Free Printable Lent Calendar 2023

Strengthen your family’s Christian faith with our fun and engaging printable Lenten calendar. This calendar is the perfect way to count down the days of Lent with even your youngest children!

This free resource helps your children understand the true meaning of Lent and why the daily practices of prayer and sacrifice are important for us as Christians.

Yes, you can use this calendar to observe Lent even if you aren’t Catholic! Many protestant churches celebrate this season in the church year, including my own.

As part of a Bible-believing congregation, we embrace the traditions of Lent because we recognize that we are all in need of seasons of deeper repentance and reflection.

Lent helps our family to understand not only our sins but also Jesus’ deep love for us and His sacrifice for our sins on the cross. It leads us to have greater joy in the Resurrection! 

That is why this free printable Lent calendar I created involves daily activities that deepen our faith and our appreciation for Jesus our Savior:

1. Find the instructions for the Crown of Thorns craft mentioned in the calendar over at Catholic Icing.
2. Find the instructions for the Lamb of God Cotton Ball craft mentioned in the calendar on my blog (#3 on the post).
3. Coin crosses craft mentioned in the calendar
4. Recipe for Prayer Pretzels from the calendar
5. Don’t Forget to Remember book that was mentioned in the calendar
6. Printable Easter cards mentioned in the calendar

Looking for Christian movie suggestions (one of the ideas on the calendar)? Try The Chosen! Some of my cousins are in season 3, episodes 7 and 8 as part of the crowd eating the loaves and fishes! You could watch one episode as a family throughout Lent. 

One caution: Lent is not about “walking with Jesus” in the sense that we are capable of being like Him. The Christian life is more about “following Christ” because though we are always striving to have more of Him and less of ourselves on display, we are never capable of being perfect as He is.

Instead, our Lenten journey involves following Jesus with an understanding of our need for repentance and our dependence on the Savior. That is what can make the season of Lent meaningful and beneficial for our families and churches!

Using the Lenten Countdown Calendar

The calendar begins on Ash Wednesday and goes through Holy Week. It ends with Resurrection Sunday denoted on the bottom of the calendar.

It is undated, so you can use it for any year. But if you’re looking for specifics, this season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 22, 2023!

There are 40 days of Lent, but 46 days to color in on the calendar (including coloring in the letters for Resurrection Sunday at the bottom). Why? Because traditionally, Sundays do not count toward the number of days of Lent.

As you color in the Sundays as part of the countdown to Easter Sunday, note that they are not part of the true “40 days”. Sundays are a break from our “mourning and fasting” traditions of the Lenten season.

How to Get the Printable Lenten Calendar

You can download the calendar at the end of this post. Look for the subscribe box and sign up via email. You will soon receive an email with a link to the Lenten Countdown Calendar.

Once you do, simply print it out and have your children color in a box for each day of Lent (and Sundays too).

For each day, there are simple activities to help us focus our hearts and minds on God’s world, on Jesus and on others around us.

Our family will be using it this year and reading the Scripture verses from our Lent Bible Reading Plan at the same time. We will also incorporate our Lenten Prayer Chain prayers each day.

If you’d like to buy all three of these printable items as a bundle instead of subscribing for my emails, you can purchase that in our shop! The only email you’ll receive from me will contain your bundle download.

Different Ways to Use Our Free Calendar During Lent

• Print one copy for each child in your home. They can hang it up on the fridge or in their room as a reminder of the season. You can use it alongside our Lenten printable prayer chain (scroll down to subscribe for that item). These two activities are powerful tools to use to help your children understand the true meaning of this season.
• Use this printable calendar with your Sunday school classroom as well. Make as many copies as you need and send them home with your students before Lent begins, giving your families some brief instructions.
• Hang up your calendar at your work desk and see if anyone notices and asks you about Lent!

Download this free resource: a 40-day printable Lenten calendar that will help you count down the days to Resurrection Sunday by subscribing to my blog in the box at the end of this post.

Please see the end of this post for what to do if you’re using this for your church or classroom.

See below for the option to purchase the calendar and our other Lenten printables if you’d rather not subscribe.

 What are the 40 days of Lent 2023?

The 40 days of Lent in 2023 go from February 22, 2023 to April 8, 2023, not counting the Sundays during this season of the church year. Sundays do not count because they are not considered days of sorrow and repentance.

Looking for More Activities for Your Family’s Lenten Journey?

Check out our list of 50+ simple Lenten activities your family can do together during the Lenten season to impress the Biblical account of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection on your children’s hearts.

Download our other printables for Lent!

Get the Lenten Printable Prayer Chain by subscribing via email in THIS post and using it alongside the calendar. Get the Lent Bible Reading Plan by subscribing in THIS post and use it for your family devotional time.

This calendar is free for personal use in your own family, but I would kindly ask that if you’re using these printables for your church or classroom, that you would purchase the Lenten Prayer Chain, Lenten Calendar, and Lent Bible Reading Plans as a bundle in our shop.

You can also purchase the bundle for personal use if you’d rather not visit each individual post and subscribe for each Lent download.

Just click the button below to visit our online shop to make your purchase.

Purchase the Lent Bundle

This Lent calendar is original content, copyright ThePurposefulMom 2023. The calendar is for personal use and classroom use. For large-scale distribution, please contact me for permission before proceeding. Thank you!