Sunday, April 5, 2009

Easter

****I am several weeks behind in my posts. We have had FHE each week, but I just haven't had the time to share what we have done recently, as I prepare for our new baby. However I came up with our Easter FHE for Monday night and thought I'd share it with anyone still looking for ideas. There won't be any pics until tomorrow night, but here are the plans.

Opening Song: "Did Jesus Really Live Again?"

Attention Activity: Hide the 12 Resurrection Eggs (see below) and allow the children to find them and place them in a basket.

Lesson: Resurrection Eggs. The idea is to place objects representing the last week of the Savior's life inside eggs to teach about Easter. There are tons of ways to do these and I have found lots of ideas on the internet. I have combined my favorite ideas for toddlers and preschoolers here below. WE ARE NOT DOING THESE ALL IN ONE NIGHT. OUR FAMILY HAS DECIDED TO DOspread the 12 eggs over the entire week at bedtime for our family scripture study between FHE and Easter Sunday. But they could be used as a lesson if your kids' attention span is a little longer. We are just introducing the eggs and Opening the first one at FHE.

A-Gather 12 Easter Eggs and number them on the outside. Fill them with the following objects and collect the pictures from your Gospel Art Kit or find them online here.

B-Allow the children to open each egg in order and ask the children to look at the picture or listen for the scripture story to talk about the object in the egg. I am reading the scripture on the back of each picture. In some cases there was no picture so I am using the Children's New Testament. (CNT)

1- Palm Sunday: a leaf : GAK 223 (Monday Night)
2- The Sacrament/ Last Supper: a sacrament cup GAK 225 (Tuesday Night)
3- Jesus Washes the Disciples Feet: a cloth GAK 226 (Tuesday Night)
4- The Garden of Gethsemane: rock GAK 227 (Wednesday Night)
5- Judas's Betrayal: three dimes GAK 228 (Wednesday Night)
6: The King of The Jews: thorns CNT pg. 117 Chapter 41((Thursday Night)
7: The Cruxifiction: a cross made of toothpicks GAK 230 (Friday Night)
8: The Cruxifiction: a nail GAK 230 (Friday Night)
9: Mocking the Savior's Thirst: a sponge GAK 230 (Friday Night)
10: Preparing the Savior's Body for Burial: a bundle of cloves GAK 231(Saturday Night)

11: The Stone in Front of the Tomb is Moved: a stone–rounded would be best GAK 232/245 (Saturday Night)
12: The Savior is Resurrected: leave empty GAK 239 (Sunday morning before our Easter Baskets)

Activities:

1-We played the Savior Matching Game together. I printed and colored the pieces and placed them in a basket. The boys took turns taking out a piece and matching it to the game board while I read the sentence about Jesus.

2-I made these moveable Easter Story Pieces from the Friend for the boys and we said the fingerplay below while we moved the pieces .

Jesus is Risen (Fingerplay)

by Dana Eaton

Here is the place where Jesus lay; (point)

See, the stone has been rolled away!

Stoop down; look in (stoop sown and shade eyes with hand)

He is not here! (stand up)

Jesus is risen! Be of good cheer! (clap hands)


3-Then we painted Easter Eggs together. We have found painting boiled eggs with washable paint to be an enjoyable and less messy experience for everyone.


Closing Song: "He Sent His Son."




Obedience

Opening Song: "Quickly I'll Obey"

Story: I told the boys a story about a little lamb who kept leaving his fence and running away. I asked them why the farmer had a fence for his lamb. We talked about how the fence kept the lamb safe. I told them that this is why we have rules and why we need to listen to Mommy and Daddy, so we can be safe and happy. The boys helped me build a fence for our lamb while we talked about what kinds of rules keep us safe in our family. Then we read Ephesians 6:1.



Activity: We talked about the rules on the road that keep us safe, too. We played "Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light" with our cars speeding around the house. We had to practice obeying the rules together.



Art: We made our own traffic lights that said "I Can Obey." Andrew cut his out on his own and wrote the words and glued it down. I had pre-cut Ryan's and written the words for him, so he just glued his down.



Closing Song: "Choose the Right"