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EASTER THEME
Check out the Egg theme and the Friend of the Forest theme for Bunnies!

BACKGROUND

Easter is the most important festival in the Christian church. It commemorates the death and resurrection (coming back to life) of Jesus Christ after he was crucified on a cross by the Romans about 2,000 years ago.
Many Christian churches precede the holiday by a time of preparation involving prayer and fasting. This is called Lent. It lasts about 40 days. Palm Sunday (a week before Easter) celebrates the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, as prophesied by Zechariah. Holy Week begins on this day and lasts until Easter morning. Holy Thursday is in memory of the Last (Passover) Supper that Jesus shared with his disciples the night before he died. Sometimes Christians hold a traditional, Jewish Seder supper on this night to remember the event. (See Passover theme for details.) Easter is both a sad and happy time for Christians. It begins with sadness on Good Friday, the day Jesus was killed. It continues all the next day (Saturday) and ends on Easter morning. According to the New Testament, on the first Easter morning, some women who knew Jesus went to his tomb with spices to finish preparing his body for burial. To their surprise he was gone. An angel told them he had risen. Shortly after, they spoke to him. The
women ran to tell the disciples but most were sceptical. One hotly refused to believe the story; but a week later, after Jesus appeared to him, he too believed. Over the next 40 days Jesus appeared to many people including a large crowd of over 500. Soon thousands of people had joined his disciples, risking severe persecution by the Romans. After this time, Jesus rose into heaven where
he intercedes for his people. 

The Sacrificial Lamb
Jesus represents the sacrificial, Passover lamb of God sent to take away the world’s sins. Christians point to many Old Testament Hebrew prophets (e.g. Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zechariah), saying that Jesus’ life and death completes their Messianic prophesies. 
Easter Eggs, Rabbits and Treats
Early Christians saw eggs as a symbol of Jesus’ birth and adopted them as an Easter gift. In North
America a tradition has grown that Easter eggs are delivered by rabbits. In European folklore doves, cranes and even foxes deliver the eggs. Children from France believe that all church bells fly away on Good Friday and bring the eggs back with them on Easter Sunday.
 

CRAFTS:

Chicks in a Basket
Material:  Scissors,  A small basket,  A yellow work glove,  Craft glue,  Orange and yellow felt,  Small googly eyes,  Easter grass,  Ribbon
Directions:
1. Use your scissors to cut a hole in the bottom of the basket that is big enough for your child to fit his/her hand through
2. Stick the work glove up through the hole that was cut, leaving the bottom of the glove out.
3. Secure the bottom of the glove with the craft glue
4. Tuck the thumb into the basket and use the glue to place it out of sight
5. With the felt, cut four small beaks and four small combs out of the yellow felt.
6. Glue the combs to each gloved finger and then glue the beaks onto each ‘face'.
7. Then add a pair of googly eyes to each face.
8. Add some Easter grass around the glove in the basket

Easter Bunny Basket
You will need the template of the basket. Colour in the bunnies and then cut around the bold lines. On each bunny there is a line which needs to be cut to make a slit, on each bunny there is a slit high on one arm and low on the other. On the dotted line fold all 4 bunnies over. Interlock the arms to make a box. Use spare card to make a handle and decorate maybe with a ribbon. Inside fill with green shredded paper and put in some mini Easter Eggs.

Egg Carton Carrot Patch
Material: Empty cardboard egg carton with the lid removed and cut in half,  Acrylic or poster paints in brown and green,  20 orange beads,  Seven-eight pipe cleaners cut in half,  A few pink pom-poms,  Small white craft foam circles for cheeks,  A tiny yellow foam circle for nose,  Two white foam rabbit ears (you can cut your own from a sheet of craft foam),  Googly eyes,  Light-coloured craft foam paper to make paper flower,  White craft clue
Directions:
1. Take your egg carton that already has the lid removed and it cut in half
2. Turn the carton upside down and paint the carton green and paint the top part of the carton brown (it should resemble dirt mounds.)
3. When the paint is dry, use a pencil or scissors to cut a small hole in the top of each of the egg cups. (Parents should do this part).
4. Cut the pipe cleaners into three equal pieces.
5. Thread two of the beads onto the end of the pipe cleaner, then insert another pipe cleaner into the same beads and then do the same for the third one. They should all be threaded together through the two beads.
6. Turn the carton over and bend the pipe cleaners to ensure they will not move.
7. Bend the stems at the top of the cup to resemble a carrot patch
8. Glue a pom-pom in between two of the egg cups, and then glue another pom-pom on the top of the first one.
9. Glue the nose, ears, eyes and cheeks. You now have your rabbit.
10. Glue the flower to the front of the carton.
11. If you wish, you can clue an extra carrot onto the front of the carton.

Easter Necklace
Fun art for any season. You will need a bobby pin to use as a needle, colored yarn approx. 14 inches long, and colored straws cut into 1-inch pieces. Also have egg shapes cut from paper with a hole punched at top. String straw pieces onto yarn and intersperse egg shapes until yarn is filled. Tie ends to form a necklace. Substitute shapes for different seasons or holidays.

Easter Egg Stands
Toilet paper rolls cut into 1-inch long pieces make great egg stands. Have children decorate with stickers, paint, confetti, etc before using.

Easter Party Invitations
Draw and cut out a basket shape and eggs from construction paper. Glue the eggs and some plastic grass to the basket. Write your invitation on the outside of the basket.

Easter Bonnet
Decorate a paper plate with tissue paper flowers and leaves. Staple or glue decorations on bonnet. Poke a hole on each side. Put a ribbon through from the top and tie under chin. Have an Easter Parade wearing the bonnets.

Easter Bonnets
Supplies: Paper Plate, Styrofoam Plates, Glue, Crayons or Markers, Misc Supplies Direction: Easter bonnets from styrofoam soup bowls staped to paper plates that have the center cut out of them. Let the children decorate them as desired. Supply them with cut out flowers, ribbon, and anything else you like!

Easter Card
Lambs often appear in Easter decorations because Jesus represents the Passover lamb of God, the one sent to take away the world's sins.
Materials:  A variety of colours of construction paper, scissors, cotton balls, yarn, pens
What to Do:  Draw around your hand on a piece of black or white construction paper. Cut the shape out. The thumb represents the lamb's head and the four fingers are its legs. Cover the rest of the body with bits of cotton. Use a small circle of coloured paper for an eye; tie a bit of yarn around its neck and make a bow.  Now cut a small card out of coloured paper to form a card. Write an Easter message on it, signing your name. Punch a hole through a top corner of the card and another one through one end of the lamb where its tail might be. Slip a piece of yarn through both holes and tie the ends.

Easter Egg Tree
Material:  Multicoloured construction paper,  Brown construction paper,  Scissors,  Glue,  Pencil,  Pastels (You can also use paint or markers),  Optional,  sparkles
Directions:
1. Take a sheet of the brown construction paper and place your child's hand on it. 
2. Trace around his/her hand with a pencil.
3. Cut out the stencil and use as the tree.
4. Take the construction paper, using whatever colours you like, and cut out eight-ten egg shapes.
5. Decorate each egg however you wish using the pastels, paints, sparkles etc.
6. Glue the eggs onto the hand tree.

Little Lamb Easter Card
Draw around your hand on a piece of black or white construction paper. Cut the shape out. The thumb is the lamb’s head and the four fingers are its legs. Cover the rest of the body with bits of cotton so it appears like wool. Use a small circle of coloured paper for the eye. Tie a piece of yarn around the neck and make a bow. Cut a small card out of coloured paper and write an Easter message on it, signing your name. Punch one hole in the card and one where the lamb’s tail might be. Slip a piece of yarn through both holes and tie the ends.

Mosaic Crosses
Make mosaic crosses by gluing colored foam shapes to a foam cross.

Ukrainian Easter Eggs
Ukrainians make elaborately decorated Easter eggs for their family and friends at Easter. The eggs are tokens of love and respect; they represent a wish for health, happiness and God’s grace in a home. The colours and designs of Ukrainian Easter eggs are very symbolic. Yellow represents light and purity (Jesus). A star signifies God’s love for his people. The only words ever written on a Ukrainian Easter egg is, “Khrystos voskres”, meaning “Christ is risen.” Older kids will enjoy painting intricate, colourful designs of their own choosing on their eggs. You will need a number of hard-boiled eggs, pencils, crayons/markers/paints, and egg cups to hold the creations. Get the kids to sketch a design on their egg before colouring it. Other children might want to paint an Easter morning picture on their eggs. A variant of this activity for younger the kids involves dipping a hard-boiled egg into a bowl of food colouring after the child has drawn a picture on it with crayon.

GAMES & ACTIVITIES:

Bonny Hop Relay
Have a bunny hop relay race. Have your children hop like bunnies and pick up Easter Eggs. They then have to hop back and put the eggs in another basket. Then the next child goes.

Easter Bunny, Easter Bunny, Where's Your Egg?
All the children are sitting in circle. One stands in the corner and counts to ten Easter Eggs. Meanwhile one of the children in the circle is given a paper egg to sit on. . All the children chant: "Easter Bunny, Easter Bunny, Where's Your Egg? Somebody stole it from your home. Guess who?" Then the child has three guesses of which child it is. Then the cycle continues until everyone has had a turn

Easter Basket Quiz
Fill a basket with various objects from Easter. These might include a decorated Ukrainian Easter egg, a bunny rabbit, a lily, an angel (Christmas decoration), a crucifix, a little lamb, Easter candy, and more. Briefly show the group the items in the basket, then take it away. See how many  objects your the kids can remember. As you take objects out of the basket, discuss the significance of each.

Easter Egg Hunt
Hide the chocolate eggs in areas - depending on the age of the child - easy places for the young - hard locations for the older. Have all the children look for the eggs - turning them in to one of the older children or an adult who has the basket. Afterwards - divide the eggs up and send it home with the child!

Egg Rolling
Rolling games with hard-boiled eggs are popular in Britain at Easter. Get some hard-boiled eggs, draw a target on the floor and see how close your the kids can roll their lop-sided ‘marbles’ to the centre. Make a small ramp out of cardboard and get the kids to see how close they can get to an object on the other side.

Where is that Egg?
Have 4 same coloured plastic eggs for each child (or make them from paper and tape - scrunch up the paper and wrap with tape) - make sure each child has a noticable different in colour. Hide 3 of the eggs per child and put the fourth into a bag. The children "draw"their egg out that they need to match. When they have all four eggs - they set in the circle. To play the game again, have several of the children re-hide the eggs (don't forget to put one of each colour into the bag) Then play the game again!
 

SONGS:

Bunny Pokey Sung to: "Hokey Pokey"
You put your bunny ears in
(Place hands on head to make ears)
You put your bunny ears out.
You put your bunny ears in.
And you shake them all about.
You do the Bunny Pokey
And hop yourself around,
That's what it's all about!
Additional verses: "You put your bunny nose in, You put your bunny tail in,
You put your bunny paws in"

Baby Bunny
Baby bunny dressed in blue (Hold up two fingers like bunny ears)
Met another; then there were two. (hold up two fingers on both hands)
Bouncy bunnies to the left (Move fingers to left.)
Bouncy bunnies to the right (Move fingers to right.)
Bouncy bunnies get in bed (Put head on hands like sleeping)
Off to bed, you sleepy heads (pretend to sleep)

Easter Thanks
For dogs and cats and Easter bunnies,
For night-time starry and daytime sunny,
For grass and hay and brand new flowers,
For all the things that we call ours,
We thank you Lord, and we pray
You'll help us take care of the world today.

Easter Rabbit
A rabbit came to my house once,
With funny,stretched-out ears  (Hands on head like bunny ears)
His nose was full of wiggles, and (wiggle nose)
His eyes were full of fears (point to eyes)
I said,"Why do you twitch your nose?
Is that a bunny habit?
And are you called the "March Hare"
Or called the Easter Rabbit?
He never said a word: but bounced (Hands on head like bunny ears)
Away on pushing legs; (Hop forward)
But, oh, he left behind a nest (Look backward)
Of colored Easter eggs!

Funny Bunny
Bunny, bunny, bunny, you're so funny (Smile and put fingers on dimple spots)
With your twitching nose (wiggle nose)
Bunny, bunny, bunny, you're so funny (Smile and put fingers on dimple spots)
From your head (point to head) to your toes (Point to toes)
Bunny, bunny, bunny your ears are funny (make bunny ears with hands)
They're too big for you, Bunny, bunny, bunny, you're so funny (Smile and put fingers on dimple spots)
Everyone loves you (Hug Yourself)

Funny Easter Bunny
Owwwwwww, Owww Bunny is very funny!
I said the Easter Bunny is very funny,
Come on Easter Bunny, you're very funny
 
 

STORIES:

Three Little Trees
All of us have dreams. Perhaps you dream about becoming a fire fighter, a mountain climber or even a pilot. As the years go by our dreams often change, just as they did long ago for three little trees who dreamt of great things. The trees grew on a quiet hillside forest in a sunny land by the Mediterranean Sea. They talked together about how they would like to be used when someone eventually cut them down. “I’d like to be a cradle for a young baby,” said the first tree. “I would rock him gently and soothe him to sleep. My sides would be very smooth so I would not hurt his tiny hands.”
“I’d like to be part of a great ship sailing the oceans,” said the second tree. “I’d travel around the world, experience all sorts of adventure and provide sailors with a safe place in raging storms.”
“Well I’d like to be something beautiful, something carved with love so that it brings joy and hope to everyone who sees it and fame to the artist who carved it,” said the third tree.
Gently blessed by the sun and refreshed by the rain, the trees grew. Then, over a period of years, a forester came and cut them down, one after the other, to make into useful objects.
The first tree to be cut down went to a carpenter’s shop where he heard he was to become a manger. So much for my dream of becoming a cradle, he moaned. instead of living in a fine house, cattle and donkeys would soon be eating out of me. The second tree to be cut down was very excited when the forester took him to a boat builder. Was his dream coming true? Oh no, he thought when he heard what the carpenter planned. He was going to become a fishing boat. All he could look forward to was having smelly fish tossed into him and the same weary, boring journey every day. Some adventure! The third tree was filled with disgust when, instead of being carved into a thing of great beauty, he was made into a rough wooden cross. And so, the destiny of the trees was not what they’d first imagined. However, much to their surprise, they were soon all delighted because of a unique chance to serve God’s Son. The manger became the cradle for the baby Jesus; the smelly fishing boat carried him as he spoke to the crowds about God; the cross carried his weight on Good Friday. May we also dream dreams, but let’s never miss opportunities that come our way to serve our God.
 
 

FOOD SUGGESTIONS:

Bunny Food
Talk to your children about the different foods that bunnies eat and then have some for snack (Lettuce, Carrots, etc)
 

TIPS/NOTES:

Try the SPRING theme for more ideas!