Making the most of Easter with your children

Jane Butcher

If Christmas is for the children then who is Easter for? That was a question I heard someone asking recently. Perhaps the response depends upon the understanding and significance of Easter for the person being asked. Cute bunnies, Easter baskets, Easter Eggs - I guess they might get the general ‘U’ classification - suitable for all ages. The Easter story - the journey, the suffering, the sacrifice, the forgiveness - not for the children? Not for the faint-hearted? I wonder if sometimes we try to shield the children, other adults and even ourselves from the harsh reality of the Easter story.

Clearly showing the film The Passion of the Christ to the children is not appropriate but neither do we want to skirt around or water down the truth for children. An appropriate understanding of the events that led up to Jesus’ death allows children to appreciate more fully the joy and significance of Easter Day.

But how do we do that? Maybe we could break that down into three stages:
How do we prepare ourselves for Easter?
How do we prepare our children for Easter?
What ideas can I use to for my sessions with the children?

To start with, how do we prepare for Easter:
If you have been working with children for any length of time you may have experienced their honest expressions about how things are, what they think, how they feel. Children often express an honesty that many adults wish they could do, too. Maybe one starting point for us as adults is to stop and take some ‘honesty’ time to reflect on how we respond to the events of Easter. What are the key points from the events that we want to share with the children?

One you have decided that, you might want to consider how we can prepare the children for Easter, which links closely to the kinds of ideas that you might use when working with the children. In terms of preparing, it is helpful to consider the age, background and understanding of your group to select activities that are age appropriate.

Here are some ideas I have used that you might like to use or adapt for your group to explain the significance of the Cross and forgiveness in a simple, visual way:

Have three A4 or A3 pieces of card. On two of them have a red X as large as possible. On the third have a red cross or have a wooden cross.

Invite a child to hold the card with the first X and ask the children, ‘What does this sign mean if you see it on a piece of school work?’ (It means you have made a mistake/got it wrong.)
Invite another child to hold the card with the second X and ask the children, ‘What does this sign mean if you see it at the end of a letter or birthday card?’ (It is a kiss and means love - the person loves you.)

Invite another child to hold the card with the red cross or the wooden cross. This means both of these two. It means we have made mistakes and have done things wrong but it is also a cross that says that God loves you. God knows we make mistakes and we do things wrong and that makes him sad but he still loves you, and because Jesus died on a cross we can be forgiven and God will always love us.

Here are simple craft activities you can use to introduce various themes:

Empty tomb rolls
Make bread dough. Wrap a marshmallow (normal size rather than miniature) inside a piece of bread dough and bake the dough in the oven for the same time for a normal bread roll. When it is cooked, remove it from the oven, allow it to cool and then break it open. The roll will be hollow as the marshmallow dissolves in cooking - hence, ‘an empty tomb’.
Tips from experience:
Take care to wrap the marshmallow completely, otherwise it will leak!
Only use enough dough to surround the marshmallow. If the roll is too big and the centre of the bread roll isn’t cooked, the marshmallow won’t dissolve. A simple way to check is to turn the roll upside down and tap the bottom - it should sound hollow.

Stained-glass crosses
Cut several A4 OHP sheets into a cross shape. Punch a hole in the top to attach string to hang them in windows. Decorate with permanent (or non-permanent depending on age of the children) OHP pens - you can get luminous colours in the Stabilo range.

There are many other ideas on the Barnabas in Churches website under ‘Ideas’ - Christian Year: Easter.

Enjoy! May we and the children we work with understand this Easter that we can come to God as his child, acknowledging the weaknesses and mistakes in our lives, yet able to celebrate God’s forgiveness, trusting in the words of Romans 8:17 (NIV):
‘Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings, in order that we may also share in his glory.’

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