Tangled Thoughts

We are still working through the promises of God, and this week happens to be the promise that “Joy comes in the morning.” With Easter just around the corner, I found it fitting that the lesson was drawing from the Easter story. Instead of just drawing a few points from it, however -I decided to make it the center of my lesson.

Originally I was going to get some resurrection eggs and tell the story as it unfolded. However, since we have 45 minutes and my lesson (regardless of how long I prepare) usually taps out about 15 minutes in -and I am always looking for ways to draw things out -I decided to let the kids make their very own set of eggs.

I am not the most creative or craft oriented person so pulling this off took some work, imagination and well, some help from our friends on Google. Also I had to get creative because hello Island life -where there is rarely what you need. The entire thing cost me about $20 -I have anywhere from 1-6 kids in my class so I plan for 6 and usually have 1.

Without further ado I present my version of the resurrection eggs.

My main inspiration (and most of the printouts) came from here. (See? Thanks Google!)

The slips of paper in the pictures are the slips I had the kids put in their eggs. The other verses are the ones that I had in my eggs for the lesson. My eggs had longer and more in depth verses -while theirs had the story in an egg shell.

1. Matthew 21: 1-11 – Palm Branch (I was going to go with a Donkey but a palm branch was easier and more readily available.) I just picked some leaves that happened to be growing right outside the door, I know they aren’t technically palms, and yes -they called me out on this!

2. Matthew 26:17-26 – Bread -I read many different things you could use for this, everything from a picture of bread to crackers, real bread, a crouton or even a little cup. I went with crackers.

3. Matthew 26:14-16 and Matthew 26:47-49 – Coin -This was probably the most expensive part of the whole craft! 😛

4. Mark 15:15 – Whip -My original eggs didn’t include a whip, but I liked how it helped in the progression of the story, plus it was a simple piece of string.  I can handle string.

5. Mark 15:21-22 – Cross -I assumed it would be easy to find a cross, I mean after all -Easter season is in full swing. But there were no crosses to be found. Anywhere. I bought a piece of black foam and made my own.

6. Matthew 27:28-29 – Thorns and Cloth -The cloth was just purple felt (the last one!) cut into strips, and some twigs to symbolize the crown of thorns, again I was originally going to go with just a crown of thorns, but I was drawing a serious blank on how to make that.

7. John 19:18 and John 19:37 – Nails -Did I mention I have an all boys class? I’m guessing these nails will be the highlight of the lesson.

8. John 19:23 – Dice – This wasn’t in the original printout, but it was in a different lesson I was working with, and I had already bought the dice, so I worked it in.

9. John 19:28-30 and Matthew 19:33-34 – Sponge and Spear -Toothpick and a chopped up sponge, I cut one end off the toothpick to give it a more spear like feel.

10. John 19:40 – Spices – Just some chopped up cinnamon sticks and some other spice that I don’t even remember what was.

11. Matthew 27:59-60 – Stone -Just a little stone I found outside. See? Easy peasy!

12. Matthew 28:6 – Empty -Nothing! I can handle that!

My lesson took up so much time that we had to stop with egg number 6, and will resume next week. So far -it has been a great lesson, with much class participation -which I love, since it keeps them engaged, focused and learning!

We will see if the enthusiasm carries over next week as well.