Download your Friendzy freebies that provide turnkey lessons for your classroom to celebrate the Lenten season.
Lent invites us to slow down and make room for God to reflect on His mercy and the love revealed through the Cross and Resurrection. During this Special Year of St. Francis, Lent becomes a gentle invitation to live more simply, practice forgiveness, and choose peace in our words and actions. Rather than focusing on earning God’s love, this season helps us open our hearts to the grace already given and learn how to share it with others.
Inspired by St. Francis, these resources support students of all ages as they journey toward Easter with hope, trust, and joy - learning to follow Christ with humility, courage, and a peaceful heart in their classrooms and beyond.
Supplies: Peace Cross (small, child-safe cross), Peace Cross reflection slips, pencil, quiet classroom space.
The Peace Cross is a faith-based way to help students slow down, communicate respectfully, and repair relationships with God at the center. Inspired by a second grade teacher, Sister Grace Mary, this practice reminds students that Jesus is present as they talk, listen, forgive, and move forward together.
How It Works: When students cannot solve a problem on their own, they visit the Peace Cross Station. Taking turns holding the cross, students use simple I-statements to share feelings, listen without interrupting, and decide how to move forward. The process ends with a short prayer, signaling that peace has been restored.
Younger Students: Use the fill-in-the-blank reflection slips and guide the conversation verbally. Teachers may model language and support students through each step.
Older Students: Students complete the reflection slips independently, speak in full sentences, and take more responsibility for resolving the conflict respectfully.
Supplies: St. Francis reading (grade-level appropriate), pencil, reflection space (notecatcher or notebook).
St. Francis of Assisi lived a life that was transformed by faith. Born into wealth, Francis enjoyed comfort, fun, and popularity. Over time, through hardship and prayer, he discovered that true joy comes from loving God, serving others, and living simply. His life reminds students that kindness, generosity, and compassion are powerful ways to follow Jesus.
How It Works: Students read grade-level passages about the life of St. Francis of Assisi. Through reflection, memory, and response questions, students connect Francis’s choices to their own lives and consider how they can show God’s love through service and kindness.
Younger Students: Read the passage silently, together as a class, or aloud with teacher support. Students may answer questions.
Older Students: Students read independently and write complete responses to the reflection question.
Supplies: Outdoor walking space (schoolyard, garden, sidewalk, or hallway with windows), student reflection sheet or notebook, pencils.
God reveals His love and care through creation. By slowing down and observing nature, students are invited to notice beauty, design, and life all around them. Following the example of St. Francis of Assisi, this activity helps students recognize God’s presence in the natural world and reflect on their responsibility to care for it.
How It Works: Students participate in a quiet, guided nature walk using their senses (sight, sound, touch, and breath) to observe God’s creation. After the walk, students reflect on what they noticed, remember how the experience made them feel, and respond by identifying ways they can care for creation.
Younger Students: Walk together as a class with teacher-guided prompts. Students may share observations verbally, draw what they noticed, or respond with short phrases.
Older Students: Students walk silently or in whispers, reflect independently, and write full responses to the Reflect, Remember, and Respond questions. If more space is needed, students may use the back of the page or notebook paper.
Supplies: Footprint templates (or draw footprints), pens, markers.
Gather students and invite them to reflect on how they can “walk in faith” during Lent. Discuss ways to practice faith daily while awaiting Easter Sunday. Distribute the foot templates, or have students trace their footprints. Ask them to write one step they can take to grow closer to God (examples: acts of kindness, extra prayers, fasting).
Display the footprints in the classroom to create a path that leads to a cross or Easter display. This serves as a meaningful visual reminder throughout Lent of our commitment to walk in faith and grow closer to God.
Supplies: Prayer cube template for each student, scissors, pencil
Invite students to cut out the downloadable template. Fill in all sides of the cube with people or things they can pray for during Lent. Once students have filled out all sides, they will fold and glue the cube together following the template outline. Invite them to roll the cube daily and to spend time praying for the person or the thing that they rolled on. This activity will hopefully create space for students to intentionally spend time in prayer during Lent.
For younger students, teachers may prefer to make one Prayer Cube for the whole class. Invite your students to help you fill out each side with their ideas. Each day, you can roll the cube for the class and offer up prayer intentions together.
Supplies: Writing paper, pencil/pen
Encourage middle and high school students to start a Lenten Reflection Journal as a way to deepen their faith. Use prompts like:
What is one act of kindness you can commit to today?
Where did you notice God’s presence today?
How can you deepen your relationship with God this Lent?
How can you give your time, talents, or resources to help others?
What meaningful sacrifice can you make, and what support do you need to stay committed?
After journaling, pair students as prayer partners to support and encourage each other during Lent. Partners can meet weekly to reflect on their faith journeys and discuss questions such as:
How did you grow in your faith this week?
What acts of kindness or service did you do, and how did they impact others?
How are you managing your Lenten sacrifice, and what challenges have you faced?
What are you grateful for this week?
How can I pray for or support you in your Lenten journey?
At the end of Lent, invite students to revisit their journals, reflect on their growth, and share insights with their prayer partners or the class. This activity fosters both personal reflection and meaningful connections as students grow closer to God and one another during the Lenten season.
Supplies: “My Lenten Promise” download, pencil, crayons
Lent is a time of personal and spiritual growth. During Lent, we often make a Lenten Promise. What is something we can do or maybe something we can give up that will strengthen our relationship with God and as a result, with ourselves?
Invite students to color the worksheet and to complete the sentence stem at the bottom:
For older students, invite them throughout the Lenten season to reflect back on their Lenten promise through discussion or journaling. Below are some guided prompts you may consider:
What are ways you can uphold your Lenten promise? What are some steps you can take to keep it?
If you are struggling with upholding your Lenten promise, what can you do? What are some ways you can remain committed?
Name two people you would like to share your Lenten promise with. How could they support you?
After Lent → Reflect back over the past 40 days. How did your Lenten promise deepen your faith?
Utilize these discussion prompts to host small group or classroom devotionals to help students remember the lessons Christ calls us to learn during the Lenten season.
Utilize these reflection prompts to help students remember the lessons Christ calls us to learn during the Lenten season.
