A Few Ideas for Holy Week

Here are some of the things we'll be doing this week - to keep our focus on Jesus and his sacrifice for us

daily devotions around our cradle to cross wreath

time for response as we draw and listen to music about God's grace

worship God through song - both listening, singing and playing

the girls will be learning to play "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" on their violin

earn beans by loving God, loving our neighbors and having a good attitude

They can also earn beans by doing acts of kindness (extra chores) and we'll likely have a "bean blitz" every day as part of school. During the "bean blitz", we turn on some music, set a timer for 15-20 minutes and see how much housework we can get done. Then I reward them with extra beans in their jar. These beans will turn into jelly beans on Easter morning.

make and deliver lemon poppyseed bread to our neighbors

learn the story of Jesus' last week through creative means

Ever heard of resurrection eggs? We've never used them until this year. I wanted a creative, fun way to teach my 4-5 year old class at church and had the girls help me put these together. I think the putting them together impacted my girls in a big way. They had fun finding things to represent the parts of the story and can tell the story themselves. 

1. donkey and palm leaves for Palm Sunday  2. silver coins to represent the 30 pieces of silver Judas earned for betraying Jesus.   3. bread and wine (lego) to represent the Last Supper    4. scroll to represent Jesus' prayer in the garden     5. whip to represent Jesus being whipped     6. crown to represent the crown of thorns     7. nails to represent Jesus being nailed to a cross    8. dice to represent the casting of lots    9. spear to represent Jesus being pierced in the side    10. ribbon to represent Jesus being wrapped in linen     11. rock to represent the stone sealing the tomb    12. empty egg to represent and empty tomb

make and deliver a meal to a friend in need

create an Easter garden

This has become a tradition for us. We make one in our yard and roll away the stone on Easter morning.

I've also started make a potted version for our church entrance.

 I even made kid-friendly ones in my 4-5 year old class at church yesterday. 

We used a plastic gladware  container filled with dirt. I planted a pansy and alyssum, used a plastic egg as the tomb and made a cross out of sticks (you could use popsicle sticks).

paint a batch of "spring" rocks for our front garden 
the neighbors and passersby pick them up and take them with them
(we did this last summer and more than 100 rocks were painted and given out)

I'd love to hear what ideas you use to teach your kids about Holy Week....