Easter Story Archives - Let their light shine!

God Knows When I Feel Sad and When I Feel Happy

God knows when I feel sad and when I feel happy is a toddler friendly version of the Easter Story. We focus on how Jesus’ friends felt and how they were sad because he had died and then happy at the conclusion of the story. This is a suitable way to tell the Easter story to young children. There is no need to dwell on the physical suffering of the Lord Jesus but it is OK to use the word ‘died’ rather than euphemistically refer to Jesus ‘going away’. Adults go away all the time – we don’t want children to confuse these two separate experiences.

The Easter Story – from John 19:28-30; 20:1,11-18

To tell the story it is helpful to have a model of the tomb. We used a cardboard box.

God knows when I feel sad story idea

Mary was very sad (can you look sad?). Her friend Jesus had died. He hadn’t ever done anything wrong but some people were jealous and had wanted to get rid of Jesus. They had made sure that he died. It was an awful thing to have done.

Jesus’ body had been put in a tomb and a big stone had been put infront. But now the stone had been moved and the body was gone! Mary was so sad that she began to cry. She looked inside the tomb – the body of Jesus was gone but there were two angels sitting down. ‘Why are you crying?’ they asked. ‘The body of Jesus has gone,’ she replied.

Mary heard footsteps. She saw a man who she thought was the gardener. ‘Have you taken the body of Jesus? Can you tell me where it is?’ she asked.

He looked at Mary and he said one word – he said her name, ‘Mary’. And then she suddenly knew – it wasn’t the gardener, it was Jesus! He was standing right infront of her. ‘Go and tell the others’, Jesus said. And off she she went to find Jesus’ friends to tell them that Jesus was alive! Mary wasn’t sad anymore – she was happy! Jesus knows when I am happy too. He knows when you feel happy!

Easter craft Idea

What you need to make the stained glass effect paper plate Easter scene

Square paper plates – cut out the centre
Sticky back plastic to fill the centre – sticky side the same as black rim of plate
Tissue paper – torn into squares – to cover the sticky back plastic
A tomb and stone to glue on last

Black Square Paper Plates click the link to buy the paper plates used in this craft (affiliate link)

Here’s a link to a paper craft Easter garden to make

God Knows when I feel….excited!

God knows when I feel excited is all about Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. Children are often excited so it’s great to tell a story they will relate to. This story from Matthew 21 is about the excited crowd who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem. Traditionally this event is called Palm Sunday. It begins the week of Easter. We’ve told this story many times at Toddler Group. The following is an idea…

God knows when I feel excited story idea

In the storybag you might like to have a large leaf and a donkey..

‘I wonder if you have ever felt excited? In today’s story from the Bible there are lots of excited people. Let’s find out why they were excited.

Crowds and crowds of people were all along the road. There were mums and dads, grandmas and grandads and children just like you! ‘Can you see? Is he here?’ They looked along the road. And then they saw him! They called out, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ as Jesus passed by. They shouted, ‘hosanna!’ (which means ‘God saves’) They waved palm branches and threw their cloaks into the road. They were so excited to see King Jesus!

Jesus wasn’t riding a big, strong horse – he was on a donkey. He was the king but he was the good King who had come to save and rescue the people.

They people welcomed Jesus – the King sent from God.’

Craft Ideas

God knows when I am excited craft for Palm Sunday story

A palm leaf sun catcher made with a paper plate and sticky back plastic. Add green tissue paper and glitter!

God knows when I feel excited Palm Sunday craft — A palm leaf to wave – made using the shape cut from the paper plate suncatcher!

Another idea using large pictures to tell the Palm Sunday story This post includes printables to make your own street scene.

Easter Story Video

The first Easter!

Palm Sunday Story Video

Palm Sunday Story Video is a short retelling of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. You can read the story in John 12:12-19

Here’s a link to a post with a Palm Sunday Story idea and some palm leaf crafts to make.

Easter Story Paper Plate Craft

Paper plates are just so great for craft ideas (and can be used as storytelling props too) This simple paper plate idea can be used as both. The craft is for a child and adult to make together while talking about the Easter Story.

You need – paper plate, tissue paper or similar in green and blue, white paper on which to draw the hill and the tomb, brown paper circle for the stone, brown paper strips for the cross, some crayons/pencils, glue and scissors. (Obviously if making with younger children use children’s safety scissors and make sure you keep a watchful eye. Scissors should always be used with care while sitting down).

Begin by covering the top half of the plate with blue paper and the bottom with green.

Draw two hills on the white paper. Colour one green. Make the other into the tomb by drawing the entrance and colour brown. Cut out and stick in the middle of the plate covering the sky/grass join.

Add the cross to the green hill and the stone infront of the tomb entrance to one side to show that the tomb is empty.

It would be great to make this while talking about the Easter story or reading the story together.

We’ve arrived at Easter!

We’ve arrived at Easter! We have traveled along the road to Jerusalem to reach the first Easter. Each week we’ve met different people that Jesus met on his journey and now we are at the end of our journey.

This weeks story is the Easter Story .. to tell it you need puppets or dolls to represent Peter, John and Mary and the paper plate visual (or something similar.) If you have been making the paper plates display all of them together and then add the one from this final story.

The Story from Luke 23 and 24

Bible truth for toddlers – Jesus died and came alive again

‘Our story has a sad beginning – can you look sad? Jesus died on the cross on the Friday. He was put in a tomb (cave) and a big stone was put over the entrance.

His friends were very sad and frightened. A whole day went by – that was Saturday.

The next day was Sunday. A woman called Mary went to the tomb very early in the morning. When she got there something had happened. The big stone had been moved. What could she do? Who would help her?

Mary knew someone who could help her – Peter! She went to find Peter and John and told them what had happened.

They listened. Then they started to run. They were running as fast as they could to the tomb. John got there first and looked inside. It was empty.

Then Peter got there. He didn’t just look inside. He walked right in to the tomb. It was empty!

Jesus wasn’t there anymore. The Bible tells us that that he had died and then come alive again. This is happy news for you and for me.’

Paper plates decorated to tell the story of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem at Easter — **The paper plates that have been used to show Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem can be displayed altogether!**

Here’s the link to the introductory post for this story series with links to the blog posts

Easter Craft Idea

Easter shapes craft using crepe paper printing. This is really fun! Have a look at this post for how to use crepe paper to print pictures.

On the Way to Easter…Palm Sunday Story

Jesus rides into Jerusalem

On the way to Easter Palm Sunday story can be told as a stand alone story or used as part of the series ‘On the Way to Easter’.

Bible story from Luke 19:28-40 and Mark 11:1-10

Bible truth for toddlers – Jesus is the King!

‘Jesus and his friends were almost at the big city of Jerusalem. Lots of people wanted to see Jesus. But how was Jesus going to arrive in the city? Was he going to arrive in a car? No! Was he going to arrive in a helicopter? No! (they didn’t have those!) Was he going to ride into the city on a big, strong horse? No!

Jesus sent two of his friends to borrow a donkey. (What noise does a donkey make? Hee-haw) They bought the donkey to Jesus and put their cloaks on it’s back. Jesus sat on the donkey and he rode into the big city.

Crowds and crowds of people were there. There were mums and dads, grandmas and grandads and children just like you! Some of the people took their cloaks off and put them in the road for the donkey to walk on. They called out, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ as Jesus passed by. They shouted, ‘hosanna!’ (which means ‘God saves’). Can you say ‘hosanna’? They waved palm branches in the air. The people in the crowd were welcoming Jesus into the big city. They were excited!

They welcomed Jesus – the King sent from God.’

Some pictures to use to tell the story

On the way to Easter Palm Sunday story visual aid — Palm Sunday

Dowload the links to make the street scene

People pictures are available in this blog post

The donkey to make

https://lettheirlightshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/leglessdonkey.pdf

The street scene https://lettheirlightshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/streetscene.pdf

The trees and palm leaves

https://lettheirlightshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/palmleafsceneparts.pdf

I cut the cloaks out of material.

On the way to Easter Palm Sunday story visuals

Craft ideas

You could use the printouts as a craft if telling the story at home or with older children.

The pegs for legs donkey is a fun craft to make. Print and cut out the donkey shape. Colour and add wooden clothes pegs for legs.

There are some Palm Leaf craft ideas here

On the Way to Easter…Mary

The story is from John 12:1-8

Jesus had almost arrived at Jerusalem! He had travelled a long way. How lovely that he was able to go to his friends house. Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha were good friends of Jesus. They wanted to do something special for him so they had a dinner for him. Martha served the food and everyone enjoyed what she had made and they ate everything! Lazarus sat at the table with Jesus. But where was Mary?

Mary wanted to show everyone how special Jesus was. In those days when you went to someone’s house they always gave you some water to wash your feet. The roads were very dusty and people got their feet dirty.

But Mary wanted to do more than just give Jesus water to wash his feet. She had some very expensive ointment that she poured onto the feet of Jesus. The Bible tells us that the perfume from the anointment filled the whole house.

Mary was right to do this special thing for Jesus because he is God’s Son who would soon die to save us.

Paper plate picture to add to the others

Craft Idea – a perfume bottle made from a paper plate. Spray the bottle shape with perfume and allow to saok in and dry. Then decorate!

On the Way to Easter…Zacchaeus

Jesus is now in Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. Last time he met Bartimaeus. Now he meets Zacchaeus. Two very different people!

To tell the story… from Luke 19:1-10

Have a tree – you can make one from a pringle container or draw one – and a person to represent Zacchaeus. Place Zacchaeus in a story bag.

Jesus was now getting nearer to Jerusalem. Lots of people wanted to see Jesus as he walked through their town. They had heard a lot about all the amazing things that he had done.

One man really wanted to see Jesus. His name was Zacchaeus (can you say that name?) Let’s say hello to Zacchaeus as he comes out of the story bag.

Now Zacchaeus was very, very rich. He had loads of money. Some of his money he had by taking what wasn’t his! So people didn’t like Zacchaeus.

But that wasn’t all. Zacchaeus was a short man. So when Jesus was coming to his town he had a problem! He couldn’t see past the crowds! The crowds of people didn’t like Zacchaeus so they weren’t going to let him get to the front. Standing on tip toe didn’t help either. So Zacchaeus began to run. He ran to a tree. Then he did something that he hadn’t done for a long, long time. He climbed the tree. Now he could see Jesus.

And there Jesus was, walking along the road. And then Jesus stopped! Right under the tree. ‘Zacchaeus, come down. I’m coming to your house today!’ said Jesus.

Zacchaeus came down the tree. ‘I will give back all the money that isn’t mine and I will give extra money too’ he said.

Zacchaeus was a different person now that he had met Jesus.

Jesus said ‘I came to look for and to save the lost’. All of us are lost without Jesus. He is looking for us and is able to save us.

Craft Idea

The tree and Zacchaeus are available to download. The tree can be decorated with tissue paper, crepe paper and/or leaves cut from sugar paper with brown tissue paper for the tree trunk.

Tree Download

Zacchaeus-x21 Download

Our next paper plate to add to our ‘Journey to Jerusalem….’

This is what we are aiming for …..

On the Way to Easter…Bartimaeus

On the Way to Easter Bartimaeus. We are beginning to get ready for Easter at toddler group. This year we are going on the last journey that Jesus made into Jerusalem, meeting some of the people that Jesus met. Last week we met the Rich Young Man. This time on the Way to Easter we meet Bartimaeus. The Story is from Mark 10:46-52.

On the Way to Easter .. Bartimaeus Story Idea

Jesus and his friends were in a big crowd of people going to the city of Jerusalem. By now lots of people had heard about Jesus and the amazing things he said and did. (Do you remember the rich man from last time? – if you are using the paper plate visuals have this already displayed so you can refer to it briefly)

This time we are going to find out about another person that Jesus met as he travelled to Jerusalem for the last time. Say hello to Bartimaeus! (Take Bartimaeus doll or puppet from the Story Bag)

Bartimaeus wasn’t able to see and couldn’t work so each day he sat with his bowl and begged for money. He had heard about Jesus. He started to call out as loud as he could, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’

There were other people there too who wanted to see Jesus and they didn’t want to hear Bartimaeus. They said ‘Shush.’ Can we all say ‘Shush’?

But Jesus listened. He stopped. He asked to meet Bartimaeus.

‘Get up quick!’ the people said

Bartimaeus threw off his coat and jumped up and came to Jesus.

‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Jesus asked.

What would Bartimaeus say? Did he want money? No! Did he want a chat? No!

‘I want to be able to see!’ he said.

Could Jesus do that? Yes! Jesus was able to make Bartimaeus see. Bartimaeus believed in Jesus. He believed that Jesus had the power to make him see. We also need to believe in Jesus.

On the way to Easter ..Bartimaeus paper plate visual showing Bartimaeus standing by the roadside. — Our paper plate visual aid is Bartimaeus by the road that Jesus was travelling on. We will add this to the paper plate of the Rich Young Man.

On the Way to Easter...Bartimaeus paper plates showing Jesus' last journey into Jerusalem — This is all the stories put together – next time it’s all about a short man and a tree. Any guesses?!

On the Way to Easter.. the Rich Young Man

We are beginning to get ready for Easter at toddler group. This year we are going on the last journey that Jesus made into Jerusalem, meeting some of the people that Jesus met. Our first story is from Luke 18:18-23 and Mark 10:17-22. A rich young man comes to find Jesus as he is travelling to Jerusalem and asks him a question…

One day a young man came to speak to Jesus. He didn’t walk up to Jesus. He ran to Jesus. (Run on the spot) He wanted to ask a question. He thought that Jesus was important so he knelt down in front of him and asked ‘Teacher, what must I do to have eternal life?’ (kneel down)

It was a good question and the young man really wanted to know the answer.

Jesus said to him, ‘ You know what the Commandments are that God gave us, to tell us how to live to please him.’

‘I’ve kept them all since I was a young boy.’

Jesus looked at the young man. Jesus cared about him. Jesus wanted to help him. ‘Go, and sell all you have and give your money to the poor and then you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.’

But, oh dear, the young man had a lot of money.(Show money bag) He loved all his money very much. (Hug money bag to yourself) What a choice! Sell everything and give all his money away and follow Jesus or keep all his things and his money and go back home. What would he do?

The young man walked away from Jesus. (Walk on the spot, looking sad and dejected) He felt sad. He chose to keep his money.

Our first paper plate to make up our journey……

This is what we are working towards…

On the way to Easter with Peter – Jesus’ last meal

On the way to Easter with Peter – Jesus’ last meal Bible story. Bible references – Mark 14 and Luke 22 (see also the accounts in Matthew and John).

The following is a story idea for toddlers. Some of the details have been omitted as this age group would find all the details bewildering! As we are using Peter as our main character I have concentrated on two main parts that he played – getting the room ready and then his conversation with Jesus. His outburst about not letting Jesus wash his feet has been omitted. The concept of being clean as explained by Jesus is quite complicated for toddlers!

The story is quite sad – so don’t overdo the sadness. Just tell it like it happened. The aim is to tell about Peter’s failure in order that we can then tell about Jesus’ love and forgiveness.

Use some props for the story – puppets or knitted people, some pitta bread, a cushion and a picture of a rooster as children may not know what this is.

puppets, flat bread, picture of rooster for Last Supper Bible story

The story…

Do you remember that we are on our way to Easter with Peter? He is one of the friends of Jesus.

Jesus wanted to have a very special meal with his friends. He knew that this would be the last time that they would all be together before he died. But, some people wanted to hurt Jesus and so the meal had to be kept secret.

Jesus had an important job for two of his friends – John and Peter. ‘Go into the town and when you see a man carrying a water jar follow him into the house.Then ask if you can use the room upstairs.’ John and Peter did exactly what Jesus said and they got the room ready. There was a table for the food – some bread and wine to drink and some cushions to sit on.

Jesus and his friends sat down and had a meal together.

When they had finished they sang a song and then went outside for a walk. It was dark. The stars were twinkling in the sky.

Jesus wanted to talk to Peter. ‘You are going to let me down and say that you aren’t my friend’, he told him.

‘No!’ Peter said,’I will never do that!’

‘Peter, you will tell people you don’t even know me before the rooster crows to show it’s morning time’ Jesus said.

Would Peter do that just when Jesus needed his friends? We’ll have to wait and see!