Celebrating the Ressurection

Christ’s resurrection is what sets Christianity apart from any other religion. It is the cornerstone of our hope! And, yet, the holiday celebrating Christ’s victory over the grave was sadly lacking in meaningful tradition in our home. Besides annual Hot Cross Buns, I was coming up dry.

This year, I scoured the internet looking for ways to try to help make Christ raising from the dead be more real to our children. I came across another missionary mommy blog with some great ideas. We adopted the following two, and I wanted to share! They were so fun!

The first thing we made was a replica (I use that term loosely!) of the tomb where Jesus was buried. It was basically play dough- flour, salt, water and oil mixed and molded…

…and then baked for a very long time! They poked holes in the top, anticipating sticking flowers in to decorate it.

Then the kids had a blast painting their designated sections. Felicia and Natalie each got half of the mountain, I gave Joey the stone that went in front of the tomb. 🙂

We had grand ideas to decorate it with flowers from the yard and even tie sticks together to make an empty cross on the hill. Maybe next year. 🙂 This year, here is what the final product looked like.

If you can decipher the writing on the rock, Felicia inscribed “War Jesus DiD” on it. Translation- “Where Jesus Died”. 🙂 We’re working on spelling. 😉

Then for dessert on Resurrection Sunday we decided to make a Resurrection Cake.

And before you ask, no, I didn’t make the flowers on it! With teo birthdays and a party around this holiday, a couple dozen fondant flowers seemed too overwhelming. There’s a lady in town who sells them, so that’s where they came from!

I did use some leftover white chocolate decorations from Natalie’s birthday cupcakes to be the grave clothes in the empty tomb. I felt very resourceful. ha!

Over all, I’d say these projects were a hit. As we were making them, decorating them, etc, we had good discussions and I overheard the kids saying things to each other like, “We have to make sure the stone is rolled away to show that Jesus’ tomb is empty” and other facts they’d learned.

And in addition to all the fun and learning, they got to play with a new, custom-made centerpiece/decoration and eat a yummy chocolate cake. I’d definitely call this project a win/win! 🙂