37 Christ centered Easter activities for kids will help you focus on the real meaning of Easter including Easter treats games, crafts, and other family tradition ideas.
I have been thinking about putting together today’s post of Christ centered Easter activities for kids for a couple of weeks, but I didn’t get around to it until just now. Better two days before Easter than two days after Easter, right? 🙂
My husband and I had the incredible privilege to sing lead roles in a production of Rob Gardner’s Lamb of God a couple of weeks ago. I sang the part of Mary, the mother of Christ, and my husband sang the role of the apostle Thomas (“Doubting Thomas”). It was so fun to sing such gorgeous music and to be on stage again, especially together and singing with such an astonishingly talented cast of soloist, a large, fantastic choir, and a magnificent full orchestra! However, even more than the *fun* of performing, it turned out to be a deeply spiritual experience.
I had never given a ton of thought to Mary’s reaction to the crucifixion of her son. I had pondered on her experience with the entrance of the Savior into this world, but not on her experience with His exit from this world. It was an extremely intense and almost overwhelming experience to attempt to step into her shoes for a few days. What an extraordinary privilege. I am so grateful for that opportunity and pray to have it again someday. Nothing bring the Spirit of God into my heart more quickly or more powerfully than music.
I am also so grateful to Mary herself for the tender love and devotion that she gave to her beloved child, the most important child to ever be born onto this Earth. Most of all, I am so grateful for Him, my Savior, Jesus Christ, and the incomparably priceless gift that He gave to all of mankind when he offered up His own life so that we could all live again. Without His Atonement, we would be nothing, and all hope and the possibility of redemption and repentance would not exist. The song that I sang was entitled “Here is Hope,” and I felt that message soaring in my heart and soul as I sang it each night. I pray that I was able to convey the truth and power behind that message to some of the people who came to our performance. I have included a YouTube video of this gorgeous song below. (This is not me singing.) It is a beautiful and powerful depiction of what this song meant to the composer as he wrote it. The empty tomb at the end is what the entire song is about. As I sang, I felt that hope enter into my heart early in the song, and words that had me fighting tears a moment earlier had me soaring into joy the next moment.
I don’t often get publicly religious, especially on the internet, but this performance of Lamb of God has caused me to have so much more reflection and reverence this Easter season than I have ever had in years past, and I felt compelled to share at least a few paragraphs on my feelings. I came home burning with the Holy Spirit in my heart and wanted to share that powerful gift with my children with a few Christ centered Easter activies.
I know how much my children love interactive activities with me, especially arts and crafts projects, so I turned to Pinterest and searched out the best Christ centered Easter activities, crafts, games, and traditions for kids that I could find on the web.
I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but I pulled traditions from bloggers of many different Christian denominations. If your particular denomination of Christianity isn’t specifically represented it is only because I didn’t come across a craft that caught my eye from a blogger of your specific faith. Please share your ideas and even links to posts below in the comments section! I would love more inspiration to enhance our family’s Easter season!! I love that, despite some differences in doctrinal beliefs, we as Christians all share a common love for, devotion to, and gratitude toward our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Now on to the fun! We will begin with my favorite Christ centered Easter activity for kids: Resurrection Eggs! My son came home from his Evangelical Christian preschool with Resurrection Eggs several years ago and I absolutely loved it! I had never seen this idea before! I turned to the internet and saw Resurrection Eggs from bloggers of every Christian denomination under the sun. And, guess what? They hardly differed at all! The New Testament’s account of the last days of Christ dictate what goes into these eggs, and variations are minimal. I will share three of my favorite posts about Resurrection Eggs below, but if you are looking for more just Google it or search on Pinterest!
This version from Messes to Memories features colorful scripture printables to go along with the items. She uses hers as an Easter Egg hunt with her kids.
This version of resurrection eggs from Raising Busy Chickadees uses all printable pictures (included!) instead of having to gather items.
This toddler version from Happy Home Fairy is easier for little kids to understand without being too graphic. I have shown my kids all twelve eggs from the preschool, but each time I do I cringe a bit at the more gruesome aspects of the crucifixion. Yes, they need to understand the suffering that our Savior went through for them, but I feel that there is plenty of time for that at an older age.
More great Christ centered Easter Activities
Resurrection Rolls from Eat at Allie’s
Palm Sunday Handprint and Footprint Art from Catholic Icing
Easter Jelly Bean Prayer Envelopes from The Idea Room
Easter Walk (outdoor scavenger hunt using scriptures) from Wild and Precious
Lamb of God Craft from The Homeschool Village
Stained Glass Cross Craft from Mom on Timeout
The Resurrection Printables Scripture Story from Mormon Mommy Printables (Basic characters and scene to print and use to tell the story of Easter morning. I laminated mine and stuck a magnet on the back for use on cookie sheets and our fridge.)
He Took Our Sins Upon Him Carnation Activity from We Talk of Christ We Rejoice in Christ
Make an Easter Story Wreath from Wee Little Miracles
Passover Inspired Easter Dinner from FHE Lessons
The Road to Easter Printable Activity from Sunday School Kids
Paper Plate Calvary Hill from Catholic Inspired
Testimony Eggs from Our Family Blog
Stone Could Not Hold Him from We Talk of Christ We Rejoice in Christ
Playdough Crown of Thorns from Catholic Icing
Easter Walk from Mormon Share
(This is a merging of Resurrection Eggs with more thoughtful prompts and scripture study incorporated. It was designed for young women aged 12-18, but would be lovely for use with any age, just adapted for the individual. I LOOOOVE this idea and printable set! All the scriptures are from the New Testament.)
Lamb of God Crayon Resist Lenten Craft from Brimful Curiosities
Easter Story Bracelets from The Preschool Toolbox
Holy Week Calendar from The Domestic Notebook
Empty Tomb Craft from Totally Tots
Holy Thursday Last Supper Craft from Catholic Icing
Spin to Win! Easter Story Game from Christian Preschool Printables
Easy Fingerprint Cross Art from Crafty Morning
Easter Memory Match Game from Christian Preschool Printables
How to Make a Handprint Easter Lily Bouquet from Artists Helping Children
Resurrection Set of Printables from Catholic Icing
Easter Lanterns: Creating Our Easter Vigil from Multiply Goodness
Easter Playdough Mountain from Mama Gab
Easter Tomb Treats from Free-N-Fun Easter
How to Bead a Cross (for a necklace or a rosary) from Catholic Icing
Hosanna Branch Wavers Craft from Mommy Snippets
Holy Week: A Christ-Centered Tradition for LDS Families from Mercy River (There is only one non-Biblical scripture involved, so, in my opinion, it really isn’t only for LDS families.)
Easter Resurrection Garden Tutorial from Uncommon Designs
The Holy Week in Handprints from Catholic Icing
Our Special Easter Week from Our Family Blog
(Everything about this family’s Easter Week tradition is A-W-E-S-O-M-E.)
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So many amazing Christ centered Easter activities, right?!? The internet can be so awesome!
If you are looking for excellent Bible videos there are a wealth of videos HERE. Different scenes from The New Testament and all SO beautifully done! Check out different clips or show your family THIS excellent seven-minute video which covers Holy Week.
THIS is a lovely post written by my sister of other (non-crafty) ideas for simple ways to teach children the true meaning of Easter.
Please tell me other Christ centered Easter activities you use to celebrate with your family in the comments below and feel free to leave links to other activities that you think I should see as well!
Happy Easter, everyone!! I hope you have a lovely, peaceful weekend with your families!
*This is a post of a personal nature that includes beliefs that I hold sacred. Any negative and unkind comments will be deleted. Please help me to keep this blog a safe and kind space, as it has always been.*
Be sure to sign up for my special email series all about making Easter more meaningful and fun for your family! Only five emails, but sure to enhance your Easter season!
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Courtney O'Dell says
April 4, 2015 at 8:23 ami love all of these! We honestly don’t get very crafty at Pascha/Easter because there are so many church services (one to three a day the weeks before) in Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, but making traditional paschal baskets filled with food we’ve been fasting from to be blessed, as well as playing the cracked egg game! It’s kind of long to explain the symbolism – but this is the best writeup I’ve found: http://usa.greekreporter.com/2012/04/13/the-symbolism-of-cracking-red-eggs-on-easter/
Sarah Westover McKenna says
April 4, 2015 at 9:50 amOk, I love that!!! The Mary Magdalene legends are amazing – I love it! I love that even though women aren’t mentioned that much in scripture in general, they still played a huge and important role in Christ’s life!
Jane says
March 10, 2016 at 10:09 pmIndeed. Thank you!
Rachel Nielson says
April 5, 2015 at 9:40 pmWow! Awesome post! From the personal thoughts at the beginning to all of the ideas–incredible. Thank you.
Sarah Westover McKenna says
April 8, 2015 at 12:01 amxoxoxo
Ellen says
January 24, 2017 at 11:31 amDear Sarah, thank you for your blog. As a teacher i find it very difficult to teach kids in a realistic and enthousiastic way about Jezus. It’s nice to see the ideas that you put here. I’m very sorry for the mistakes in my comment, i’m a belgian teacher so my motherlanguage is dutch but i’m triying very hard! I was looking for some inspiration for a celebration in church with kids at the age of 6 and 7 years old and so I followed a link to your site. I saw a link to “holy week in handprints” and liked it very much. The theme for our celebration is “hand in hand” and the font you are using to write “handprints” is perfect for that. Would it be possible to find the font you are using? I already looked at some font-sites but could not find that font. Thank you already fot the inspiration you give by this site.
Sarah Westover McKenna says
January 25, 2017 at 6:41 pmHello! Thank you for your kind words. I’m not sure which font you are referring to. If it is the one on the title header then it is called “Playball.” If you are referring to another one I don’t know, sorry.