I intended for my family to have a fun, spiritual, religious Easter celebration this year.
I wanted it to be similar to our Christmas. We had fun celebrating the birth of Jesus and the arrival of Santa (or Mrs. Santa, as the case turned out to be). I intended for Easter to be similar, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
You know what they say about good intentions.
I started out researching Easter and Lenten traditions back in February. I wanted to come up with a tradition in the same vein as the Jesse Tree, religious and significant but also uplifting and fun and joyful.
Halfway through my Resurrection Eggs craft project, I realized that it wasn't going to turn out like my Jesse Tree.
My Jesse Tree was nice.
My Resurrection Eggs weren't going to be nice. They weren't going to be uplifting or fun or joyful to an already anxious 2-year-old.
It may have been meaningful and memorable, but not in the way that I wanted.
So I quit. I let go of my project. I'm hoping to come back to it next year, when Grace is older and {pray with me on this one} less afraid of the world.
In the meantime, I thought I'd tell you what I had come up with for the project.
How to Make Resurrection Eggs
- Come up with 12 Bible verses or images that you find personally important in the story of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. After a lot of research, I chose the following:
- Jesus rode to Jerusalem on a donkey. (Matthew 21:1-11)
- Mary poured perfume on Jesus' feet. (John 12:2-8)
- The Last Supper (Matthew 26:17-19)
- Judas betrays Jesus (Matthew 27:3)
- Jesus carries his cross to the site of the crucifixion. (John 19:17)
- Jesus crowned king of the Jews. (John 19:2-4, Mark 15:17)
- Soldiers divide up his clothes. (John 19:23)
- Jesus was nailed to the cross. (John 19:18,37 & John 20:25-29)
- They give Jesus a sponge soaked in vinegar to drink. (John 19:28-30)
- Jesus' body is prepared for burial. (John 19:40)
- They covered Jesus' tomb with a great stone. (Matthew 27:59-60)
- The tomb was empty. He has risen. (Matthew 28:6)
- Gather or buy an equal number of plastic refillable Easter eggs.
- For each verse or theme, choose an object that will fit into the Easter egg. I was vacillating between making a felt object, making a mini felt ornament, and simply finding each object to put inside the eggs. I didn't get to this step, so it didn't matter in the end. I think any of the three would be nice.
- A donkey - Jesus rode to Jerusalem on a donkey. (Matthew 21:1-11)
- A tiny perfume bottle - Mary poured perfume on Jesus' feet. (John 12:2-8)
- Bread or a dinner table set for a meal - The Last Supper (Matthew 26:17-19)
- 3 pieces of silver money - Judas betrays Jesus (Matthew 27:3)
- A cross {made from toothpicks?} - Jesus carries his cross to the site of the crucifixion. (John 19:17)
- Thorns - Jesus crowned king of the Jews. (John 19:2-4, Mark 15:17)
- Dice - Soldiers divide up his clothes. (John 19:23)
- Nail - Jesus was nailed to the cross. (John 19:18,37 & John 20:25-29)
- Sponge - They give Jesus a sponge soaked in vinegar to drink. (John 19:28-30)
- Spices {whole cloves?} - Jesus' body is prepared for burial. (John 19:40)
- A stone - They covered Jesus' tomb with a great stone. (Matthew 27:59-60)
- {Egg should be empty.} The tomb was empty. He has risen. (Matthew 28:6)
- Number the eggs so they don't get mixed up.
- Place the eggs into an empty egg carton.
- Decorate the carton.
- Ideally, you'll want to count backwards 12 days from Easter, and plan ahead so that you can open one egg each day. You can talk about the image or the verses or the story. Say a prayer.
To be honest, I feel a little silly posting a project that I decided not to make. On the other hand, I thought it might be helpful to someone, so I went ahead with the post.
If you decide to make (or buy) Resurrection Eggs, please come back and share your thoughts and photos.
How do you celebrate the religious side of Easter with your young children?
We're still doing the Easter bunny and the Easter basket, but I'm curious as to how you discuss the Easter story with your preschoolers.
Grace is still in love with pretend Baby Jesus, and we're not ready for him to die just yet. Still, I'm interested in how other parents have handled it.
Kaysi (Keeping It Simple) says
I love this idea!! I really need to do it for my family, thanks for sharing!
Kim@ Cheap Chic Home says
I'm sure someone will want to make those eggs. My kids made them in Sunday school. I don't remember what I told the kids when they were preschoolers, I probably didn't say a whole lot till they could understand more. Happy Easter - It's nice someone actually remembers what it is for/about ;).
mada22 says
That's a great idea! The kids at church did this during their Easter egg hunt and it was a hit!
Lori says
Thanks for joining Get Your Craft on Thursday. Please join me next week for another wonderful party!!
Please stop by next week I am having guest over each day and I would love for you to tell them HI!
Amanda says
Thank's very creative, I appreciate the post 🙂
Waynejodifox says
Easter can be intense for a 2 year old. I like to focus on the love part. God LOVES us so much that he gave us Jesus. It was God's plan for Jesus to grow up and go back to live with God in heaven. Easter reminds us that Jesus is with us always and one day we will get to see him. There are only 4 eggs. Inside them are:
1. Heart: God loves us so much
2. Cross: He gave us Jesus who died on the cross and was hurt. But it was because He loves us.
3. Birthday candle: Jesus is alive and His light is still shining today! We get to be with Jesus forever!
4. Pretzel: Shape looks like praying hands. We can pray and tell Jesus that we believe and that we love Him too!
When they get older, they will be more ready for the full story. But for now....it's good to know that Easter is about God's love
Tara @ Feels Like Home says
That's a wonderful message. Thanks for sharing it.
Patricia says
Well done!! what a beautiful way to share Easter with toddlers. Thank you
Kathy says
I have 4 children, ages 21 to 10. We have made Resurrection Eggs for several of the kids' religious education programs over the years. I am amazed how well-received the craft is from both kids and parents alike. What a meaningful way to help kids of all ages understand the story of Jesus and the resurrection. I still have my daughter's eggs from second grade (she's now in college!) What an awesome keepsake to have as well.
katie says
Thank you for your honesty in dealing with this issue. I'm trying to prepare for Easter for my 4 and 5 year old girls and honestly we are still not past the distress that the details of the story cause. And maybe that is the point, that we all need to feel and know that distress to understand the love. But the fear without the understanding does not seem worth the trauma yet. They are barely aware of the existence of that degree of violence let alone against precious Jesus. So, I too am waiting for the right time/year for the resurrection eggs. I do like the shortened version presented by ...fox and I think I will do something like that. I'm glad you told your story even if you didn't do the project yet. : ) Thanks
Feels Like Home Blog┞¢ says
Thanks 🙂 We did actually did do some last year, when she was almost 4. (I wrote this post when she was 2, going on 3.) I told her only the vaguest of details, and she was okay with that. She knows now that He lived and then died, and it was God's great plan to save all people. She really liked playing with the eggs, taking everything out, telling the story, and putting it all away again. It was a perfect reminder of the meaning of Easter without any distress at all.
When your kids are ready for it, you'll know. I think it's so important that we know our kids and are wise about what to share and what not to share with them, based on their development.
Kirsty says
I agree. Wee ones only need to know the most important bits. They'll learn more as they get older. As well as being distressing, too much info risks the important bits being lost.
I did 6 with my Sunday School class - soldier, cross, darkness (black paper), curtain (small piece of cloth), stone, empty.
Lori says
Thank you for sharing. I was getting ready to put this together (last minute, I know...) and the first version I came across wasn't exactly what I had in mind. This is great!
Kathy Wells says
Thank you for supporting this idea of the Resurrection Eggs. Throughout my 30 years of teaching preschool and kindergarten in a Christian school, we have made hundreds of these sets! I reverently share the story with my class and reveal the last and best egg of all: the empty egg representing the empty tomb, Jesus is ALIVE! I then ask my kids to find a puppet/animal/doll around the room and ask them to use their eggs to retell the Easter story to their friend. After doing this to a pretend character they are more confident of sharing the Easter story with other family and friends. Now my 15 grandchildren love to hear the Easter Story Eggs!