A quick and easy way to make your homeschool room or dining room ready for the liturgical seasons is with simple table runners or a table cloth that reflects the liturgical season. Previous to my conversion to the Catholic faith, I would immediately start decorating with pastels, spring colors, and Easter items immediately after Valentine’s Day. Now you’ll find my home minimally decorated with purple and greenery like cactus and succulents until Easter Sunday.

Liturgical Staples for the Home:

We focus on minimal decorations during Lent that remind us of Jesus’ 40 days in the desert. I personally like to decorate with various shades of purple, succulents, cactus, and neutral wood items, saving the pastels and spring colors for after Easter Sunday.

I recommend grabbing the Liturgical Art collections from Catholic Family Crate to make decorating for each liturgical season and feast day on the church calendar, simple and easy.

These simple art cards are a beautiful reminder of your faith and can be used anywhere in the home. I like to display ours in a simple wooden stand. These wooden stands can also be used to display Saint feast day art, Stations of The Cross, prayer cards, and more.

Involving Children When Covering Religious Icons with Purple Cloths During Lent

When delving into the sacred practice of covering religious icons, pictures, and statues with purple cloths during Lent, it becomes a wonderful opportunity to involve our children in this profound tradition.

As homeschooling moms, we can explain to our little ones the significance behind this act, emphasizing the solemnity and introspection that Lent calls for. Invite them to be part of the process, allowing them to delicately drape the purple cloths over these revered images, fostering a sense of reverence and respect.

Covering crosses, statues and religious icons usually occurs the Saturday before the 5th Sunday of Lent. That will be March 21, 2026.

Use this moment to share stories of faith, explaining the symbolism of purple as a color of penance and preparation. By including our children in this meaningful ritual, we not only teach them about the beauty of our Catholic traditions but also instill in them a sense of awe and connection to the journey we embark upon during the Lenten season. Let’s make these moments a cherished part of our homeschooling experience, shaping our homes into sanctuaries of love, faith, and understanding.

You can use cheap material like a purple cheese cloth runner (pictured above) and cut it into smaller pieces to cover all your pictures, icons, and statues. I personally like to use dark purple for this.

You can also watch Brother Francis’ Lenten Series on FORMED.org
if you didn’t give up screen time for Lent!

10 Lent-Themed Activities for Homeschooling and Sensory Learning

1. Lenten Sensory Play: Prepare sensory bins with dyed chick peas, beans, or lavender barley along with Grapat loose parts like purple eggs, pineapples, or stones . Choose a book or coloring pages to go with your sensory bin like those found in our Lenten Activity Bundle. Add alphabet letters or numbers too if you have them!
2. Prayer Jar: Create a jar filled with prayer intentions for the season. Each day, pick one and pray for that specific intention. Have older children decoupage or paint the jar.
3. Lenten Calendar: Design a wall calendar with daily activities focused on prayer, sacrifice, and acts of kindness. Check our our free Lent Pack for a list of Lenten Activities for Connected Catholic Families that would work for this!
4. Stations of the Cross: Help younger kids understand the Stations of the Cross with these coloring pages from Mind & Hearts, fostering a visual understanding of Christ’s journey.
5. Bread Baking: Bake simple bread together, discussing the symbolism of breaking bread and the Last Supper.
6. Almsgiving Box: Decorate a shoe box for collecting spare change to be donated to a charitable cause at the end of Lent.
7. Resurrection Garden: Collect small stones, sticks, and dirt to make a Resurrection Garden with your children. Instructions here.
8. Lenten Art Projects: Engage in art activities depicting the 3 pillars of Lent – Pray, Fast, Give.
9. Lent Loops: Download this FREE printable from Shining Light Dolls to countdown to Easter. This easy-to-assemble Lent calendar begins with Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday. Each loop is dated and has a scripture verse. This is a beautiful and simple way to pray along with the whole Church and incorporate scripture into your Lent- while also counting down the days to Easter!
10. Lent Sacrifice Jelly bean Jar: Download our FREE printable below to create a meaningful lenten tradition for the whole family.

Journeying Together As A Family Towards Easter

Incorporating Lenten traditions into your homeschooling not only enriches your children’s understanding of the faith but also creates lasting memories centered around God’s love and sacrifice. As we embark on this Lenten journey, let’s focus on raising Saints, instilling a deep love for God, and shaping our homeschools in accordance with His divine plan.

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