A Simple Easter Lesson and Treat

Last night we did a simple lesson and treat with the children about Easter and I thought I would share what we did.  Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been talking about Easter for weeks, ever since the first bunnies and eggs appeared in stores.  Those conversations began by centering our children on why those “commercial” things are not a part of our Easter celebration.  Easter has nothing to do with chicks and bunnies, candy and eggs, which is why we do not have those in our home for Easter.  We focus on our Savior, the Atonement, and the Resurrection.  Last night we wanted to really focus our children on the story, on some of the events that happened, especially our younger ones who don’t remember it well yet.

Last night began with a shoebox and a Bible.  Inside the shoebox I had four items:

• nails
• a white cloth napkin
• cinnamon
• a stone

We passed out the nails to each child and talked about what that had to do with Jesus and Easter.  We read John 19: 15-19.  We described what it means to crucify someone, encouraging the children to gently press the nail point into their palm.  We talked about how much love Jesus had for us to let them crucify Him.

We passed around the white cloth napkin and the stone and read Matthew 27:57-60 and talked of what happened as Jesus died (storms), and his burial.

The cinnamon was passed around next as we read Mark 16: 1-4.  We talked about how oil and spices were used to help preserve a body at burial.

Finally Daddy carried around the now empty shoe box(representing the tomb) to let each child peek inside to see what the women saw as they visited the tomb.  It was empty!  We then read Luke 24: 1-9 and talked about what resurrection is.

After that short lesson we told the children we were making Resurrection Rolls.  I’ll share what we did, but let me warn you it gets a bit messy when you have children making these.   

Ingredients:

• Marshmallows  (represents the body of Jesus) - 1 per roll. We will use mini marshmallows next time to cut down on the gooey mess. 
• 1/2 stick melted butter (represents the oils used to anoint body for burial).
• 2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 c sugar, mixed (represents the spices used to prepare the body for burial).
• Dough (represents the tomb) - we did 2 tubes of crescent roll dough to make 16 Resurrection rolls. Next time I’ll make my own dough instead of using crescent roll dough so we can just cut it in rectangles to wrap marshmallows in.

Step One: Drop a marshmallow in the melted butter and stir to coat.

Step Two: Fish out the marshmallow and drop in bowl of cinnamon sugar mix.  Roll around to coat.  Lick your fingers.

Step Three: Put marshmallow on dough and wrap up, pinching edges shut to seal.

Step Four:  Put on greased cookie sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes at 375 degrees F.

Step Five: Take them out of the oven and see how messy it gets when kids don’t quite seal the dough. 

Step Six:  Cut open a roll to see that the marshmallow has disappeared!

Have a blessed Easter!