One of Our Favorite Lenten Activities: Making Pretzels and Praying the Pretzel Prayer

Four little visitors came for the afternoon and it is always a challenge on a windy chilly day to think of creative indoor activities. I got out the bags of colored home-made play dough and the cookie cutters which kept everyone busy for some time. Rolling snakes made me remember one of our favorite Lenten projects -- making pretzels like little praying arms. Fortunately I had a package of yeast (slightly out of date) but it was active enough.

While the children finished playing with play dough, I made the real dough for the pretzels. Then they all pulled up chairs to the counter (after hand-washing, of course) and we shaped the pretzels, baked them, said the pretzel prayer and ate them with honey and/or mustard. Since I didn't take any pictures, I refer you to a post from 2016 with the prayer and the recipe at my Grandma blog. This activity is always a big hit so I hope you try it with your kids or grandkids! Since the oldest granddaughter gave up sweets for Lent this was a much better activity than the old grandma staple of baking cookies!