Easter Activities & Ideas

Use the Easter activities on this page to help your students celebrate the joy of Jesus Christ’s resurrection and keep the focus on the spiritual meaning of the holiday. With so many secular activities and symbols surrounding this holiday, we want to draw our students’ attention back to the true meaning of Easter. In the words of Jesus Himself: “…because I live, ye shall live also.” (John 14:19)

EASTER LESSON PLAN

This Easter Lesson Plan uses Resurrection Eggs® to review the events leading up to the Resurrection and then the Read with Me Bible to cover the Resurrection and events afterwards. Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection are paralleled with our repentance, baptism, and infilling of the Holy Spirit as shown on this “Plan of Salvation” page.  

Check your local Christian book store for Resurrection Eggs and the Read with Me Bible. (You can also check your public library for the Read with Me Bible.)  Specific items included in Resurrection Egg sets may vary; you can adjust questions for your students accordingly. The memory verse for this lesson plan is John 11:25, which I have set to the tune of “Deep & Wide.” Here is a printable copy of John 11:25 with the lyrics of “Deep & Wide” underneath, so you can see how it goes. And here is an audio file of me singing John 11:25, so you can hear it (for informational purposes only :D). You may need to download the audio file to play it.

What a joy to share the joy of the Resurrection with kids!

Easter Paper Folding Demonstration

This is one of my favorite Easter activities. It involves folding and cutting a piece of paper to make a cross and the word “Life.” I enjoy demonstrating this for my students and then helping them practice so they can go home and share it with their families.

Click on the PowerPoint presentation below to see how to do this fun and meaningful Easter activity:


Skit: “What is Easter all about?”

Supplies: Small stuffed bunny, small stuffed chick, plastic egg, girl’s Easter hat/bonnet, Easter candy, cross, bag to hold some of the above items, student to assist (prepared beforehand).

Skit: The teacher mentions that today is Easter and asks if anyone knows what Easter is all about. She asks her student helper to come to the front. He comes up and begins pulling the various above-listed things out of his pockets or bag (leaving the cross for last) as they discuss whether or not that particular item represents the true meaning of Easter. When he pulls out the cross, they discuss that Jesus died for our sins, but three days later he rose from the dead. Easter is really a celebration of His resurrection!

Easter Activities with Resurrection Eggs

(Look for these at your local Christian book store or www.christianbook.com.)

For this Easter activity, hide Resurrection Eggs around your classroom and then have your students search for them. There are only 12, so depending on the number of students in your class, some students may not find any. However, if someone finds more than one, have him/her share with another student. After students have returned to their seats, call each up in the correct order to present his/her egg to the class and explain what the item inside has to do with the Easter story. Use the booklet included with the Resurrection Eggs for the correct order and to guide discussion. As an example, the Resurrection Eggs in my set are as follows:

     Order – Color of Egg – Item – Description

  1. Blue – donkey – Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem while people praised Him and shouted, “Hosanna!” (the Triumphal Entry).
  2. Light pink – silver coins – Judas accepted 30 pieces of silver to deliver (betray) Jesus into the hands of the Jewish leaders.
  3. Light purple - Passover cup – While eating His last Passover meal (the Last Supper) with His disciples, Jesus told them that the cup would remind them of His blood, which would soon be shed to forgive their sins (and the bread would remind them of His broken, crucified body).
  4. Orange – praying hands – Knowing the terrible things that were about to happen to Him, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples to pray. The disciples kept falling asleep. While they were in the garden, Judas came with soldiers to arrest Jesus.
  5. Green – leather whip – Jesus was whipped by the soldiers.
  6. Light yellow – crown of thorns – The soldiers made fun of Jesus as King of the Jews, giving Him a crown made out of thorns.
  7. Yellow – nails – Jesus was nailed to a cross and suffered the painful death used to punish criminals.
  8. Light green – dice – While Jesus was on the cross, soldiers gambled (cast lots) for His coat.
  9. Purple – soldier’s spear – The soldiers pierced Jesus’ side to make sure He was dead before they took Him down from the cross.
  10. Cream – linen cloth – Joseph of Arimathaea wrapped Jesus’ body in linen and placed Him in a tomb (sepulchre/grave).
  11. Pink – stone – A stone was placed over the entrance of the tomb, and soldiers guarded it.
  12. Light blue – EMPTY! As the angel said, “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.” (Matthew 28:6)

VARIATION: Vary this Easter activity by inserting a slip of paper with a related Bible verse into each egg (or into several of them). Have students read the verses as they present their items to the class. For example:

In the orange egg, place:
“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
Luke 22:44

In the light green egg, place:
“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”
Luke 23:34

In the pink egg, place:
“And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.”
Matthew 28:2

VARIATION: Have the students pull Resurrection Eggs randomly from an Easter basket. Ask them what each item has to do with the Easter story. You can also have students attempt to put the items in the correct (chronological as much as possible) order. This could be a good after- Easter activity to see how much your students remember.

Watch “An Easter Carol”

Supplies: Veggie Tales “An Easter Carol” DVD (Look for this at your local Christian bookstore or www.christianbook.com or www.amazon.com .)

Instead of just watching the video, turn it into a more participatory Easter activity by pausing the DVD from time to time to ask your students questions. Discussing the video will give them a break from just sitting and watching. Consider announcing that there will be a small prize for those who know the answer to a question; this will hopefully encourage students to be attentive during the video.

Suggested times and questions:

Pause at 13:47.

  • What does Mr. Nezzer think Easter is all about? (making eggs to “keep his grandma alive”)
  • What does Mr. Nezzer think Easter is all about? (making eggs to “keep his grandma alive”)
  • Why does Mr. Nezzar want to tear down the church? (to build Easterland; to have Easter all year around)
  • What do you think is going to happen next?

Resume DVD and then pause at 27:36.

  • What is the name of the angel in Mr. Nezzer's dream? (Hope)
  • What is the angel showing Mr. Nezzer? (Easter Past)

Resume DVD and then pause at 38:06.

  • What is Hope’s song about? (Jesus’ life—He was born, He died to give us life, and He rose to give us hope)
  • What was the future like in Mr. Nezzer’s town? (the church was gone; the orphanage was closed; the policeman was not brave)
  • Mr. Nezzer has awakened from his dream and it is Easter morning. What do you think will happen next?

Resume DVD and play to finish.

  • Why does Mr. Nezzer say, “I’ll see you later” at his grandmother’s grave? (because Jesus rose from the dead, we know death is not final; the resurrection gives us hope, and that’s what Easter is all about)

Easter Candy Collection Sacks

Supplies: Paper lunch sacks; crayons, colored pencils, or markers; Christian Easter stickers (try orientaltrading.com or christianbook.com or your local Christian bookstore); candy.

Easter activities often involve candy, always a favorite with kids. :) If you plan to give your students Easter candy, you might want to have them first decorate a bag to collect the candy in.

Give each student a paper lunch sack; crayons, colored pencils, and/or markers; and some Christian Easter stickers. Have them decorate the lunch sacks, reminding them to write their names on them. Then let your students find candy you have hidden in the classroom or outside, etc., collecting it in their sacks. Another fun related Easter activity is to have a “candy shower,” tossing candy from a slight height (ladder or truck bed, etc.) for the students to collect in their sacks.

Easter Egg Rolling Game

Set a large plastic egg with a special Easter prize inside (or a note saying what the prize is, such as a Christian Easter book, Christian Easter coloring book and crayons, Bible, candy, Easter basket with various items, etc.) at the front of the room. Give each student a plastic egg filled with goodies such as candy and Christian Easter stickers. Have students line up a few feet from the large egg and take turns rolling their eggs toward it. The one who rolls his/her egg the closest wins the large egg with the prize. The other students get to keep their plastic eggs.

Pass-the-Egg Game

Supplies: Four Easter baskets with Easter grass, several plastic eggs, eight plastic spoons, small prizes.

Beforehand place an equal number of plastic eggs in two Easter baskets. Divide the class into two teams (or if you have a large class, form two teams of 4-6 members each and have the rest of the class cheer the teams on). Have the teams form lines with members at least an arm’s length apart. Then place an Easter basket with buried eggs at the beginning of each line and an empty basket at the end of each line.

At your signal, the first team member in each line finds an egg in her team’s basket, puts it on the spoon, and passes it to the next team member’s spoon. This continues down the line with the last player placing the egg in the empty basket. (If the egg is dropped, depending on the age of your students, you can either make them start over or allow them to pick up the egg and continue from where they dropped it.) Continue until one team successfully transfers all their eggs. Each member of the winning team receives an Easter-related prize. Consider giving all the members of the other team a small prize also, such as a sticker or a piece of candy.

Easter Sunday Class Plan

This class plan incorporates several of the above-mentioned Easter activities and ideas into one class period. I used this plan for a large group of children (approximately 50) for an extended class time of approximately 2-1/2 hours.

Easter Sunday Class Plan

May you be blessed with hope and joy as you celebrate the Resurrection with your students.


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