Easter Talk

Here's a link to a short Easter Talk I gave at an school assembly using a newspaper.​
​http://childrensministerblog.blogspot.com/2015/02/easter-talk-good-news.html

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Easter Ideas

Easter Ideas
1. Make a wire cross out of pliable wire. Barbed wire is more difficult to use and has a safety aspect if you’re making the crosses with children but it does capture the rugged look. 

2. On Good Friday we place a large wooden cross with a purple sash around it out the front of the worship area. Before Easter Day the cross is covered with ‘chicken wire’ and each person comes forward to place a flower on the cross symbolizing ‘new life’.





3. Egg Shell Gardens The egg must be broken at the small end, leaving more than half the shell intact. A small hole is made in the other end. The child’s name and the decorations are put on with crayon. Each child dips his own shell in warm dye and when dry partly fills it with dirt. A little peat moss is sprinkled on top and three or four seeds are planted in each shell. Choose some seeds that germinate quickly. Marigolds are good for this. Stand the shells in a tray of peat moss until the seeds come up, when each child takes his garden home. The peat moss holds the moisture and keeps the garden from drying out. For obvious reasons, it is well to plant a few extra gardens.

4. Reaching out at Easter. As a church prepare posies of flowers or home made biscuits with a card that explains the Easter message and distribute to... > Those who have had a bereavement since last Easter. > Those in nursing homes. > People you know who may not hear from their family. > As a ‘thank you’ to people who have helped you. 

5. Eggciting! Children love Easter egg hunts, especially the younger children. A hunt could also be incorporated into your Easter activities. Before doing so, it is important to explain to the children the significance of eggs in our Easter celebrations. Eggs remind people of new life. Discuss the different creatures that come from eggs i.e. Chickens, other birds, fish, butterflies, etc... Discuss the fact that on that first Easter Jesus was raised from death to have a new life and that we too can have a new life by following Jesus. 

6. To Get one of the children to bite into a hollow chocolate egg. Ask them what they can see inside. (Nothing). Point out that when Jesus friends returned to the cave/tomb where his body had been placed, they too found it empty, just like the insides of the egg. Jesus had been raised from the dead, he was no longer there.

7. Why we have Easter eggs? The egg symbolizing life after death, comprises the first meal after a Jewish funeral. Easter eggs, therefore, are meant to remind us that death is not the end. 

Easter Booklet

Bible Story Printables has a free, simple and colorful Easter booklet to download for children or teachers.

http://www.biblestoryprintables.com/files/Easter/BSPMinibookEaster.pdf

Awesome Easter Ideas

Check out these awesome Easter resources for christian worship or children's programs-

http://sa.uca.org.au/uyp/church-resources/all-age-worship/easter-services

http://request.org.uk/restart/2016/02/03/the-easter-story-pairs-game/

http://lapbooklessons.com/ResurrectionLapbook

http://www.biblestorycartoons.com/easter-story-resources/

http://eliab.com/Puppets/The_Shape_of_Easter/the_shape_of_easter.html

http://eliab.com/Chants/Easter_Chant/easter_chant.html

http://eliab.com/Chants/Easter_March/easter_march.html

http://eliab.com/Poems/Jellybean_Prayer/jellybean_prayer.html

Easter Pictures

If you're looking for a series of pictures to retell the Easter story of Jesus' death and resurrection then you should check out this site.
Easter pictures
biblestorycards.co.uk 

An open letter to the Easter bunny

Check out this interesting take on the Easter bunny.
Easter Bunny 

Celebrate Easter Photos

An Easter Activity for Children

Check out this Easter Activity for sharing with your family or children's group.
Easter Traditions by David Burt

Looking for Christian Easter Pictures?

These free high quality Easter Pictures  could  be used to retell  Palm Sunday, Jesus trial, Jesus death and the The Resurrection.
www.freebibleimages.org

The Story of Easter told Through Social Media

The Story of Easter Told Through Social Media from bdryfhout on GodTube.

History of the Easter Egg

As Christianity spread, more familiar traditions. symbols and celebrations of spring were associated with Easter -Christ coming back to life after death. One of the oldest spring symbols is the egg. The oval shape of the egg was the same shape for a raindrop and a seed. These two were important life-giving elements. the egg itself promises new life as in spring, birds, and many other animals are hatched from eggs. In fact, the Persians, Hindus and Egyptians believed that the world began with a single egg. In ancient China, Rome, and Greece, eggs were given as springtime gifts. In Poland and Russia, hours are spent on drawing intricate designs on Easter eggs. In England, members of the royal families gave each other gold covered eggs as Easter gifts in the Middle Ages. The most famous Easter egg decorator was Peter Carl Faberge. He designed eggs from gold, silver and other precious gems for the kings of Europe and czars of Russia. These eggs are priceless now and can only be found in museums and private collections. in early America, children decorated their eggs by using dyes made from fruit and leaf colouring.

Free Easter Clip Art

Here's a great collection of free clip art to download to use in cards, powerpoints, or Sunday School material.
biblepicturegallery.com

Ash Wednesday Liturgy

A liturgy for Ash Wednesday from Sacredise.com.

Ash Wednesday pdf

NOTE: This liturgy does not include a section for Communion. It is structured around the ritual of the ashes. It can easily be placed within another Communion Liturgy if this is desired 

Easter Planning

Easter planning resource links from the Evangelical Lutheran Church America.
http://www.elca.org/Growing-In-Faith/Worship/Planning/Easter.aspx

Popular Easter Videos

Check out the free popular Easter Videos at Tangle.com

Questions about the Passover?

Chosen People Ministries has an excellent page on common questions people ask about the Passover.
Check it out here : http://www.chosenpeople.com/main/page/passover_faq.html

Easter Explorer

Easter Explorer- an intergenerational worship service for Easter.
This worship service is a celebration of the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection.
It provides an opportunity for people to explore what they believe
and it encourages interaction between children and older people.
Download the PDF here scroll down and click on Easter Explorer.

Hot Cross Buns

Hold up a hot cross bun and ask the group if they like to eat these buns at Easter. Say that many people all around the world like to eat these buns at Easter time and those that are Christians are reminded of Jesus death on a cross by the cross we find on the top of the bun.

"Let's think about the ingredients needed to make these buns. What are some of the things you think might be used? Flour? Water? Fruit? One thing that's very important in making hot cross buns is yeast. What do we use yeast for? It helps the bun to rise otherwise they might be called "flat cross buns". The yeast also might remind us that Jesus rose from the grave. He didn't stay dead after he was crucified and put in to the tomb - he rose again. Dried fruits are also added to the mixture in making hot cross buns. These might remind us of the good things that come from Jesus' death. Without his death on the cross we wouldn't be able to enjoy new life.

As you pass around some buttered hot cross buns for the children to eat. Invite everyone just to pause for a few moments and silently thank Jesus for being willing to die a slow and painful death so that we might have eternal life with him.

Just in case you wondered about the history of the hot cross bun : We get the word "bun" from the Teutonic equivalent, "boun", which was an archaic description of a sacrificial ox. The practice of offering animal sacrifices at the vernal equinox became frowned upon. Instead, the goddess in question was honoured with a cake, a sacred ox bun. Imprinted on the cake were the crossed horns of a ox. Christians reinterpreted this as the cross of Christ.

Puppet script from Eliab.com "Hot Cross Buns"

Easter Resource

I've just picked up a great resource full of ideas for Easter including drama skits, stories, poems, Easter service ideas and craft.

The publication is called "Easter cracked" and is published by Scripture Union. (93 pages)

http://www.scriptureunion.org.au (Aust.)

http://www.scriptureunion.org.uk (Britain)

http://scriptureunion.gospelcom.net ( U.S.A.)

Colours For Easter

An All- Age Worship Activity

You need : Green, Red,Black, White and Yellow balloon bunches or streamers or flags.

Call forward any of the congregation or children's group who are wearing a green top (t-shirt, jumper, sweater...). Give them the green props and ask them to stand in a group on the far left side of your stage or up-front area. Talk about how the colour green may remind us that Jesus came... and on the way he was welcomed into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Ask the green group to practice their phrase. Continue this process with the following colours and phrases.

"Jesus came- and suffered- and died- but came alive again- to bring new life...

GREEN ---- RED ---- BLACK --- WHITE --- YELLOW

Finally invite all those remaining in the congregation wearing other colours to add "for everyone" to finish the phrase. Those holding the balloons can form a rolling Mexican wave of colour as they circle the balloons in front of them as they say their phrase.