Resurrection Eggs

Today we started the opening of our Resurrection Eggs as a part of our celebration of Easter. This afternoon, I got down "the Easter box" and the kids had fun going through all the items and decorations. They were excited to see the books and baskets and then they saw the Resurrection Eggs and wanted to do them right away. I had totally forgot about them and was happy to realize that today is actually the day we are supposed to start them- 12 days before Easter!

We had already done our first Easter lesson in Bible class earlier in the day, and it was about the Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. We talked about how Jesus rode into the city on a donkey and the people laid their coats down for him to cross on. We read about how they waved palm branches and shouted praises to the Lord as He passed by. Then we made our own palm branches out of construction paper (roll and tape and then cut strips on the end and fringe down). They worked out pretty good and we waved them as we sang "Hosanna Loud Hosanna" from the A Very Veggie Easter CD. It was fun!
So...back to the Resurrection Eggs...as soon as we found them in the box, the kids wanted to open the first egg. I like this activity because it has a story to read before you open the egg. The story was exactly what we had learned in our Bible lesson so it was a great review. Then they got to open the first egg. I was pleasantly surprised when Zachary let Katelyn open the first egg without any encouragement from me. I had envisioned an argument of who would open it first but he graciously let her do it. Anyway, the first egg contained a donkey and the kids immediately set it on our mantle where we display each item as it is opened. Before opening the new egg for the day, we will go back through each previous item and tell the story so far. We've done Resurrection Eggs for three years now and each year the kids are still excited to hear the story and open the eggs. It is a great activity and a fun addition to our Easter celebration!