Last Easter, I found myself thinking my Easter celebrations could use some beefing up too. Celebrating the Resurrection is the highest of High Holidays (if LDS folk did High Holidays).. but I felt like I was doing very little to be really celebrating (and not just enjoying some tasty candy and a big dinner). So I went questing for something special; a sort of parallel to my Advent.
In my searching, I came across this website that had a Holy Week already made with scriptures, songs, activities and a visual reminder built into the celebrations. Perfect! So, I saved the site and this year we gave it a go.
Palm Sunday
We read the passage in John 12:12-19 (it was the shortest and thus best suited to Townshend's fleeting attention span). Then we talked about the meaning of "Hosanna" (which we simplified to "So happy!") and watched this video of the Lord's Triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Then came our attempt at acting out the scene.
We had the paper palm leaves, and Townshend enjoyed waving those around shouting, by turns, "JESUS!" and "HOSANNA!", but when it came time for riding the Daddy, he balked. However, our big Panda got to be Jesus and Towshend was the one who got to make sure he didn't fall off the Daddy Donkey. I got to wave the palms and shout, "Hosanna!" Though this was the best picture of the fun, the activity went over well; we acted it out a few times, with many giggles.
Mad Monday
I printed up some colorful play money and we set up our "table" of money-changers. Then we read Mark 11:15-19 and talked about how temples are for praying and thinking about Heavenly Father, not for selling things and making money. We also talked about how Jesus is perfect, but he got mad sometimes and it's ok to be mad sometimes. Then we watched this video. Next came the reenactment of Jesus cleansing the temple.
This activity was another hit. We set up and tossed over the "table", money and animals several times. (then, naturally, this ended with all the cushions coming off all the couches to become a train for all the animals to ride)
Teaching Tuesday
Today we watched a lot of movies about the teachings of Jesus; not so photogenic an activity but pretty good for holding Townshend's attention. Also, it was fun to be reminded of some of the stories Jesus used to teach principles.
We finished off by reading through the story of the Widow's Mite in Luke 21:1-4 and then Townshend colored a picture of it.
Spy Wednesday
So, today the site I've been using recommended talking about Judas betraying Jesus for 30 silver coins. We did talk with Townshend about that, but it's hard to say how much he absorbed. So, we also talked about more stories of Jesus and I bounced around on YouTube finding reenactments of favorite stories like the Good Samaritan. During this process I stumbled across a series of videos called God's Story and they had a good summation of the Easter story. It was nice 'cuz it was simple, clear and handled the death of Christ with a tone that I was comfortable with my 3yr old watching and it lead to him asking a few questions and I felt like we had a pretty good discussion of things.
We watched some more of God's Story videos too (Mary and Martha, Jesus heals a Man). I'll have to add these to the "approved list" of videos we watch on Sundays (while I try to avoid so many cars and trucks videos).
Passover Thursday
So, Townshend loooooooves watching videos; it's his favorite activity that is "super fun." They also seem to enhance his retention, or at least hold his 3yr old attention best. Consequently, as the activities have become more abstract, we've been watching a lot of Jesus movies to supplement. Today we watched this one and talked about the Sacrament as well as how this was Jesus' last dinner with his friends before he died. Then, for dinner we had our own (very inauthentic) Passover Dinner.
An unusual combination of flavors, perhaps, but it carried the Easter conversation into dinner, so Yay!
Good Friday
On this day we drove to visit family, so we didn't do anything specifically about the Crucifixion. Though, to be honest, I"m no that sad about it; I never really found a movie depiction that would be tame enough for my 3yr old.
Spirit World Saturday
The thing about Grandma and Grandpa's house is that they have *excellent* toys. So, while we did talk about Forever Families and temples, and Jesus visiting the Spirit World (from 1 Peter 3), the reality looked more like this:
One can never have too many cars!
Easter Sunday
Sunday was another day for travel, so we kept things simple. At our church service we sang some of my favorite Easter hymns and had great talks on the Resurrection. And whatever they talked about in Primary (kid's sunday school) was Easter-y too cuz as we picked him up, Townshend had to finish "getting ready for Easter" before we could head home.
It was a lovely morning to remember our Savior and that He is risen!
1 comment:
Sounds like an excellent Easter observation! Glad we were able to share part of it with you!
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