I had an argument with my son yesterday.
My point: Easter is more important than Christmas, because without Easter, Christmas would be meaningless.
His point: Christmas is more important than Easter, because you wouldn’t have Easter without Christmas.
We ended at a stalemate. Probably because both are important!
Do you find that it seems so much easier to teach your kids about Christmas than it is to teach them about Easter? That may be a result of the subject matter: babies and cozy stable scenes are way easier to integrate than betrayal and death.
But just because it’s hard doesn’t mean we should avoid it.
Here are a few of my favorite resources to help your family celebrate Easter, without going crazy with too many extra things.
1. LISTEN TO AUDIO
My friend Jessica from Gather & Grow has a really fabulous family-faith podcast. It’s a devotional podcast designed for families to use together. She has a special Lent series each year!
Listen to the BloomTown faith podcast
2. READ GOOD BOOKS
There are plenty of fine Easter books on the market, but I feel that these three do an absolutely fantastic job of getting to the true heart of Easter.
- Easter Love Letters from God, by Glenys Nellist
I love this book for many reasons! The text is kid-friendly, but not dumbed down. The Easter story has many emotions and kids are allowed to feel them. Lots of children’s Bible storybooks gloss over the hard parts of Easter, but this book does a great job of sharing the important parts without it being frightening or gory. The illustrations are also very eye-catching.
The book contains 7 sections, perfect for reading one-per-day during Holy Week. (From Palm Sunday until East Sunday.) Each section has a lift-the-flap‘ love letter from God’ that helps kids understand the events of Easter. These are powerful and just might make you cry! The last page has a blank lift-the-flap love letter that your child can write back to God. ??
Seriously, if you have kids or grandkids, you need to snag yourself a copy for this Easter! You’ll want to add this beauty to your shelf.
2. The Sparkle Egg, by Jill Hardie
“Easter is coming, and Sam loves Easter! But this year, he is upset about a lie he told his parents. Even though he apologized and they forgave him, Sam can’t shake the feeling that he is a bad kid for what he did. Meanwhile, his parents help him make a special Easter craft called a Sparkle Egg. His mom tells him to write anything he feels sorry about or ashamed of on a piece of paper and put it inside his Sparkle Egg.
On Easter morning, when he opens his Sparkle Egg expecting a surprise, Sam finds that it is empty! His parents explain that because Jesus died and rose again, we are forgiven. Like the tomb that first Easter Day, Sam’s egg is empty — and Sam’s wrongdoing is completely forgiven. Once he accepts this forgiveness fully, Sam realizes a truth: we can sparkle and shine with God’s light when we let God’s gift of grace into our hearts.”
I love this one because it shares the story of Easter AND what it means to a child.
3. Use my 10-day Easter reading plan that combines pages from The Jesus Storybook Bible with some thoughtful discussion questions for children ages 4-8.
3. DO (SIMPLE) INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES
- Try this simple 9-day interactive devotional!
“Lead Me to Jesus” is designed to bring you from Palm Sunday to Easter Monday with small chunks of Bible text, discussion questions, a prayer, and a fun activity. Ranging from dying eggs using household ingredients, an interesting object lesson, a prayer journal page and a few simple crafts, there’s something for everyone in your family.
You can learn more about “Lead Me To Jesus” over here.
2. Share a family Messianic Passover meal.
The article linked above has a full explanation of why you might want to celebrate a Messianic Passover meal and how exactly to do it (including a full script).
These ideas have all been for simple things, which are totally awesome. But if you’re ready to dive deeper and really get to know Jesus this Easter season, sign up for my 40 day devotional series that will take your family through the entire book of Mark!
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