Fantastic Easter Resources for Your Family

 

Easter is upon us!  I don’t know about you, but when Easter falls in March, it often sneaks up on me.  We need to make sure that doesn’t happen since Easter is the most important Christian holiday!  We spend so much time preparing for Christmas and the joyous birthday celebration of a cute little baby.  We spend SIGNIFICANTLY less time preparing our hearts for the most important thing–Jesus death and resurrection that paid for all our sins, making it possible for us to one day join Him in heaven!  If we just celebrate the baby, we are truly missing the point.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” 1 Peter 1:3 NIV

I want to share some of my favorite Easter resources.  They make it easy to share and celebrate the true meaning of Easter with the little ones in your family. I think it’s best to enjoy the Easter activities all season so that the kids really understand what we are celebrating on Easter morning. I also make sure to put some Biblical resources in their Easter baskets too!

Specifically for Preschoolers and Tots

If you really want your kids to know the Easter story and have fun worshipping the Lord through song and dance, then Miss Patty Cake’s Eggstravagaanza is the show for you.  A word of caution–all three of my kids have loved this video since they were teeny tiny and they beg me to watch it repeatedly all year.  The cheesy-ness factor is off the charts, but it is worth it know my kids really take the Easter message to heart.

An Easter Gift for Me is a sweet board book that walks through the life of Jesus with rhyming text. It has a light-hearted way of telling the most important parts of Jesus’ story.   It is also a fairly large size that little ones love to hold.  The illustrations are cute too.  If you like this one, you may also want to check out some of Crystal Bowman’s other books.  Her Valentine’s book is also one of our favorites.  

Especially for Young Readers

The Miracle of Easter (All Aboard Reading: Level 2) – [ The Miracle of Easter (All Aboard Reading: Level 2) – by Malone, Jean M ( Author ) Paperback Jan- 2010 ] Paperback Jan- 21- 2010is leveled so students can read the Easter story to themselves.  Earlier readers can read it with a little help.  This is a fantastic step in teaching children that they can read and study the Bible themselves.  This particular story walks through some of the highlights of Jesus life, but it also talks about why we need Easter in the first place.  It gives details of Jesus last few days on earth. Then it ends with the resurrection and an Easter celebration in church.  

Elementary and Younger 

The Jesus Series – Easter: Read and Share DVD Bible is an amazing little video was one we picked up because it was in a sale bin, but I am so glad we did.  It is a detailed account of the Easter story, told in a great fashion for children.  I enjoy watching this one with my kids.  You might also want to check out the Read and Share Bible that it was derived from, as well as other Read and Share Bible DVDs.  All the ones I have seen are fantastic!  

Children who love animals will enjoy Little Colt’s Palm Sunday.  It is told from the perspective of the donkey who carried Jesus to Jerusalem.  He also happens to be the great-great-grandson who carried Mary.  When we read stories like this, we are careful to point out what parts of the story are fact and which are the imagination of the author.  Even though these donkeys may not really have been in the same family, the message of the greatness of Jesus and being able to serve the King rings true.  

The Easter Story tells the Easter story with great detail through gorgeous illustrations.  I would recommend it for the illustrations, which seem to take on a life all their own and focus in on pivotal moments in history.  

The Easter Story: From the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is another sweet resource taken from the gospel accounts.  The references are listed on each page.  This is a wonderful tool for teaching our children to check what they are taught with what is in the scriptures. We discuss human error and fallacy when it is applicable.  We do live in a world with false teachers.  It’s important to teach our children to distinguish the truth by looking to see what is in the Bible.  

 

The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale is not traditionally an Easter story, but it is a wonderful folktale that discusses the hopes and dreams of 3 trees.  They each want to be something important when they grow up.  As it turns out, their dreams do come true, just not in the way they had planned.  I list it here as an Easter reference because one of the trees become the cross for Jesus.  It is a fantastic lesson in how God sometimes answers our prayers in an unexpected way.  

I hope you enjoy these resources as much as our family does!  May you have a blessed Easter season!

What are your favorite Easter resources?

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