Today was pretty emotional and packed with hands-on activities that hopefully helped your child really understand and realize just what Jesus chose to do for them on the cross. In fact this may provide a great opportunity for you to talk as a family about what Easter and the cross mean to you.
We retold the story of Easter using a great tool called "Resurrection Eggs." I highly recommend this as a great tool to tell the Easter story to kids and keep them interested and involved. I tweaked it a bit and here's my version of the Resurrection Eggs, which starts with the events that led up to Jesus' arrest, Crucifixion and rising from the dead three days later. You will need an empty egg carton and twelve colorful plastic Easter eggs.
Here is the list of items and explanation. You can make your own and do this at home if you would like.
Resurrection Eggs:
1- Bread or small cracker pieces – For the last meal Jesus ate with His friends (Passover) – Mark 14:22 or Luke 22:14
2- Three silver dimes – Judas takes 30 pieces of silver money from religious leaders then he helps soldiers identify Jesus. – Luke 22:3-5, Luke 22:47-52 and Matthew 26:14-15
3- Rooster (a picture of a rooster or a feather) – Jesus predicted that Peter would lie three different times and say he didn’t know Jesus before the rooster crowed. – Matthew 26:33
4- Thorns – People were mad that Jesus said He was the Son of God, so they made a crown of huge pointy thorns to put on His head to make fun of him being a "King". – Matthew 27:29-31 and Mark 15:17
5- Dice – When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and played a game (cast lots)to decide who would get his clothes. – John 19:23-24
6- Nails – Jesus was nailed to a cross. They left Him hanging there until He died, even though He hadn’t ever done one thing wrong. – Matthew 27:31 and Luke 23:33 and Luke 23:40-41
7- The Cross – (a small metal or paper one will do- I made one with sticks and string). They placed his cross on a hill between two other men who were criminals. He took our place on the cross to die for our sins.
8- Spear (toothpick) – One of the soldiers pierced Jesus side.
9- Gauze or piece of white cloth – After Jesus died, His friends wrapped Him up with cloth and lay Him in a special cave, a tomb. Luke 23:53 and Matthew 27:57-60
10- Stone or a rock – The ones who had killed him put a large rock over the mouth of the tomb, the cave to make sure no one could get Jesus out. –Matthew 27:62-65 and Matthew 28:66
11- Cinnamon sticks (burial spices) – Three women brought special spices to anoint Jesus body. – Mark 16:1
12- Empty! – Three days later, the huge rock was moved and Jesus was gone from the tomb. An angel said He was alive again! This day is what we celebrate on Easter Sunday. – Luke 24:3,6 and Matthew 28:2-6
The kids watched this video while holding a large piece of ice in their hands, which reminded them of the suffering and pain Jesus went through. It's from a Dr's perspective...
Then kids were invited to taste vinegar to remind them of the bitterness of what Jesus would have gone through and what was offered to Him on the cross when He was thirsty.
We then talked about how just one mistake, one wrong thing done, one sin separates us from God... and the price of sin is death but because God loved each of us so much He sent His only Son to be the sacrifice for our sin. The sacrifice on the cross had to be one without sin, perfect. Jesus was "the perfect Lamb" and the only one able to take our place and be the sacrifice for our sin. Each one of us (I named each person in the room) We were the reason Jesus chose to sacrifice himself.
Kids then were invited to come up front to a wooden cross and write their names on a piece of paper. Then(with supervision of course)use a hammer and nail to pound their names into the Cross. Afterwards we wrote with red finger paint our names on poster boards, which reminded us that after asking Jesus to forgive us of sin our names are written in God's book because of Jesus blood covering our sins. Each child was then invited to have communion and a time of quiet reflection.
It was an amazing service with the kids, one I will not forget for a very long time. Ask your child about the service and what their favorite part was today!
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