This week in the Nest we are looking at the story of what happened on Easter Sunday

Verse ‘He is not here; He has risen!’ Luke 24v6

Book Five Minute Bible Stories by Fiona Boon & Hayley Down (pages 51-69) (see link here)

Songs All through history - Great big God - Jump around - 123, Jesus is alive (see the videos here)

Activity Explain about how Jesus died for us because He loves us and that means we can be friends with God. Talk about how throughout the story everyone felt many different feelings. For example, the men who hated Jesus and arrested him were angry/cross, Jesus’ friends were sad when He died on the cross and everyone was surprised and then happy when they found Jesus was alive.

Make faces showing these different emotions using paper plates. Cut a mouth hole in a paper plate and attach a circle of card to the back of the plate using a split pin. Then draw on a mouth in four positions to make happy, angry, surprised and sad faces. Your child can decorate the face, adding googly eyes, wool hair, drawing on cheeks, eyebrows etc (see example here).

Once they have finished, talk through the story again using their creation. Ask your child to spot the different emotions on the pictures of the people in the story and explain how people might have felt.

Illustration

Make the room dark (if you have black out curtains) or gather everyone together under a big blanket. Try and make it as dark as you can (or as dark as your kids are ok with!)

Ask your kids, how does it feel being in the dark? The Bible uses the idea of light and dark a lot. On the day that Jesus died the sky grew dark. On the morning of Easter Sunday, while it was still dark, some of Jesus' friends went to his tomb. They wanted to remember their friend who had died. It was dark outside and they felt dark inside. They were sad because their friend had died. They had hoped he would change things, and now as far as they knew he was dead and lying in a tomb. There seemed to be no hope. 

At the moment the world feels dark because of the virus. We can’t go to school. We can’t see our friends and our grandparents. There is a lot of worry and sadness around. It feels dark. Spend a few minutes talking to God about our fears and the things that we’re finding hard at the moment. Even if you’re finding everything OK, pray for those you know who are struggling in the darkness. 

(You might want to read the suggested Bible story together by torchlight or watch it on an ipad at this point)

When it feels right throw open the curtains or throw off the blanket. Let in the light! How does it feel now there’s light? Thank God that Jesus rose from the dead. The women found the tomb empty, Jesus was alive! We can have hope now however dark the world feels because we know Jesus has conquered death.  

Worship

WAKE || HILLSONG YOUNG & FREE

Or get your kids to choose their favourites from the treehouse resources page

Story

Read ‘God’s wonderful surprise’ in the Jesus Story Book Bible. Or watch the story here.

Craft

Create your own Easter garden. Can you create a hill with a cross and a path leading to a tomb with the stone rolled away?

Choose a material that works for what you’ve got available:

You could make a version out of card and paper

You could make a version out of lego

You could make one using things from your garden (like this)

Or you could make an edible version (please make sure you’ll still want to eat whatever you use, we don’t want to waste food right now!) in a baking tray or on a plate. Click here for some ideas for a sweet version. 

Here are some suggestions for savory or sweet edible garden items:

A path made out of broken crisps/raisins/cocopops

A hill made out of an apple/a muffin

A cross made out of carrot sticks/chocolate flakes

A tomb made out of a bread roll//brownie/chocolate egg

A stone made out of a cracker/biscuit

We’d love to see your Easter Gardens! Please post pictures on the Treehouse parents facebook page. 

Questions to ask while you build your garden

How do you think the women felt on their way to the tomb?

How do you think the women felt when they found the tomb empty?

What difference does it make to you that Jesus is alive? 

How can we share hope with those around us in this dark time?

Praise the Lord – He has conquered death!

Today we celebrate the most important day for Christians – when Jesus rose from the dead and conquered sin for us.

Watch 

Video 

Jesus was dead. He was in the tomb. Hope was lost. Or was it? 

On the morning of the third day, some women gathered to go to the tomb and dress Jesus' body. 

Read

Accounts of what the women found is in all four gospels. Please read all of them and think about what things are the same, and what things are different between the accounts. Why do you think this is?

Matthew 28:1-10 , Mark 16:1-8 , Luke 24:1-11 , John 20:1-18

Praise  

In Christ Alone. This song summarises so well what Christians believe, and what Jesus’ resurrection means for us.

Activity 

Even death could not keep a hold on Jesus. He beat sin, death, and rescued us from a life separated from God. Because Jesus rose from the dead, we are free!

Do you want to follow Jesus? You can choose to follow Jesus today! Think about it as remembering your ABC's.

Admit that you are a sinner. Sin is anything you do that God says not to do, and anything you do not do that God says to do.

Believe that Jesus came to earth, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for all our sins, and rose again - trust Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.

Commit your life to following Jesus in return for what he has done, and so become more like Jesus every day. Commit to telling others about Jesus. When you choose to follow Jesus, when you hold to his teachings, God promises to always be with you. Your relationship with Jesus will grow daily. Choose him today.

Pray

Jesus, you died upon a cross and rose again to save the lost. Forgive me now of all my sin. Be my saviour, my lord, and my friend. Change my life. Make it new! Lord, help me to live every day for you. Thank you for saving me. Amen.

Reflect 

Easter is known as “Passion” in many countries (from the Latin verb: patior, passus sum ("to suffer, bear, endure"). When Christianity arrived in England for good in 597AD, the Christians adopted the names of pagan festivals to encourage the pagans to accept Christian faith. The pagans had a festival in April for their pagan goddess Ēostre. This is why we call it Easter.

We usually think about chocolate eggs and bunnies when we say Easter. Why is this? How could you speak to friends about Jesus’ resurrection when they are talking about Easter eggs?

Rachel and the Oak Youth Team