"What season is it?” asked Mrs. Deb. 

"It’s spring! The snow is all gone!” exclaimed Charlie. 

"It’s May!” shouted Emma.

Two perfect answers for the season in nature and the month of the calendar year. But what about the seasons in the church and on the lectionary calendar? For many kids, this isn’t quite as obvious!

After teaching lectionary Sunday school, I’ve learned some key ways to go beyond the structure of a lectionary Sunday School classroom and help kids (and adults) learn about, recognize, and celebrate lectionary seasons and festivals:

Observe the worship space

Kids love the challenge of trying to figure out what's different about familiar spaces. Worship spaces often change with church seasons and festivals. Visit your worship space with kids. Help them learn what "changes" with each church season or festival. Observe the paraments on the altar, banners on the wall, pastor's or choir stoles, or movement of some furniture.

Beginning on Easter Day, our sanctuary has a huge mobile with butterflies rising up from a crown of thorns. Kids know that as long as they see butterflies it is still the season of Easter! (A star hangs during Christmas and the crown of thorns only during Lent.) Ask someone on your altar guild to give kids a behind-the-scenes tour of where your church's paraments are stored for them see all the colors, textures, and images together.

Participate in seasonal sounds and songs

Christmas songs are often kids' favorite songs. They are some of our most traditional too. Help kids understand why we only sing some songs or words during specific seasons. "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" in Advent and "Away in a Manger" on Christmas Day.

Teach kids about the events of Holy Week and Easter through music. Sing “Ho-ho-ho-hosanna!,” “Let Us Break Bread Together,” “They Hung Him on a Cross,” or “Were You There,” and “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today.” Invite your music minister to play measures of a prelude for Epiphany compared to a prelude for Lent. Ask kids what they hear. Show kids there are sections in your hymnal or worship book for each lectionary season. You may learn something along the way too!

Attend multigenerational and community events

Host seasonal events on an annual basis for kids in lectionary Sunday school to look forward to and understand why they happen when they do.

For years, our church hosted a short firework display in the parking lot on Ascension Day. Wait until Epiphany for your children's Christmas program or to place the wise men in your nativity set. People may wonder why you’ve delayed, but it will help kids experience time between the day Jesus was born and when the wise men visited Jesus. Tie red, yellow, and orange ribbons to bikes on the Day of Pentecost and take a ride together after worship.

Use numbers, colors, and symbols

Count the days of seasons that occur over a specific interval of time: 12 days of Christmas, 40 days of Lent, 50 days of Eastertide. Use physical reminders to measure these days on bulletin boards or in baskets or bowls. Place 50 numbered eggs in a basket for Easter. Hang 40 purple crosses during Lent.

For the season after Pentecost, invite people to trace, cut out, and write their names on green paper feet. Create a long path of the feet to decorate a wall of your fellowship space during this longest season of the church year.

Highlight the color of each season beyond your worship space. You can do this by coordinating anything from napkins during coffee hour to the paper color of your bulletin inserts. Include seasonal symbols on name tags or in centerpieces.

Hang kids’ worship bulletins

Provide age-appropriate worship bulletins for kids to connect to worship practices, lectionary readings, and the people who are worshipping with them. Sparkhouse offers downloadable worship bulletins for lectionary Sunday school classrooms, including one for every Sundays in the three-year Revised Common Lectionary. Two grade levels (pre-reader and reader) complement the Spark or Whirl Lectionary brands. Kids may even leave worship knowing more about certain days in the church year than their parents!

"What season is it?” asked Mrs. Deb. 

"It’s E-e-e-e-e-e-e-PI-phany!” exclaimed Charlie. "Let’s follow the star!”

'It’s Lent!” shouted Emma. "Purple is my favorite color.”

Enjoy connecting kids at your church with the seasons and festivals of the lectionary year. Use one of these tips? Have other ideas to share? Add them in the comments below!

Interested in learning more about how you can use lectionary Sunday school with your church? Check out our website for more information about Spark Lectionary and Whirl Lectionary, the two models Sparkhouse offers.