Kids Event Outline. As Children Arrive

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1 2012 CTA, Inc. Permission to make photocopies or reproduce by any other mechanical or electronic means is granted only to the original purchaser and is intended for use within a church or other Christian organization. Scripture quotation is from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV ), copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. #RBY2DC This event outline provides ideas for approximately an hour-long program. Each activity focuses on Jesus resurrection. It s perfect for use as a spring outreach event for children ages 3 to 9. Consider adapting it for your children s Sunday school event the weekend before or after Easter. Or use it in a mid-week Christian education event or Bible club. We ve planned your event for you including a Bible story presentation, snack, activities, and songs for young learners! May God bless you as you share the joy of Jesus resurrection with the kids in your care. If you have ideas for how we might make future events even more useful in your ministry, be sure to let us know! You may us at editor@ctainc.com

2 Kids Event Outline In this event outline, you will find suggestions for activities, songs, snacks, and Bible Time. Choose the activities you wish to use, taking into account the size of your group, your guests ages and interests, their background knowledge, skill levels, and the time-frame you have scheduled. As Children Arrive Warmly greet children and parents as they arrive. Give each child a Resurrection Butterfly Goodie Bag (#RBY2TS12). Help those who need help using markers to write their names on their bags. (You will need to use a permanent marker to write on the plastic, so supervise carefully to ensure ink doesn t stain any child s clothes. As an alternative, affix large, self-adhesive labels to each Goodie Bag. Then the children can use washable markers to write their names on the labels.) HINT: Later in this event, you will assign the children to small groups for work in the activity centers. You will likely want 4-6 children in each small group. Consider using the Goodie Bag arrival activity to create these groups. For example, use a blue marker to write names on 4-6 different Goodie Bags, a red marker for a second group of 4-6 Goodie Bags, a green marker for a third group, and so on. Later on, you can easily create a blue group, a red group, a green group, and the like. Introduce the students to each other as each child arrives, and help everyone learn newcomers names. Engage everyone in conversation, using questions like these: What do you know about butterflies? Have you seen any caterpillars or butterflies this spring? Where did you see one? What did it look like? How is a butterfly different from a caterpillar? What happens to a caterpillar when it makes a chrysalis? What s a chrysalis? (Most moths make cocoons; most butterflies make chrysalises.) How does a butterfly remind you of the new life Jesus gives? We ll find out very soon! When most of your guests have arrived and you re ready to begin today s small-group activities, say something like this: We re here today to celebrate the new life Jesus has for us. The new life Jesus gives will last forever! Let s pray for our time together. Encourage everyone to fold their hands and close their eyes. Pray using words like: Dear Jesus, thank you for today. Be with us as we learn about the new life you give us. We love you, Jesus! Amen.

3 Small-Group Activities That Teach NOTE: You likely won t have time for all the activities suggested below, so choose from among them those that best fit the guests you hope will attend and that make the best use of the products, resources, and volunteers available to you. Assign the children to groups of from four to six each. (If you color-coded the names on the Goodie Bags as the children arrived, explain that now.) Each group should include some older children and some younger ones. Assign one adult to each group. This person will shepherd the children in their group from activity to activity. These adult guides should offer encouragement and show Jesus love and care. Explain that the groups will move from one activity to the next every 15 minutes or so. Then ring a bell or play the traveling music the group will hear when it s time to rotate. Then begin. Bible Center Seat children near you so they can see the pictures as you read the book The Resurrection Butterfly (#RBY2SCTS, includes free Goodie Bag). Get listeners ready for the story with words like these: Watch the butterfly in this story as it helps us remember the special time when Jesus died for our sins and came alive again on the very first Resurrection Day. Read the story, pausing to allow the children to take in the illustrations on each page. You will also want to point out the colors as they are added to the butterfly on each page. After reading the book, invite the children to listen to the whole story of Jesus resurrection. Read a simplified version from a children s Bible. Then ask, Why did Jesus die? (He died to take away our sins.) No one but Jesus could die for sins, because Jesus never sinned at all not even one time! He kept all of God s laws perfectly for us. Then he took our sins the wrong things we do to the cross. He suffered the punishment that we deserved. Jesus died for us! Did Jesus stay dead? (No! Jesus came alive again on the first Resurrection Day!) Now we are God s very own children. Jesus lives and gives us new life. The life we have in Jesus will never end! If time will allow, teach children this cheer. Say the words and demonstrate the action; then let the children echo both: I know (tap forehead with index finger two times) It s true (tap fist two times into opposite hand s palm) Jesus died (use index finger to tap nail marks in each hand palm) For you (point both index fingers outward) I know (tap forehead with index finger two times) It s true (tap fist two times into opposite hand s palm) Jesus lives (raise both hands over head) For you! (point both index fingers outward) As the children leave this activity center, give each a copy of the book The Resurrection Butterfly (#RBY2SCTS, includes free Goodie Bag). Encourage them to put it in their Goodie Bag, take it home, and share this true story with friends and members of their family.

4 Resurrection Window Cling Scatter a collection of colorful, permanent markers on the table. Help each child don a paint shirt or apron. Distribute the Resurrection Butterfly Color-Your-Own Window Cling (#RBY2CL) and invite children to use the markers to color the cling. You might want to point out the color-by-number chart on the backer card. (Caution children that the markers may stain clothing, so they must work very carefully.) As the groups work, read the poem on the backer card, connecting the resurrection story to the colors they re using. Remind the children that Jesus died to take away all our sins the wrong things we do and the good things we could do, but don t do. Even though Jesus never sinned not even once he loved us so much that he died in our place. He let himself be punished instead of us. Now we can say, "Jesus, please forgive me," and he always will. The best part of all is that Jesus didn t stay dead. He came alive again! Now we know for sure that Jesus will always be our Friend and Savior. Explain that the cling will stick to a window. If possible, demonstrate this. As the light shines through the colorful cling, encourage the children to remember how much Jesus loves them. The colors of the butterfly will shine and remind them of the resurrection story. Jesus love can shine through us to others, too. Encourage your listeners to share the Good News of Christ s resurrection with friends, family, and other people in their lives. Encourage the children to put their completed window cling in their Goodie Bag, take it home, and place it in a window where it can remind the entire family about Christ s love. Song Center Teach children the following song to the tune If You re Happy and You Know It. Use the accompanying actions to help each group learn the words and sing with confidence and joy. Explain that because Jesus loves us, he willingly died on the cross instead of us. His resurrection crushed the power of sin and death forever. Jesus is our kind, good friend now and forever. If you know that Jesus loves you, Clap your hands! (Clap, clap) If you know that Jesus loves you, Clap your hands! (Clap, clap) Jesus died for you and me on the cross at Calvary (make cross with index fingers) Now he lives and so will we, (arms raised above head toward the sky) Clap your hands! (Clap, clap) Sing the song again. This time suggest a different action. Rather than Clap your hands say, Stomp your feet or Shout hooray! Challenge children to think about people who need to hear the Good News of Jesus resurrection that s everyone! Jesus, our Savior, loves everyone! He wants all people to believe and be saved. Pray together. Ask Jesus to help you share the Good News as you go and tell others about his love. As time will allow, sing other favorite songs about Jesus death and resurrection.

5 Snack and Resurrection Activity Bookmark Center The Resurrection Rolls described below take about ten minutes to bake, so get students started on the recipe first. Then, while the rolls bake, have them work on the activity bookmark. Begin by handing each child a triangle of dough from a tube of prepackaged crescent rolls. Help them make the stuffing for each roll by dipping a large marshmallow into melted butter and then into a cinnamon/sugar mixture. Help them wrap the marshmallow inside the dough triangle and seal the edges. As the children work, tell them: When Jesus died, his friends wrapped his body and placed him inside a tomb (a cave-like grave). It was a sad, sad day for the friends and followers of Jesus. But soon their sadness turned into surprise and joy because Jesus came alive! Place the rolls on parchment paper. Use a pencil to jot each child s name next to his or her treat. Then put the rolls into an oven preheated to 350 degrees. Bake the treats for 10 to 12 minutes. While the snack bakes and then as it cools a bit, let students work on this bookmark activity. Give one bookmark (#RBY2JAK) to each child, and invite the children to describe the picture on it (a butterfly). Read the bookmark aloud and explain how the children might use it to tell someone about our loving and powerful Savior, Jesus. Use questions like these to draw out more facts: What does risen or resurrected mean? (Jesus came alive from the dead.) Why did Jesus die? (To wash away our sins; Jesus let himself be punished for our sins he had no sins of his own.) How does a butterfly remind us of Jesus death and resurrection? (God gives butterflies new life and they emerge from their dark chrysalises. God gave Jesus new life. He emerged from death s dark tomb.) What makes Jesus resurrection such a happy thing for us? (Our sins are gone; we are friends of God; we know Jesus love now and will experience it forever in heaven; his love for us never stops!)

6 The children s answers will vary, depending on which other centers the children have already visited and on the group s previous experiences in Christian education at home and church. Coach them as appropriate. The Resurrection Butterfly Activity Bookmark (#RBY2JAK) comes with colorful stickers. Show the children how to use these stickers to decorate the butterfly on the back of the bookmark. If older children finish early, suggest that they find the story of Jesus resurrection in the Bible and use their bookmark to mark the place. The children may discover that the Bible records Christ s resurrection in several places because it is such a wonderful truth! After the rolls have cooled a bit, let the children eat their snack. You may also want to serve juice or another boxed drink. Encourage the children to unwrap the dough to find the marshmallow. It is no longer there! (The marshmallow melts and the dough puffs up.) Remind students how surprised the followers of Jesus felt on that first Resurrection Day. They expected to find Jesus body in his tomb on the first Easter morning long ago. Instead, angels greeted them with this surprising and happy, happy news: Jesus is not here! He is no longer dead. Jesus has risen! He is alive! As the children leave this center, have each put their Resurrection Butterfly Activity Bookmark (#RBY2JAK) in their Goodie Bag, take it home, and show it to friends and family members. Encourage them to tell everyone what the bookmark says, who Jesus is, and what he has done for us. Resurrection Chant Large-Group Activities As the groups complete the center activities, have them come together in a large, central area. Teach the group the following chant/cheer, and keep performing it until each of the small groups has joined the large group. The leader will say the words while making alternating lap and hand claps in rhythm. Students will join in with the words as they learn them. Come on, everybody, let s cheer Hooray For Jesus he s our Savior and he lives today! He died upon a cross on Calvary And then he came alive for you and me! So o o o (Then repeat the chant from the beginning. You may vary the students pats/claps by using stomps, jumps, cheers, and other movements.)

7 Egg Hunt Make sure everyone has the Resurrection Butterfly Goodie Bag (#RBY2TS12) they received as they arrived. By now, the bags will have several take-home items in them. They will add eggs from the egg hunt now, too. Explain the Egg Hunt process, boundaries, and rules. Have plenty of adult helpers available to ensure no child wanders off and to make sure everyone enjoys a fun, safe time. You may want to pair very young children with a parent, an older child, or an adult helper. Explain that you have hidden one special egg for each child: the Resurrection Butterfly Gospel Easter Egg (#RBY2EG). Each child may take home just one of these eggs. If they find more than one, they are to leave the additional eggs for other children to find. Then release the group to find the hidden eggs. When most of the eggs have been found, call everyone to a central location. If possible, have them sit down with you. Repeat the Resurrection Chant one last time. Thank everyone for coming and make sure they have all their take-home items. In addition, give visiting children a letter, brochure, or other invitation (see a ready-made customizable one at welcoming them and those in their family to visit your church and to consider becoming a part of your church family, if they don t already have a church family of their own. After the event and cleanup, gather volunteers one last time. Pray for the children who attended and their families, asking God to bless the Word he has planted in their hearts. Ask that Jesus gift of eternal life will forever remain their most precious possession.