Lent Bulletin Boards

Lent bulletin boards help reinforce Lenten themes and set the tone for embracing this season of sacrifice. These example Lent bulletin boards are created cooperatively in order to achieve a bigger impact. When individual contributions are put together to produce the bulletin board, a wonderful outcome is that a sense of community is fostered. These individual contributions can come from catechism classes, school members, family groups, or individual parishioners.

Hearts of Mercy Bulletin Board

Supplies

• 13 pieces of black construction paper
• Paper hearts of a variety of colors cut from construction paper

This Lent bulletin board was created in 2016_ during Pope Francis’ year of mercy. Each catechism class was given the task of creating one letter. They were simply provided with a black piece of construction with a penciled letter shape outlined on it. Every individual in the classes was asked to write on one paper heart what their Lenten resolution was going to be. Then they glued it to an empty spot on the penciled in assigned letter. Since we had 14 small group classes, it worked out perfectly to spell “HEARTS OF MERCY!.” It looks great to have each letter be shades of a particular color but you don’t have to do it that way.

Pray, Fast, and Give Bulletin Board

Supplies

• Fireplace ashes mixed with a little vegetable oil
• White cardstock circles cut from a die cut
• Big lettering of “Pray, Fast, Give”
• Symbolic objects or clip art copies of objects to attach to the board for each Lenten theme

This Lent bulletin board was split into 3 sections and was labeled with the 3 main themes of Lent: Pray, Fast, and Give by using wording and symbolic pictures. Catechism classes were asked to contribute to the board. After careful reflection during class, each person was asked to prayerfully make a cross out of ashes on a white paper circle using their fingers and then write their Lenten Resolution around the edge. The white circles were cut from cardstock with a die cut . Fireplace ashes mixed with a little vegetable oil were used to create the ash crosses. A great companion worksheet to provide to students is this Lenten Resolutions worksheet.

Prayer Wall Bulletin Board

Supplies

• Plastic chicken wire fencing from hardware/gardening store
• Small boards and hardware to mount the chicken wire fencing over the bulletin board
• Colored slips of paper (about 3 inches x 4 inches)
• Big lettering of “Lord, Hear our Prayers”; use editable Word document to customize lettering size as desired

Download lettering (docx)

The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem is the inspiration for this bulletin board. Plastic chicken wire fencing (less than $20 from a local hardware store) was mounted over the bulletin board with the help of small edging boards. This created a 2 inch gap between the chicken wire and the bulletin board surface. All the catechism classes and the confirmation classes were asked to write stop by and hear a short presentation on the wailing wall and then add their own prayer to the wall using the slips of paper provided. Throughout Lent, all parishioners were invited to add their prayers.

Walk in Jesus’ Footsteps Bulletin Board

Supplies

• Yellow backing paper and a sketch of a path on the bulletin board surface using black pastels
• Wording of “Walk with Jesus” and “40 days to fast, pray and give”
• Paper footsteps cut from cardstock from this footsteps template

This Lent bulletin board helps everyone reflect on how Lent is a 40 day journey through “the dessert” that calls us to walk alongside Jesus. The background is a simple sketch of a path that leads to the cross of the Resurrection. (If desired, the Lenten themes of Fast, Pray and Almsgive can be woven in by placing dessert symbols put along the path. ) Each child in our faith formation class was asked to fill out a paper footstep with their Lenten resolution written on it. To help decide on a lenten resolution, many of the upper elementary classes used the Lenten Resolutions worksheet. A cool effect, if you have a lot of footsteps, is to tape footsteps directly on the wall surface to create even an even bigger path.

The paper footprints can be created a few different ways. One way is to print this footstep file (3 per sheet) on cardstock and then cut out. If you have access to a Cricut or Silhouette machine, then you can cut multiples out that way.

Please share your Bulletin Boards!

If you use one of these ideas, please let me know by contacting me or writing a comment below. Please share your creative ideas for adaptations and extensions, too.

Other Lenten Ideas from Catechism Angel: