Resurrection Eggs

Each Easter/Christmas I think about how the following year Charlotte will be SO much older and able to understand more of what we are teaching her.  This year I decided I would just go for it & see how well she could follow.  Shauna, a friend from my hometown posted on her blog how she did Resurrection Eggs with her little ones. I had seen many Resurrection Egg sets that dealt only with the crucifixion & resurrection stories. I loved Shauna's idea to include more of the history of who Jesus is in preparation for the crucifixion & resurrection.  So...long story short, with her permission I adapted her writings to fit The Jesus Storybook Bible which means I used some of the days/items in eggs  & added some of my own to include stories that are in our specific children's bible.

Click here for the link to the original post on Shauna's blog.

Here is what I came up with....

the goodies inside the eggs

This was my second attempt at the outside of the carton. My first one I spelled Resurrection incorrectly : ) 

I used rub on numbers from my old scrapbook supply for each egg

Day 12: Playdoh- “The name of Jesus”    *Tuesday*
Reading- “He’s Here” The Nativity 

from Luke 1-2. Page 176                                                                                                 

Read the story of the Angel coming to Mary.  Talk about what the name of Jesus - Immanuel “God with us” means.  Talk about the meaning of our own names.  Read & discuss Philippians 2:10 “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”  Open the egg & use the Playdoh to spell out the name of Jesus & child’s name.

Day 11:  2 Swedish fish & bread- “Jesus feeds the 5000”  *Wednesday*                                              
Reading- “Filled Full” The feeding of the 5,000

from Matthew 14, Mark 6 & Luke 9. Page 244                       

Open the egg & let child hold its contents while reading the story. See how many times you can break the ‘bread’ and ‘fish’. Talk about how these people ate until their tummies were full unlike the way we feel after eating such small fish and a cracker : )

Day 10:  Boat- “Jesus calms the storm”     *Thursday*                                                                  Reading- “The Captain of the storm” The storm on the lake

from Mark 4 & Matthew 8. Page 236                      
Open the egg & let child hold boat while reading the story. Make a storm in a bottle* & have child try to calm it instantly.  Talk about how powerful Jesus is that he can calm a storm in an instant.                                                                


*fill up a bottle 2/3 of the way with water, add ½ cup of vegetable oil & 5 drops of blue food coloring, reinforce with tape. Shake & ask child to make the “storm” stop right away.

**I did a little piece of mulch with Sharpie drawing on it for the boat...Shauna's great idea!*

Day 9:  Band aid & Blindfold - “Jesus heals people”  *Friday*
Reading- “A little girl & a poor frail lady” The story of Jarius’ daughter

from Luke 8. Page 214                             

Read the story & discuss.  Open the egg & let them put the band aid on. Talk about we use band aids when we are hurt. Supplement reading with other stories of Jesus healing people such as the story of Bartimaeus in Luke 18. Let child wear blindfold to simulate being blind & talk about how incredible it must have been to be healed by Jesus.                                                                   

Day 8:  Time Coupon- “Jesus loves children” *Saturday*
Reading- “The friend of little children” Jesus & the children

from Matthew 18-19, Mark 10 & Luke 18. Page 256      

Read the story.  Help child name other adults in their life that love them.  Ask: How do you know they love you & what do they do to show it?  How did Jesus show his love?  How would you like me to show my love for you & show that I value spending time with you?  Open egg to find coupon that entitles child to playtime with Mommy doing their favorite activity.

Day 7:  TWO pieces of candy… “Jesus spends time with Zacchaeus” *Sunday*

Reading- “The man who didn’t have any friends (none)” The story of Zacchaeus 

from Luke 19. Page 264                   

Read the story. Discuss why people did not like Zacchaeus & how life transforming it was for him that Jesus chose to spend time with him.  Open the egg to find two pieces of candy. Talk about how Jesus loves people that seem unlovable & that by His power, we can love them too. Find a friend to share the extra piece of candy with.

Day 6:  Sparkly Jewels or jewelry- “The hidden treasure” *Monday*
Reading- “Treasure hunt!” The story of the hidden treasure

from Matthew 13. Page 250                                              

Open the egg to find a sparkly ring (a “treasure” in the eyes of a little girl).  Tell the child you are going to read a story about something even more wonderful than that treasure. Read story & talk about things that we consider valuable & how they fail in comparison to Jesus being the greatest treasure.    

**You could do gold coins or something if your sweet boy doesn’t want to wear sparkly rings!**    

                                                     

Day 5:  Perfume - “Mary Magdalene and the perfume”  *Tuesday*        

Reading- “Washed with tears” A sinful woman anoints Jesus

from Mark 14, Luke 7 & John 12. Page 280                             

Open egg to find perfume. Talk about how good it smells & how in Jesus’ time, perfume was very expensive & valuable.  Read the story & talk about how breaking her bottle of perfume over Jesus’ feet was an act of worship.  Talk about Jesus’ response to those who were angered by his kind response to the woman & how he forgave her sins.

*I sprayed a sponge with it so it would smell & not be messy, you could also use scented lotion*

Day 4: Crown (tiara) and Soap- “Jesus washes feet”   *Wednesday*
Reading- “The Servant King” The Last Supper, from Mark 14 & John 13-14. Page 286                                             
Talk about what it means to be a king or queen & what kind of things these people might do on a daily basis.  Share with them that Jesus is called the king of kings & discuss what that means. Read the story of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples & talk about how he came to serve others. Is that what you’d expect from the King of Kings?  Open the egg to find the tiara & soap.  Take turns wearing the tiara & washing each other’s feet. Talk about how we can serve others the way Jesus did.

**Shauna's post had a homemade paper crown**

Day 3:  felt Heart- “Jesus’ last night”      *Thursday*
Reading- “A dark night in the garden” The Garden of Gethsemane

from Luke 22, Mark 14 & John 18. Page 294           

Open the egg & let child hold the heart while you read the story. Talk about how it looked for Jesus to take our sin upon himself; “God was going to pour into Jesus’ heart all the sadness and brokenness in people’s “hearts.*” Talk about how Jesus was sad but trusted God & was willing to sacrifice his life for us.  *Quotation from the Jesus Storybook Bible, p. 294.

Day 2:  Crayon and a slip of paper … “Jesus died for us”      *Friday*
Reading- “The sun stops shining” The Crucifixion

from Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23 & John 19. Page 302            

Read the story of the crucifixion. Talk about how people that loved Jesus felt & what the other people watching must have been thinking. Open the egg & write the word that you feel on the piece of paper, put it inside egg #1 & bury it somewhere nearby.

**Day 2 will fall on Good Friday.  It will make sense to bury the egg on the same day that Jesus was placed in the tomb & then have to wait until Sunday to find the empty egg. After 11 days of excitement with all the eggs, they now have to wait just like the followers of Jesus did after his death. On Saturday, recap the past couple days stories & activities while talking about how sad the people must have felt to have seen Jesus die & remind them of the joy that comes on Sunday when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ.**

 Day 1:  the egg is empty … “He is RISEN!”   *Sunday*
Reading- “God’s wonderful surprise” The Resurrection

from Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 & John 20. Page 310          

Recap the crucifixion story from the previous day reminding the child of how the egg was buried & then read the story of the resurrection.  Go find the egg (which has been unearthed, broken open & is now empty) Talk about how exciting it was for Jesus’ followers that the tomb was empty & he was alive. Talk about how Jesus loved us SO much that he took the punishment for our sin.  He did this because he loved us & not because we did anything to deserve it.  He rose from the dead, is alive & calls us to follow him.

Overall, it was a hit. Charlotte will be three this summer so again I thought about how next year will be even better with her hopefully longer attention span.  She was obsessed with opening eggs so I had to hide the carton when we finished each time : ) I kept reminding myself that although my role in teaching her is important, the Holy Spirit is the one that will soften her heart to embrace the truth of Jesus coming to die for her & allow her to understand how each story in the bible points toward Christ.  


Believing that really takes the pressure off of feeling like I have to explain each story perfectly at a 2 year old level & have her repeat it back to me & tell her friends...haha!  I loved seeing her grasp even an ounce of what we were sharing with her...even if she was more interested in searching the house for more band-aids to cover herself in or would rather eat both pieces of candy instead of sharing with a friend : ) One favorite thing is that she pronounces "Easter Egg" - "easta ahn." SO cute. 

Great 12 days with some structured learning plus, all those extra eggs made for some fun entertainment over the course of the week...

the uncut grass made for a pretty backdrop to our eggies

She tried one of every color as if they tasted differently!

grouchy faces haha!

"this fits nicely here!"

"your turn sissy!"

Never leaves mommy out of the fun!

loving learning and playing with these little ladies!

Thank you Shauna for sharing your heart for leading your children to treasure Christ & also for sharing your creativity! We will be using our Resurrection Eggs for as many years as we have : )