Keeping Christ at the Center of Your Easter Celebrations

4/8/2022

By: Jan Lashbrook

Bunnies, candy, and eggs . . . oh my! While these Easter staples make the holiday memorable for children, there are equally fun ways we can elevate the true meaning of Easter. CCA’s Early Childhood Director, Jan Lashbrook, shares a few Jesus-centered activities and crafts you can do together as a family this Easter season that will plant seeds of faith in your little one’s heart while blessing yours. He is risen, friends!

Let’s face it . . . it’s hard to compete with the cute bunnies, jelly beans, toy-filled baskets, and egg decorating that vie for children’s attention each Easter. The National Retail Federation estimates that Americans will spend a total of $20.8 billion this Easter – WOW!

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with these things, as Christian parents, we also have a responsibility to help direct our children’s primary focus where it needs to be on this holiday – on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. After all, this history-altering moment is the core of our faith!

After all, this history-altering moment is the core of our faith!

One song that comes to my mind this time of year is Watch the Lamb by Ray Boltz. It’s an oldie, but a goodie. This song is sung from a Jewish father’s perspective as he witnesses Jesus being condemned to death and asked by Roman soldiers to help Jesus carry His cross on the road to Calvary, referring to Mark 15:21:

“A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross.”

In the last verse of this song, the father and his sons proceed to witness this innocent man – the Son of God – experience an excruciating death He did not deserve. The father comforts his confused sons by telling them to keep their little eyes fixed on Jesus – the unblemished Lamb whose blood has paid the price for our sins, removing them as far as the east is from the west.

"Daddy, daddy, What have we seen here?,
There's so much that we don't understand",
So I took them in my arms,
And we turned and faced the cross,
Then I said "dear children watch the lamb"

How will your family watch the Lamb this Easter? This doesn’t necessarily have to be a somber act of observance. I want to share with you a few fun activities from the Creative Home Keeper that are perfect for not only sharing the story of Christ’s resurrection in age-appropriate detail, but also planting seeds of faith and hiding God’s Word in your little one’s hearts.

Read great books together.
Reading books about the death and resurrection of Jesus is a great way to share a difficult concept with sensitivity and at their level. Some ideas for read-alouds are:
Memorize scripture together.
Children’s brains are like sponges – they remember everything, so when they’re young is the perfect time to incorporate scripture memory. If you have a whiteboard or chalkboard at home, you can write the verse on there to encourage memorization. Verses from the gospel stories in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are great verses to memorize this time of year. Matthew 28:5-6 is a good one to start with!

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
Serve at church together as a family.
Your children can be great greeters to welcome new families not used to coming to church. Serving together often helps develop life-long habits of serving others!

If you’re looking for a church to celebrate Easter, I’d like to invite you to Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale; they’ll be having Good Friday and Easter Sunday services at their nine campuses throughout South Florida.
Do some activities that help your child reflect on the true meaning of Easter.
Below are a few Christ-centered activities and crafts to help make Easter meaningful for your kids!

I pray that you and your family are blessed by these ideas. May they draw you closer to our precious Savior who was, and is, and is to come!

HAPPY EASTER 💐 ✝️

Jan Lashbrook is the director of Calvary Christian Academy’s Early Childhood program, overseeing our Pre-K and Preschool programs. Jan holds a Masters in Early Childhood Education from Liberty University. She and her husband are “empty-nesters,” having raised three children who are all grown and married. Their youngest, Shawn, attended CCA for 12 years, graduating in 2012.

Back