Easter for Little Ones

When my children were young, they would sit at my feet and say, “Mom, teach me” and sit silently when I went through a lengthy devotional . . . HAHAHA! Maybe in my dreams, but reality is so very different. Honestly, the most memorable times when my boys were young came out of games we played or when we did fun things together.

In Proverbs 22:6, God tells us to “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  What a great thing to teach our children that honoring God can be enjoyable, intentional, and meaningful all at the same time. In Early Childhood Ministry here at Stonebriar, we play games, tell short stories, sing and dance, and learn using all of our senses.

Telling the Easter story can be confusing and even a little scary for our little ones. After all, we tend to use lots of words they are not familiar with, and we talk a lot about death. So in our “stay at home” situation, we want to give you a few tips to help you tell this story with your family.

  • Focus on “Jesus is Alive!” Our littles need to know that Jesus’ death is not the end of the story. He arose from death and is alive. Use the resurrection story in Matthew 28 or John 20.
  • Tell the story in a way that does not create fear. Avoid emphasizing the brutality of Jesus’ death. Read the Scripture passage in Mark 15, explaining a realistic portrayal of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
  • Talk to your child in warm and reassuring tones.
  • Avoid using too many props or pictures that may distract from the story. As a Christian community, we have a mix of both for and against secular traditions. We want you to celebrate the holiday in your family’s own style. Our recommendation is to be careful not to mix secular traditions with this Holy story.
  • Share the story several times over the week leading up to Easter. The more familiar your children are with the story, the less scary it will be.

This Easter, I tried to find a couple of different, fun ideas that you can use to create memory-making times with your kids, while still keeping the focus on what really matters.

Resurrection Garden

Plant a resurrection garden. There are all kind of ideas for how to make these online. When you first make it, you put seeds in for the grass. Each time your kids spray water on the seeds to help them grow is an opportunity to talk about what God did for them. Tell them how they can grow in their relationship with Christ, how much God loves us, how you got to know Christ (telling them your faith story), and the list could go on and on. On Good Friday, you can put a figure in the tomb and roll the stone in front and read the story of Jesus’ crucifixion from a children’s Bible. I love the idea of adding a few colorful flowers as a surprise for Easter morning to celebrate and rejoice, and then read the rest of the story about Jesus’ resurrection!

You’ve Been Egged Activity

This is a random act of kindness and object lesson rolled into one. For this activity, choose a friend or neighbor (or a few) and fill 11 eggs and leave one egg empty.  Then one day near Easter, sneak over to your friend’s house and hide the eggs.  Don’t forget to leave the sign so they know to look for the eggs. Leave your phone number for them to contact you. This is an easy way to start a conversation with a neighbor you don’t know and even opens the door to invite them to online church with us this Easter season.

Download Activity PDF

I hope you have a wonderful Easter, but even if it does not turn out the way you imagined, know that you are planting seeds in your children and allow the Holy Spirit to work on their little hearts.

Author

  • Kristin Langford

    Kristin Langford is the Ministry Leader for Early Childhood Ministry at Stonebriar Community Church. She is responsible for loving on kids birth through kindergarten and their parents. She has a passion for helping moms navigate the sometimes stressful waters of parenting preschool-age children and meeting all the other expectations in their lives. She and her high school sweetheart, Jay, have been married for twenty-six years and have three teenage and young adult sons, and they recently added two teenage girls to make them a party of seven.

Scroll to top