Resurrection Eggs for Toddlers using The Beginner’s Bible

For pictures of these activities please see our Easter post.

After venting about the lack of truly Easter related “Easter” activities on the web I received several suggestions to try Resurrection Eggs. There are some commercial versions available for purchase but a quick google search pulled up several DIY editions, too. My biggest concern was making all the activities toddler-friendly. I didn’t expect him to “get it” completely but I wanted to lay a foundation for him to learn upon and have lots of fun in the process. I’d say we succeeded.

The best DIY plans I could find that were geared for toddlers came from Play Eat Grow and H is for Homeschooling. I wanted the activities to line up with the chain of events in the Bible and I wanted to tie each event in to a hands-on activity.  I pulled ideas from both blogs and added some of my own to fill our eggs.

Both of the sites I linked to offer a printable list of verses that tie in to each day’s discussion. We didn’t do any studying or memorizing of the verses this year.

Each day we opened one or two eggs and talked about the contents. Then we took the egg and contents to the living room and read the related story in our Beginner’s Bible. Then we moved on to the activity, often taking the egg with us and discussing the story more as we worked.

We skipped over a few activities but I’ll list them here in case you have time for all of them. Some days we did two eggs if we had more time or the activities were simple. There are 12 eggs but we started on Palm Sunday and went through Easter Sunday for a total of 8 days.

Egg contents, coordinating pages in the Beginner’s Bible, and activities:

1. Perfume (small vial of eyedrops), A Gift for Jesus pgs. 423-426: I applied different scents to six index cards and introduced them one by one.  I talked about each scent and what it might remind him of.
2. Leaves (cut from felt), The True King pgs. 427-432: First, we walked a small stuffed donkey (Eeyore) on the felt leaves.  Then, we gathered up a bunch of green fabric (clothes, towels, and blankets) and took a walk around the house.  We laid the cloths out on the floor and walked the donkey across each piece before walking across it ourselves.
3. Piece of Cracker (to represent bread), The Last Supper pgs. 442-445: I put a few crackers in a bag on the floor and gave him a wooden hammer to break them with.
4. 3 Dimes (to represent 30 silver coins), Jesus is Arrested and Crucified pgs. 446-452 (several eggs relate to this story so either read just the applicable pages each time or repeat the story each day):  I printed this free printable from Lapbook Lessons at 135% scale and laminated it.  Then, I hot glued 30 nickels on to round magnets (mine were strong ones from Wal-Mart but lightweight ones would do if you were only going to use them on a horizontal surface anyway).  I taped the printable to a cookie sheet and gave him the bag of coins to stick on.
5. Cross (made from two pieces of stick and a rubber band), Jesus is Arrested and Crucified pgs. 446-452:  We did this tape resist cross painting with red paint.  It was easy and even my boy who doesn’t love to paint got enough red paint on there to create a stunning effect.  Alternatively, I thought about doing a gross motor activity with a laundry basket and added progressively heavier contents to it while discussing how heavy and burdensome the cross was.
6. 3 Nails, Jesus is Arrested and Crucified pgs. 446-452:  I gave him a wooden hammer and showed him how to pound the nails in to Styrofoam.
7. Crown, The True King pgs. 427-432: I printed this free crown printable on card stock.  He colored it with regular markers and Do-A-Dot markers.  I cut it out, stapled it together, and gave it back to him to wear.  Then we talked about how Jesus is our one true king.  This crown might be easy enough for a preschooler to cut, and there are several other options here.  You could use foam instead of card stock and glue on jewels or other decorations.  (Note: Jesus had no use for a fancy crown like ours but I still felt it was a good way to help my young child grasp the concept that Jesus was special.  If we repeat this activity when he’s older we’ll have to talk about humbleness.)
8. Dice, Jesus is Arrested and Crucified pgs. 446-452: H is for Homeschooling had the idea to roll a die and put that many pieces of clothing on.  I didn’t find a die in time so we skipped this one this year.
9. Piece of Sponge, Jesus is Arrested and Crucified pgs. 446-452: We could have incorporated water play with sponge bombs or a Montessori Sponging activity like this one.  We didn’t get to it this year.
10. Piece of Rolled Up Toilet Paper (to represent gauze), Jesus Is Risen pgs. 453-458 (read only page 453 if you want to break it up): Wrap yourselves in toilet paper (picture mummies) or wrap stuffed animals.
11. Pebble, Jesus Is Risen pgs. 453-458 (read only pgs. 453-455 with an older child and talk about what might happen next.  We repeated the whole story each time for emphasis): Put a gray sheet or towel or a big toy ball and put it in the entryway of a pop-up tent or teepee if you have one.  Or, make a fort and use the ball or a heavy object to block the entrance.  Talk about how Jesus couldn’t have escaped.
12. Nothing!, Jesus Is Risen pgs. 453-458 (reread or finish): We colored picture of the open tomb, I think it came from 1+1+1=1’s Just Color Easter packet.  Next year I want to do this magic watercolor project instead.

Since this post is so long I’ll be posting pictures and details of our Easter activities in a separate post.  I hope you found some inspiration here to help you remember the real reason for Easter!

Do you have any special Easter traditions in your house?  I’d love to hear about them!

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