He is NOT HERE! He is Risen!

I will never forget the first time I heard my son recite that verse...he was 3 and had learned it at preschool. It melted my heart. Teaching our kids to love Jesus is so rewarding and worth every minute of preparation.
I LOVE EASTER...and PREPARING for EASTER. To me, it's as exciting as preparing for Christmas, especially since there's less clean up to do afterwards!

Here are some simple ideas for celebrating the Lent Season in your family. It is the season in which we anticipate the Great Rescue Plan of God coming to fruition...

1. Make a Grace Garden ... I got this idea from Ann Voskamp's A Holy Experience blog. How to Make an Easter Garden

Ann Voskamp writes:

How to Make an Easter Garden {Christian Easter Activity}

Our beginning, and our mortal fall, began in a garden.

Christ’s beginning to right that fall began in a garden.

So children and I, we make an Easter garden.

A miniature remembering of the grief of the first beginning, the resurrecting wondering of the all-things new beginning.

We gathered

a basket, some dirt,

some plants at the nursery, a beginning too,

three tramped to the woods for just the perfect moss
while one found a wee glass for the pond, a few shells too

and a visionary carved a hole in a stone grotto of his making.

They planted a garden, filled their pond with water, laid the flattest, the smallest (they were sure) stones from our lane, as a winding path to the Great Emancipation.

And come Palm Sunday, we’ll plant some seeds, resurrection hope in the dark of the earth, and line the path with smalls candles, miniature garden torches, for the Light is coming. And we’ll begin the path and each day light another wick… until Good Friday, when all went dark.

And in the evening of Good Friday, the children will shape a caterpillar out of modeling wax, swath it in small square of silk, tuck it in the moss outside the grotto with stone over the entrance….

On Saturday, we’ll remember and we’ll wait.

And come Sunday, Easter morn early, in first light dawning, we’ll roll back the tomb, see only the husk of silk left behind, a butterfly a light in the branches of tree over the Tomb and we too will ask, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (Lk. 24:5) He is alive!

So this is the path we walk from Lent to Easter, from dark to Light, from cocoon confinement to conquering in Christ and the Easter garden will unfold, a parable, a living visual of the metamorphosis of all the cosmos…

Us again with HIm in the garden in the cool of the evening.....by Ann Voskamp

Here is my version of the Garden:

I sculpted the tomb out of air dry clay and I added Grace Stones, little clear stones with one side smooth, to which I glued pictures of miracles and events in the life of Jesus. We add one a day until Easter, the path to the cross. The broken one at the top is the Body of Christ. The Lord gave me this idea last January. I was feeling discouraged after the holidays, and I was feeling hopeless about the state of pain my body was in, that it would never go away. When He gave this to me, it was like JOY, welling up inside, that I then poured out into this project.

And this was it on Easter morning, the day I left for Mayo Clinic. I left my husband, who could not walk from his recent gunshot injury. The pastors had prayed over me the night before. I left with tears, uncertainty, and much fear. I left in search of answers. But God promised me a new thing. See I am doing a new thing! I am making a way through the wilderness. Isaiah 43:19....and He did! It has been a year...and all this time He has been bringing me closer, deeper into fellowship with Him.

2. Act out the stories in the life of Jesus. A lot of these stories I learned on a deeper level from Bible Study Fellowship, a non-denominational group that meets on Wednesday mornings in South Huntsville. I cannot imagine my life without the LORD showing me His truth through a deep study of His word. Check It Out!

John the Baptist wore scratchy clothes & ate locusts & honey.

Lowering the paralyzed man on the mat was easy to portray with legos...

As was the Sermon on the Mount!

Lazarus...

Lazarus, Come out! was a particularly fun story to act out!!

You can print out this super cute set over at Catholic Icing when you subscribe to her emails. You wrap the paper characters around toilet paper rolls, and the tomb is an empty Kleenex box. These stayed on our table the whole season last year!

 If you have to pick one, this is one of the most fun...sprinkle "palm" branches on the floor and ride into town on a "donkey" while the crowd shouts "Hosanna!" and "Son of David!"

 Jesus clears the temple. It's never hard to get him to make this face for the camera!

 Celebrating the Passover Meal...walking stick in hand, belt around waist, eating flat bread standing up...just as Moses told the people...in case we have to leave in a hurry!

3. Make Resurrection Rolls together!

 4. Celebrate the Lord's Supper as a family!

We will wait until our son professes his faith in Jesus to let him take part in the Eucharist publicly, but at home, we talk about what it stands for. If you're a WORD GIRL like me, see koinonia (communion) & eucharisteo (thanksgiving) - It's why we do communion -- To thank HIM and to be IN communion - IN His Presence!

5. Celebrate LIFE!

 

On Easter morning, we like to really bring the DEATH comes to LIFE message home...He loves playing Jesus and breaking free from his cocoon of death!

6. Celebrate LIFE...have a shaving cream fight, just because!

7. Make homemade Resurrection Eggs. This is just the most ingenious idea, not mine of course. But the little eggs with an object lesson inside. We have a set, but we also have found other things over time that can be used to represent something from the life of Jesus, one of His miracles, or a parable. There are so many different ways to make them, a lot of information about these online. Here are some of the pieces I've collected.

1. Ninja/Guard for the tomb

2. Fur from a donkey (our pillow pet lost his tail; it came in handy for our object lesson!

3. Pieces of fabric in the shape of coats (they threw their cloaks on the ground during the Triumphal Entry)

4. A tiny broom for Jesus' cleansing of the Temple

5. Some leaves for palm branches - Triumphal Entry

6. A tiny scroll for the Teachers of the Law (rolled up cardstock)

7. Tiny piece of a washcloth & piece of soap  for the Washing of the Feet

8. Ephod - Worn by the Chief Priests, I made this out of felt and glued little crystal jewels to it for the 12 tribes

9. 3 black pom poms or beads - 3 hours of darkness that followed Jesus' death

10. The cross and white cloth - crucifixion and burial shrouds

11. Piece of crate paper - I let my son tear it to represent how the curtain tore in the Holy of Holies after Jesus gave up His Spirit

12. Angel wings - the angel in the tomb

13. Piece of straw from the manger - this is part of the Benjamin's Box story

14. Sponge - Jesus was offered bitter gall to drink while on the cross

15. Black felt covering the earth - Darkness when Jesus was crucified

16. White cloth with Jesus' face drawn in - the cloth he borrowed from a woman on his journey to the cross to wipe the sweat from his face while carrying his cross

17. Sack of silver aluminum balls - 30 coins Judas received for betraying Jesus

18. Lips (or Hershey kiss) - Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss

19. Rope - Jesus was bound

20. Sign - King of the Jews was made by Pilate and hung over his cross

21. Cloth with red dot - Praying in the Garden, his sweat turned to blood.

22. Silk Flower - Garden of Gethsemane where he asked his Disciples to keep watch but they kept falling asleep

23. Band Aid -when Jesus fell on his way to the cross

24. Eyes - For the parable of the Faithful Servant/Wise & Foolish Virgins: Keep Watch & be ready for the Day of Reckoning

25. One-piece white garment: Jewish Moms made their sons a one-piece garment when they became a young man. See Living a One-Piece Life. This is the same garment Jesus was wearing when He was crucified for which the soldiers cast lots. See Ann Voskamp's One-Piece Life. 

26. Helping Hand - When Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carried His cross because He was too weak from the beatings

27. Passover lamb - A lamb had to be slaughtered each year at Passover to make up for the family's sins. Jesus serves as the last Passover Lamb to be slaughtered for all sins of the past, present, and future. Hallelujah!

28. Lady & perfume - The sinful woman at Bethany who anointed Jesus' feet with perfume

29. Die/Dice - When the soldiers cast lots for Jesus' clothing on the cross

30. Cup & cracker/crouton or Place setting - The Last Supper in the Upper Room

31. Stone - That blocked the opening of the Tomb where Jesus lay

32. Stick/Spear/Toothpick - Pierced Jesus' side on the cross

33. Jar of Spices- Used as a burial ritual by the Women who loved Jesus

34. Feather - Jesus said that when the Rooster crowed 3 times, Peter had denied Jesus 3 times.

35. Dove/cloud/cotton ball - Represents the Holy Spirit. Descended like dove when Jesus was Baptized. God's Spirit was represented by a cloud by day in the Old Testament.

36. Metal Hard - Represents the hard hearts of the people who crucified Jesus, but the Great Power and Love of Jesus, who died for even them and broke the curse of Death.

37. Purple bag - We use this to wrap around Jesus to represent the purple robe they mockingly put around Jesus as He carried His cross. Purple is the color of royalty.
38. Tissue - for the tears of the women at the cross
39. A mask with eyes cut out - for the thief at the cross
40. A gardening tool - When Jesus appeared to Mary after the Resurrection, she thought he was the gardener!
41. Fish - Jesus cooked fish on the beach for the disciples after the Resurrection
42. Fire (orange/red crate paper or lego fire) - Holy Spirit came at Pentecost
43. Ghost or Skeleton - when the guards saw the tomb empty, they were like "dead men"!
44. Walking Stick - Jesus appeared to Disciples on the Road to Emmaeus
45. Large Rock - Child can throw it down on concrete or hit with hammer to signify the Earthquake that took place after the death of Jesus

(You could use one object lesson every day during Lent!)

8. Read Benjamin's Box. It is a super cute story that tells about a boy who lived during Jesus' time and it goes hand in hand with the Resurrection Eggs. 
 
I also like Miss Patty Cake's Resurrection DVD and book. It goes nicely with the Resurrection eggs as well.

9. Give up something for Lent....to show you want to share in the suffering of Jesus. We are called to fast so that the emptiness might make room for the Spirit.

10. Remember, we are the Easter People, as Ann Voskamp says. We are the believers who are called to tell the world about His glorious grace! We can start in our own home. 
What a privilege and an  honor.

Link to an Easter Tree and Lent Devotional by Ann Voskamp -Free Printable

OH Amanda has a ton of great ideas on teaching kids, from Super Heros to Fruit of the Spirit (some of my favorites) but HERE is a link to an idea for an Easter object lesson. We tried it last year. :)

A Little Bit of Heaven...