Natural Christian Parenting

What activities do you do with your children? Here are some ideas. Please comment with your own!

Books:

1. Read the “Easter story” straight from your Bible — Matthew 27 on Good Friday and Matthew 28 on Easter morning

2. Read The Tale of Three Trees retold by Angela Elwell Hunt — this is a beautiful American folktalke for grade school children about three trees whose wishes come true in surprising ways. It’s a perfect culmination of Jesus’ birth, ministry, and death & resurrection. I read it to my public school class every year at Easter as an “American folktale!”

3. Read younger children The Story of Easter by Patricia A. Pingry — a board book with few words and bright illustrations.

4. Read Peter Cottontail’s Easter Book by Lulu Delacre — Peter Cottontail leads readers through pages, accompanied by the nursery song “Itisket, Itasket,” and his own commentary. Interspersed are sections on crafts and customs, both religious and secular. Most appropriate for grade school children and mature preschoolers.

5. Read Easter by Gail Gibbons — an explanation of the religious aspect of Easter geared for preschool through early grade school children. Jesus’ life and death are treated briefly but with enough detail to provide a basic introduction to the subject. The crucifixion is shown from afar to soften its cruelty, and afterward the risen Jesus happily astonishes his followers. Next the symbols of candles and spring flowers lead logically into a discussion of the other aspects of the holiday, including Easter egg decoration, hunts, and baskets; Eostre, the spring goddess who gave the day its name; and the special Easter foods and clothes.

Activities

1. Color Easter Eggs — to add a little spice for primary grade school kids, buy two or three different kits and do an experiment to see which brand yielded the brightest colors and make a note of it for next year’s purchase. With my 4th graders one year we made a list of the most important criteria such as, quality of supplies, clarity of directions, lowest price, brightness, and add-ons, and then we rated each brand on a scale of 1-4. Whichever brand yielded the highest score was the winner. The kids asked their moms buy that brand before Easter. Click here for more ideas.

2. Easter Egg hunt — my parents woke up early every year to hide the REAL eggs we colored the day before. They were always on one floor of the house and there was a little added pressure to find all of the eggs because if we didn’t, we would smell them in a few days. Of course you can do the traditional way too — fill and hide plastic eggs and be sure to invite lots of kids! That’s what we did last year when our son was only 4 months old (see photo).

3. Easter basket hunt — we also had to find our Easter basket. When we were younger, it was in easy to find places like beside the couch or on top of the TV. As we got older it would appear in the dryer or on a hanger in the coat closet. Then in college (oh yes, we still did this in college) we would have to get hints because they were so hard to find we’d look forever! Be sure to label the basket with your kids’ names and tell them if they find their siblings’ basket to walk away quietly.

4. Make something crafty with your kids. For some great ideas go to Kaboose or Family Fun.

5. Buy, or better yet make, something special for their Easter basket. Check out these Easter lambs and bunnies at Etsy!