By Jessica Smartt, Contributing Writer
When I was little, we always attended my grandmother’s church on Good Friday. They were Lutheran, and it was a somber, holy service. (Except for the time we sang a hymn with the line “I am but a worm” and we giggled all the way home. Until we were punished…)
Anyway, the part I will never get out of my head, as long as I live, was the end of the service. The room would get completely dark, and my uncle would come up with a hammer and bang a handful of nails into a wooden board. All you heard – a deafening bang, bang, bang of the hammer. With each blow, it all seemed uncomfortably…real.
Honestly, it was a good thing.
It made us remember, and be grateful, and – realize how special Easter was. Now that I have little ones, I want my little ones to “get it,” too. One thing I’ve been really surprised about since becoming a mom (among a long list of things, of course) is how these holidays never cease to sneak up on you and disappear before you hardly have a chance to make a batch of cookies. I feel like by the time I finally get around to hanging up the Christmas tree stand, there’s eleven days to Easter and I haven’t even mentioned it to my kids.
It takes a lot of conscious, dedicated work to celebrate the holidays in the right way with with our kids. But it’s worth it.
This year I rounded up some ideas for celebrating a Christ-centered Easter. Start now planning a few that you’d like to implement, and be sure to share other ideas that were (or are) meaningful to you in the comments!
- The first idea (and probably the most important) is simply to have a conversation. It’s easy to jump into egg-coloring, and tulip-making but a plain and simple reminder is important: What special day is coming up? What happened that we are celebrating? I share some ways to have these types of conversation in my eBook, How To Introduce A Child To Jesus.
- We LOVE The Jesus Storybook Bible
around here. I love the idea of following these Jesus Storybook Bible Readings for Lent. This is a simple, do-able way to prepare your hearts daily for Easter. - I have personally loved the Lent study from She Reads Truth. It’s just phenomenal. This is the first year I have ever given up something for Lent, and it’s these studies that have prompted me.
around here. I love the idea of following these Here are some ways to make Easter Baskets meaningful:
- 25 Meaningful Easter Basket Ideas
- 7 Ideas for a Resurrection-Centered Easter Basket
- 10 Religious Easter Basket Ideas
I love these ideas for celebrating with Easter foods:
- Celebrating Our First Passover
- Eating Seasonally Throughout The Christian Year
- I’ve always loved the idea for Resurrection Rolls … If only there were a way make them a tad more real-food! (Anyone have a thought??)
- Or you could try Empty Tomb cookies
A few crafts and projects I found interesting (and do-able!)
- Resurrection Eggs (my kids love these!)
- Salt Dough Tomb
- Paper Resurrection Craft
- Empty Tomb Garden
- Empty Tomb Craft
- Easter Tree (kind of like a Christmas tree – so cute!)
- I love this science experiment: The Spotless Lamb
- And here’s another: Easter Object Lesson (looks so cool! I hope it works!)
- Printable Resurrection Figurines Set
- Easter Coloring Pages
- 10 Best Easter Books
- Easter Story Wreath
Image courtesy of Kojo Designs
Finally, don’t forget to share the Easter story!
- Include your favorite Easter verses in your letter to a sponsored child.
- Deliver home-baked goods and an Easter card to neighbors. (We did this last year and our neighbors seemed to love it. We wrote out John 10:10 on the cards.)
- Mail Easter-decorated cookies to friends and family.
to neighbors. (We did this last year and our neighbors seemed to love it. We wrote out John 10:10 on the cards.)So, how about you … how do you celebrate a Christ-centered Easter?
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Thanks for this great round up! Love the ideas here.
These are great ideas! I’ll have to keep these in mind for when we have children. We didn’t do too many Christian Easter traditions, besides going to church, growing up so I’d love to incorporate some of these ideas into our new family traditions!
Love this list! One of my fave things to do is a Resurrection Garden on Good Friday–let the kids make it in a little pie pan and include a tomb (made from a potato!). On Easter morning, surprise them by taking off all the dead leaves and plants and add real fresh flowers! Such a fun picture of new life and resurrection!
a
(ps–thanks for including some of my posts in this list!)
These are great ideas. I especially love how you start with encouraging us to have a conversation with our kids. Sometimes it is the most simple of things that we forget in the hub-bub of the holiday. Talking with our children is the single most valuable gift we can give them….especially when we are talking about Jesus!
Thanks so much for sharing our posts, Jessica!