Apart from decorating eggs we want our kids to remember the real meaning of Easter. The fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sins often gets forgotten amidst the rabbits and eggs and hunts and things – there is nothing wrong with all of these things and the fun that they bring. I really don’t want my children to think there are two Easters: one that is fun and filled with chocolate and one that is a bit of a drudge of a history lesson. And let’s face it, it is very easy to fall into that trap!!! To avoid the chasm we have a few fun traditions in our house that we do the week between Palm Sunday and Easter:
This week, as the calendar moves from Palm Sunday to Easter we will be doing a quick and easy project each day as we lead up to Easter Sunday…
- Giant Palm Leaves: Today was Palm Sunday, the day Jesus rode into town on a donkey – everyone rejoicing and celebrating and laying the street with clothes and palm branches – imagine how festive it must have been. We made a stack of leaves and had a wild game of palm leaf statues was on the menu, taking leaves away and making it trickier and trickier as we went along!!!
- A Garden of Remembrance: Gather some mini-plants from the garden, ready a flat bottomed dish, a rock for a tomb and a little cross… Garden away!!!
- Mapping: My kids have been making an ancient map, along with dipping teabags in paper!!! Their map shows the life and times of Jesus in the last week of his life.
- Passover Platters: My little guys will make these as place mats over the next couple of days. It is a great way to think about the food that Jesus would actually have eaten on the night of the Passover.
- 30 Pieces of Silver: Once snickerdoodles are baked they look just like coins and are the perfect cookie to bake when talking about Judas and his betrayal of Jesus.
- Donkey craft: Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and we will whip up some peg-ponies in remembrance of this event.
- Hot Cross Buns: These are really easy to make… a lot easier than I thought they would be. Good Friday tradition in our house!!! And lots to talk about while you are rolling out little crosses.
The point of doing Easter projects is not just that we build memories and create traditions with our kids, and they aren’t just something to fill up our free time with!!! Actually they are important for bringing us together from whatever we were doing and creating a chance to talk about Easter and what it is all about. Nobody can roll out a batch of snickerdoodles without chatting and if you call them thirty pieces of silver and talk about Judas’s betrayal at the same time then you are teaching without lecturing and I am all for that!!!
If you are looking for more Easter goodies them pop over to our Easter Fun Page…
I popped this post onto the Works For Me Wednesday Site – go and have a look there for all sorts of tips on absolutely anything.
Your crafts and traditions are great! What a beautiful way to learn about the true meaning of Easter.
Hay KM, Thanks – I am all for quick and easy!!! And these sure are that!!! Hope you are enjoying some springshine!!!
Really wonderful ideas – thanks for sharing.
Hay J, Glad you liked them!!!
Some of these ideas are a bit old for my kids right now (1.5 and 3), but I’ll be saving them for a few years from now… thanks for sharing! I’m always on the lookout for quality Easter activities that are Christ-centered!
Thanks for stopping by A!!! I hope you and your kiddo’s have a great fun Easter!!!