Our Family - Celebrating Easter

 When I grew up and married, I wanted my children to have fun decorating eggs like I had, but I also wanted to focus on the real meaning of Easter. Weeks before Easter, we had lessons and talked about the love of our Savior, on His sacrifice, His Atonement for us, and on the Resurrection. We read scriptures and used flannel board stories and videos to tell of the Savior's entrance into Jerusalem, of the last supper, the trial, and the crucifixion. We changed pictures each day to show the events of the last week of the Savior's mission. We also played the Messiah by Handel. This was our Easter.

On a warm day sometime around Easter, we would put newspapers on the driveway, put out cups and spoons, food coloring, vinegar, and bring out our boiled eggs. Each of our four children had their own dozen eggs to color and their own style on how to do it. An impatient toddler would just drop the egg in the cup from several feet above it! An artist would carefully mix colors and decorate. Usually at the end, each made an "ugly" egg where one egg was dipped in each color resulting in a very dark muddy looking egg.

After the eggs were decorated, my husband and I hid the eggs in our back yard while the kids went where they couldn't see us. The rule was that the egg had to show a little and couldn't be completely hidden. Eggs were set out in the middle of the yard for the toddlers to find. Each child had a basket to put their eggs in. Everyone took turns hiding eggs. Sometimes this went on for hours, but finally they grew tired of egg hunts, and we would then sit down on a blanket and feast on eggs.

Pictures are all of my children. We often had neighbor children also share the hunt with us. 

Christ Centered Easter- Keeping Sacred and Secular Separate

The Secular- Easter Eggs

On a sunny Saturday near Easter we had our Easter egg coloring and hunts.  We invited neighbor children to participate.  We colored eggs on the driveway for easier cleanup. After everyone had taken turns at hiding and finding eggs, we had an egg feast picnic on a blanket on the lawn.  Often my mother sent clothes, stuffed bunnies, and treats before Easter, so we opened and enjoyed the things when they arrived.

The Sacred- Focus on Christ

A few weeks before Easter we choose some appropriate activities about Easter. Since we had several ages, we did some activities for a variety of ages. We read about the Savior’s last weeks from New Testament Stories and watched the stories on the accompanying DVD or video.  We usually read to our children before bed. Our kids loved to stay up!

The week before Easter, we read about Christ’s last week from the scriptures during family scripture reading. We liked to end on Easter with reading about the resurrection on Easter Sunday.

We put pictures about Christ’s later life in the major rooms of our house which we changed every few days, always trying to keep the pictures in chronological order.  We talked about the pictures with children and shared our feelings about the event depicted. We tried to devote family home evenings (spending time together as a family) before Easter to lessons on the last events of Christ’s life, and on explaining the resurrection and atonement of Jesus Christ.  When we had young children we also used flannel board stories to help teach the significance of Easter. The Church site also has a lot of materials.

On Easter

We liked to play the Messiah music and other songs about Christ which set a quiet tone for the day. (the Primary Song book CD has several, sacrament songs are good) We had pictures of the resurrection displayed. I especially like Christ’s appearance to Mary in the garden.

We had the children share their Easter Sunday church lessons and watched age appropriate Church videos about the atonement in the evening.

The Lamb of God is good for older children, but is too traumatic for younger children to witness. The New Testament Stories are good for younger children.

We tried to share our feelings about the Savior’s love and atonement during dinner and express our appreciation for the Savior during our evening prayers. Easter was a special day to remember what the Savior had done for us.