Easter Sunday

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Easter Sunday is an incredibly joyful time in the life of the Church and these craft ideas will help children to focus on the themes of new life and joy that come with the resurrection of Jesus. 

 

 

BUTTERFLY PAINTINGS 

You will need: three or four fillable plastic Easter eggs; marbles or small stones; sticky tape; paint; a deep tray; large paper butterfly shapes that will fit inside the tray; cloths to wipe the excess paint 

This craft focuses on the new life of Easter, using a butterfly as a symbol of resurrection. Put a stone or marble inside each plastic egg. This will give them some weight. Then tape around the middle of the egg to stop the marbles coming out. Place a paper butterfly in the tray and, on top of the paper, put a few small blobs of paint in different colours. Less is definitely more in terms of paint! Put the eggs into the tray and shake the tray so that the eggs roll in the paint and decorate the butterfly. When the paint has spread, take out the butterfly and leave it to dry. Wipe the paint from the eggs and the tray and start again with a new butterfly shape. Talk about how a caterpillar goes into a chrysalis and emerges with new life as a butterfly, just as the body of Jesus is put into the tomb and he emerges with new life. What does new life mean for the children you are working with? You might even link the rolling eggs with the rolling of the stone from the entrance of the tomb. 

 

 

EMPTY TOMB ROLLS 

You will need: ready-made croissant dough (available from supermarkets); marshmallows; baking tray; oven 

Preheat the oven according to instructions on the packet, and grease a baking tray. Open the croissant dough and separate it into sections (there are normally six or eight in a packet). Give each child a marshmallow and ask them to wrap it up in a section of the dough. Put the wrapped marshmallows onto the baking tray and bake according to the instructions on the packet. Leave them as long as possible in the oven without burning to ensure that the marshmallow has melted. When the rolls are baked, leave them to cool slightly and then break them open. The marshmallow will have disappeared! Link the wrapping of the marshmallow with the preparation of Jesus’ body when he is placed in the tomb and the surprise of the missing marshmallow with the shock of finding his body missing on the third day. Continue to chat about the story as you eat your rolls. 

 

 

ROLLING STONE RUNS 

You will need: cardboard boxes; cardboard tubes; card; paper; pens; sticky tape; scissors; marbles 

Talk about the morning of Easter Sunday when the women came to the tomb and found the stone rolled away from the entrance. Work in pairs or individually to make marble runs to imaginatively illustrate the stone rolling. Encourage the children to be as inventive as they can and leave some time at the end so that they can test out what they and others have made.  

 

 

ALLELUIA COLOURING  

You will need: copies of the colouring page; felt-tip pens or pencil crayons 

In some churches, the word ‘Alleluia’ is never said during Lent and it is only on Easter Sunday that it is said again. The word means ‘praise the Lord’ and is something really fitting to say when celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. Sit with the children as they colour in the sheet and chat about the Easter story and what it means to them.