Sharing the Easter Story with Children

How are you going to celebrate Easter this year? What family traditions do you do that bring you great joy and remembrance of our Saviors death on the cross and resurrection?

This year Easter has snuck up on us. I have always started a devotional on Ash Wednesday which is the beginning of Lent, and go through the "Journey of the Cross"- The complete Easter Story for young readers, by Helen Haidle. It is a beautifully written and illustrated book that features all the events of the last week of Jesus' life and resurrection in chronological order. Let me encourage families with children 12 and under to take a look at this book.


"Journey to the Cross" helps children to understand who Jesus is and what he has done for them. My children have gone through this year after year for the last several years. Each year, as they grow older they get more and more out of it. I am sad that I didn't do it this year. I had the book packed away and just found it. Just because Easter is this Sunday doesn't mean that I can't work through it in the month of April and May. The story of Jesus and what he did for us on the cross is relevant at any time of the year.


Another favorite tradition that the kids have enjoyed are the "Resurrection Eggs". This is a great way to share the Easter story with the children. It is interactive and fun way to tell the Resurrection story. You can follow these links to save some money and make your own at home. I prefer this to buying it because it involves the kids even more and this helps cement the Easter story in their hearts and minds.
Here are two sights that I have found.

1.Easy Fun School= Celebrating Easter through the Resurrection Eggs

2.Rainbow Castle= Resurrection Eggs

Another way we celebrate Christ's death and resurrection is by attending the Good Friday service at our church. Of course, Michael's job is to plan and carry out the service, so we have always gone as a family (well usually it's me and the kids while Michael is leading the service). I remember when the kids were young, and a quiet, solemn service was difficult for them and me to sit through. I remember one year leaving the service in tears because I couldn't handle four small children by myself. Now that they are older and know what to expect and take more of an interest in the Good Friday service it is easier.

I love the contrast that this service compared to the joyous Easter service, just three days later. This is the beauty of Easter. Jesus is not in the grave but is risen and lives! All the prophecies came true. Jesus is the only man who ever lived who has fulfilled every prophecy written about the coming Messiah. Here are some of the prophecies that you can tell your children about and look up in scripture.

1. The Messiah would be born of an unmarried woman (Genesis 3:15;
Isaiah 7:14).

2. The Messiah would come from King David (2 Samuel 7:12,`13,16)

3. The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. (Micah 5:2(.

4. The Messiah would be presented with gifts (Psalm 72:10; Isaiah 60:3,6).

5. The Messiah would begin his work in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1-2).

6. The Messiah would enter Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).

7. The Messiah would be betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9).

8. The Messiah would be sold for thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13).

9. The Messiah would be wounded and peirced (Psalm 22:14-16,
Zechariah 12:10).

10. The Messiah woud be mocked and hated (Psalm 22:6-8; Isaiah 53:3).

11. The Messiah would die with sinners (Isaiah 53:9).

12. The Messiah would be buried in a rich man's grave (Isaiah 53:9, 12).

13. The Messiah would rise from the dead (Psalm 16:8-11;30:3; 41:10;
Hosea 6:1-2).



Then on Easter Sunday we love going to church and worshipping our Risen Savior! I love singing all the old beautiful hymns and also the newer praise songs that tell of our Savior's love for us through the death on the cross and his resurrection.

My children have know the facts of this historical, Biblical event but now I am starting to see the evidence of Christ in their lives. It's great to know all the facts, but Jesus doesn't want them to just know about him. He wants them to KNOW him! He wants not only my children but the whole world to put their trust in him and to be saved. He is alive and with us today. All that we need do do is to believe that he died on the cross for us and rose again three days later and ask his forgiveness for our sins. His gift is one of Love, forgiveness and eternal life. It's that simple and that beautiful.

Ephsians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

I watched a video the other day of a pastor in the Cleveland area, named Alistair Begg, who did an interview on the tv station there. He was being interviewed with several different religious leaders of different faiths on what it takes for their faith to get to heaven. I loved the simplicity and straightforward way that Begg explained the Christian faith and how one gets to heaven. Compared to all the others it was the the most clear and easiest way to get to heaven. There are no works involved, it is just pure and simple faith. The gospel is simple but yet the way is narrow. If you get a chance follow my link to the interview. You won't be sorry you did. Invite your children to watch it too. Click here to watch video.

I pray that you will have a very Joyous Easter, celebrating our risen Savior and what he has done for us on the cross.

John 3:16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."