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