Having recently felt convicted to make Easter more about the Resurrection Day for my children, and less about Easter baskets and bunnies, I have spent the last few weeks browsing for the inspiration to make this year’s celebration more meaningful.
Yes, we’ll still color eggs and have fun hunting them, but assuming that the weather cooperates, we’ll be doing all that this weekend instead. We’ll kick things off with our traditional egg hunt and backyard picnic (which is packed in their Easter baskets). And they’ll still find a special little surprise waiting for them in the top of our playset…which this year, will be some fun little picnic accessories, including the adorable picnic caddy made from the tutorial found at Snowy Bliss.
And then, from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday, we can focus all our attention on Jesus and the sacrifice that he made so we can have new life.
I’m still trying to plan our week and decide which activities are right for our family this year, but I thought I’d go ahead and share my favorite finds with you…just in case you were searching for a little inspiration too!
The Mustard Seed had a wonderful tutorial for making a Hosanna Palm. We’ll be making these to go along with the book, The Colt and the King.
I would love to prepare a Resurrection Garden with the kids. Some wonderful examples can be found at A Holy Experience, Mustard Seeds, Impress Your Kids, and We are THAT Family.
His Story to Tell has a wonderful post on Keeping Jesus in Easter. She also has a link to a fabulous article on Easter Activities from Focus on the Family’s ThrivingFamily.com. I actually read this article in the Thriving Family magazine at the church we were visiting last Easter Sunday when I had to take my baby boy out of the service. I even scribbled some of the activities on the back of the church bulletin so I would remember them for this year! It includes simple activities that can be used everyday during Holy Week.
Little Llamas shares a couple of her family’s wonderful traditions including Lenten Lights and Rocks in a Basket.
Amanda at Impress Your Kids (who also brought us Truth in the Tinsel last Christmas) is currently posting a series of activities that will help our kiddos “Get a Sense of the Resurrection”. You can follow along as she posts them here. You can also see her version of un-Easter Baskets here.
We’ll of course enjoy using our set of Resurrection Eggs again, but for the first time, we’ll be using them along with the book Benjamin’s Box.
And I definitely want to try either Resurrection Rolls or Empty Tomb Cookies this year! Have you tried either…or both? Which would you recommend?
If you have any other suggestions or favorite traditions for celebrating Christ’s Resurrection, I’d love to hear them!
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I love this! I have been filling the same way…wanting to focus on the resurrection!
Thank you so much for these great links!