7 Simple Ways to Celebrate Jesus at Easter as a Family

Easter is this Sunday and while yes, my kids are excited to go on Easter Egg Hunts and have their share of Chocolate Easter Bunnies, they are also excited to go to our church's Maundy Thursday Seder and AGAPE Meals tonight and go through our Resurrection Eggs again.  Here are seven ways we focus on Jesus every Easter at our house.

Attend Lent and Holy Week Church Services

Our family enjoys participating in our church's worships and activities throughout the Lent season to help us all to focus on Jesus.  From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, there are many learning opportunities for our entire family.

One of my favorite things that our church does is that we have our weekly Lenten services "on the road" after different area nursing homes.  It is very special for our whole family to participate in those church services not only for us, sharing the Lenten message with others in the community, but the residents at the homes love seeing children. 

Lent Calendar

 A couple years ago I picked up a Lent Calendar for our family and for all of our Godchildren.  Each day from Ash Wednesday to Easter there is a simple activity for everyone to do or to talk about.  Things like - Help a friend, brother or sister, Pray for your family, Read 2 Corinthians 13:14, etc.  All of the activities, prayers or scripture readings don't take a lot of time, but it gets the entire family together to focus and celebrate Lent.  We go over the activity every night at supper because that is when we are all together.  Here is a link to a similar calendar and a link to a Holy Week calendar activity.

Resurrection Eggs

We bring out our Resurrection Eggs at the start of Lent every year and go over them periodically throughout the Lenten Season.  We keep them on our coffee table in our living room and our kids love going through them.  If you've never seen or heard of Resurrection Eggs before, it is a set of 12 plastic Easter Eggs that when you open them they have a miniature symbol from Holy Week inside.  There is a book that comes with the set that explains the significance of each object and is great for helping your kids fully understand the story of Easter, as well as opens up discussion about Jesus.

Share the Easter Story

Growing up I will always remember my Grandma sitting down all my sisters, cousins and I to hear the Easter story every year after Easter dinner.  This still takes place, this time with her great-grandchildren, but we also make sure to share the Easter Story through books and movies throughout Lent.  

At the beginning of Lent we bring out all of our Easter books and set them on the coffee table with our Resurrection Eggs.  Some of my kids favorite Easter books are:   The Story of Easter, The Berenstain Bears and the Easter Story, Jesus is Alive and My Easter Basket.  My friend MacKenzie of The Hen House also has a great list of Easter books that her family loves that you should check out too (she also has great resources and posts for sharing Jesus with your kids all year long).  We also breakout movies like The Greatest Adventure - The Easter Story and Heaven is for Real during this time of year, and My Farmer and I always watch The Passion of the Christ too.

Resurrection Rolls

We love making Resurrection Rolls with our kids each year.  We usually make them Saturday night before bed and have them as a small breakfast before heading to Sunrise Service at our church (and then we eat the rest of our breakfast at our church's senior high youth breakfast).  The Resurrection Rolls are both tasty and a fun way of sharing the story of Easter.  Jesus is the marshmallow in the rolls, you roll the marshmallow in butter and cinnamon sugar that represent the spices and linen they wrapped Him in, and then you put the marshmallow in a crescent roll which represents the tomb.  After they bake, the marshmallow is gone, to show how Jesus rose from the dead.  You can get the recipe here from Around My Family Table.

Easter Lily Memorial

Every year our family donates an Easter Lily to our church.  Not only does this help decorate our church, but it is a great way to share a memory and talk about our past loved ones who are now in heaven.  We also love to read The Parable of the Lily with our kids when we do this.

Bible Verse Egg Hunt

Our kids love our family's annual Easter Egg Hunt with their cousins after Easter Dinner.  One way we make our hunt more than just candy and spring toys, is in several of their eggs, there is a paper with a Bible verse on it.  The kids either read their Bible verse out loud for everyone to hear or bring it to someone to read it aloud for them.  We also have slips of paper that say things like, tell your Grandma that you love them or give a hug to your Uncle.  Little things to share love on Easter.

Easter and the entire Lent season is the perfect opportunity to not only share the sacrifice of Jesus but the love he has for all of us with our children.  My Farmer and I work hard to teach our children about Jesus and to have our family walk with Him.  Here is a link to 3 Simple Ways we Celebrate Jesus at Christmas that you also might like.

What are some of your Christ-centered Easter traditions?  I'd love to know!  Be sure to Comment for a Cause.

***Full disclosure - all links in this post aren't compensated at all.  My family and I truly just enjoy them and believe they are great ways for all families to celebrate Easter.***

Easter Traditions - Creating Memories!

Happy Good Friday!  I'm looking forward to Easter this weekend to not only celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and to spend time with family, but to also continue traditions and start new ones with my family.  I thought I'd share a few of our Easter traditions with all of you!

• Make Easter Cards for Family Members - So, anyone that knows me well, knows I'm a little bit of a card junkie.  I don't know what it is, but I love sending cards to loved ones.  Now that LP is getting older he has been helping me make cards.  This year we made egg shaped, shaving cream marbled, cards.  For anyone who hasn't marbled paper using the shaving cream method before, you'll have to give it a try - it is easy and creates beautiful patterns and colors!

LP checking out a couple baby chicks

• Visit Baby Chicks, Ducks and Turkeys - This year LP and I went to our local feed store and visited all the baby chicks, ducks and turkeys that they got in this week.  I never did this growing up but decided to start this tradition based off a recommendation from our children's librarian.  LP had a great time checking all of them out!

• New Easter Outfits - Easter is an excuse for me to not only find some new church clothes for LP, but for My Farmer and I too.  This year I bought LP a new polo shirt, My Farmer a new shirt and me a new dress.  (Don't tell anyone but I decided to wear my new dress last night to Maundy Thursday service instead of Easter Sunday - I guess I was too excited to wear it!)  Growing up, my sisters and I got new Easter dresses quite often, so I guess this is why I continue to do this tradition.  Did you know that this tradition actually started a long-time ago?  Early Christians sometimes wore the same clothes throughout Lent.  This was an exercise in self-denial and spiritual discipline used to help Christians focus on the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus.  The period of abstaining from changing clothing ended on Easter Day, when everyone would don new apparel for their Easter celebration.

• Easter Lily Memorial at Church - Every year through our church, my Farmer and I buy an Easter Lily plant, which then is displayed at church starting on Easter Sunday morning and for a couple weeks following.  You can denote your lily as a memorial or honor towards someone, which we have usually made ours a memorial to loved ones who have passed away.  This year we decided to make ours in "Celebration of the Resurrection."

LP with his Easter Basket last yar

• Easter Basket - I love putting together an Easter basket with a couple things in it for LP.  This year he is getting candy, sidewalk chalk, a train car and a new Easter story book.  One of my Mom's cousin's also made him a cute Easter basket out of an old milk jug last year that I put everything in.  We always go to Sunrise Service at church, followed by the Youth Group Easter Breakfast and then come home to get ready for Easter Dinner.  LP gets his Easter basket after church and before dinner preparations.

• Read the Easter Story - Growing up my Grandma would read the Easter story to all my cousins, sisters and I before we went on our Easter Egg Hunt at my grandparent's house.  Now, I have started reading the Easter story to LP on the night before Easter.  The children's story book I have been using for LP so far has been The Easter Story, by Patricia A. Pingry.  I like how my Grandma read the Easter story to all of us before our hunt, so I think this year before our hunt I'll share the story of Easter by making Resurrection Rolls.

• Resurrection Rolls - Last year was the first time I had heard of these, through the wonderful world of Pinterest, and I'm excited that this year LP might be old enough to enjoy doing them (or at least LP and his older cousin).  If you haven't heard of these, it is a great way to share the Easter story through food.

My niece and LP at last year's Easter Egg Hunt
(This year is going to have to be inside the shop though,
it'll be too wet to have it outside)

• Easter Egg Hunt - This year I'm hosting an Easter Egg Hunt. for a second year, for LP and his older cousin on Easter Sunday afternoon.  I carry on a similar Easter Egg Hunt tradition that my Grandma did for my cousins, sisters and I growing up.  The kids search for plastic eggs that have bible verses, special messages - such as give your Dad a hug or spin in a circle three times, and of course prize eggs.  About a third of the eggs are prize eggs, a third have interactive messages in them and a third have bible verses in them.  My Mom helped me put the hunt together last year and helped me out already for this year's hunt too.  (If you're looking for an Easter Egg Hunt to do for slightly older children, check out this hunt from iMom.  It has the kids find puzzle pieces that tell the Easter Story.)

• Deviled Eggs - Of course food is a big part of any tradition right?  Well for me, I feel like you can't have Easter Dinner without Deviled Eggs.  For something fun and different, I'm going to try dying my deviled eggs!

What are some of your favorite Easter traditions or memories?  Join the conversation on the Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids facebook page!