Fun Easter Ideas without Bunny as the Hero!

Five-year-old Scout has, of course, only recently joined our family, and comes with her own preconceived ideas about the holidays. She thinks, for instance, that she will get an iPad for Christmas. (Not gonna happen!) And her entire expectation of Easter involves the Bunny leaving eggs full of candy for her to find. We’ve never done the Bunny thing, but even if we did, I’d still want to downplay it; after all, why should the Bunny get to be the hero of the Easter story? But rather than being the just plain boring family, I’ve been working on a list of fun Jesus-centered activities.

Some of the things we’ll be doing in the coming days:

Passover lamb:

This weekend, we’re doing an Easter celebration at a local stable, with bunnies, miniature horses, goats, pigs, and other cute critters, including a lamb. The event concludes with a telling of the Easter story and the significance of the Passover lamb. Weather permitting, we’ll have a little picnic before we head home. A stable near you may be doing something like this, so ask around!

After our adventure with a real lamb, it would be fun to do one of these lamb crafts.

I like to pull out A Family Guide to the Biblical Holidays, for ideas on things like how to celebrate Passover from a Christian perspective. This year, I’d love to put together a simple Seder meal at home. The first time I participated in a Seder meal, I learned soooo much!

Hands-on resurrection activities:

I’m sure you’ve seen empty tomb rolls around the interweb before, but for me, it’s been one of those mean-to-do-but-never-did things. This year I’m changing that, and we are really, truly going to make resurrection rolls this year!

This is fun, too: the empty tomb made from a donut and an Oreo!

We did resurrection eggs years ago, but it’s about time to bring them out again. This is a great how-to with printables here. I also love this simpler, preschooler-friendly version.

Books to read:

I’ve heard so many good things from friends about the Jesus Storybook Bible that I bought it to read with the kids:

Back when Kathryn was little, we liked to read Easter is for Me:

We enjoyed The Easter Story book, too:

But I can’t believe we’ve NEVER read Benjamin’s Box! I want to get it this year, as it helps explain the resurrection eggs, but it’s suppose to be a great stand-alone story, too:

Easter baskets:

Yes, we’ll still do Easter baskets this year. I love Amanda’s idea for an Easter basket alternative. All the fun of the Easter basket, but Jesus gets to be the hero of the story!

And what to put in the kids’ Easter baskets? How ’bout some of these ideas?

What about you?

Do you have other faith-centered ideas for celebrating Easter?
Please share ’em in the comments!

Jamie

Wife, mom, grandma. Introvert who finds joy in good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Fitness enthusiast and personal trainer. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand.