Palm Sunday

Come See the Light: Easter Activities for Kids

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Happy Easter Season!

I am on a mission to give Easter the same level as attention that we give to Christmas. I love the Light The World campaign we do each year in preparation for Christmas, I especially loved the focus on the different characters this year so I did something similar with characters from the Easter story. You can find the printables to download below. I selected 9 characters as well as excerpts from scripture to go with each character. One of the downloads is filled in with the activities my family will be doing, the other is blank so you can fill in your own.

Here’s a list of the activities and some explanations as well as some extra ideas to help if you are putting together your own

Mary Magdalene

  • Resurrection Rolls- recipe here I like to relate each part of the recipe to part of the Easter story. The marshmallow reminds us of Jesus, white represents purity. Mary Magdalene and other women prepared Jesus’ body for burial with oil (the melted butter) and spices (the cinnamon and sugar mixture) then wrapped his body in burial cloths (the croissant). Jesus was placed in the tomb (the oven). On Sunday morning Mary returned to the tomb and found a surprise- the tomb was empty (the marshmallow will leave a hollow space in the roll to remind us of the empty tomb.)
  • Easter Garden- plant a little garden in a pot, get a mini pot to represent the tomb and place a rock in front of it
  • Empty tomb Egg Hunt- like a normal Easter Egg hunt, but one egg is empty
  • Share your testimony

Mary, Jesus’ mother

  • Easter Journal I made a similar Christmas journal to go along with Mary who “kept these things in her heart and pondered on them.” We’ll do one entry a week each Sunday leading up to Easter. I left plenty of room to write extra if your kid likes to write, or room to draw a picture. This format has worked well for my kiddos ranging in age from 3-9.
  • Adopt a grandparent
  • Date with mom

Mary, Martha’s sister

  • Easter lilies craft- Idea from the Friend magazine
  • Sing Easter songs
  • Do a good deed
  • Pedicures with essential oils

Peter the Apostle

  • Wash Feet
  • Palm frond crosses- this is a simple little tradition that comes out of Palm Sunday, just a little thing to do with your hands while at Palm Sunday services. Sometimes we make it to a service that uses Palms, but we also have a neighbor with a Palm tree that we can also get palm fronds from. Here’s a quick tutorial.
  • Create an Easter timeline- I’ll have my older kids write out their own timeline, but I love the sequencing activity from Teaching Mama for little ones (lots of other great Easter printables there as well!)

The Apostles

  • Celebrate Passover- we’re going to follow this guide
  • Take the sacrament
  • Review goals for the year
  • Pray, even when you’re tired

Simon the Cyrenian

  • Study the geography around Israel
  • Carry something really heavy
  • Bear a burden with a service project- We’re going to go to Feed My Starving Children

Joseph of Arimathea

  • Visit the grave of a loved one
  • Pick a personal item to donate
  • Easter movie night- We love the Veggie Tales Easter movies and To This End Was I Born
  • Do some transcribing or take pictures for Billion Graves

Nephites

Jesus

  • Jesus’ light cake- use trick candles on a cake, as you blow out the candles explain that they tried to blow out Jesus’ light by crucifying him, but his light came back, then as you keep blowing them out remind the kids that sometimes His light may feel far away or hard to see in our lives, but it always comes back just like the trick candles re-light again and again.
  • Pray for someone
  • Date with dad
  • Go to a petting zoo to see a donkey and sheep to remember the donkey that Jesus rode on into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and to consider the lambs sacrificed at Passover and Jesus as the Lamb of God
  • Go to the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple

I recommend printing the list through Staples or another online print service as a Blue Print size 18×24. The first one is filled in with activities (the first 3 from each character), the second is blank for you to fill in yourself.

come-see-the-light-easter-listDownload
come-see-the-light-easter-list-blankDownload
easter-journalDownload

Thank you for checking out this post! I am passionate about making resources like this super accessible to families. At the same time, they do take a significant amount of time to put together. If you feel able to donate a dollar or two to keep more resources like this coming it would be greatly appreciated. You could Venmo me @Stephanie-Abbott-22

All images created using Copilot AI

Christ-Centered Easter Activity Countdown- 2019

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Time to get inspired for Easter!  With Easter being April 21 we will start our countdown on Friday March 29th.  A lot of these will be repeats from last year but I’m also going to incorporate some of this year’s activity from the Friend Magazine.  They don’t start until Palm Sunday so I won’t be going along day by day because I like to give Easter as much attention and preparation as we give Christmas.  I hope this helps you as you make your Easter preparations more intentional.

  1. Friend The Miracle of Easter (Day 2) “When Jesus was a boy, He lived with Mary and Joseph in a city called Nazareth. He always did what Heavenly Father wanted Him to do.”  Date with Dad- It’s our ward’s Father/Son camp out but you could substitute any activity with Dad!
  2. Friend (Day 3) “When Jesus grew up, He went to the Jordan River. He asked His cousin, John the Baptist, to baptize Him. Then He began to teach others about Heavenly Father.”  We will have cousins in town so we’re going to party with cousins, but you could also attend a baptism if possible.
  3. Jesus is the Light of the world.  Use trick candles on cupcakes, as the kids blow them out and they re-light explain that even though they tried to put out Jesus’ light, his light did not go away.  (Got this from The Joy Journey, scroll down, it’s one of the last activities, this is also a great resource for ideas!)
  4. Jesus created the World for us- visit a zoo or aquarium to see some of His creations.
  5. 2018 Friend activity #3– “Jesus said, “I thirst.” Jesus felt pain and was terribly thirsty. He understands whenever you feel sick or tired or hurt. Jesus wants us to help others who are ill or tired. What can you do to help someone in your family who isn’t feeling well or is very tired?”  Serve someone who has been ill (take a meal, make a card, take treats to the hospital, etc.)
  6. Read the Easter Story from this month’s Friend Jr.
  7. He is Risen cut and paste, there’s also a tracing one
  8. Jesus rode in to Jerusalem on a donkey- go to a petting zoo with a donkey
  9. Resurrection Eggs for toddlers
  10. Jesus continued His church by calling a Prophet.  Read about President Nelson in the Friend and watch General Conference.
  11. Friend Jr. Life of Jesus Christ Sequencing activity.  I will put each picture in an egg and make it an egg hunt and then sequence and talk about each part of Christ’s life.
  12. 2018 Friend activity #5– “Jesus said, “Behold thy mother!”  Before he died, Jesus asked one of His disciples to take care of Mary, His mother.” Mom date!  Our ward will be having a mother/daughter activity this evening but again, this could be any fun activity with mom.
  13. Jesus prayed in a garden and after his Resurrection he visited Mary in a garden- visit the Botanical Garden (they have butterflies this time of year!!!)
  14. Jesus was the Lamb of God, make a lamb craft
  15. Easter Movie Night, we will probably watch To This End Was I Born, and one of the VeggieTales Easter shows.
  16. Friend (Day 1)- “Our Heavenly Parents love us dearly. They want us to live with Them forever. Before we came to earth, Heavenly Father knew we would need someone to show us the path back to Him. We would need someone to save us from our sins. Who could He send to save us?”  Talk about our Heavenly Family, and Jesus as our older brother.  Explain that because they love us they gave us our Earthly Families as well.  Extended family Easter Egg hunt.
  17. Friend (Day 5)- “Some people were angry with Jesus because of His teachings. They didn’t believe that He was the Son of God. Jesus knew it was almost time for the greatest miracle of all. Jesus gave His disciples the sacrament to help them remember His sacrifice for us. Then He went with some of the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane. There He prayed to Heavenly Father, and He felt the pain of all of our sins. He did this so we could repent and return to live with our Heavenly Parents.”  Take the sacrament at church.
  18. Friend (Day 6)- “After Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, people came with swords to arrest Him. They took Him to Pilate, the governor of Judea. Then they took Him to a cross on a hill called Calvary.”  Make palm frond crosses- my little brother will grab some extra palm fronds for us from the Palm Sunday service at the Episcopal church he attends.  Here’s a simple tutorial.
  19. Friend (Day 4)- “Wherever He went, Jesus taught and helped people. No one had ever seen anyone do miracles like He did! He healed people who couldn’t walk and people who couldn’t see. He blessed children and taught people how to pray. He even brought a girl who had died back to life. What greater miracles could there be than these?”  Do a service project to be a miracle for someone else.
  20. Easter Sequencing Activity– this one focuses just on Christ’s death and Resurrection- the other one I’m using covers His whole life.
  21. Show a picture of Jesus washing the Apostles’ feet, then wash each others’ feet in a foot spa or just in the tub.
  22. Make an “Easter Garden” in a pot with some little plants, a rock for the tomb, etc.  Mine will be much simpler than the one in the link, but it gives a good idea for reference.
  23. Make Resurrection Rolls, and tell the Easter story as you do it
  24. Friend (Day 8)- “Jesus really did live after He had died, and so will we! He visited with His disciples for 40 days. He ate with them and talked with them. What a joyful time it was! Then He asked His disciples to meet Him on a mountain. He told them what they should do after He went to heaven. And He gave them a promise that He would always be with them. This wonderful promise is for us too!”  Use a glove and your hand to explain the Resurrection.  I explain how I do this in my Family Home Evening post for this month.