I went to Walmart yesterday to look for something, I wasn't sure what, to either put inside the Easter eggs (besides candy) for my Sunday School kids or to put inside an Easter goodie bag for them. While I don't swing to the extreme of banishing all pagan practices for my kids and our home, I was quite convicted that for at least Sunday School, I wasn't going to pay attention to the whole eggs and candy and bunny thing. Granted, I didn't walk up and down every single aisle of the store, but I did look in the Easter section and was so sad to see that among rows of jellybeans, peeps, bunnies and chickies, etc. I only found ONE object for sale that was anything remotely "religious". It was a kind of ceramic cross, a very teensy box of them, almost hiding between piles of baskets and candy. And it was neither practical nor affordable for the toddler class. So this morning I get up and I'm thinking...where did Easter eggs come from anyway? And is there any relation to Christ and His resurrection? And can I, should I use them in class on Sunday? I found many articles explaining the origin of the word Easter and its traditions - I must say, a bit of a stretch to make them relate to the resurrection. So I'm left with a dilemma. I had thought to use the plastic eggs I purchased to hide them around the tiny classroom and have the children "hunt" for them (maybe put a Bible verse inside?...for which I'm sure the confused children would protest!). But now that I read that it's all about fertility and a spring goddess, should I even have anything to do with it? I suppose I could do my best to explain to the toddlers the symbolism of an egg and the resurrection, but I'm thinking they might not get it anyway. Maybe I should keep the goodie bag idea (they would decorate them) and search harder for something meaningful to put in them, especially in the case of any unsaved visitors. I can think of several other meaningful, resurrection-related activities to do with the kiddos instead of egg hunting. And perhaps I should return the huge bag of plastic eggs. What's your opinion?
Side note: my sister found a very amazing cookie recipe to be done at home with your children to celebrate resurrection Sunday - it really helps to focus on Christ, I think.
Side note: my sister found a very amazing cookie recipe to be done at home with your children to celebrate resurrection Sunday - it really helps to focus on Christ, I think.
3 comments:
i've heard of "resurrection" cookies before. :) fun!
have you heard of resurrection eggs?
http://www.rainbowcastle.org/resurrectioneggs.html
we open one each day, before easter. but you could just as easily number them & hide them around the room. Then open them according to number & tell the story of the resurrection. :)
oh! BTW, i thought of you, when my kids brought out their palm sunday crafts after church: donkeys. :) good grief, can't people come up with better stuff? :)
what did you end up doing?
We did a LOT of role-playing. I took "cloaks" and palm branches (plastic) and I was the donkey who gave a ride to each kid as they took a turn to be "Jesus" and the others waved branches and shouted hosanna. For craft we made palm branches out of green construction paper glued to clothespins...the idea was to make them clap together when you open and close the clothespin...only it didn't really work! :) But it was fun. They were really focused on the flanelgraph story too, which was great. I just really praise the Lord for how it all went - all the kids were so well behaved and paid great attention. I even had more than usual - 8 kids instead of 4-5.
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