Telling the Easter Story and Jesus’ Resurrection with Eggs

It’s been a tradition in Christian families for years to us plastic eggs to teach children the meaning of Easter and the story of Jesus’ resurrection. While there are many Christian stores that sell the Resurrection Egg (TM) kits, I’ve found that making them on your own is fairly easy if you have the time and resources. It’s like an advent calendar for Easter, counting down the days to Resurrection Sunday and retelling the story of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.

Every year I end up making these again and again as some of the parts go missing over the holidays. Making these eggs with your kids is a fun craft project and using them to tell them about Jesus makes these lessons accessible to even the smallest kiddos.

Making the Eggs

Materials:

• An empty egg carton
• 12 plastic eggs
• 11 story starters, as described below

Instructions:

1. An egg carton holds 12 eggs, right? So let’s go with 12 parts to our story. Number your eggs from 1 to 12.
2. After a lot of research, I chose these 12 Bible verses that are important to our kids’ understanding of the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.
3. For each verse or theme, I chose an object that would fit into my Easter egg. I was vacillating between making a felt object, making a mini felt ornament, and simply finding each object to put inside the eggs. I think any of the three would be nice, but I ended up finding a small object for each one. (I found many of these objects in the dollhouse section of my craft store.)
   • A tiny plastic donkey (or make a felt one) – Jesus rode to Jerusalem on a donkey. (Matthew 21:1-11)
   • A tiny perfume bottle or piece of cotton soaked in perfume – Mary poured perfume on Jesus’ feet. (John 12:2-8)
   • A tiny loaf of bread, dinner plate, or fork – The Last Supper (Matthew 26:17-19)
   • 3 pieces of silver (3 nickels, dimes, or quarters would be great) – Judas betrays Jesus (Matthew 27:3)
   • A cross (I found a tiny silver one in the bead department of the craft store, but you could make one from toothpicks.) – Jesus carries his cross to the site of the crucifixion. (John 19:17)
   • A crown of thorns (I had to be creative here. I got a crown charm from the bead section of the craft store but you can make one.) – Jesus crowned king of the Jews. (John 19:2-4, Mark 15:17)
   • Dice – Soldiers divide up Jesus’ clothes. (John 19:23)
   • Nail – Jesus was nailed to the cross. (John 19:18,37 & John 20:25-29)
   • Sponge – They give Jesus a sponge soaked in vinegar to drink. (John 19:28-30)
   • Spices (Whole cloves are small and fragrant.) – Jesus’ body is prepared for burial. (John 19:40)
   • A stone – They covered Jesus’ tomb with a great stone. (Matthew 27:59-60)
   • {Egg should be empty} – The tomb was empty. He has risen! (Matthew 28:6)
4. Place the eggs into an empty egg carton.
5. Decorate the carton.

To use the eggs:

You can either count backwards 12 days from Easter, and plan ahead so that you can open one egg each day, or simply open the carton and tell the whole story at once, using each object as a reminder of that part of the story.

If you focus on one egg a day, you can talk about the image, read the verses, and re-tell the story as you’ve learned it so far. Begin and end with a prayer.

What are your family Easter traditions and crafts? Share your thoughts and photos!