Reading with your Children about the Easter Story

I love children’s books. . .I always have. I love board books in particular. They last forever since they are so durable. They also stand up really well so they are fun to decorate the table with. My girls love to read together and I think finding books that tell the story at their level for any holiday is a great tradition to start with your family. I try to purchase one new book each year for each holiday (usually purchased the year before at an after holiday sale), that way I can add to my collection slowly. I usually put the books out on the counter or in a basket for the month leading up to the holiday and we read them whenever we get the chance. The girls also like having new books to look at and read on their own. Here are a few of my favorites for the Easter holiday.

What is Easter? By Michelle Medlock Adams

The Best Thing About Easter by Christine Harder Tangvold

The Story of Easter by Patricia A. Pingry

Tell me the Easter Story by Joni Walker

Let’s Celebrate Jesus on Easter by Amy Beveridge

Benjamin’s Box by Melody Carlson (this goes along with the resurrection eggs purchased from family life)

Please let me know if you have a good Easter book you share with your children. I hope you and your family have a wonderful Easter!

Making your own Resurrection Eggs

To make your own resurrection eggs you will need to gather the following items:

1 empty egg carton

12 plastic eggs-each a different color

small piece of fur fabric

3 coins

1 oyster cracker

1 prayer sticker

1 small piece of leather string

1 small piece of purple fabric

1 nail

dice

1 small piece of sponge

1 small piece of white fabric

verse sheet (see verses below)

(optional: number stickers to label the outside of your eggs)

All you need to do is place one item into each egg. The final egg being left empty to symbolize the tomb being empty. Below are the verses I used when we made our resurrection eggs. Use them to help you place the eggs in the correct order in the egg carton. These eggs are slightly different then the ones you purchase due to the fact that it is not easy to find a toy donkey or a plastic set of praying hands. This would really be a fun activity to do with your children or even as an outreach to your neighborhood. Please let me know if you have any questions. I hope you enjoy using your resurrection eggs to celebrate the real meaning of Easter with your children!

1. Matthew 21:1-9 (fur)

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away." This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.' "The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!"

2. Matthew 26:14-16 (coins)

Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" So they counted out for him thirty silver coins. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

3. Matthew 26:26-28 (cracker)

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

4. Mark 14:32-42 (prayer sticker)

They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch." Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Simon," he said to Peter, "are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak." Once more he went away and prayed the same thing. When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him. Returning the third time, he said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!"

5. Matthew 27:26 (leather whip)

Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

6. Matthew 27:28-31 (purple cloth)

They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

7. John 19:16-22 (nails/cross)

Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews." Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

8. John 19:23-24 (dice)

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. "Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing." So this is what the soldiers did.

9. John 19:28-30 (sponge)

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

10. Matthew 27:57-61(linen)

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

11. Matthew 28:1-3 (rock)

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.

12. Matthew 28:5-8 (empty egg)

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you." So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

Celebrating Easter with your Children

Next Sunday we will be celebrating Easter. How do you celebrate Easter? Do you put as much time into Easter as you do Christmas? I must admit that a few years ago I didn’t. Easter seems to be that one holiday that has successfully been taken over by our secular society and it makes me sad. Sad because while Christmas is so important in that God became man, but Easter is the holiday where we remember the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross so that we could be saved. If there were no Easter, we would not be able to spend eternity with our Lord.

I wondered if I didn’t celebrate because it is a hard topic to talk about with young children, after all Jesus died a horrible death on the cross. I think to some extent that is what kept me in the early years, but then I realized that yes, Jesus did die a horrible death and we need to remember the pain he went through on the cross to pay for our sin, but the real reason we celebrate Easter is that Jesus rose from the dead and while he is in heaven seated at the right hand of God, he left his spirit here on earth to live in each of us-wow! This is what I want to teach my girls. This is the holiday I want to put more time and energy into because while Easter Bunnies and Easter egg hunts are fun celebrations, without the resurrection of Jesus, we would have no Easter.

One way I found to help me teach my girls about Easter was through the Resurrection Eggs from family life. (www.familylife.com) These are a great tool to help you tell the resurrection story. Each egg contains a small object to help you tell the story. There is a booklet provided with each kit that includes a verse and a small description that you can share with your children. My girls love each year when I pull them out. They love to tell the story to each other or to guests when they come over. Last year I purchased a second kit, so each girl could have her own set. I placed number stickers on the outside of each egg to make it easier to keep the objects in the right egg. I also take them out of the plastic carton they come in and place them in different eggcups. I then use them as a centerpiece on the kitchen table and the dining room table throughout our Easter celebration. I allow my girls to play with the eggs as much as they want. I love the conversations that it brings up each year. I remember when Maddie was really too young to know what was really going on, Abigail spent so much time telling and re-telling the story using the eggs to Maddie. Maddie sat there and listened, holding each object, being so excited her big sister was sharing with her. I really cannot say enough good things about this product. I would highly recommend purchasing a set if you do not have one. But I also realize that some budgets are tight, so tomorrow I will share with you a set that I put together for my MOPS group a few years back that would be really easy to recreate on your own.

I would love to hear your ideas of how you make your Easter celebrations special for your children!