We didn't use the suggested materials for Jesus' tomb in Godly Play but instead, I pulled out some quick dry clay and allowed the kids to make their own.
The Godly Play book doesn't have a story that details the actual crucifixion of Jesus and E wanted us to have a story just for that part of Jesus' last days. So I encouraged her to make crosses out of sticks from our backyard. We read the account of Jesus' crucifixion from Scripture then I invited her to tell R and me the story using the materials she made along with some of our other Godly play stuff. It was so confidence building for her to be trusted with telling this story. And such a joy for me to watch her do it.
Also leading up to Easter, we printed out and looked through these FREE Montessori-inspired cards that give glimpses of how people around the world celebrate Easter. As part of that, we talked about and noshed on Hot Cross Buns which E especially loved. To save time I bought them from the grocery store.
Of course we died Easter eggs with a $5 kit from Target...
And in the days surrounding dying Easter eggs, E, R and I researched where the idea of Easter eggs came from, along with some of the other non-religious symbols of Easter - the Easter bunny, chicks, Easter baskets, etc. I wish I could point you to one specific website where we gathered all of our information. But the truth is that we checked a bunch of different sites and determined that the traditional non-religious symbols of Easter are a result of the historical celebration of the god (little "g"!) of fertility. Somewhere along the way the Church decided to celebrate Jesus' resurrection around the same time.
These were important conversations for my kids and I to have. Because it helped them (and me!) to make sense of why we do the things we do in terms of Easter eggs, bunnies and baskets, when, as Christians, we believe that Easter is all about celebrating Jesus rising from the dead. It was a good reminder to all of us that Easter truly is about that. But that because all the other non-religious stuff is a part of the way our culture celebrates Easter, it's okay to have fun with that stuff too.
In that light, we also held our third annual Easter egg hunt with friends at a park nearby.
I created a starting line for the kids with streamers at the park's entrance, then on the count of three... they were off!
One thing I did different this year was to print out and include these FREE "bunny bucks" in some of the eggs. At the end of the hunt, the kids got to visit the "bunny store" where they could pick out one item for each buck they had. We ended up with two kids who didn't collect any bunny buck eggs, so I encouraged the kids with more than one bunny buck to share. It was a good opportunity for those kids to give to their friends!
At the "store" (a picnic table with streamers taped to it), I had a variety of items for the kids to choose from - bubbles, pencils, chips, candy, chalk, etc. It turned out to be one of the best parts of the hunt!
What Easter traditions are especially meaningful to you? What ideas can you share?
In the meantime, feel free to check out my Pinterest Board for more holiday ideas! https://www.pinterest.com/shelleypimentel/
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