Parenting Tips
While the whole world is running around going to Easter egg hunts and filling baskets with candy, you might be wondering how to incorporate your Christian beliefs into your family’s Easter traditions. The pastel colors and the symbolism of the Easter bunny often remind of us spring. Spring, as you know, is a time of new beginnings. Certainly, the resurrection of Christ is one of the most important new beginnings in history. In that spirit, here are some fun activities you can do to teach your children to include Christ in Easter celebrations.
Easter egg hunts are traditional and typically a secular part of Easter. They don’t have to be. You can start an Easter tradition of a hunt which centers on Christ and His sacrifice to us. You can use plastic eggs. Think of an activity involving what you can put inside those eggs. Print out Bible verses you think are relevant to Easter, and put those inside. When a child recites that verse to you, they get a reward. It could be candy, or it could be something else. You can also use miniature crosses, or anything else you can think of as tokens inside the eggs. These can leads to great discussions about Easter. Don’t forget to fill a few with candy just for fun.
The cross is probably the most obvious symbol of Easter for Christians. Add some fun to Easter by making your own crosses with whatever you have around the house. You can make a base cross out of wood, sticks, or cardboard. You can use things like shells, macaroni, glitter, glass stones, or just about anything else found in most craft stores or dollar stores. You can also make them out of food. A good base might be pretzels, if you can figure out how to tie them together. Drizzle chocolate over them. You can make crosses out of crispy cereal and marshmallows. There are hundreds of ways you can create a cross with you children. They probably have ideas of their own.
One way to understand something is to look at it. While we cannot go find the tomb, we can recreate it. You can do this in so many ways, but the point is to show the cave/tomb and the large rock which was rolled in front of the entrance. Get creative. You can use gardening items, like rocks, dirt, and twigs to build a mound. Find a real rock to roll in front of the doorway. Don’t have time for that? You can use things you have around the house, like paper, cardboard, and paint to build a diorama type project in a box.
If your children love to color and create, you can do a simple book about Easter. Think of four or five pages you can use to tell the story of Easter. Remember to keep these age appropriate. Some details of Good Friday and Easter are best saved for older children. You can print out pages with the story on them, or you can simply write them on computer paper at home. Have your children draw a picture to match the words. Bind the book with brads, staples, or weave yarn through holes you put there with a hole-punch. Once Easter is over, you can put the books away and save them.
You can turn almost anything into an Easter craft that reflects what you want your children to celebrate each spring. It is easy insert your love for the Lord in anything you do. Use this opportunity to ask them what they would like to make. Watch them come up with their own ideas. Keep it fun and they will learn and grow right before your eyes.
Here is a great video of how to make Resurrection Eggs you can do with your kids and tell the Easter story.
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