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Easter is quickly approaching. According to a survey taken by LifeWay in 2012*, when 1,000 Protestant pastors were asked what day has the highest attendance for worship services, 93% responded that it is Easter. Many churches actually see their attendance double over the average on that one single day.

Many of those additional attendees will be children and thus extra volunteers are needed for Sunday School, Children’s Church, and various other children’s programs. If you don’t already regularly work with children in your church, Easter is a good time to step up and volunteer your assistance. My guess is the extra help will be gladly accepted!

I have spent many years at various different churches working with children. The following are six of my favorite activities for Easter Sunday along with a few of my suggestions based on past experience. Whether you are an old hand at teaching children or are volunteering for the first time, you may find these activities a good fit for your class.

1. Resurrection Eggs

I have used the traditional Resurrection Eggs with children of all ages and with various class sizes. They are 12 brightly colored plastic eggs which open to reveal symbols related to the resurrection story. It is basically a hands-on, audience participation method of relating the Easter story. It comes with instructions and an illustrated companion book which explains the significance of each symbol. The manufacturer recommends this product for ages 3 and up which I am sure is due to the possibility of younger children attempting to swallow the small parts. At the time this article is being written, Christianbook Distributors carries a 20th Anniversary Edition of the resurrection eggs.

My suggestion: Along with the Resurrection Eggs, bring additional plastic eggs to class that each has one piece of candy inside. Hide enough of the pre-populated eggs (Resurrection Eggs and those with candy) around the room with a difficulty appropriate for the age of the children so that each child can find the same quantity. For example, if you have 20 children, hide the 12 Resurrection Eggs and eight candy eggs. Make it a rule before the hunt begins that once you find an egg, you return to your seat (max one egg found per person). Once everyone has found one egg send them back out on the hunt to find another egg and repeat the process until all eggs are found. Many of your students may already be familiar with the Easter story. I like to ask the child after they open the egg what the object is and how do they guess that the object relates to Easter. After the Resurrection Eggs have been opened and each piece discussed, have the other children open their eggs (revealing the candy). Have additional eggs with candy (that were not hidden) and trade one of those with each student that has a Resurrection Egg. That way you get your Resurrection Eggs back and each child gets to go home with the same number of plastic eggs and pieces of candy.

2. Coloring Pages

My experience has been that almost all children like to color even if all they know how to do is scribble on a page. I like to use coloring pages because it gives the children a chance to be creative and express their individuality. But also, more importantly, it gives the child something to take home and proudly show their family. Most parents will display the “artwork” on their refrigerator or some other place (at least for a little while). This helps the child to remember the story as they see the page each day and also gives them an opportunity to share the story with other family members and friends.

Christianbook Distributors has a wide assortment of Easter coloring books for various age groups. They have several with reproducible pages for only a couple of dollars each such as the My Easter Pictures and Easter Hidden Pictures Activity Book. Buying books with reproducible pages means you can (legally) copy the pages for as many children as you need and the books will last you for many years.

My suggestion: Before they are done coloring, ensure the child’s name is written on the page. If you are also sending them home with a plastic egg and candy as suggested above, you may want to consider either bringing in small paper lunch bags or even gallon size press -n seal or zipper bags to contain all of their take-home goodies. If you do, be sure and write the child’s name on those as well. If you do not have enough crayons/colored pencils for each child to take all the colors they want up front, allow them to choose only one color at a time from the box and return it when they are finished and ready for the next color.

3. Puppets

I love puppets. I attended a training seminar once many years ago and I became hooked. Puppets tend to get children’s attention when humans speaking do not. You can find all sorts of directions for building a simple (or an elaborate) puppet stage on the internet, typically out of PVC or large cardboard boxes. But just using a few chairs and some sort of drape to go over them can work fine also, especially when you are first starting out.  All you really need is a way to “hide” the human bodies while raising the puppets up into view.

Christianbook for a reasonable price has a kit of  20 instant puppet skits (including one that can be used for Easter) which comes with two CDs. The CDs have music, sound effects and audio of the scripts. All you have to do is play the CD and act along with puppet! They also have other skit books if you don’t want the pre-recorded voices.

If you need puppets, here are some of my favorite ones by Melissa & Doug. There are several more to choose from, all at great prices. Just click the images to see more detail on each.

My suggestion: Allow the children to assist with the puppet skit. Older children can read from a script. If time allows it, give them the script in advance of the “show” for them to read over and rehearse. Let them read it to an adult to ensure they are able to read each word and pronounce them correctly. Provide suggestions for adding in emphasis and emotion when they speak. Ensure the puppeteers speak up VERY loud (even use a microphone if that is possible). You want to make sure the audience can clearly hear what is being spoken. The voices will be muffled since the speaker is hiding behind some sort of obstacle.  We have even used a child’s play microphone for this purpose which works surprisingly well. Of course, if you are using a pre-recorded track like shown above that won’t be an issue.

4. Videos

If you have time, a short Easter video can be played. I think this works particularly well when children will be spending several consecutive hours in the classroom (such as an hour of Sunday School followed by an hour of Children’s Church). It reinforces the story but in a different format. Different children learn/retain information in different ways. Some will really get it when a story is read to them, some will get more out of coloring a picture while you talk about the story, and a video will be more effective for others. I’m a fan of reinforcing the lesson in as many different formats as possible. There are many children’s videos that tell the Easter story in a traditional format but I also really like Veggie Tales. Here are three DVDs that are Easter themed that provide entertainment along with a good Biblical message.

My suggestion: You can often get free carpet samples from a store that sells carpet just for the asking. I have found these work great to put on the floor spaced just far enough apart that young hands will be kept to themselves. Moving out of the chairs that are used for “regular” story time to a new environment adds a sense of excitement and adventure to the movie time. After the movie ends, ask questions about the movie and discuss it. This helps them to remember the story and also ensures they understand what they saw.

5. Music

Music is a great way to break up the class time and get the students moving to work those wiggles out! Music can be played with a CD player but most cell phones work great also and you can find just about any song you want on the internet. You might use a small Bluetooth speaker to amp up the sound if your phone supports it. To really make music time fun consider including items like bean bags, streamers, and musical instruments.

Christianbook has an inexpensive set of six multi-colored bean bags that also comes with suggested activities. There are all sorts of songs geared for use with bean bags but you also can just pretend they are different things that you (or better yet, the kids) come up with. An example might be having it crawl like a turtle, hop like a bunny, perch up high in the air like a bird on a tree limb, etc. You can also balance them on your knee, your elbow, your forehead, even your nose! There are many different activities that you can incorporate bean bags into during music time to captivate your audience.

If your church does not already have children’s musical instruments, you can buy your own set for a reasonable price. My favorite, Melissa & Doug’s “band in a box,” gives you an assortment for six different children. Also, for only a little over one dollar each at the time this article was written, you can get a set of Easter themed tambourines that are inexpensive enough to let the children take home with them as a gift. Of course, you can make homemade instruments as well. Empty cans and buckets make good drums, dried beans or small pebbles in a closed container make good shakers. If you do make your own shakers, just make sure to securely seal the lid so that the contents don’t come out and make a mess or even worse, pose a choking threat to small children.

My suggestion: Make a game out of any song by playing/singing louder as you raise your arms (or beanbag) in the air and get softer as you lower your arms/bean bag to the floor. Do that slowly at first until the kids get the hang of the concept then speed it up going from louder to soft back and forth throughout the song. Also, playing a form of “freeze” with any song is fun for children of all ages. Simply start the music and have the children dance, sing, play their instrument (whatever is appropriate) and randomly stop the music. The kids “freeze” (stop moving, stop singing, stop playing) until the music is continued. The point is to engage the children and let them move around and have fun!

6. Scripture Memorization Game

If you don’t have time or resources for the other suggestions I have made, at least consider sharing an age-appropriate memory verse with the class and play a game to help them memorize it. Encourage children to recite the verse to their parents when they are picked up. Once they get it, they’ll want to recite it to all who will listen. This is a great way to spread the gospel to family members that may or may not have attended church that day.

My suggestion: A game that I have played with children of all ages (as young as three) which will have them quoting a verse by memory in a very short time is what I call “disappearing words.” You simply write an age-appropriate verse on a whiteboard or chalkboard and read it out loud with the class a couple of times pointing to each word as you say it. Even children who cannot read will be able to recite it with you after a couple of times. Then you erase one word and draw a line in its place. Recite the entire verse again including the missing word. Continue erasing one word at a time until eventually all words are erased and the class is saying the entire verse by memory. It sounds simple, and it is, and it really does work! Depending on your class you can do the complete exercise as a group but I like to give each student (that wants to) the chance to recite the verse alone each time a word is erased. You can also allow the children to take turns coming up and erasing the word of their choosing.

Take Home Items

I already mentioned that I really like for the children to have items to take home with them from church. That is true every week but especially on Easter. There will be children there who do not normally attend and you want them to go home feeling loved and excited so they will want to come back.

In addition to taking home coloring pages, Easter crafts, and Easter tambourines already mentioned, if you have a budget for another inexpensive gift, I suggest the Story of Easter Puzzle and Coloring Pad or Happy Easter puzzle. At the time of this article, they are on sale for $2.00 and $1.50 each respectively. They are a great way to provide something educational and entertaining that will remind the children of God’s love long after Easter Sunday has passed.

I hope this article gives you some suggestions but also encourages you to volunteer in your church’s children’s ministry if you don’t already. It can be a lot of fun!

*https://lifewayresearch.com/2012/05/11/mothers-day-church-attendance-third-among-holidays-fathers-day-last/