This is a cool way to integrate an Easter Egg Hunt with graphing.  All you have to do is print out the pdf and use it with your kids after they go on an Easter Egg Hunt.

Easter Egg Hunt Graphing

We celebrate Good Friday today, how will you celebrate?  What will you discuss with your kids?  If you haven’t made your Easter Garden, today is the perfect day to do so.  Just scroll down to get the directions.

I wrote this article a few years ago, but want to share it with you again.  Hope it is encouraging!

The death of Christ on Good Friday and the resurrection of Christ on Easter morning go hand-in-hand.  You can’t have the resurrection without Jesus’ death.  The resurrection presupposes death.

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Hebrews 12:2

Christ didn’t just merely die; He endured a miserable death on the cross with all of mankind’s sin poured on Him.  God poured out judgment for all of our sins onto Christ.  You see, all sin (even a tiny sin) must pay the penalty of death.  Not only did He endure the cross, He despised the shame of being crucified with other criminals.  You may wonder why did He suffer so much for me.  The author of Hebrews tells us that the reason He endured this horrible death is a future joy.

Christ was not conquered by death, instead He joyfully conquered death Himself.  Since He overcame death He is alive today with the Father in heaven.  That is true joy . . . being in heaven with God Himself.  Another type of joy that Christ knew would come after the cross is a future reward.  The Father rewarded Christ for His obedience and suffering.

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.  Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  Philippians 2:8-11

Since Christ obeyed the Father and overecame death, the Father honored and exalted Him.  All mankind will one day bow to Jesus as King of the world.  He is Lord now and forever!

As I think about this season of celebrating Christ’s death and resurrection I am reminded how hopeless I would be without Him.  Without Christ’s death, there can be no resurrection.  Without Christ’s death, there is no salvation for man.  Without Christ’s death, there is no freedom from sin.  Without Christ’s death, I have no Savior.  Without Christ’s death, there is no redemption for my sin.  Without Christ’s death, there is no salvation for anyone.

But remember Christ’s death and resurrection go hand-in-hand.  Without the resurrection, there is no hope.  Without the resurrection, there will be no eternal life for you & me.  Without the resurrection, there is no glory for God.  Without the resurrection, there is no joy.  Without the resurrection, there is no future reward.

Christianity is the only religion that has power over death.  Christ is the only one who has ever risen from the dead and lives today.  He died on the cross so you would not have to die for YOUR sin.  If you have never believed that Christ died and suffered for you, I urge you to do so today.  Once you believe, you can join other Christians in their hope.  Not just a wishful hope, but a full expectation of joyfully living with Christ forever.

A few months ago, I wrote a post about family meals.  Tonight, we are having our traditional Passover meal. It is not a traditional Jewish Passover, but we have some recipes that Jews eat on this day that we eat each Thursday before Easter.  We’ll have chicken, matzo ball soup, charoseth, potato latkes (pancakes) and I splurged by getting the non-traditional Blue Bell ice cream.  Today is the only day I make potato pancakes each year.  I remember the first time we had potato pancakes growing up when a Jewish friend of my parents came for a meal.  They are so yummy.

We will read the passage about the Last Supper.  This morning I read Mark 14 and was amazed that I continue to learn something new each time I read it.  This time I was impressed with how much activity occurred in such a short time period.    I hope we have time to discuss the traditional Jewish Passover, even though we won’t celebrate it.

You probably have Christmas traditions.  What Easter or Passion Week traditions do you have?  Please post a comment below.

Here’s the handout I mentioned earlier this week.  It relates the Old Testament Feasts with the events of Passion Week, leading up to Christ’s death & resurrection.

Easter & Feasts

Our Sunday School teacher, Bill Riggs gets credit for pulling this information into an easy-to-read chart.

What do you think?

When Steve was in seminary, I learned alot of Passion Week that I wasn’t taught growing up in the southern Bible belt.  Maundy Thursday is one of those items.  Although this is traditionally Catholic, I think it is good for us to remind our kids what was leading up to the resurrection of Christ…our celebration of Easter.

I’ve included the meaning of Maundy Thursday, traditions from this day and family activities for you to use.

Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter where we celebrate the Last Supper (Passover) of Jesus Christ with his disciples.  It is normally celebrated in the evening, when according to Jewish tradition Friday begins.

Traditions from Around the World

In Germany, Maundy Thursday is known as “Green Thursday” (Grundonnerstag), and the traditional foods are green vegetables and green salad, especially a spinach salad. In Latin countries, Jordan almonds (“confetti”) are eaten today and also throughout Eastertide.

Back when Kings and Queens of England were Catholic, they, too, would wash the feet of 12 subjects, seeing the footwashing rite also as an example of service and humility. They would also give money to the poor on this day, a practice is said to have begun with St. Augustine of Canterbury in A.D. 597, and performed by Kings since Edward II. Now the footwashing isn’t done (it was given up in the 18th c.), but a special coin called “Maundy Money” is minted and given to the selected elderly of a representative town.

Another Easter Activity for Your Family

Discuss the meaning of the Last Supper. How Jesus came to celebrate Passover, but it became the beginning of our Communion.

Prepare and serve Passover on Thursday night.

Here are some other ideas:

Last Supper Activity

If you have other ideas, please share.

To review or teach the events leading up to Easter, make a booklet with your kids.  You can simply print this pdf.  It has directions and the coloring pages for your booklet.

http://www.loyolapress.com/assets/fg_comp/pdf_100246.pdf

I missed Monday Meals because I wanted to share those cool activities for this week-Passion Week.  Here’s one of our favorite Easter traditions.  Please share your Easter traditions as a comment on this blog.

I still make these every year and my kids remember making them since they were young.  Also has a great object lesson.

Each year we make Resurrection Buns on Saturday evening.They rise overnight and are ready for breakfast.  The cool thing about these buns is that the marshmallow you use on Saturday is gone after you bake them on Sunday.  The first time we baked these, my kids were fascinated.  They sure look forward to these each year.

RESURRECTION BUNS

biscuit dough (homemade or popped out of the can)
large marshmallows
melted butter
cinnamon sugar

Roll out lumps of dough into 4 inch circles.  Wrap each dough
circle around marshmallow & close tightly.  Roll the dough in
melted butter and then in a cinnamon & sugar mixture.  Place
in well-greased pans.  Let rise overnight.  Bake at 350
degrees until golden brown.  The marshmallows will melt and
leave a sticky (& yummy) syrup in the buns.

Enjoy…and inspire your kids to learn more about Jesus Christ’s
resurrection!

1.  Create a family centerpiece for the week using Sunday’s palms from church as the focal point.  Or, use our Easter Garden activity on my blog for the centerpiece this week.

2.  Memorize the names of the 12 disciples.  Here’s a fun activity/rap to learn them.
12 Disciples Activity

3.  Click on this link for Thursday’s activity:  Last Supper Activity

4.  Children’s Activities for Holy Week

5. Have a special family dinner together on Holy Thursday and think of ways to, as a family, “wash the feet” of people in need in your parish or community.

This morning in Sunday School, we discussed how the feasts of the Old Testament relate to the events of Passion Week.  It was fascinating.  If I can get a pdf of the chart we covered, I’ll post it here.

In the meantime, here are some Bible readings for your family devotions this week to review or learn the stories leading to Christ’s death & resurrection.

The next couple of weeks I’ll be posting activities you can do around Easter.  Some will be preparing our hearts for Easter.  Others will be fun homeschool activities.

Here’s some Peep Science just for you.  You might be able to replicate these experiments at home if you have a chemistry kit.  If not, you can read and discuss how they work.

It’s All About Peeps (those fun little candy birds)

Peep Research

After you finish your Peeps research, enjoy a Peeps S’More.  Here are the directions

Peep S’Mores