Ash Wednesday

• Lesson: (If your church puts ashes on the kids' foreheads on Ash Wednesday, it is important to know what these ashes stand for.)

Ask: "Does anybody know what special day today is?" "Does anybody know what happens on Ash Wednesday?"
Explain: Ash Wednesday is the start of Lent. Lent is when Christians give up something very important to them (like candy) to remind themselves that Jesus died on the cross for them and that they need to rid themselves of their sin. At the end of Lent, Christians are supposed to have learned how to be better Christians. Today is Ash Wednesday. Tonight, before you leave, _________ is going to put some ashes on your forehead in the shape of a cross. We get these ashes by burning leaves. They are okay. They won't hurt you. We put ashes on our foreheads to remind us that we are trying to rid ourselves of sin.

• Story: Read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle"

Ask: "What happened to the caterpillar at the end of the story?" "Which would you rather be, the caterpillar or the butterfly?"
Explain: In the story, the caterpillar changed into a beautiful butterfly just like we are supposed to change into better Christians  by the end of Lent.

• Craft: Egg Carton Caterpillar (about 10 minute prep)**

Material: 4 egg cartons**, pipe cleaners (1 per child), google eyes (2 per child), stickers, crayons (washable markers may work better)

1. Cut out each egg slot in the egg cartons.
2. Poke holes on opposite sides of each egg slot.
3. Give 3 or 4 egg slots to each child along with 1 pipe cleaner.
4. Show the children how to thread the pipe cleaner through each of the holes on the egg slots. (Kids may need help with this step)
5. Have kids put all 3-4 egg slots on their pipe cleaners.
6. Fold up ends of pipe cleaners so that the egg slots don't fall off.
7. Allow kids to decorate their Caterpillars with stickers and crayons (markers).
8. Glue google eyes onto caterpillars.

Remember, tell the children to let the caterpillars dry before they play with them or their eyes will fall off.

• Game: Hungry Caterpillar Relay

Materials: 10-12 pieces of plastic food**, 2 baskets, music (optional)

1. Place half of the plastic food on one side of the room and the other half on the other side.
2. Split kids into 2 groups.
3. Make kids stand in line facing their pile of food and give the first child in each line a basket.
4. Have the kids start running when you turn the music on (or say "go") and one person from each team at a time goes to the pile of food and gets 1 piece of food, then runs it back to the group and sets it down and hands the basket to the next person in line. 
5. Tell them that when the music stops (or you say "stop") they must freeze wherever they are and you will count how many food items each team has to determine which team won.

Play game 2 or 3 times depending on time allowance.

• Snack: Cereal (always make sure there are no allergies in the classroom)

I don't like to go all-out on snack very much, and a lot of times our snack doesn't even have to do with the lesson for the day. Even if the snack doesn't have anything to do with the lesson, sit down at the table with the kids and ask them questions about what they learned that day.

Today, we had cereal as a snack. Just as the caterpillar in "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" ate a hole through all of his food, so we ate food with holes in it to remind us of the story.




**Made for class size of 15 kids. May need to be changed depending on the number of kids in the class.