Family Easter Event

As COVID-19 has forced churches to forgo meeting on campuses forcing kids ministries to cancel egg hunts, programs, and other critical ministry events, many kids ministry leaders are wondering what to do for Easter. How can we serve our families and communities during such an important time of the year? The Gospel Project wants to help with a free ministry resource.

This time when so many families are home round the clock has made ministry challenging, but perhaps we can find a silver lining in it. What if we saw this as an opportunity for us as kids ministry leaders to serve the family in a unique way and provide a Resurrection experience that we probably could not do otherwise? What if we provided five online gatherings for us to serve our families in the home during Easter week? Not five Sundays of teaching kids. Not a one morning egg hunt event—but five opportunities within eight days to connect with our kids and families, bringing us together with them and them together with one another.

That is what the 2020 Family Easter Event is all about. This Family Easter Event will allow you to walk through the story of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection as it happened during the week. You will begin with the Triumphal Entry the Sunday before Easter. You will celebrate the Lord’s Supper on Thursday, then the crucifixion, resurrection, and appearances of Jesus in the order they occurred.

5 Steps to Getting Started

Download the free resources. Below you will find everything you need for this event—PDFs and MP4 files that you can imbed in your gathering teaching times. Share the Activity Pages with your families and encourage them to print them in advance.
Schedule the event. Try to choose the same time for each day’s gathering. Early evening may be the perfect time just before or after family dinner, but with so many families home all week, you could do something mid-day too.
Determine how you will gather with your families. Facebook offers a great opportunity to create an event, invite your families to attend, and then either use Facebook Live as you share with families, or show a pre-recorded video. But there are many other options out there such as Zoom and Google Hangouts. Determine your method and let your families know.
Plan each teaching time. While the leader guide was designed for weekly small group gatherings, you should be able to adapt it easily for this event. Consider starting with the Activity Page, then explain the events leading up to that day’s session. Show the Bible Story video, and then use the prompts from the Leader Guides to explain what families just saw. Show the Key Passage (a memory verse) and use one of the Key Passage activities to help families learn that verse. Wrap up by showing the Questions from Kids video and encourage families to discuss the question posed back to them as a family as they can also use the family discussion starter ideas on the Activity Pages for further conversation. That’s just a starting point. You can consider including other activities and elements as you desire.
Consider the “icing on the cake”. Consider any other ways you can engage with your families during this time or to help advance family discipleship. Using Zoom or Google Hangouts? Invite interaction from the families. How about having your pastor join in on Thursday to share more about the Lord’s Supper? Maybe provide instructions for making Resurrection Rolls on Friday. Be creative and have fun!

EVENT SCHEDULE

Sunday, April 5: Jesus’ Triumphal Entry
Thursday, April 9: The Last Supper
Friday, April 10: Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection
Sunday, April 12: The Emmaus Disciples
Monday, April 13: Jesus Appeared to the Disciples

EVENT RESOURCES

PDF Items

MP4 Videos

Countdown Video
Jesus’ Triumphal Entry [Bible Story] [Questions from Kids]
The Last Supper [Bible Story] [Questions from Kids]
Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection [Bible Story] [Questions from Kids]
The Emmaus Disciples [Bible Story] [Questions from Kids]
Jesus Appeared to the Disciples [Bible Story] [Questions from Kids]
Gospel Presentation Video
Access all videos in Vimeo

ACTIVITIES TO CONSIDER

While not all of the activities in the leader guide will work in the home, here are several to consider using during your online gatherings or suggesting families do together afterward.

Preschool

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry: Make Dramatic Entrances, Hunt for Rocks, Play “Follow the Robes”
The Last Supper: Sing “Head, Heart, Hands, and Feet,” Make Feet Lacing Cards,” Wash Preschoolers Feet
Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection: Replicate an Earthquake with Blocks, Compare Rocks, Sing a Song, Build an Empty Tomb with Blocks, Make a Cross Painting, Dress Up Like a King
The Emmaus Disciples: Silly Walks, Play “Who Do You Know?,” Find Jesus’ Name in Bibles, Make Jesus Bookmarks, Play Out Teaching Bible Stories
Jesus Appeared to the Disciples: Play “I Spy,” Guess What Appeared, Create a Special Handshake, Make Invitations

Younger Kids

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry: Parade Brigade, Storytelling Stations, Rocks Cry Out
The Last Supper: Hide-and-Seek Dinner, Toe Painting, Hidden Objects
Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection: In-Out-In, Gospel Practice
The Emmaus Disciples: Blind Pathway, Everything Points to Jesus
Jesus Appeared to the Disciples: Which Surprise Is Best?, Reverse Charades

Older Kids

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry: Moo Baa Hee-Haw
The Last Supper: Play Dough Meal, Would You?, Supper Symbols
Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection: Twenty Questions
The Emmaus Disciples: Blind Toss, Closed-Eye Drawings
Jesus Appeared to the Disciples: Make Introductions, Collect and Conclude, Invisible Messages

**Note: Not all items referenced in the Leader Guide (such as missions videos and activity printables) are included for this event. These are not provided to keep things as simple as possible for you as a ministry leader as you quickly develop an online event. **