I started with the Last Supper because the first point at which I realized my child needed to know specifics about Jesus was when
he accidentally managed to receive Communion. From that point, he became very interested in our religion and the story of Jesus. During Advent just before he turned 3, I made a point of telling "the story of Jesus" whenever he asked for a story, because he was quite keen on wanting to be baptized and we wanted him to understand what it was all about. He still requests various episodes from the story every few weeks.
On the way to church yesterday, I talked about what we commemorate on Palm Sunday: first, the Sunday when Jesus came into Jerusalem and the people were so happy to see him and waved palm branches; then, the way it all went wrong and the people were pressured into saying, "Crucify him!" and the soldiers teased him (EnviroKid remembered this part from before and said, "Ha ha, King of the Jews!") and he was killed. I said we do this on Palm Sunday, and then on Thursday we'll go back to the part that happened on the Thursday, the part where Jesus washed his friends' feet and they ate supper together one last time. On Friday and Saturday, we'll remember the sad, dark time when Jesus was dead and gone, and then on Sunday we'll celebrate how Jesus came back to life and how the whole world comes back to life in the springtime, with eggs and flowers.
EnviroKid paid more attention to the Passion Play than ever before because he kept noticing parts of the story he'd just heard: "Judas kissed him! Just like you said!" As we were leaving church, I checked with him: "Do you want to sign up for the dinner on Thursday?" and he said, "Yes, of course, we have to have dinner with our friends to remember Jesus having dinner with his friends."
:
I do not pull any punches when I tell the story of Jesus. I ramble on and on about his teachings, miracles, and mysteries. I tell about the crucifixion complete with nails through the hands, blood running out, and suffering in the hot sun, and I always say that this was what the government of the time did to people who were in trouble, instead of putting them in jail or even giving them a fair trial--it was very cruel and unfair even to bad people; it is horrible that it happened to Jesus. I also emphasize the role of the mob; here's how I put it yesterday (my kid is 4):
"The people loved Jesus and wanted him to be let go, but the high priests were saying Jesus was a bad guy and causing problems. They said he was wrong and they were right and God wanted the people to follow their rules, not Jesus' teachings. The people didn't know what to believe! The high priests were very powerful, and people who made them mad usually got killed. In the crowd, everybody was whispering, 'The high priests want Barabbas to be set free and Jesus to be crucified.' The people were afraid. So when Pilate asked them who should be set free, they yelled, 'Barabbas,' because they knew that's what the high priests wanted. When Pilate said, 'What about Jesus?' they yelled, 'Crucify him!'
Some years in our Palm Sunday play, all the people in the church pretend to be the crowd, and we have to yell, 'Crucify him!' That's very hard to do, but it reminds us to think about what it was like to be a person in that crowd. You love Jesus and don't want him to be killed, but when everybody else was yelling, 'Crucify him!', would YOU have had the courage to stand up and say, 'No! This is wrong!'?"
I think this is one of the most important issues in the story of the crucifixion.
IMO, the horror and darkness of the story are important for understanding just how bright is the hope of the resurrection. When I told my son the story for the very first time, I was amazed at his reaction: I described how Jesus suffered on the cross, and he asked, "What did he say?" I told him what Jesus said, how the suffering was so bad that he wanted his mother and he felt God had forgotten him. And then he died; his body was empty. And the people were so sad; Jesus was gone, and it was their fault, and everything was horrible. My son's little face trembled. He had tears in his eyes. And then he said very firmly, "Tell the rest of it." He knew that was not the end.
: He was so thrilled with the happy ending that he went around telling people for weeks: "Susan! Did you know that Jesus died? But then some of his friends saw that the big rock was rolled away from the tomb, and inside was an angel! And the angel said, 'He is not here. He has risen.'
It was the best news ever!!!"
Anyway
...my approach has been to tell the story as it is in the Bible, in words my child can understand, with extra explanation where necessary, and it's worked pretty well.
I do not believe in substitutionary atonement (Jesus as physical sacrifice to appease God so God wouldn't punish us for our sins) so I don't tell him that. When I tell about Jesus teaching the people, one teaching I emphasize is that when you have done wrong, you must tell God you're sorry and promise to do your best not to do it again. I tell him that the reason Jesus was killed was that the high priests felt threatened by his teaching that love and personal prayer are more important than following their rules; they wanted to have power for themselves that rightly belongs to God, and they killed him to show their power, but God is more powerful even than death. The story of Easter is about love and forgiveness triumphing over sin and fear.
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. There are also a number of RE activity books available on Amazon.
Obviously, we have a little clarifying to do here. 
