You've probably seen these at Lifeway. In fact, you may even have some of your own that you do with your kids every Easter. I first heard about Resurrection Eggs from my sister-in-law, Jen, and thought they would be a great way to teach Kate about the events leading up to and including the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. She's at that age where she loves opening up the eggs and constantly asks, "Where's my candy?" when she discovers they're empty.
Basically, each day your child gets to open one egg. Inside is an object that corresponds to the scripture for the day, beginning with the Last Supper and ending on Easter Sunday with the empty tomb and a risen Savior. You can share the scripture with your child, being as simple or complex as is appropriate for him or her. And also talk about what the object inside the egg means. I know Kate will be looking forward to opening a new egg every day just to see what is inside.
Because we are trying to save money, I decided that we could make our very own Resurrection Eggs. Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband who helped me scavenge for all the symbols to put inside the eggs while the girls napped this afternoon. Because we are only a week away from Easter, we will be doubling up on some of the eggs so that we open egg number 12 on Easter Sunday.
So, all you need are the following:
(1) a dozen plastic eggs
(2) a Sharpie to number each egg (1-12)
(3) the symbols to go inside each egg (see below), and
(4) the scripture references to share each day with your child.
And the nice thing is that you can save your Resurrection Eggs and reuse them every year. You might want to throw the crouton/bread away though!
1. (Bread - crouton)
Matthew 26:26 While they were eating Jesus took a piece of bread, gave a prayer of thanks, broke it, and gave it to His disciples. "Take and eat it," He said, "This is My body."
2. (Coins)
Matthew 26:14-15 Then one of the twelve disciples, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and asked, "What will you give me if I betray Jesus to you?" They counted out thirty silver coins and gave them to him.
3. (Purple cloth)
Mark 15:17 They put a purple robe on Jesus. . .
4. (Thorns or toothpick)
Matthew 27:29 Then they made a crown out of thorny branches and placed it on His head, and put a stick on His right hand; then they knelt before Him and made fun of Him. "Long live the King, of the Jews!" they said.
5. (Scourge-a small piece of rope or thick string)
Mark 15:15 Pilate wanted to please the crowd, so he set Barabbas free for them. Then he had Jesus whipped and handed Him over to be crucified.
6. (Cross)
John 19:17-18a He went out, carrying His cross, and came to "The Place of the Skull," as it is called. (In Hebrew it is called "Galgotha.") There they crucified Him.
7. (Nails)
John 20:25b Thomas said to them, "Unless I see the scars of the nails in His hands and put my finger on those scars and my hand in His side, I will not believe."
8. (Sign)
Luke 23:38 Above Him were written these words: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
9. (Sponge)
Matthew 27:48 One of them ran up at once, took a sponge. He filled it with vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink.
10. (Spear or sharpened stick)
John 19:34 One of the soldiers plunged his spear into Jesus' side, and at once blood and water poured out.
11. (Rock)
Matthew 27:59-60 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a new linen sheet, and placed it in his own new tomb, which he had just recently dug out of solid rock. Then he rolled a large stone across the entrance to the tomb and went away.
12. (Empty)
Matthew 28:6 He is not here He has risen just as He said.
I have adapted the scripture and symbol references from Courtney at
Women Living Well. Thank you, Courtney!
I'll let you know how it goes!
