This year I wanted to have Easter be more meaningful to the children as well as have the spirit of Easter with us all week long. So for each night this past week we took a picture from the gospel art kit and talked about the days leading up to the resurrection of the Savior Jesus Christ. Each night we had a treat and activity that went along with the picture we talked about. I got my ideas from Sugardoodle.net. On Easter Sunday we ended our week long celebration with showing a picture of the empty tomb. The best part was we each took turns bearing our testimony of the Savior. As a mother I enjoyed hearing my children bear their testimony of the Savior. It was a great way to end a very special week. I think this will be a tradition for our family.
On Monday we talked about and discussed the picture of when the Savior entered Jerusalem. As part of our activity we made a "Love one Another" board and hung it up on the wall. For the rest of the week we could write messages of love and appreciation to one another. On Sunday (today) we read the various notes. The spirit was so strong in our house as I read the notes out loud. You could feel the love and appreciation our children have for us and we have for them. I will never forget their smiles on their face as I read notes about each one of them. We then had an Easter egg hunt that described the meaning of Easter using each letter in the word "EASTER." A great way to describe Easter to Madeline. I can e-mail anyone my week long activities if interested.
On Tuesday we talked about the Savior washing the Apostles feet and service. I used ice cream to demonstrate service. I showed the kids a big scoop of ice and a little scoop of ice cream and asked which one they would like the big one or the little one. Of course the answer was the big one. Well do we want to serve a little bit or a whole lot, and then of course we all got to enjoy a bowl of ice cream.
On Wednesday we talked about the atonement. I got a heart and laminated it. We talked about mistakes that we could make and for every mistake we talked about we put a black mark on our heart. Using a washcloth I showed the kids how the atonement is like the washcloth and when we repent our Savior wipes our bad choices away and our hearts our clean again. We then enjoyed sugar cookies in the form of heart shapes.
On Thursday we talked about we talked about the betrayl of Jesus. We then discussed what it means to be a friend and we played a friendship matching game.
On Friday we talked about the crucifixion. I had Grant talk to the kids about what the crucifixion and resurrection mean to him in regards to his father's death.
On Saturday we talked about the tomb and we made Easter cookies (which you can find on Sugardoodle.net)
On Sunday we talked about the resurrection and made resurrection cookies (which you can also find on Sugardoodle.net under e topics for Easter).
Anthony summed it up perfectly when he said this was the best Easter and the best day ever!
