You will need: six hollow plastic eggs and the following objects: 1) a toy donkey and a cloth ‘cloak’; 2) a grape and a piece of bread; 3) three silver coins; 4) three nails; 5) a stone; 6) a mini chocolate egg; slips of paper with symbol explanations , 1-6 stickers, mini chocolate eggs to eat.
Easter story symbol explanations
Donkey and ‘cloak’
Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and was welcomed by the crowd who laid their cloaks down for him.
Grape and piece of bread
Jesus shared bread and wine with his disciples at the Last Supper and taught them to remember him this way.
Silver coins
Jesus was betrayed by his friend, Judas. He was arrested by Roman soldiers and put on trial.
Three nails
Jesus was nailed to a wooden cross and died. His body was laid in a tomb.
Stone
Three days later, the women found the stone had been rolled away and the tomb was empty!
Chocolate egg
Jesus is alive! We celebrate his resurrection and share the good news.
- Beforehand, number the plastic eggs 1-6 and place the correct object in each egg with an explanatory slip. Hide these eggs around the room, or outside if you have a secure area.
- Pair up older and younger children and challenge them to find the eggs.
- Open the plastic eggs together, invite older children to read out the slips, and piece the story together.
- Reward everyone with a few mini chocolate eggs each.
Easter acrostic 10 mins W E
A floor puzzle to test your knowledge of the Easter story
You will need: six A5 coloured sheets of paper, each with a letter from the word EASTER, A5 white sheets on which are the following letters to spell out the words (minus the ‘Easter’ letters): DISCOV*RY; D*ZZLING; CLOTH*; *OMB; WITN*SSES; *ISEN.
Clues for horizontal words:
Discovery – the women made an exciting ---------------- on that first Easter Day.
Dazzled – The men’s clothes were so bright they were -------------.
Cloths – made of linen, Peter saw these inside the tomb.
Tomb – where Jesus’ dead body was laid.
Witnesses – the women were the first -------------- of the resurrection.
Risen – Jesus wasn’t dead, he had ----------------.
- Beforehand, lay the coloured sheets spelling EASTER in a vertical line on the floor. Lay out the white sheets in the correct place to complete the acrostic, but turn the letters face down so they can’t be seen.
- Give the children verbal clues for the horizontal words (not necessarily in this order).
- If they struggle to guess a word, you can reveal one letter at a time to help them.
Solution
Uncovering the truth 15 mins W E
A CSI-style investigation into the events of Easter morning
You will need: a sheet of A3 paper with ‘Jesus is alive!’ written in large bold letters, six small cards (made from two A4 sheets) with a piece of evidence about Jesus’ resurrection on each , sticky tac.
- Beforehand, stick the ‘Jesus is alive!’ poster on a wall. Cover it up with the six evidence cards so the message is invisible.
- Encourage the children to examine the evidence about Jesus rising from the dead, by talking about each card (in any order).
- As they do so, they can remove one card at a time, to uncover the truth.
Evidence statements
- Jesus told his friends before he died that he would rise again.
- The stone was rolled away.
- There was no body inside the tomb.
- Mary and the women said they met men in dazzling clothes.
- The men in dazzling clothes said that Jesus was alive again.
- Peter saw empty grave clothes in the tomb.
Make
Easter garden biscuits 5 mins S
Recreate the empty tomb in a delicious way
You will need: plain biscuits with a flat surface, green icing, spoons/blunt knives, Jammy Dodgers™, mini chocolate eggs, icing sugar flowers.
- Give every child a plain biscuit to cover in icing to make a ‘green grass’ base.
- Stand a Jammy Dodger™ on its side in the icing to represent the empty tomb (they can nibble the edge so it stands up!).
- Lay a chocolate egg on the grass at the side of the ‘tomb’ to represent the stone that’s been rolled away, and decorate with icing flowers.
Pray
‘Rolled away’ prayers 
5 mins S
Use the stone as a symbol of liberation
You will need: a large stone, sticky notes, felt tips.
- Remind the children that in rising from the dead, Jesus won an incredible victory. He is alive today, and he loves us and cares about all the things that concern us.
- Encourage the children to think about what is on their minds. They can write or draw a prayer on a sticky note.
- Place all the sticky notes on the stone in the centre of the group and pray over it, asking Jesus to take away all their worries, just as the stone was rolled away from the tomb.
More prayers are available via the Prayers page.
KEY
| Spiritual styles abbreviations W Word E Emotion S Symbol A Action Read our Spiritual Styles articles |
Connect faith with everyday life |
Sing
 |
| Song(s) from Out of the Ark for Churches |
| He’s alive! |
| Sing out an Easter song |
Under 5s:
This is the day (second verse) (RSJ)
God’s not dead (CHY, JU, RSJ, TS)
Under 12s
Sing out an Easter song (KS2, RSJ)
Happy Day, Tim Hughes
12+
See What A Morning (Resurrection Song), Keith Getty and Stuart Townend
Resurrection Day, Rend on Good News