EASTER CRAFT: RESURRECTION EGGS!

As the youngest of five girls, I was NOT brought up to go to church or to practice any form of faith.  Looking back on my childhood and teenage years, I regret that I was not raised to understand the biblical truth of Jesus dying on the cross for my sins.  

However, for the past 16 years, I have been a Believer and I have actively shared with my three kids the story of Jesus dying on the cross and being resurrected to life three days later.  When my kids were very young, I was a member of a mother’s group called MOPS at a local church.  At one of the MOPS functions, all of the moms made a craft that was for our kids to have a better understanding of Easter.  The homemade craft is called Resurrection Eggs.  The Family Christian Bookstore retails this same idea, but you can make it a fun activity at home with children to teach them about the “real” meaning of Easter.  Plus, this may save you money by making it at home!  It is an excellent craft idea to enjoy with your children, grandchildren or with students at church.

Here are the directions to make homemade RESURRECTION EGGS.

Gather these items for the craft:

1)  Colored construction paper (pastel colors are perfect for Easter!)
2) Empty, clean, one dozen egg carton
3) Magic Markers or crayons
4) One dozen empty plastic colored eggs
5) Tape or glue
6) 3-5 Oyster crackers or small pieces of bread
7) One nickel
8) A small piece of silky purple material (about 1-2 inches wide and long)
9) A thorn or a clove
10) 4-6 inches of string or thin rope
11) 1 tooth pick
12) 1 small nail
13) A small piece of a sponge (the size of a dime)
14) A plastic sword (from the baking aisle at a grocery store) or Lego spear
15)  A small stone (the size of a nickel)

NOTE:  PLEASE SUPERVISE YOUNG CHILDREN FROM PLACING THESE ITEMS INSIDE THEIR MOUTH.
THESE ITEMS COULD BE A POSSIBLE CHOKING HAZARD.  

Teach your children the story of Christ's Resurrection with your own homemade “Resurrection Eggs“.
Purchase 12 small plastic Easter eggs in different colors. These should be the kind that you can fill and are the right size to fit into an egg carton. Number them 1 through 12.

Save one egg carton from the grocery store for storage.

Into each egg place an item along with the message and scripture reference written on a small piece of paper or type on the computer.

Starting twelve days before Easter Sunday open ONE egg per day starting with egg number one. Look at the enclosed object. Read the message and scripture. Discuss it with your children. Leave each egg open, showing its contents. On the last day the egg is empty, just like Jesus’ tomb!

HERE IS THE 12 MESSAGES FOR EACH EGG & EACH ITEM THAT IS PLACED INTO EACH NUMBERED EGG:

Start by numbering on the outside of each plastic Easter egg (one through 12) with a sharpie marker or magic marker.

EGG #1- Place the oyster crackers or pieces of bread into the first plastic Easter egg.  Type on paper or write on paper:
DAY 1
Matthew 26:26 WHILE THEY WERE EATING JESUS TOOK A PIECE OF BREAD, GAVE A PRAYER OF THANKS, BROKE IT AND GAVE IT TO HIS DISCIPLES.  “TAKE AND EAT IT,”  HE SAID, “THIS IS MY BODY.”

EGG #2 - Place the nickel inside the second plastic egg.  Place this message inside the second egg:
DAY 2
Matthew 26:14 THEN ONE OF THE TWELVE DISCIPLES, NAMED JUDAS ISCARIOT, WENT TO THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND ASKED, “WHAT WILL YOU GIVE ME IF I BETRAY JESUS TO YOU?”  THEY COUNTED OUT THIRTY SILVER COINS AND GAVE THEM TO HIM.  

EGG #3 - Place a piece of purple material into the third plastic egg.  (The size should be about 1-2 inches long and wide. Silky material works the best.)  Place the message inside the third egg:
DAY 3
Mark 15:17  THEY PUT A PURPLE ROBE ON JESUS....

EGG #4 - Place the thorn or clove inside of the fourth plastic egg.  Place this message inside of the fourth egg:
DAY 4
Matthew 27:29 THEN THEY MADE A CROWN OUT OF THORNY BRANCHES AND PLACED IT ON HIS HEAD AND PUT A STICK IN HIS RIGHT HAND; THEN THEY KNELT BEFORE HIM AND MADE FUN OF HIM.
“LONG LIVE THE KING OF THE JEWS!” THEY SAID.

EGG #5 - Place a piece of string or rope into the fifth plastic egg.  Place this message inside of the fifth egg:
DAY 5
Mark 15:15  PILATE WANTED TO PLEASE THE CROWD SO HE SET BARABBAS FREE FOR THEM.  THEN HE HAD JESUS WHIPPED AND HANDED HIM OVER TO BE CRUCIFIED.

EGG #6 - Take the toothpick and cut it or break it in half.  Make it into a cross and tape it to stay in place.  Put the cross into the sixth plastic egg.  Place the message into the sixth egg:
DAY 6
John 19:17-18  HE WENT OUT, CARRYING HIS CROSS, AND CAME TO “THE PLACE OF THE SKULL,”  AS IT IS CALLED.  IN HEBREW IT IS CALLED “GOLGOTHA.”  THERE THEY CRUCIFIED HIM.

EGG #7 - Take the  small nail and place it into the seventh plastic egg.  Place the message into the seventh egg:
DAY 7
John 20:25  THOMAS SAID TO THEM, “UNLESS I SEE THE SCARS OON THE NAILS IN HIS HANDS AND PUT MY FINGER ON THOSE SCARS AND MY HAND IN HIS SIDE, I WILL NOT BELIEVE.”

EGG #8 - Take a small piece of construction paper and write on it, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
Place this paper inside the eighth plastic egg. Place this other message into the eighth egg:
DAY 8
Luke 23:38  ABOVE HIIM WERE WRITTEN THESE WORDS: “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

EGG #9 - Place the small piece of a sponge into the ninth plastic egg.  Place this message inside of the ninth egg:
DAY 9
Matthew27:48  ONE OF THEM RAN UP AT ONCE, TOOK A SPONGE, SOAKED IT IN CHEAP WINE, PUT IT ON THE END OF THE STICK AND TRIED TO MAKE HIM DRINK IT.

EGG #10 - Place the little sword or Lego spear inside the tenth plastic egg.  Place this message inside of the tenth egg:
DAY 10
John 19:34  ONE OF THE SOLDIERS PLUNGED HIS SPEAR INTO JESUS’ SIDE AND AT ONCE BLOOD AND WATER POURED OUT.

EGG #11 - Place the small stone inside the eleventh plastic egg.  Place this message inside of the eleventh egg:

DAY 11
Matthew 27:59-60  JOSEPH TOOK THE BODY, WRAPPED IT IN LINEN SHEETS AND PLACED IT IN HIS OWN NEW TOMB, WHICH HE HAD JUST RECENTLY DUG OUT OF SOLID ROCK.  THEN HE ROLLED A LARGE STONE ACROSS THE ENTRANCE TO THE TOMB AND WENT AWAY.

EGG #12 - The last egg will NOT have anything inside of it because it will be a symbol of the tomb being empty.  The #12 egg is left empty, except for this message that is placed inside of it:
DAY 12
Matthew 28:6 HE IS NOT HERE.  HE HAS RISEN, JUST AS HE SAID.