Easter bunnies. Chocolate bunnies. Stuffed bunnies. Bunnies are everywhere this time of year, along with more colorful plastic eggs than we know what to do with. While all these bunny-shaped things are fun to enjoy, especially if they’re in candy form, that’s not what this season is really about. Easter is about Jesus and His resurrection. Because of Jesus’ payment of our sin debt and defeat of the grave, we can have a relationship with the Father and an eternity in heaven. Our annual Easter celebrations are perfect opportunities to talk to your kids about Jesus and what He did for us. Let’s take a look at some ways you can commemorate the true meaning of Easter with your kids at home.
ENGAGE WITH THE STORY OF EASTER WITH YOUR KIDS
Maybe you’re already doing Bible readings daily with your littles. If so, great job! If not, then there’s no better time to start. Studies show that reading the Bible with your child sets them up to continue reading the Bible and walking with the Lord as they grow older. But as we lead up to Easter, take some time to read through one of the accounts of the resurrection story. You’ll find them in the latter chapters of the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
But don’t just read. Help your kids engage with the story by asking them questions as you go along. Consider thoughtful, reflective questions like this:
How would you feel if people were treating you like they treated Jesus?
What do you think Jesus’ friends were thinking as they watched Jesus die?
Jesus could have stopped it all at any moment. Why do you think He decided to go through all of that?
What would you do if you saw Jesus after he came back to life?
You may be thinking that this a heavy, difficult topic for young kids. And you would be correct. There’s nothing fun or easy about the death of Jesus. But it’s important to take advantage of the opportunities to talk about the most essential parts of our faith and the truth of Easter with your kids. There would be no salvation or forgiveness without Jesus’ death. No celebration of Jesus’ resurrection and victory over sin without the devastating events of Good Friday. Mourning had to precede the celebration. But praise the Lord, there’s a celebration to be had!
DO-IT-YOURSELF RESURRECTION EGGS
When Life in the Morning host Mandy was a little girl, Resurrection Eggs were the highlight of their home Easter celebration.
My parents purchased this special set of Easter eggs that had little items in each colorful container. Every item related to an important part of the Easter story and it helped me better understand those events as a young child.
You may still have time to order a set of Resurrection Eggs from Amazon before Resurrection Day. (Especially if you’ve got Amazon Prime! Free two day shipping baby!) However, you could make your own version to celebrate Easter with your kids. Faithward.org provides helpful printables of symbols to place in 12 plastic eggs, plus details on how each symbol ties into the story. For instance, the first symbol is a donkey and palm branch, which relates to Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem at the very beginning of Holy Week. Faithward.org also provides ideas for more tangible items to use in place of printed symbols, like a snippet of dog hair to represent the donkey and a few blades of grass in place of palm branches. In addition to the visual or tangible items, this DIY Resurrection Egg resource provides Scripture verses to accompany each symbol.
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MAKE EMPTY TOMB ROLLS
You can also commemorate the miracle of Easter with your kids using a delicious lesson of Empty Tomb Rolls. There are many recipes available online for these sweet treats, often using pre-made dough. However, cleverhousewife.com has an amazing recipe for making them from scratch.
Here’s what the “Clever Housewife” Emily had to say about the symbolism of the Empty Tomb Rolls:
The dough/bread represents Christ’s Tomb, and the marshmallow represents Jesus Christ. After the roll is baked, the marshmallow melts into the bread and the roll is left with an empty hole, representing the Empty Tomb after Christ was resurrected. It doesn’t hurt that these rolls are super yummy too!
Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 pkg active dry yeast
- 3 eggs
- 4 – 4½ cups flour
- ½ cup butter, melted
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- large marshmallows
Directions
- Dissolve yeast in the warm water, with a pinch of sugar (to activate).
- Beat in the eggs.
- Melt the butter in a microwave safe dish.
- When cooled, add butter to yeast mixture.
- Gradually add the flour, sugar and salt to the mixing bowl, and mix until smooth, or dough climbs up the blade/hook.
- Let rise once, then roll out for empty tomb rolls and cut into circles.
- Wrap each piece of dough around a large marshmallow making sure dough seals around the marshmallow.
- Brush each roll with melted butter and roll the dough ball in sugar and cinnamon mixture (this step can be omitted), but would make for a great breakfast this way.
- Place each roll in a greased pan and cover pan with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. In the morning, remove from refrigerator and let rise until double. If it doesn’t rise much, it will be completely okay.
- Bake at 375° until golden brown – about 15-20 min. If you did not roll the dough in cinnamon and sugar, you can brush a little butter over the tops, while warm.
- When the roll is opened, like the tomb, it is empty.
HOW DO YOU CELEBRATE EASTER WITH YOUR KIDS?
Do you have a special family tradition that helps keep the focus of Easter on Jesus? Tell us in the comments!
