Come Follow Me: Easter (April 15-21)

This week is all about Easter. There is not a specific set of scriptures for the week and I think we go over many of the suggested scriptures later this year as well.  With that being said I am not diving deep into any particular topic but I hope with the following activities my children (and primary class) will feel the spirit as we talk about our Savior and the precious gifts he gave us.  

For our scripture study this week we will be following this awesome outline I found in the Friend.  Each day has a couple of sentences about Jesus's life and a scripture to go along with it.  There is also a song for each day but I ran out of room so I didn't include it in the printable-if you are interested in the songs you can find them in the link to the Friend.

I have two options for this activity.  The first is paper eggs and basket (included in the download at the end of this post).  Print the basket, the eggs, and the 2 pages of quotes (the ones that are vertical).  Cut out the eggs and quotes.  You will not need the numbers above the quotes but they are there as a reference so you can glue the quote to the correct egg.  You can cut out the basket or leave it as is.  Tape the eggs to the basket.  (cut along the top of the basket to tuck them inside) Starting Sunday take off egg #1.  Read the sentences and look up the scripture reference.  Repeat each day ending with egg #8 on Easter Sunday.

The Second option to do this is to use plastic eggs and the full page of quotes (the ones that are horizontal).  Cut the word strips out and place one in each egg numbered 1-8.  There are NOT numbers on this page but they are in order.  So be careful as you place them in eggs to number them correctly.  We are doing ours this way and I made a set for each one of my kids.  There is also a little candy inside the egg.  

To set up for this activity I hid all the eggs and we went on an Easter egg hunt.  I didn't worry about the numbers until after all the eggs were found.  We sorted them to make sure every one had eggs numbered 1-8.  I am actually on top of it this week because we did this for Activity Days today and only had 2 girls show up-one being my daughter haha.  So I had quite a few extra.  I originally planned to use just one for my family and have an extra bag of candy so they would all get one each day.

For our craft we are going with the same egg and basket theme.  Print the basket that says "I'm trying to be like Jesus"for each person.  Color the basket.  During the week an egg can be added to their basket as they do different things to follow Jesus this week.  An couple of examples-help mom with an extra chore or play with someone that needs a friend at recess.  They can color the egg and glue it to their paper. (you can cut along the top of the basket to tuck the eggs inside)

Variations- 

1.instead of the paper eggs use dot markers to make an egg.

2. make just one for the family instead of individual ones.  At the end of the week share some ways you tried to be like Jesus.

3.  Print the plain black and white basket-instead of adding eggs for acts you do draw a picture on the egg that corresponds with your reading that day or your favorite stories of Jesus.  There are a couple of blank eggs but the back of the decorated eggs would work for pictures.

This week I will be sharing this book I made for my family last year.  It has the words from the General Conference talk Elder Utchdorf gave last year.  I love it.  The words are so powerful.  I do have little kids and I read it to them.  They may not understand all of it but I hope they can feel the spirit as we talk about our Savior and the wonderful gifts he gave us.

Here's a few more pictures

You can find the download for this book here.  

We are also going to use these awesome puppets (not sure what to call them) to tell the story of The Atonement, Crucifixion, and Resurrection.  You can find them here.  I also included a smaller set you can use as a coloring page.

The post also contains a game to learn part of the 3rd article of faith, a coloring page, and questions for a game.  You can download all of these here.

Additional ideas:

"Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet"  a great video showing a story from one of Elder Holland's talk. It's a good one that I plan to share with my family this week. (Also referenced in the Sunday School Manual)

Gethsemane song: This is one of my favorite Primary songs and a great way to talk about the events of the atonement.  I love this sweet version or this one from lds.org

Easter story from the Friend that is perfect for little ones (found here)

Great video Clip called Because of Him (found here)

Bible Videos 

excerpts from the Living Christ

Download your Free Printables here!  

(Remember the Book and puppet links are separate and can be found above by their picture).

I have an awesome Bonus for you today!  Heather from My LDS Preschool has kindly offered her R is for Resurrection set free for my readers!  Her activities are so fun and perfect for Come Follow Me this week. 

Here's what she has to say about this set:

This week for Come Follow Me we have the special opportunity to reflect on Christ’s life and love as we celebrate His resurrection this Easter.

My LDS Preschool is excited to share part of their curriculum to enhance Come Follow Me this week. In “R is for Resurrection,” you will find free lesson plans and printables which focus on the Savior’s resurrection. While each lesson plan has many resources to combine gospel principles with a preschool curriculum, there are two sections that you will find most appropriate this week.

From Lesson 1 you will find their “Scripture Lesson” which provides an object lesson and helps teach about the resurrection of Jesus with an interactive cut out printable. In lesson 2 you will find their “Storybook Lesson” which tells a delightful story to illustrate the symbol of the Easter lily and what Jesus’ resurrection means for us.

Happy Easter!

R is for Resurrection Lesson Plan 1

R is for Resurrection Lesson Plan 2

R is for Resurrection Printables

These ideas are so fun and I'm excited to share the cute Easter Lily story to my kids.  Did you also see the Resurrection Roll recipe!  Thanks again Heather :)

Also the adorable graphics used in this weeks post are from Clever Cat Creations and fonts by Kimberly Geswein Fonts