In a quick “reel” on Instagram, I shared a peek at our current morning prayer basket books set out for the children for Lent. As we are working on our “family horarium” and aiming to bring more order and stability to our daily rhythm as a family, we realized there was a “hole” in what the children were doing between cleaning up after breakfast (while I get dressed and ready for the day) and praying Prime and morning prayers as a family - so while I know that every homeschooler and her mother is a rockstar at the “morning basket,” it is honestly not something I’ve done routinely! We always have books in a basket near the couch, ready for read alouds or children flipping through, but part of this is new for us! A new morning prayer table is in the works, a place that we plan to put both the children’s morning “spiritual” reads, as well as the missals, monastic diurnals, spiritual reads and prayer journals that my husband and I use in the morning. The virtue we are working on this Lent, this year, really, is order, dialing in some main areas to help the ship navigate a little smoother around here! Hence, “spiritual reads” the children can read at the kitchen table while they wait for my husband and I to come down to start morning prayer. Not so much a seasonal, educational “morning basket,” but I suppose more of a mental prayer, visualization, and liturgical season basket!

One Lent a few years ago, a mother at our homeschool moms group meeting said essentially that the “goal” of Lent is to help the children LOVE Our Lord in His Passion, and that to LOVE Christ, they have to KNOW Him, and know His life. This paired with a desire to help my children be “naturals” at spiritual and Scriptural visualization imagination to set the stage for mental prayer has made books one of the top priorities for liturgical living in our home! I shared in the Reel on IG that it’s not so much about having that perfect, just so list of Lent books, or Advent books…but that generally it helps the child get into the liturgical season, meditating on the concepts the Church sets out for us to be focusing on! Since we don’t have a lot of specifically Lenten books, I’ve filled it in with saint books and other books I want my children to be reaching for! Y’all asked for the specific titles and links, and I get that! I utilized Shower of Roses blog SO frequently in my early Pinterest searches for “lent with children” and all things liturgical living, so I get how helpful it can be to have direct links!

In an effort to support Catholic publishers and bookstores directly, most links will take you right to the publisher whenever possible.

What’s in our Lent Morning Prayer Basket for 2021:

Stations of the Cross Cards, Catholic Family Crate

Stations of the Cross for Kids, TAN

Stories of the Saints, Workman Publishing

The Way of the Cross, Gracewing

A Child’s Treasury of Bible Stories, Stampley

Listening for God, Silence Practice for Little Ones, TAN

Little Life of Jesus, Ignatius Press

My Book of the Church’s Year, St. Augustine Academy Press

On a Mission to Love, Ruah Woods Press

Moses: The Long Road to Freedom, Scholastic Inc