GodVenture Kids Lent Countdown Resource review by Becky Lawrence, Youth and Childrens Worker, St Mark’s MK
Last week prior to Shrove Tuesday we sent each of our Kids Church children one of these GodVenture Lent countdown 
calendar and sticker packs to use as an at home discipleship resource. Our kids church covers a big age range from school year 1 to year 6 but we felt this would be good for all of the children from our group as the smaller ones could use it with their parents.
Each pack comes with a calendar, a sticker set and Bible reading notes. The premise is to countdown to Easter by sticking the correct stickers onto the calendar poster and reading the corresponding Bible stories in the booklet that comes with it. The concept is very similar to advent calendars trying to build excitement as we count down to the Easter celebrations while also learning about Jesus along the way through the Bible stories.
Here’s some info from GodVenture about the contents:
“It starts where we leave Jesus at the end of the Advent Calendar, that is, as a child. The first Bible story on the Easter Sticker Countdown is when Jesus gets ‘left behind’ in Jerusalem and his parents find him in the temple.
The story leads us through some of the events as told in Luke’s gospel in the Bible, taking us up to Holy week, with Jesus’s entry to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and the events of Holy Week on the days leading up to Easter Sunday – when of course we have the empty tomb!
The stories include:
- Jesus gets ‘lost’ in the temple
- Jesus call the fishermen to be his disciples
- Jesus heals and forgives a lame man lowered through the roof
- Jesus speaks with Mary and Martha
- Jesus visits Zacheaus
- Jesus welcomes the children
- Jesus goes to Jerusalem
- Jesus’ last supper
- Jesus dies
- Jesus is alive again
The stories are told in the 32 page illustrated mini-book using the New International Readers Version, which is similar to the NIV, but with shorter sentences and simple language, which makes it perfect for emerging readers. This means everyone in the family will be able to understand and even take turns in reading the story for that day, as well as enjoying placing the stickers.
Each countdown comes with a sticker sheet with 50 stickers, which includes one for each Sunday, which are officially feast days and so don’t count in the 40 day Lent run up to Easter. On these days there is no story to read, but you can use a flame sticker on the back of the sticker guide postcard to say prayers of thanks together.
There’s also extra stickers on two other days, as some stories are hard to capture in one sticker!
The artwork is created by Melanie Chadwick, and you will recognise her dynamic, colourful style if you have seen the 2020 GodVenture Sticker Advent Calendar.
Each Easter Sticker Countdown contains:
- a beautifully illustrated fold out countdown calendar which arrives folded to A4 but opens out to A3
- a sheet of 50 stickers to tell the story
- a postcard with a guide to which sticker to use on which day, and a sticker prayer activity for on Sundays”
We chose this resource because it was bright, unique and looked like it would enage our children and families and be a great lockdown discipleship tool. This Easter Sticker Countdown is perfect for families who’ve used the GodVenture Sticker Advent Calendar, or anyone wanting to explore the life of Jesus in the run up to Easter.
One of our mums of one of our kids already gave us some great feedback saying, “Thanks so much for the Easter Countdown calendar, Josie has really enjoyed doing it so far and it’s been great to dig into some of the Bible each day.”
It’s £33 for 10 copies or £55 for 20 copies, you can find the resource and others in the collection here https://godventure.co.uk/product/pre-order-easter-sticker-countdown-calendars-pack/