Easter

Bunnies and egg dying. Candy and poofy dresses. Easter is on the way and fun is to be had. We are planning on participating in egg hunts and giving baskets to our girls. However, with Easter being the holiday that really highlights why were follow Christ, it’d be a shame to participate in all the festivities and really miss the point. Here’s how we’re celebrating Easter and introducing our girls to the resurrection story.

Read: The Story of Easter

We’re reading the Easter story in our baby bible. It’s such a simple thing, but our little girl loves her books and has gotten to the point where she asks to read her Bible while eating her waffles at breakfast. Plus, building literacy skills.

In addition to this, we made some toddler resurrection eggs! For those unfamiliar with the concept, resurrection eggs are plastic Easter eggs each filled with a different item that represents a part of the Easter story. Normally there are 12, but the toddler version simplifies it down to 6. I saw the concept for these on Pinterest, but added my own twist. Baby girl has asked to play with these multiple times a day. So I would call that a success.

Here’s what we put in our eggs:

Toddler Resurrection Eggs

1. Bread Crumb: Jesus ate dinner (the last supper) with his friends.
2. The Cross: Some bad guys came and killed Jesus. He died on a cross.
3. A Piece of Paper towel: Jesus friends came to bury Jesus. They wrapped his body in cloth and laid him in the tomb.
4. A Rock: They put a heavy rock in front of the tomb, but after 3 days the stone rolled away.
5. An Empty Egg: The tomb was empty, because Jesus came back to life.
6. Bunny Grahams: Jesus died and rose again, so we could have new life.

Again, super simple. It doesn’t hit on all the points, like Jesus died for our sins. However it’s for the littlest learners and is building concepts for deeper understanding later on.

Also, all the other versions I saw of this used M&Ms to represent “new life.” I almost did this too, but decided to use Bunny Grahams instead. I did this for a couple reasons. First of all, baby girl loves M&M’s but she also loves Bunny Grahams, and one has a lot less sugar. Second of all, bunnies are always going to be around at Easter time. I know some Christians choose to have nothing to do with the Easter Bunny, because they don’t want their kids to miss the real reason for the season. We’re taking a different approach. I want my kiddos to draw the association that bunnies represent new life. That is what we’re celebrating, the fact that Jesus’ death and resurrection brought us new, full, eternal life. We’re wanting to teach our kiddos not to run away from the world, but to see where Jesus is in it. That could be a whole other blog post though.

Update:

Our toddler resurrection eggs were a hit last year. So this year we wanted to share the joy! I opened a new Shop to share this fun tool and take all the work out for you. Local friends, message me to skip the shipping charges.

Sensory: New Life Sensory Bin

We have been playing with an Easter sensory bin. Keeping with the theme of “New Life” I filled it full of different items that could represent new life: plastic Easter eggs, Easter grass, brightly colored pom poms, colorful feathers, and a bunny finger puppet great grandma sent us. Baby girl had so much fun with this. I originally put the feathers, pom poms, and bunny in the eggs and then hid them in the grass for her to find an open. However, once they were all open, she had fun just mixing and playing with the items.

Skills: Counting to 3

We have been working on identifying the number 3. Jesus rose from the grave on the 3rd day, so it seemed like a good opportunity to work on our counting. I have some number flash cards and counting books, but we’ve actually been working on this skill more organically. Everytime we see the number 3 (on TV, on the clock, in a book, out and about, etc.) I make a point to show her the number and say “look a 3!” Also, anytime I see a group of 3 we count it (i.e. 3 cookies, 3 books, 3 babies, etc…)

Arts and Crafts: Egg Dying

We dyed Easter eggs! This is a classic Easter activity, and since we are already using Easter eggs to tell the story, I figured it could be a great tie-in to our week. You could just buy an egg dying kit, or get extra creative and try this marble egg activity I found at Tot School. You soak the eggs in vinegar, marble the food coloring with whipped cream, then swirl your eggs. You can find the full instructions here: Marble Easter Eggs

Honestly, my child hated dying eggs this way (notice the 1-finger touch). But then again, she hates all things finger-painting and mush. That’s why we use a paintbrush for most of our paint project. However, if your kid is a fingerprinter or loves mushy sensory bins this project would be perfect.

Snack: Bunny Grahams

Of course, bunny grahams have been our snack of the week. Since we’re doing the resurrection eggs, everytime she asks for bunny grahams as a snack, we do the eggs and it gives an opportunity to once again tell the story of Easter.

Media

This week we have been watching Veggie Tale’s An Easter Carol. This is a fun Easter story that shares what the holiday is all about.

We also have been listening to Uno, Dos, Tres (One, Two, Three) by Yancy. This is a great song that tells the resurrection story and reinforces our counting to 3 skill. Yancy is an awesome worship leader. If you haven’t heard of her, check out her music. Her kids albums are a great alternative for those of us with littles that rather not have our ears bleed while listening to kids music.

This is what we’re doing to pass the time in our week. If you saw something here that you loved or were able to adapt to better fit your family, please comment below.