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Great Easter Ideas
by Taken from the Idea Swap- ChildrensMinistry.net
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 Here are some of the Idea Swap's Finest!
Fold a square so that when you cut it down the middle and then unfold it you can tell the Easter story with the pieces - a cross, a spear, the sign above His head, the lots thrown for the clothes, and two half crosses or L shaped pieces that represent the two crucified with Jesus (one is placed facing Jesus and one turned away). After a short talk you rearrange the pieces to spell HELL, which you then place the cross on top of representing that without Jesus we would all be doomed to hell. I find children love this and want to learn to fold it themselves.
Use the Easter Story by Carol Heyer--amazing illustrations.
Order the butterflies from Insect Lore 1(800) LIVE BUG. They come as a small personal kit with 5 larvae for $22 or a large school kit for about $45 that has 30-35 larvae. I made the mistake the 1st year of raising all of them on my own (3 services times 3 school kits equals about 100 larvae/caterpillars in my one-bedroom apartment). I got smart the 2nd year and had 3 separate home school families raise them as a science project. (The church bought the kits and they did the work) Every week I would take a few of them around to each class to see how they develop and change (this all takes about 3 weeks; the people at Insect Lore will tell you when to order them for an Easter release). We would talk about how they change from yucky worms that eat gross smelling food into beautiful butterflies that eat clean sugar water. We time it so they don't see them as butterflies until Easter Sunday, and let me tell you, the anticipation is great. Our kids as young as 3-year-olds get the concept, and it all ties in to a gospel presentation about how we are new in Christ and are changed on the inside when we ask Him into our hearts.
Do a unit on tadpoles to frogs and how they were amphibians. Meaning: Tadpoles had two lives just like we have a second life in Christ the old washed away, after this unit was done we did a short one on prayer and used the Praying Mantis egg sack and watched it hatch. For all three we actually had the insects in the class with the beautiful posters that Insect Lore puts out. For the future I am thinking about getting an ant farm and doing one on them from Proverbs.
There is a great book called "The Legend of the Easter Egg". Also a book entitled "Easter Bunny...Are you for Real?" They are both very good There is also a book out called Benjamin's Box that is the same story line as the Resurrection Eggs!
A good idea is to make Easter witness baskets. Use small baskets or make an edible basket with Rice Crispy treats, use grass or colored coconut for the edible treats, then put in the colors using jelly beans - black: sin, red: Jesus' blood, white: salvation, yellow: heaven, green: spiritual growth. Use small papier-maiche eggs and let the kids paint them the various colors for their witness baskets. Since several of my kids are Christians, we will put them to use sharing with a non-Christian friend about how to become a Christian.
Mosaic Cross--Give each child a cross shape with the words of John 3:16 printed on it. Give them strips of colored construction paper and they can cut or tear odd shapes of various sizes from these strips. Arrange the various colored shapes on a half sheet of black construction paper. Leave a little space between the pieces so that some black will be seen. This will give a mosaic effect. Have children glue the pieces down and then center and glue the cross on top of the colored pieces.
Use yellow, black, red, white, and green jellybeans. Yellow for heaven, black for our sins, red for His blood that He shed for us, white for cleansing that He give after salvation, and green for our spiritual growth. This would be great to make a bag for each child, tied with ribbon and attach the meanings for each color. You could also add scripture for each item. I think the kids would love to get to take something with them.
It is a tradition in my Lutheran church to provide small blossoming plants for the Sunday school children on Easter Sunday. We usually order the plants, such as Geraniums, Begonias, or Impatiens from a local greenhouse in January or February, depending on the date of Easter (the plants need to be started early enough, so that they will have flowers on Easter). The Sunday school teachers gather on Holy Saturday to wrap the plant containers in brightly spring-colored foil (yellow, pink, purple, green, blue). The blossoming plants remind us of Jesus' Resurrection and the promise of our eternal life in Heaven, through faith in Him.
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For more great ideas like these, or to share some of your own, please visit the Message Boards on ChildrensMinistry.net.
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