When it comes to your decorating needs, head over to Tell Love and Party for the best ideas. She is a craft wizard and we love seeing what she does to celebrate. Here are a few pictures from some of our favorite Easter blog posts!

We love celebrating Easter the entire week leading up to the holiday, one of our favorite resources this year is from The Small Seed.  On the website you can download a Easter week poster packet PDF that you can use in your home. It is such an amazing resource and we are so thankful for the time and effort that was spent for the creation of it! 

Many of you had asked on Instagram what resource we use to help celebrate easter. We use the book, A Christ Centered Easter by Janet and Joe Hales and you can purchase a copy Here. It's a great way to bring the true meaning of easter into your home in a way your kids will understand. One of my favorite activities is The Easter Story In Eggs found on pages 26-28. This is a great game that your family can play and it is one of our favorites. I will share the activity below!

 

 

The Easter Story in Eggs

Preparatory Work:

1. Obtain twelve plastic eggs and number them with a permanent marker from one to twelve. (Put the eggs in an empty egg carton for easy storage.)
2. Photocopy and cut out the scripture pages that follow.
3. Gather the indicated visual aids.
4. Place each scripture strip and its corresponding visual aid into the numbered eggs.

Instructions:

Your family can do this activity in several ways:

• “Serve” the eggs with dinner at each place setting and open the eggs in sequential order during the meal.
• Play “scrambled eggs.” Throw the scriptures, visual aids, and eggs in a bag. As each is drawn out, separately match the visual aids with the scriptures in sequence, or match the scriptures with the visual aids and eggs. End the activity by reading each scripture in order.
• Take turns opening each egg in sequence and reading the enclosed scripture.

Scriptures:

1. “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him” (MATTHEW 26:14-16)
2. “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (MATTHEW 26:26-28)
3. “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy… And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt…. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, expect I drink it, thy will be done. ….And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words” (MATTHEW 26:36-37, 39, 42, 44).
4. “When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor” (MATTHEW 27:1-2).
5. “Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it” (MATTHEW 27:22-24).
6. “And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, and began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him” (MARK 15:16-19)
7. “ And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him… And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the other on the left” (LUKE 23:26-27, 33)
8. " Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots" (LUKE 23:24)
9. "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent... Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God"(MATTHEW 27:50-51,54)
10. "And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just: (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathea, a city of the Jews: who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid."(LUKE 23:50-53' MATTHEW 27:60)
11. "And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?" (MARK 16:1-4).
12. "And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothes in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him"(MARK 16:5-6)

Visual Aids:

1. Three dimes
2. A small cracker or piece of bread
3. A sacrament cup
4. A length of twine
5. A piece of soap
6. A swatch of purple cloth
7. A nail
8. Two toothpicks (to represent casting lots)
9. A bag of crushed rocks and potting soil
10. Strips of white cloth
11. Spices tied in a small piece of cloth
12. Leave this egg empty

We hope that you enjoy this fun, simple activity with your family to help celebrate the true meaning of Easter.