Preparing for Easter, Part 1

My dad has gifted us a subscription to Focus on Family's Thriving Family magazine.  I like their articles for inspiring godly growth in families.  This year I have decided to use their suggestion for helping kids prepare for Easter.  The article is called "Exploring Easter: Simple ways to celebrate Easter with your kids."  I am chronicling my efforts in this post (as well as summarizing the article's suggestions).  I'll come back and add to it each day until Easter is here.

SUNDAY

• Read John 12:12-13.
• Have your kids make palm branches out of construction paper.
• Decorate the dinner table with branches.
• Place extra branches on the floor as a path from the door to the table to mark a path a honor.
• Before dinner, discuss the meaning of "Hosanna." 
• Ask your kids what they might shout if they saw Jesus coming down the road.

We were out of time to make our own palm branches, so we went out and picked some branches from various trees.  The kids enjoyed waving them and shouting "Hosanna."

Abby said if she saw Jesus coming, she would shout "Hooray Jesus!" 

Isaac said he would ask Jesus to wait and he would go get all his friends to meet Him.

MONDAY

• Bake bread as a family.
• Read John 6:35.
• Discuss why Jesus called himself the Bread of Life.
• Put bread in a basket along with Easter goodies and deliver to someone who may be in need of extra kindness

We bought a box mix of Auntie Annie's Pretzels (mmmm...).

The kids helped make the dough and we had our little "bread of life" discussion.  They needed much assistance in getting the concept.

We wrapped up some bite-sized soft pretzels fresh out of the oven and delivered them to our retired neighbors who have no grandkids to do sweet things for them.

Here's a link to the post from 2012 on this lesson.

TUESDAY

• Send your children on an Easter scavenger hunt to find items that symbolize parts of the Easter story:
• A rock (the tomb)
• two sticks (the cross)
• something black (sin)
• something red (blood)
• something white (a clean heart)
• something green (growing in Christ)

This one was super fun and required no preparation.

Two sticks representing the cross:

Something black representing sin:

Filling up his basket with something green to represent growing in Christ:

Here's a link to the post from 2012 on this lesson.

See second Post: Preparing for Easter, Part 2