Children's Devotions for Lent

(Now that Lent's almost over, I realize I probably should've written this a long time ago.  Oops!)

At the beginning of Lent, Katie's Sunday School teachers passed out a Lent Devotions calendar to each family in the class.  The purpose is twofold:  there is a (very) small devotion every day, written for kindergarteners, and an activity for the kids to put coins in a sharing cup.  On Easter, all the kids in the class will bring their change-filled sharing cups back to Sunday School, and all the money will be donated to the Florida United Methodist Children's Home. 

Some example devotions and activities:

"Pray for President Obama and his family and pray for our country.  Put a coin in the cup for each President your family can name."

"Thank God for family members that love you.  Put a coin in the cup for each grandparent or older relative that loves you."

"Thank God for your friends who love and care for you.  Name 10 friends and put a coin in the cup for each."

I've liked these activities because they are short enough to hold a young child's attention span and also interesting enough where they have sparked longer conversations after we've finished counting out our coins for the day.  Katie and Natalie have both enjoyed saying our prayer, counting our coins, and checking off the day's box.  I think this was a great idea!  And the bonus is that all the money goes to kids that need it.  You can't beat that.