How to Point My Kids to Jesus for Easter

We may earn money from the products/companies mentioned in this post. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more information, read our Terms & Conditions.

How do I point my children to “the way, the truth and the life”?

The hope is that each of our children would walk away with a solid foundation for who our Savior is and what sacrifice He made for each one of us on the cross!

I am not a huge fan of Easter baskets, as I really want my kids to remember what Easter is all about. It’s the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried and then rose from the dead – extending the invitation to life eternal. We do a family basket where I put candy for the whole family (well, because) and then we do a “Jesus” gift for each child – a book, a physical reminder for them to wear, worship music, etc. We want to give them something that encourages their walk with the Lord.

My Favorite Easter Books/Gifts

Because anything I write for kids, would never be complete without great books to add!

The Garden, The Curtain and the Cross – this is my very favorite Easter book! It goes from the Garden to the Cross. The illustrations are beautiful and engaging, the dialogue draws kids in and makes it accessible and the story is TRUTH! It is one of our favorite gifts to give!

The Easter Storybook: 40 Bible Stories Showing Who Jesus Is: I bought this book after seeing it on other multiple lists, not really convinced that it could be that awesome. I just assumed it “made sense” to add it to the list. I LOVE this book! My little ones LOVE this book! 40 stories about JESUS! How great is that! We are reading 1-2 each morning, because let’s be honest – I would never get through 40 days straight. Each story had led to wonderful discussion afterwards. There is an engaging question at the end of each story that I sometimes use, but often I find other things to pull out in discussion. The stories are pulled from all the Gospels, which means that sometimes Laura Richie is combining from multiple author’s versions of the same story. At the top of each story is ALL the references (which are also included in the Table of Contents). This makes the book applicable to use at any time of the year; no matter what you are teaching your children, you can quickly find where that Jesus story is in the book!

The Story – this was my oldest son’s gift last Easter (he was 17). He has since given it as a gift himself. It is the story of the Bible condensed into one full story, broken into 31 chapters. Discussion questions are included.

The Story Student Edition – this is a student edition of the above. I have not seen this book personally, but wanted to add it since it is a younger version of the above.

The Story for Children, a Storybook Bible – this is a beautifully illustrated Bible for children. I pick this one up whenever it has a particular story I want to relate to my littles in pictures.

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name – the title says it all! Every story points to Jesus and is related in such a way to communicate how so, to younger children. We LOVE this one and it was perfect to use when doing the Jesse Tree this past Christmas!

Do Right Family Bible Study – I love everything Kim Sorgius at “Not Consumed” puts out! Her materials have made an huge impact on this family! This study is all about equipping our children for life’s battles. And even more powerful is to do that as a family! I am also SO excited to see Lamplighter audio dramas as an option included!

Seeds Family Worship – learning God’s Word through music! What a powerful way to plant the Word in our children’s hearts. We love Seeds Family Worship!

Amon’s Adventure – this is the only one I have not actually used and reviewed. BUT, there is not one resource from Arnold Ytreeide that I have not loved! We have done multiple Advent stories with our older sons and they were the highlight of each evening! His books are high adventure (so wonderful especially with boys), exciting, intense, emotional – and leave you breathless at the end of each chapter. The stories are historical fiction and set the stage for our Savior. I cannot wait to start reading this with my kids this Easter season! Update 3/11/21: my 5-year-old daughter was not ready for this (although my 7-year-old son was on the edge of his seat)

[convertkit form=2068913]

Great Easter/Lent Resources

I LOVE resources! And I also love that there are so many great options out there! Because truly, what works for one may not work for another and vice versa! And mamas, I must say if you are not really into it, neither will your children. I have tried time and time again to use those activities that are craft intensive. Well, I know my kids would love them – but ME, unless it is packaged up in a kit, I am probably going to be amazing when I accomplish 50% of the activities. And while on a normal craft “agenda” I would say that isn’t too bad, when it comes to conveying the Truth to my kids, I feel like I may miss it. And then there are the awesome moms out there that don’t mind the mess, enjoy the creating and even the purchases needed for such amazing crafting experiences!

So…here are some great resources I have come across! And please, share your favorites in the comments below – because that it where it is at!

Countdown to Easter boxes – This is by Abby Lawson at “Just a Girl and Her Blog”. If I can be most honest with you, I love that the materials are fairly straightforward and that it runs for Holy Week, which begins Palm Sunday. I like that it is a good portion of Bible story to read, along with a solid physical representation. Her ideas for how to make it memorable again engage the children physically to solidify the point. For example, when Jesus breathed his last breath, the temple curtain was torn in two. She suggests you place a sheet between you and your child to represent the separation from God – and then drop it to signify our access now to come right before Him. And BONUS: there is a printable guide!!! I plan to use this one with my littles – ages 5 & 7! [Free]

The Shepherd’s Treasure – the Lost Sheep – I have not done the Easter quest, but we have done the Advent one the last couple of years with the littles. We have all LOVED it! It keeps your eyes on Jesus, as everyday there is a new card (and a new suggested shepherd placement) pointing kids to how Jesus and why HE is important for Christmas (or Easter). Another thing I love about Shepherd’s Treasure is that I am not required to be creative to still implement the surprise for each day – there is a suggested guide on where the shepherd could be placed along with suggested materials. I love that I can be “fun” for my kids without trying to figure out the creativity to do such! [Cost]

Names of Jesus Countdown – This is by Kim Sorgius at “Not Consumed”. What’s not to love about a free – names of Jesus – printable? Names are SO powerful and this all points to our Lord and Savior! This lasts 30 days, is all about who Jesus is, and can be done any time of day! And for older kids, I love her suggestion to have children journal about that particular name for the day and what it means. [Free]

A Sense of the Resurrection – Back to my disclaimer about not too crafty… This is crafty, but more so in the sense that it is experience-based! And it is lovely in that! We did this experience last Easter and had a ton of fun with it. I did NOT complete all the activities and yet the ones we did added to our preparation experience, as they used all our senses! There are 12 activities, and you can just choose the ones you are most interested in giving your children a “hands-on” experience with. This is especially great to do with younger children as it touches the senses. [Cost]

Resurrection Eggs – easy and prepackaged! What’s not to love about that! It is set up to be an Easter egg hunt to then open one at a time to tell the story of our Savior’s journey to the cross. I have not done this one but read about it every year. [Cost]

Paint a mosaic cross on a window or front glass door. We did this last year as we were all stuck at home for Easter. It was a reminder to let our witness shine. We used painter’s tape and I had the kids paint sections with washable paint. It was something we enjoyed seeing everyday for a few weeks!

Easter Rock (exchange) basket – while we don’t do normal Easter baskets, I do love this idea from Kishona at “Life in Lape Haven”! On Saturday before Resurrection Sunday, she talks about the exchange made on the cross – Jesus’ life as the payment for our sins. In this she has them think on their own sins, write them on rocks and place them in a basket. The next morning they find that their sins have been exchanged for good things.

Lent with Kids – I absolutely LOVE this blog post by “Sacroaparental”! She lists SO many great ideas for reorienting your focus as a family. She talks about using lent candles and creating a plan that is more outward focused and something done daily. She also gives so many ideas for working Jesus into all that we do! I love the simplicity she includes of telling stories about Jesus daily. What an awesome time to spend simply in the Gospels with your kids! I have so many awesome Jesus books, that this would be a great time to pull many of those out in preparation for this time.