Well, our Resurrection Day crafts have been a little different than I planned. My son has had a very high fever for the last 3 days. And my sister-in-law with her 3 kids are in town from Mexico. But we’ve still managed to squeeze some meaningful (and might I add fun?!) activities about Jesus’ resurrection!
The Lamb of God
We pulled out all the stops and made some recycled lamb crafts. I grabbed an old egg carton, cut out one little section and let Asa glue white puff balls on it. He LOVES puff balls.
We made Lydia’s a little more advanced. We tore pieces of coffee filters up and rolled them into balls. Then we added a puff ball head and four little pipe cleaner legs.
This activity actually led to a pretty good discussion about the “spotless” and “perfect” lamb of God. Especially considering Lydia got in so much trouble before we started that she had to stay in her room while Asa and I did his lamb. When you’re talking about how Jesus never disobeyed his mother right after being disciplined, it kinda hits home. I could see her little mind working.
Resurrection Rolls
I wanted to save these for Good Friday but Lydia’s cousins came over one night for dinner and this was the perfect all group activity. You can read step by step instructions from a previous tutorial Lydia and I did. But if you don’t know what it is, it’s basically a fun snack craft—Jesus (the marshmall0w) is rolled in fragrant oils (melted butter) and spices (sugar and cinnamon) then placed in the tomb (canned crescent roll). After being baked, you open up your tomb and SURPRISE Jesus is gone!
Just look at their faces when they discovered that their tomb was empty…
And when they explained it to their parents, they were so excited and amazed! Not to mention, a cinnamony-sugary-buttery marshmallow wrapped in a crescent roll tastes pretty darn good.
The Parable of the Lily
Today I read Lydia the The Parable of the Lily
But what makes it better is when you go back and read the scriptures underneath each picture. We read it straight through once, then read it again with the scriptures. Actually, we just kind of retold the story and used Jesus’ name in place of the bulb/lily. It is really a profound story–when Jesus came to earth he was despised and rejected. He had to fall to the ground and die in order to come back to life and bring new life to us. It’s a beautiful picture.
Lydia was quite serious while we read it and actually answered my questions pretty well. Then, we made a craft that two of YOU suggested to me: Handprint Lilies! And they turned out SO CUTE.
How To Talk To Your Child About Jesus’ Death
Today I read Lydia several of my favorite versions of Jesus’ death and resurrection. With each one Lydia was so serious, she asked questions, answered them and one time even said, “Oh, I get it!” And I know she doesn’t. Not exactly. But guess what? I don’t either. I can’t comprehend that GOD, the creator of the universe would send part of himself, his own Son to earth. And that that Son, Jesus would live a perfect life and CHOOSE to die on a cross in my stead. It’s beyond comprehension.
art by Dennis Jones. as seen in the See With Me Bible.
So, I don’t feel too pushed to make her understand what the resurrection means. I don’t feel pushed to make her see the pain and suffering that Jesus went through. She doesn’t know what a whip full of bone and glass can do to your back. She’s only scraped her knee and had a papercut. Her world is too small to understand the magnitude of Jesus’ gift.
BUT. BUT. BUT. Her heart is still open enough. It’s tender enough. She is a soft fertile ground that God’s Word can grow. She can understand love. She understands her disobedience. She understands that this Good Friday and the coming Easter Sunday is a day that reminds us of something special Jesus did for her.
Don’t shy away from telling your kids the whole story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. They won’t understand it all. That’s ok. But they will know and understand it on their level. And that’s all it takes. Faith like a child.
He is risen!
awesome pictures of Jesus by Dennis Jones in the See With Me Bible!
this post linked to the beautiful Other Mama’s Friday Favorites and the delightful Janna’s Feed Me Books Friday!
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I think we’re going to give the Resurrection rolls a try Saturday night. (I actually had to go make myself some french toast sticks after I read the ingredients–they sounded so good.)
I’m very lucky, I think, that Wog has an EXCELLENT teacher at church. She was his Sunday School teacher last year & now she has him on Wednesday nights. By the time, I brought it up, HE told ME the story. (Which was kind of a relief, because I’m a wimp and had no clue how I was going to explain it all.)
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By Will Blog for Shoes on 04.02.10 12:52 pm | Permalink
Such great ideas!! Thank you!!
.-= Tara McClenahan´s last blog ..Wednesday Worship – Seeds Family Worship =-.
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By Tara McClenahan on 04.02.10 1:04 pm | Permalink
It really is hard! I can’t even imagine how it sounds to Evan as he asks questions and I’m basically telling him that Jesus died and then he rose from the dead. And now HE lives IN his heart!!! Like how does that even happen! Then that got his thoughts going – he wanted to know where Heaven was … and he told me that if we die we can come back to life like Jesus. I didn’t bother going into Lazarus or any of the others … just took the easy way out on that one & said Jesus was the only one that does that!
Ok – sorry … didn’t mean to take up half a page!
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By mandi@itscome2this on 04.02.10 1:17 pm | Permalink
Fantastic post! I’ve not heard of the rolls, but we did the cookies last year. I think I’m gonna do the rolls this year.
We tell our kids the story without sugar coating it. So I agreed with you 100%. They may not understand it all now but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to tell them about it now.
.-= Trina´s last blog ..Fifty-Two New, Week 13: Perfume & Polish =-.
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By Trina on 04.02.10 1:21 pm | Permalink
Loved this post as well! Are the pictures from the “Jesus Storybook” you’ve mentioned? Do you find that the pictures are scary for a 2+ yr old?
We did the rolls yesterday! I remember my MIL telling me about these years ago, but this was our first time making them ourselves.
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By familyofthree on 04.02.10 1:58 pm | Permalink
@familyofthree:
The pictures are from The See With Me Bible by Dennis Jones. I linked to it above. I don’t know if they are too scary or not. I like them b/c they are equal realistic and cartoonish. I kind of want Lydia to know that it was bad. And I will say that she kinda scooted away when we read that part. But she was also drawn to it. She wanted to look at it….she laughed and laughed when she saw the angel holding the stone!
Regardless, the book is outstanding and Lydia reads every single page at least every week!
.-= oh amanda´s last blog ..Good Friday =-.
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By oh amanda on 04.02.10 2:41 pm | Permalink
I love it all! Elias is asking so many big questions about the resurrection story – my brain is still kind of swimming from everything he’s asking.
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By Leigh on 04.02.10 2:44 pm | Permalink
I didn’t think about making a Lamb of God craft – that would have been perfect! We have a Lamb of God stained glass window at our church & Ladybug is very familiar with that phrase.
.-= Heather @ Not a DIY Life´s last blog ..Ten Little Muffins =-.
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By Heather @ Not a DIY Life on 04.02.10 2:47 pm | Permalink
I think Libbie and I are going to make the little Milano and marshmallow lambs from Southern Living tomorrow. So excited about it! I also think she’s getting the Jesus Storybook Bible (deluxe version! with CDs!) from my ILs for Easter. YAY!
.-= Vanderbilt Wife´s last blog ..With a Toddler, Everything’s a Saga. =-.
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By Vanderbilt Wife on 04.02.10 3:45 pm | Permalink
Love this and I can’t wait to try the rolls, hand lillies and the puff lambs; I love cotton balls, too!
.-= HIllary @ The Other Mama´s last blog ..Friday Favorites: Southern Accents =-.
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By HIllary @ The Other Mama on 04.02.10 3:56 pm | Permalink
Oh, duh! Didn’t see the link, obviously.
Thanks! I appreciate the insight.
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By familyofthree on 04.02.10 3:57 pm | Permalink
The Easter Lily idea is so cute. My son made one last week in Sunday School and then listed 3 people on the leaves that he would pray for during Holy Week.
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By Rebekah on 04.02.10 4:47 pm | Permalink
I read about Yancy on your blog a few weeks ago while reading an old post on your blog. I couldn’t find her music in my local book & bible store, and tonight I thought to look on eMusic.com – success! I downloaded Little Praise Party for my daughter, and then clicked over to her website. On her blog, I noticed that she is offering a 5 song download of new preschool songs for $5 – but only for a limited time – until Easter! “The Springtime Song” is definitely worth a listen at this time of year. It’s about a child’s view of Easter, reminding them that it’s all about Jesus.
http://yancynotnancy.com/2010/03/06/new-preschool-music
Thanks for the recommendation of great music!
.-= SkylarKD´s last blog ..Bloggy inspiration – games and printables =-.
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By SkylarKD on 04.02.10 7:38 pm | Permalink
I love those lilies!
Great job focusing on the Resurrection with your children!
.-= Janna @ The Adventure of Motherhood´s last blog ..Feed Me Books Friday: Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems =-.
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By Janna @ The Adventure of Motherhood on 04.02.10 11:24 pm | Permalink
Great post! I want to find some really good bible books like this for my boys. I’m going back into your post to see if you mention how to find the ones you use. If you didn’t can you email me the info? I’ll go look again first tho.
Thanks!
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By Tracy @ Hall of Fame Moms on 04.03.10 9:13 am | Permalink
@Tracey
I think I linked to my 2 favorites above: The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones and The See With Me Bible by Dennis Jones.
I think I’ll do a Bible post next week…
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By ohamanda on 04.03.10 11:12 am | Permalink
[...] of Easter. There was talk of Resurrection Eggs and I may have mentioned a few of Impress Your Kids good Easter ideas. {see the sidebar for all our Easter posts!} Here’s a link for some more great [...]
By Recap of the Veggie Tales World Vision Twitter Party {giveaway} | ImpressYourKids on 03.15.11 9:03 am | Permalink
The links for empty tomb rolls wouldn’t work for me, I would love the step by step instructions. Thanks!
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By Julie Owen on 03.17.11 10:21 pm | Permalink
Thank you so much for posting this!! Do you try to talk to Asa about the cross and resurrection? (I know you do–but HOW?) I have been trying to talk to Libbie about how Jesus died on the cross but he came back to life; but I don’t want her to get weird ideas about anything in her head, you know?
Vanderbilt Wife´s last [type] ..Hallelujah- What a Savior
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ohamanda Reply:
March 31st, 2011 at 2:46 pm
With Asa (and kids his/Libbie’s age–2ish) just reading and generally talking about it is fine. The thing is they don’t know what most of the words mean. So, even if you said, “Jesus was beaten”. They wouldn’t even get it. Even if you described it, they still can’t comprehend that kind of brutality, you know? Even tho’ Asa’s great-grandfather died this year, but he’s still too little to connect the dots of Jesus’ dying and coming back to life.
So, I think just getting the words and ideas in their heads is fine. Just getting the general sense of the story. And that Easter is about Jesus. Does that help at all?
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By Vanderbilt Wife on 03.31.11 1:39 pm | Permalink
[...] books through Impress Your Kids. My daughter just loves How to Be a Baby (By Me, the Big Sister), The Parable of the Lily, the Jesus Storybook Bible, and My ABC Bible [...]
By Miss Fannie's Hat | ImpressYourKids on 08.08.11 8:40 am | Permalink
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