Today I got out the rest of our Easter Decorations. Namely, the Easter Eggs, the grass and the baskets.
As I was putting the Easter box back in storage I noticed a single piece of paper at the bottom.
It was The 12 Days of Easter
Every year I mean to do it, and don't remember until it is too late. Not this year. Plus, once I put it together, I can use it for years to come.
The best part, it will help us as we teach our children the REAL MEANING OF EASTER.
So...now that the kids are in bed, I am getting to work.
I thought I would share with you. There is still time. You have all day to prepare. And after looking at the list, you should have everything you need already at home. If you want a shorter 7 day version, I will include it at the end of the post.
Plus, even if you can get day one and two done, it buys you a few more days to put the rest together if you need it.
Remember the Easter Egg Garland we made two weeks ago? I think that is how I am going to display our eggs.
The kids are going to be so excited.
Here is how The 12 Days of Easter works....It shouldn't take more than about 20 minutes to put together.
Materials
12 Plastic Easter Eggs
Permanent Marker
12 Small Strips of Paper (12 more optional)
(Small items listed below)
What to do
1. With your permanent marker, write the numbers 1-12 on each of the plastic eggs.
2. Prepare your strips of paper.
*12 of the strips will have scripture references on them, listed below.
*The other 12 will have a very short explanation of the scripture. You don't have to include this, but I am putting them in for our 6 year old who is all about reading right now.
3. Round up your small items (listed in parentheses). Refer to the list below.
The 12 Days of Easter.
Day 1
Matthew 26:26-27, 39
(A piece of bread or a sacrament cup)
Day 2
Matthew 26: 14-15
Zechariah 11:12-14
(3 Dimes to represent the 30 pieces of silver)
Day 3
Matthew 27:1-2
(Knotted Twine)
Day 4
Matthew 27:15, 17, 21, 24-26
(Chunk of Hand Soap)
Day 5
Matthew 27:28-30
Mark 15:16-17
(Square of red or purple fabric)
Day 6
Matthew 27:31-32
(Small Nail)
Day 7
Matthew 27:35
(Dice-representing casting lots)
Day 8
Matthew 27:50-51, 54
(Crushed Rocks)
Day 9
Matthew 27:57-60
(Strips of White Cloth)
Day 10
Matthew 27:60, 62-66
(Small Flat Stone)
Day 11
Mark 16:1, 2-6
(Bay Leaf or other Herb)
Day 12
Matthew 28:5-6
(Empty because HE IS RISEN!)
Arrange each day in its assigned egg and decide how you want them displayed. I am making ours into a garland. You could simply place them in a basket and display them. You could only bring out one a day, or even have your kids go on a hunt to find them each day.
Our family is going to...
Open one egg each night before we say family prayer. Our 2 year old will get to pick the egg off the garland because she is learning her numbers. Our 6 year old will read the short summary. Our 8 year old will read the scripture reference and the scripture. Then we will all discuss its meaning and what the small item represents.
After we open each egg I think we are going to clip the scriptures on the garland in between the eggs. I have some mini clothes pins that will work great. I got mine at Hobby Lobby, but you can get them at Michaels and Roberts.
7 Days of Easter
To simplify... Just prepare the following days.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 5
Day 6
Day 9
Day 10
Day 12
What do you think? Are you going to do this with your family?
How do you teach your children the Real Meaning of Easter?
These are great ideas!
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I need to do this with my kids. The weather has been so BLAH, and I haven't reallt set anything out yet. My mom has a great Easter project for kids that are older that I can't wait to do. It is a certain cookie that the kids help make. You heat up the oven... each ingredient has a scripture... place the cookies in the oven...turn the oven off... seal the door with scotch tape... let the oven sit overnight... open the door Easter morning and the middles of all of the cookies are empty to represent the tomb. We haven't tried them yet, but I hope they work:)
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI shared this on my facebook page. Thanks for the great idea!
ReplyDeleteWe do this with our kids ... a wonderful and visual way to teach the importance of Easter. I need to go pull it out of the closet so I don't forget! :)
ReplyDeleteWe've started doing this and its the BEST! Thanks for the great idea.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have my 9 year old activity days class make these for their families this year. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI am going to do this with my own children this year, and then with my classroom next year. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to do this!!! Our kids are internationally adopted and are ages 2, 4, 8, and 14. The oldest two just came to us last fall in October and don't speak a lot of English yet. I haven't been good about heavily emphasizing the Christian calendar so far because it's just been in the last year that our previously oldest child, the 4-year-old, began showing that she could understand conversations like this, and mostly just because I haven't thought enough in advance. But last year I did use the wonderful "paper roll" dolls from CatholicIcing.com (I'm Protestant but she has great ideas!) to teach our then 3-year-old the resurrection story. I saved the dolls and will probably use them again this year, but wanted to do something more, and this plan that you have presented here is perfect, even for our two who don't speak a lot of English, though I will probably be wiser to use the simpler and briefer 7- day plan. Thank you for sharing this great idea!
ReplyDeleteI just found this in the nick of time! Tomorrow is the 28th-the day I would need to start to fit in all 12 days.
ReplyDeleteI am making this for my granddaughters, Perhaps for next year you could give us a sample of the 12 explanations you used to go along with the scriptures.
This is such a great idea. thanks
Thanks so much for sharing this! I'm glad I found it. I made it up last week and my kids are enjoying it. I blogged about it (linking back to you) here: http://sometimescreative.blogspot.com/2012/04/countdown-to-easter.html
ReplyDeleteJust found this and we are doing the short version. Thanks a ton!!!
ReplyDeleteWe are doing the 12 days and it has transformed our Easter. My kids are 5, 3, 2 and 5 month. It has brought the spirit and spread the story out enough so that we have time to explain it bit by bit. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteJust in time to do the 7 days, thanks s much for posting! I'm excited to share the true meaning of Easter in a fun way.
ReplyDeleteMy visiting teacher gave one of these to me as a gift about 25 or 30 yrs ago, it is one of the most wonder gifts I've recieved. We used it every year at home or as part of a primary lesson, this year it is being handed over to our kids to use with their kids. Great teaching tool!!.
ReplyDeleteDo you have the short explanation of the scriptures that you used that your older child read? Would love to see those and add! Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteI noticed that Heather hasn't been on here in a while, and therefore has not answered questions and requests for the simple explanations. I just found a site that has just that, so I thought I'd share! (Heather, please forgive me and simply erase my post if it steps on your toes! I don't intend to offend, just help!) Here's a link to the explanations:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mormonshare.com/sites/default/files/handouts/The%20Easter%20Story_ResurrectionEggs.pdf
Happy Easter!
The link doesn't work.
DeleteOh, BTW, THANK YOU! This is exactly what I was looking for this morning for my Activity Days Girls. I will have them each bring a dozen plastic eggs, and they will go home with this fantastic teaching tool to share with their families. I appreciate you!
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