Easter Verse and Activities (The Resurrection!)

I decided to memorize a verse about Christ's resurrection with the boys this Easter.  (And I actually do mean BOYS with an S!)  Silas, who turns 2 in a few weeks, can actually say it!  It's the first time he's been able to participate so well and it's been one of those special, proud Mama memories for me.  Hearing your little one speak the very words of God has got to be one of the sweetest sounds on earth.

I decided to go with Matthew 28:6a "He is not here; he has risen, just as he said."  It's short and easy to understand and thought it was the perfect verse for us to commit to memory this year.

I am probably the biggest fan ever of putting Scripture to song so that it is remembered long term.  I have no scientific evidence to back this up, but I think it's so much easier for our brains to remember something when it's put to song.  I remember nearly all the verses I learned as a child that were put to song and that's why I'm such a huge fan of using things like SEEDS with my boys now.

I couldn't find a cd with Matthew 28:6 on it, so I searched on YouTube and found this simple tune that we adapted a tiny bit to add the last part of the verse and the reference.  She even had the great idea of adding 3 claps in between phrases to help us remember the 3 days that Jesus was in the grave.  Here's our video with our minor adaptations.  (I apologize for the weird coloring, I unintentionally had my the video recorder on my camera set to something funky.  I also apologize for Silas' creepy reflection on our glass table... but he sure is cute singing it!)

There are so many fun ideas for the resurrection out there and I thought it would be good to do a few activities while we learned our verse song to make the whole experience more memorable.

We did our clothespin memory verse method and Isaac loved trying to sound out the words and find the next word in the verse and then clip them on our twine.  I found the free clipart for the tomb here:

If you want to print out the ones I made, click here.

We also made a tomb craft to have a more concrete idea of what it meant that Jesus rose from the dead.

If you want to make one too, take a sturdy paper plate and cut it in half.  Paint the inside of one half black (the side you would eat on) and the outside of the other half brown or gray or stone-ish colors (what would be the bottom of the plate).  Once dry, cut out an entrance in the middle of the stone colored piece.  Staple the two pieces together where it can make a free standing cave (as shown).  Take a paper lunch sack or two and crumple them up to make a large stone to cover the entrance.  We used scotch tape to hold the rock together.  (This is also the tomb we're using for part of our Friday activities that I shared in our Holy Week activities Friday.)

We finished off our activities with something yummy and easy!  I've seen the resurrection rolls for several years, but never made any.  Desiring Virtue showed the easiest way to make these things!!!  Just take a jumbo marshmallow, dip it in egg and then roll it around in a bowl of cinnamon and sugar.

Wrap the covered marshmallow up in a crescent roll and then bake according to the crescent roll package directions.

When the rolls are done baking, the marshmallow has melted leaving the center hollow, like the tomb on Easter morning.  Isaac got the correlation right away without me even telling him!

And they were really yummy!  I may or may not have eaten half of them...

(There's also a cookie recipe that's hollow when you bite into it.  It's a little more involved, but it would be fun with older kids and you can find it at  Women Living Well.)

We had a great time learning about the resurrection!  The verse is something the boys had down in just one morning and we've been reviewing it since.  There's plenty of time to have this one down by Sunday and keep the real meaning of this incredible holiday in mind!