From the Archives: Easter crafts and activities

My goodness, it's hard to believe how quickly this year is flying by.  It will be Easter in 5 short weeks, so I thought today I'd take you down memory lane to see some of the Easter crafts and activities I've featured in the past.

I can't help but be distracted by the lack of snow in this photo compared to the piles we have outside this window today.  Can it be that spring is actually coming?  That the snow will melt?  I guess Easter is about hope and new life, right?  You can't really see it in this picture, but the light shines through the cross beautifully, just like Jesus' light can shine through in our lives.  You can find instructions for making this Stained-Glass look cross here. 

I have long been drawn to mosaic as an art form, but interestingly, I haven't actually done it yet.  Hmm.   Anyway, I just love the symbolism of taking something that's broken and ugly and putting it together in a new way to make something beautiful.  It reminds me of the way God works in my life, taking all of the ugly, broken parts of me, parts that I would just as soon throw in the trash, sharp edges and all, and arranges them into a beautiful masterpiece.  Click here to learn how to turn broken egg shells into a beautiful mosaic cross.

I loved putting this empty tomb set together with my kiddos.  Even more, I loved that they could play with it, to tangibly touch and feel and act out the resurrection story as I told it to them.  You will find my empty tomb post and the link to the printable here.

To me, butterflies are the ultimate symbol of Easter.  In a sense, the caterpillar dies in its cocoon and emerges to new life in an amazing and beautiful way as a butterfly.  In the same way, through Christ's amazing sacrifice, we can die to our old, sinful selves and emerge to new life in fellowship with God.  The directions for this craft are pretty self-evident, but you can click here to read about it if you want to.

You can see my fingerprint butterfly life cycle here.  While it's not exactly an Easter craft, it could be an excellent tie-in if you decide to explore butterflies in the context of your Easter celebrations.

Not only are these Resurrection Rolls ridiculously delicious, they are an excellent way to engage all of your kids' senses in the telling of the Easter story.  Find the recipe and explanation here.

Resurrection Cookies are another great way to engage your children in understanding the story of Christ's death and resurrection.  For the recipe and scriptures to read along with each step, click here.

FYI we did end up making these last year and they worked!  The cookies were empty!

I'm always looking for ways to sneak academic skills practice into our day, and if it involves candy?  The kids are all over that.  Click here to find some fun jelly bean sorting, sequencing, and graphing activities, along with some free printables.

Our egg hunts are generally a bit of a production, sending our children on a treasure hunt involving clues and puzzles and challenges and sometimes even GPS coordinates.  A couple of years ago I sent the boys on an Amazing Egg Hunt, modeled after the reality television show, The Amazing Race, and I posted all the nitty gritty details right here for your inspiration.

Again with the lack of snow.  Seems impossible that we will be seeing grass in just 5 weeks, but yeah, like I said, that's what Easter is all about--believing that God makes the impossible possible.

Happy Easter-crafting, my friends.