Many teachers are making plans to tell the resurrection story on Easter Sunday. Whether at Easter or any other time here are some ideas that will help you share what is the most important event in the Bible.
“For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.”
Romans 6:9, NIV
- Learn about the Burial and Resurrection of Jesus so you will understand the story and feel comfortable sharing it with a child.
- Gather your family together for quality time and learn about the Burial and Resurrection in this Family Bible Time lesson
- Download and view a slideshow and pictures from http://www.freebibleimages.org/photos/jesus-alive/
- Sing songs together from the church hymnal about the resurrection. Search for songs on YouTube:
- Low in the Grave He Lay
- Christ the Lord is Risen Today
- Rabboni!
- He Lives
- Lord I Lift Your Name on High
- Visit a mature older Christian and ask them to share why the Resurrection is important to them.
- Black out the windows of your classroom to make it dark like the tomb. Quietly tell the story of the resurrection by the light of a candle or by torch/flashlight
- Place a dark cloth over a small table to form a “tomb”. Ask someone to be the body inside. Place a cardboard rock at the entrance. Let the children see the body inside and then put the stone in place. “The body” crawls out the back and the children remove the stone to see an empty tomb. Young ones love this obvious re-enactment.
- Choose words related to the resurrection story and tape them onto stones. Before class begins hide the stones so that children can hunt for them. As the children collect the stone discuss the meaning of the words. Here are some words you might use:
- Death
- Burial
- Resurrection
- Cross
- Tomb
- Forgiveness
- After telling about the Resurrection guide a child in praying thanks to God.
- Read a book about Easter.
Use these instructions for The Story of the Cross to learn a simple way to tell the story using one sheet of paper.
- Responsive Drawing: Guide older children in reading today’s scripture references. Then have them draw about what they have read. Use a blank piece of paper or print this worksheet: The Burial and Resurrection of Jesus_Drawing Response
- Responsive Writing: Guide older children in reading today’s scripture references. Then have them draw about what they have read. Use a blank piece of paper or print this worksheet: The Burial and Resurrection of Jesus_Writing Response
- Ask younger children to draw the story of the resurrection.
- Make use of plastic eggs on sale at Easter time. Use these instructions for “Resurrection Eggs” to re-tell the story of the resurrection.
Make a tomb craft from a paper plate. Cut a paper plate in half, paint if desired, and then staple the top rims together. To make the body of Christ cut a simple body shape from cardboard, wrap with one layer of toilet paper and dampen with water from a spray bottle, repeat layers and let dry. The stone is just crumpled brown paper. In one class we had the children each make a tomb and then put the body inside. During the week I moved the stones and removed the bodies. The next week we were going to be studying about the resurrection. When the children arrived that day they immediately went to the tombs they had made and were shocked to find the body missing. I let them search and conjecture for awhile before leading into the story of how the women came to the tomb to find Jesus’ body missing. The children could totally relate to how the women must have felt. At the end of class I returned the “bodies” so that the children could take the craft home and recreate the event for their families.
Write the individual words of Romans 6:9 on a whiteboard or chalkboard. Say the verse together. Erase one word or phrase and say the verse again. Say it over and over, eliminating one word or phrase each time. Soon, the children will have it memorised.
- Write the individual words of Romans 6:9 on pieces of paper and then mix them up. Children can unscramble the verse and practice repeating it to memorise it.
- Print and use a colouring page or puzzle from one of these online resources.
- Colouring page and puzzle worksheets (Resurrection) at https://calvarycurriculum.com/pdf/Curriculum/Original/Curriculum/CURR238.PDF
- Colouring page and puzzle worksheets (Peter and John visiting the tomb) at http://calvarycurriculum.com/pdf/Curriculum/Original/Curriculum/CURR239.PDF
- Colouring page at http://www.sermons4kids.com/easter-sunday-colorpg.htm
- Colouring page at http://www.christiananswers.net/kids/clrpg015.html
- Cook bread rolls that share the story of the resurrection: Cooking craft: Short youtube video on how to make Resurrection Rolls to tell the story- from CullensABCs at http://youtu.be/louAYkJPETQ
- Make a mobile using these instructions at http://www.sundayschoolcrafts.net/jesus-rose-from-the-dead-moblie.php
- Make a miniature garden using instructions at http://www.sundayschoolcrafts.net/garden-with-tomb.php
- Make a salt dough tomb using instructions from one of these online resources:
Try out some of the ideas on the Pinterest Board: Life of Christ (late ministry)
- More puzzles and worksheets to print:
- Worksheets and Puzzles: A printable (Easter) booklet containing a number of puzzles at http://sundayschoolresources.co.uk/activities.php
- A children’s sermon and activities at https://sermons4kids.com/surprise.html
- Wordsearch puzzle (1) from http://www.christiananswers.net/kids/wrdsrch6.html
- Wordsearch puzzle (2) from http://www.christiananswers.net/kids/wordsearch-resurrection.html
This post is an update of one published 22 March 2015.
The header image is the copyright of the http://www.LumoProject.com (Big Book Media) and distributed for free download, under license exclusively by FreeBibleimages for teaching purposes only. All rights reserved.
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