Sharing the True Meaning of Easter with Resurrection Eggs
4/07/2012 07:15:00 PM Posted by mommy2twincesses
As a Christian parent it is very important to me to ensure my children know the true meaning of Easter. The tricky part is figuring out a way to make such a meaningful story understandable to small children, as my identical twin girls are only 3 years old.
While searching for an age appropriate way to share the true meaning of Easter with my littles, I ran across Resurrection Eggs in a Christian book store. PERFECT!
Resurrection Eggs explain the true meaning of Easter through scripture, “story”, and hands on examples. I purchased my set, but am completely certain that these would be pretty simple to make yourself!
Basically, you just need:
*an empty egg carton
*12 plastic eggs of different colors
*printed pictures and/or small symbolic replicas
The eggs and their contents follow the biblical account of Christ’s death and resurrection.
The first egg should contain a donkey and this represents Matthew 21:1-3, 6-8; when Jesus rode a donkey into town. A plastic toy donkey could probably be found in a dollar bag of farm animals, but if not, a printed picture would be just fine.
The 2nd egg should contain several small silver coins. Matthew 26:14-16 tells where Judas accepts payment for the betrayal of Jesus. Actual coins would be perfect, but plastic toy coins would serve the same purpose.
In egg #3 you should find something to symbolize the last supper. My store bought set contains a small silver cup. Matthew 26:27-28 recounts this scene.
Egg 4 should contain something to symbolize prayer; a small set of praying hands perhaps, or a picture of someone praying. Mark 14:32-34 tells of Jesus and the disciples praying in the garden.
John 19:1 tells of the first account of Jesus’ punishment; being flogged by the hands of Pilot. Our 5th egg contains a small strip of leather, to symbolize the whip.
Egg 6 contains a crown of thorns, for Matthew 27:27-29 tells us about this occurrence.
The 7th egg contains a cross of nails, but either nails or a small cross would work fine. John 19:16-18 recounts the crucifixion.
Egg #8 contains one die, because in John 19:23-24 the soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ belongings.
In the 9th egg you should find a spear of some sort (many action figures have them). John 19:32-34 tells us of how one of the soldiers stabbed Jesus in the side to ensure he was dead.
A small piece of white (preferably linen) cloth should be found in the 10th egg. Matthew 27:57-60 describes the burial of Jesus.
Egg 11 is probably one of the easiest to come by as it simply contains a stone. Matthew 28:2-4 tells the triumphant miracle of the stone to Jesus’ tomb being rolled away.
And finally, we see victory in the final egg, #12, which is completely empty, exactly how they found the tomb in Matthew 28:5-6!
Hearing the scriptures/story along with seeing and touching the contents of the eggs made the Easter story really come to life for my girls! Just before we started I put our “Empty Tomb Rolls” in the oven, so when we were finished they were perfectly ready and hot out of the oven. Those just drive home the good news of the empty tomb one more time (and taste delicious too boot)! And if you have older children, they may really enjoy making “Empty Tomb Cookies”, which is a little more in depth and involved, but still yield that wonderful hollow effect.
And for even younger kiddos, or perhaps a Sunday School class, this little “Jelly Bean Prayer” does a pretty good job of driving home the message :o)
He is risen!
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