Children's Resource: Easter Activities

 We're just a few weeks away from Easter. My daughter has been processing that this will be another Easter without some of her favorite events--no egg splash at the pool, brunch at church, egg hunt at the pond, or bouncy houses at the golf course. And, while those events aren't really what Easter is all about, they also brought a lot of joy as we think on the greatest day, when Christ defeated death. But our family will still enjoy our less public traditions. Here are some we've enjoyed over the years:

-Resurrection rolls

 This is the only idea on here that we do ever year.  It's easy and tasty, and we could do it with my younger kiddos and older cousins. There are more homemade versions, but we typically use large marshmallows, crescent rolls, cinnamon, sugar and melted butter. After rolling out the crescent rolls, you take a large marshmallow representing Jesus' body, roll it in melted butter and sugar cinnamon which represent the mixture of aloes and myrhh that Nicodemus brought for the body and then the body is put in the tomb (crescent roll). After baked, you can cut open the tomb and see the body has disappered. Check out the recipe here.
 

-Egg rice shakers

This is an activity I did with my kiddos when they are very young. We would make the shaker by adding rice to a plastic egg and duct taping it to two plastic spoons. We would use it to shake while singing songs about Jesus and practicing, "He is not here. He is risen!"

-Egg-ing friends' houses (We haven't egg-ed anyone's house, but my kids LOVED getting egg-ed last year).

Instead of prepping this activity for your kids, it's a chance for them to prep this activity for their neighbors or friends. Pinterest provides a bunch of free printables (here's one option), but you fill 11 plastic eggs with candy and leave one empty. Then stick the "egg-ing" explanation on their door or window that the last egg has been left empty on purpose to share about the empty tomb. 

The last four activities are all activities that go through the Gospel story. Each uses different items and some take more or less prep or supplies, but the point of each of them is to recite and rehearse the story. Some begin more with the whole big story of the Bible from Genesis and others' are more focused on the life of Jesus, especially leading up to his death and resurrection. 

-Resurrection Eggs

These can be homemade, but I purchased a set last year on sale since we plan to use it each year (and my craft skills are limited). We usually open one egg each day leading up to Easter. This specific set has a book that walks through each item and what it has to do with the story of Easter.

-Easter story bracelet 

 Check out The Preschool Toolbox for info on how to use pony beads to talk through the story of Easter from Palm Sunday to resurrection. I also like to hide one bead in each egg, have my kids find the eggs and then assemble the bracelet while reading a Bible (or picture Bible) for each part.

-Easter story stones

A few years back, my kids found these Easter story stones around the lower of the level church during Women's Bible study. My kids quickly memorized the story of Easter using these stones. We kept these stones for a long time, and finally lost a couple and tossed them out. Last year, I was determined to recreate them ourselves. My kids found the rocks and painted them black, while I painted the symbols. Older kids could probably paint the symbols too. Here's a link explaining the step by step.

-Easter story snack mix

Your kids may be expecting lots of candy on Easter morning, but this fun snack mix could be used another day for an egg hunt that talks through the story of easter. Click here for more info and a free printable. Here's some of the snack ideas:
Two pretzels- make a cross
Craisins- Jesus' blood
Round cracker- stone rolled in front of the tomb
Goldfish- fisher's of men
Marshmallow- Washed white as snow
Sweet treat- Taste and see that the Lord is good