Hands-on ways to teach about Easter

[Awaken]

I'm in need of some fun, creative ways to teach about Easter with my 4 and 7 yr olds. We've been doing a lot of reading of different books about Passover, and the Exodus, and have been doing that chapter with Story of the World. My 7 yo is really interested in spiritual things, so we've had several good conversations and I feel like he has an age-appropriate grasp of the meaning of Easter from a Christian perspective. but mainly we've just been reading and talking about it.

However, my 4 yr old thinks Easter is all about getting candy, because what sticks out to him is the easter-egg hunt we do every year This makes me really sad. At his age, he has no interest in reading Bible stories or joining in our history studies. And because I have a newborn also and am very sleep deprived, we haven't made it to church in a while so he isn't getting to do activities surrounding the holiday in Sunday school, either. I want to do some hands-on fun projects where we can talk about Easter, that will stand out to him as the easter-egg hunt does.

I need simple ideas that don't require a lot of prep, or buying of materials. Thanks for any thoughts or ideas!

[umsami]

There's a product called Resurrection Eggs that are pretty popular with kids. You can buy them at/through most Christian bookstores, but I found this article on making your own:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...he.html?cat=34


I grew up Presbyterian... so to be honest.. we didn't do a whole lot leading up to Easter in terms of Lent... but I do think that Lenten traditions.. and HOly Week traditions... help to put the focus back on the religious significance of Easter. (Of course, Easter bunnies and eggs are fun too.)

I remember a Veggie Tales video that dealt with Chocolate Bunnies... but it wasn't the Easter story. Still... I loved the Bunny Song... I'm sure there must be a Veggie Tales that deals with Easter-itself... but I'm sort of out of the loop now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack,_Shack,_and_Benny

Also check on Sunday School teaching links... .here's a few:

http://www.dltk-bible.com/guides/easter-index.htm

http://biblekidsfunzone.com/


Good luck

[MammaG]

I can't seem to find the link, but on a homeschool page somewhere in cyberspace there's a fabulous project that a Catholic homeschooling Mama is doing with her kids. Basically, she's teaching the whole Easter Vigil service over the course of Lent. She split up Lent into 4 10-day sections and taught the Vigil in 4 parts. So she's starting out with the 'light' portion of the service, then the readings based on the history of salvation, then baptism, then communion. The kids end up with a book that they made about the whole meaning of the service and Easter.

My kids are little, so that's out of their scope, but we're doing a smaller version. We're reading a children's version of the Easter story, and repeating it every noon time and evening. We're praying for the people who will be baptised at our church during Easter this year (our baby is one of them, so it's really present for them!).

Honestly, they know about the egg hunt (our church has one), but we're not going to bring it up until literally as we get in the car to go to it. We haven't discussed the Easter Bunny at all. I know they know about it, and I hear THEM discussing it, but I just avoid the topic completely. When we decorated for Easter, I casually explained that we were making the house beautiful to celebrate Jesus' sacrifice and triumph over death. You could use the same approach with picking out Easter outfits, too, and making an Easter meal to share.

We're also singing Easter hymns a lot. I love them every bit as much as the Christmas carols and I want the kids to know them, too. We did "Hail, Thee, Festival Day" and "Ride on, Ride on in Majesty" at church last Sunday so those have been in our minds this week a lot. I'm waiting until after sundown on Saturday to sing or say anything with the "A" word in it, though.

You might also try to read some of the Easter service beginning today and continuing until Sunday so that the service is internalized and familiar...they may get more out of it that way...it can be so distracting on the High Holy days with the outfits and the fuller-than-usual church and the excitement.

Most of all, I think your attitude is the most important...they will copy you. If you treat the week and the day reverently, they will too.

Happy Easter!

ETA: I just read the resurrection eggs thing....fabulous! I'm making those just as soon as I can!