20 Christ-Centered Easter Ideas For Families

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.

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.

So, how about you … how do you celebrate a Christ-centered Easter?

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