Suggestion 1: God loves me

From the top of my head
(Touch head)

to the tips of my toes;
(Touch toes)

from the lobes of my ears
(Touch ear lobes)

to the end of my nose;
(Touch nose)

from my back, to my front
(Turn round)

to my wiggly fingers,
(stretch out arms and wiggle fingers)

God loves me!
(jump up and down)

Suggestion 2: God loves...

Leader: God loves
Child 1: (say name)

Leader: and God loves
Child 2: (say name)

Go round the circle until all the children have been named (the leader or accompanying adult can say the name of pre-verbal or shy children)

All: Thanks be to God!

Storytelling

Lay out a white cloth and place and move figures and objects/pictures as you tell the story: a ‘tomb’, bag of spices, a stone, two angels, bandages.
Early on Sunday morning the women walked slowly to the tomb.
They were bringing spices to put on Jesus’ body.
But the stone was rolled away, and the tomb was empty!
As they stood there, puzzled, two men suddenly appeared, dressed in dazzling clothes.
‘Why are you looking for Jesus among the dead?’ they asked. ‘He isn’t here. He is risen. He is alive again!’
The women rushed back to tell the others.
But the men didn’t believe them. It sounded like nonsense.
Then Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look.
He saw the empty cloths that Jesus’ body had been wrapped in.
He went home again, wondering what had happened.

Play

Give the children a large box, some dark cloths and a folded white cloth, and invite them to recreate the empty tomb. They could use soft toys and Christmas angels to retell the story.

Create

Invite the children to make an Easter garden scene on a foil tray. Use a small plastic plant pot as the empty tomb, with a piece of white cloth inside. Cover with moss and decorate with pebbles, shells, glass beads, cones, acorns, etc.

Praise

Invite the children to choose a flag or streamer and dance to some Easter praise music.

Music suggestions

Jesus Christ is risen today

Lord of the Dance

Up from the grave he rose

Alive, alive

Pray

Invite the children to sprinkle some sparkly confetti from a bowl onto a dark cloth. Say together:
The Lord is risen!
Alleluia, alleluia.
He is risen indeed!
Alleluia, alleluia.

Sing

This is the day (second verse) (RSJ)
God’s not dead (CHY, JU, RSJ, TS)

 

Colouring sheets
English version
Welsh version

A sending out prayer

Young children love repetition. Using the same prayer to end your session each time you meet will create a sense of familiarity and expectation.

God bless you,
(Point to others)

and God bless me.
(Point to self)

Amen. (Wave arms)

Leader: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Children and parents: In the name of Christ, Amen.

 

Additional activities

These activities are from this week's Explore & respond and can be adapted for Under 5s:

Easter egg hunt           10 mins  W E

Find symbols of the Easter story

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 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.

Spiritual styles abbreviations
W Word E Emotion S Symbol A Action
Read our Spiritual Styles articles 

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