After a conversation with my sister about how Easter needs to be as big or bigger than Christmas, my husband and I decided we needed make Easter a BIG holiday in our home. After all, it's the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ that defines us as Christians! The gospel needs to be our central focus every.single.day. It just makes sense that the time we celebrate Christ's resurrection should be a HUGE celebration. Through Christ alone we have life, why not make the day as big and special as Christmas itself?
Here's ten ideas on how to do that:
1. Easter Countdown. Like an advent calendar, do something that gets your kids excited about the upcoming day, while focusing their minds on Jesus. This year we did 20 Easter eggs. Inside each egg was something that gave a clue to one of the names of Jesus. (Examples: Lindt's lamb chocolates to introduce Jesus as the Lamb. Miniature books to discuss Him as the Author.) We had 20 names and verses we learned, and my understanding of Jesus grew ten-fold, I can only hope and pray the same for our girls.
2. Easter Coloring Book. There are endless ideas floating around out there. I just googled events in the Easter story (i.e. Palm Sunday coloring page, Jesus on the cross coloring page, empty tomb coloring page, my favorite: Jesus on the throne) and then created a chronological coloring book to color and discuss together.
3. Come Celebrate Easter Sticker and Activity Book that coincides with The Beginner's Bible my Briella Bean owns. It is definitely for younger children, but it goes through each event and has the kids do an activity. Some of the activities are not as good as some, but my girls thoroughly enjoyed doing a page a day.
4. Make Easter themed snacks! There are lots and lots of ideas out there, like the empty tomb rolls or this one:
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| From: Today's Kids Ministry |
5. Eat Jelly Beans alongside the Jelly Bean poem (downloaded here):
Red is for the blood He gave.
Green is for the grass He made.
Yellow is for the sun so bright.
Orange is for the edge of night.
Black is for the sins we made.
White is for the grace He gave.
Purple is for His hour of sorrow.
Pink is for a new tomorrow.
6. Like Christmas, decorate your home. There's lots and lots of wonderful ideas for this season. One of my favorites that we did together was an empty tomb garden. The girls LOVED doing this together and it made a wonderful addition to our decor.
7. Like Christmas, wake up to gifts! We are filling their egg hunting bucket with goodies. Some ideas for little girls that I hope gets your brain rolling for kids of all ages, boy or girl:
- Melissa and Doug's Bible themed WaterWow! My girls LOVE coloring with these things.
- The Beginner's Bible also has a Jesus themed activity book we will do together to continue to learn about Jesus even after the Easter season. My girls liked the Easter themed book so much I thought I'd continue with this one. There's even a Christmas one.
- Lindt's Lamb chocolate
- Cross shaped chocolate
- Jelly beans with the Jelly Bean poem
- Cross Necklace
- The Life of Jesus Puzzle Block Bible
- Only God Can Make a Kitten by Rhonda Gowler Greene
- A new dress to wear to church!
8. Crafting. Do you know how many Christ centered crafts are out there. I had so much to choose from it was overwhelming! Like a cross centered stained glass window we did when we talked about Jesus being the light. Or the plethora of ideas for a lamb and lion when we talked about how Jesus is the Lion and the Lamb. etc. etc.
9. Read Paul E. Maier's The Very First Easter that offers thought provoking details to the events leading up to Jesus' death on the cross and His resurrection. Or Rhonda Gowler Greene's One Lost Sheep where children learn that God, like a faithful shepherd, will never let them stray.
10. Read the Bible story together beginning when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey leading up to His resurrection, each day talking about a specific section.
Go to my Pinterest board titled, Spring is in the air! to see more ideas for Easter fun, so you don't forget IT IS FINISHED! HE IS RISEN! And those two facts are worth celebrating!
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