EASTER EVENT OUTLINE
Sing and Shout! Jesus Lives! This event outline provides ideas for a one-hour Resurrection Day/Easter event based on the theme Sing and Shout! Jesus Lives! It s perfect as a spring outreach event for children ages 3 to 9 years old. It can also be adapted for your Sunday school Easter celebration or as a special event for your church s Bible club. The event includes a Bible story presentation, snack idea, and activities. Choose the activities you wish to use, taking into account the size of your group, the children s ages and interests, their background knowledge and skill levels, and the time available to you. May God bless you as you share the joy of Jesus resurrection with the children in your care! As Children Arrive Position group leaders throughout your welcome area and urge them to greet families warmly as they arrive. Gather children in groups, four to six children per group. Mix older children with younger ones in each group. That way, experienced children can help the little ones. Assign one or two adult leaders to stay with each group throughout the event. Group leaders can prepare a goodie bag for each child by writing the child s name on the bag with a permanent marker (order item SAS7TS12 for goodie bags alone or SAS7SCTS for the soft-cover book with free goodie bag). As the children wait for everyone to arrive, leaders should engage the children in conversations about exciting events that make them want to sing and shout. Consider the following: Share an exciting event from your personal life, perhaps when you attended a special sports event, met a famous personality, or watched a rocket blast off into space! Demonstrate how you looked and acted during the event. For example, jump up and down, shout yahoo! or sing as you do a happy dance! Invite children to tell you about events that make them excited. Encourage them to demonstrate how they look and sound when they are really excited. Then use words like: Did you know that the Bible tells us about many exciting events? It was really exciting when God parted the Red Sea so that Moses and the people of Israel could escape Pharaoh. The people sang and danced for joy! And when God caused the walls of Jericho to fall down flat? That was really exciting, too! It was exciting when angels told shepherds that the Savior, Jesus, was born. The angels sang songs of praise and the shepherds excitedly raced to find the newborn King. Today, you ll learn about the most exciting event in the entire Bible. This good news will make you want to sing and shout with excitement and joy! 2 Play Hum and Guess. Here s how: Tell children that you will hum a melody and they should guess the exciting event each song indicates. Try these: Happy Birthday (birthday), Take Me Out to the Ballgame (baseball event), Lullaby and Good Night (birth of a baby), Here Comes the Bride (wedding), Bugler s Dream (Olympics theme music), and Jingle Bells (Christmas).
Play the echo game. Form a circle. Begin with a simple cheer ( hooray! ). Then invite the child next to you to echo your cheer and add his own cheer or action (for example, fist pump). Continue in the same manner, with each child in the circle demonstrating the sequence and adding an excited noise or action to the ones already demonstrated. Help all the students to be successful giving hints or clues, as needed. You want everyone to feel accepted and excited to be at your event. After everyone arrives, it s time to begin the small-group activities. Get everyone s attention and explain that the groups will be moving from one activity to the next. Let them know that you will give a signal (ringing a bell, sounding a whistle, or playing traveling music ) every ten minutes to indicate that it s time to rotate. Small-Group Activities That Teach Familiarize yourself with the book Sing and Shout! Jesus Lives! (order item SAS7SCTS). You can also download the free PowerPoint version of the Bible story. In addition, prepare a poster with the words Jesus lives! printed in large letters. As you begin reading, invite children to sing along and chant words with you. Each time Jesus lives! is shown in the text, have an assistant display the poster to your listeners. Encourage the kids to stand and shout, Jesus lives! After the presentation, use the following questions to talk about the Bible story: Why did Jesus die on the cross? (He died to take away our sins.) Did Jesus stay in the grave? (No! He came alive on the most exciting day of all Resurrection Day.) Because of Jesus, we are God s very own children. Jesus lives, forgives, and gives us new life. Talk about exciting! One day we ll live with Jesus, our Savior, in heaven! This Good News makes me want to sing and shout! Jesus lives! After story time, helpers can hand out copies of Sing and Shout! Jesus Lives! books for the children to take home. Encourage the children to share the book and its exciting message with a grown-up, sibling, or friend. If time remains, repeat pages of the book that include the words Jesus lives! Invite children to add a celebratory action as they cheer the words. Join together to sing favorite songs from the book, too. Snack Time For each child, you ll need: one square graham cracker one half of a mini-donut one small round cracker To share among the children, you ll need: White icing Green sprinkles Ahead of time, break apart the graham crackers. Right before the children arrive, use icing to make a cross on each square. Place one prepared graham cracker, a half mini-donut, and a small round cracker on a napkin for each child. At each child s place, also fill a Sing and Shout! Jesus Lives! plastic tumbler (order item SAS7PT) with water or juice. 3
Tell the children that they will help assemble the snack. Caution eager listeners not to eat yet! Encourage older students to help younger ones follow the directions to make a resurrection scene. Ask: What shape can you see on the big cracker? Why do you think there is a cross drawn there? Why did Jesus die? Where did friends of Jesus put his body? They put Jesus into a tomb. A large rock was set in front of the tomb s opening. Demonstrate how to place the half-donut (cut side down) on the longest strip of frosting to resemble a hill. The hole of the donut will form the opening of the tomb. Place the round cracker over the hole. A bit of frosting can help hold it in place, if necessary. Sprinkle grass (green sugar sprinkles) on the icing in front of the tomb. Early on Easter morning, there was an earthquake! An angel from heaven rolled the stone away from the tomb! Jesus came alive! Move the small cracker aside so that the empty tomb is visible. What exciting, joyful news! Jesus is alive! It makes me want to sing and shout! Jesus lives! Invite the children to eat, remembering that Jesus died for each one of them on the cross. Crafts Here are a few options. Choose the craft that best fits your situation and the children at your event. Jesus Lives! Foam Activity Each child will need one of CTA s Sing and Shout! Jesus Lives! foam activity kits (order item SAS7AK). Help students assemble the kit as directed. As the children work, talk about places they might display their projects. Remind them: Every time you see your completed project, you can remember how Jesus came alive for you! on the first Easter! Jesus resurrection makes me want to sing and shout! Whenever you hear me say, sing and shout, I want you to shout, Jesus lives! Practice a few times as you circulate among the group, helping the kids with the craft as needed. Jesus loved you so much that he willingly died for you on the cross. He never did anything wrong, but he let himself be punished for your sins. That s a lot of love, isn t it? That s love so big that it makes me want to sing and shout! Children respond, Jesus lives! Then Jesus rose from the dead to show that you are forgiven. That s a lot of power, isn t it? That s power so big that I want to sing and shout! Children respond, Jesus lives! God s love and power, in Jesus, can help you today. Your Savior can help you love others and even forgive them when they hurt you! That s a lot of help. It s help so great that it makes me want to sing and shout! Children respond, Jesus lives! And all of us can look forward to the joy and excitement God our heavenly Father has for us life with him in heaven! That will be so wonderful that it makes me want to sing and shout! Children respond, Jesus lives! Children who finish early may help younger participants. You might also keep them busy with an activity book (order item SAS7AB for ages 7 11; order item SAS7GF for ages 3 6). 4
Resurrection Wind Sock What You ll Need Copies of the wind sock pattern at the end of this guide Washable markers, crayons, colored pencils, glitter pens, liquid chalk markers Small spring-themed stickers (optional) Stapler Tape or quick-set glue Tissue paper (various colors that have been cut into long, narrow strips) Scissors Paper punch String What You ll Do 1. Print one copy of the wind sock template for each child, using medium- to heavyweight paper for durability. Or, if you prefer, gather light-colored construction paper for the children to design and decorate on their own. Also, precut several strips of tissue paper approximately two inches wide and 12 inches long. 2. Help students write their name on the back side of the paper. Encourage students to decorate the front side of the paper as they wish using markers, crayons, stickers, and other craft materials. Help young children read the Sing and Shout! Jesus Lives! printed on the paper. If you are using construction paper, help students print these words on their wind sock. (Print the words on scrap paper if students need help spelling.) 3. Have adult leaders roll up the paper, end to end, creating a cylinder about 3 5 inches in diameter. Staple the cylinder in place. Then let students choose which colored tissue paper strips to glue or tape to the bottom of the wind sock. 4. Punch two holes in the top edge of the wind sock, directly across from each other. Run string through both holes and tie a knot to form a handle. 5. Suggest that children hang their wind sock somewhere at home as a reminder that Jesus is alive! That s good news that makes us want to sing and shout! Jesus lives! 5
Games and Fun Choose the game(s) below that will work best in your setting and are age-appropriate for your children. Before each game, explain the rules and how the game can remind everyone to sing and shout Jesus is alive! Show Your Moves! Use the rhythm chant sheet and maracas (order item SAS7TY6P) to teach children the songs and chants. Prepare the action cube as shown on the template provided at the end of this guide. Form a large circle. Give maracas to everyone. Practice one of the chants or songs together until most of the kids know what to say and how to keep the beat. Then ask three volunteers to put down their maracas and move to the center of the circle. Roll the action cube. Explain that when the chant or song begins again, children inside the circle will perform the action noted on the action cube, while the remainder of the group will say or sing the chant or song as rehearsed. (Caution the children performing the actions to move carefully.) When the chant or song has ended, the action volunteers will switch places with three other children in the circle. These new volunteers will give their maracas to the former volunteers and get ready to move after the action cube is rolled. Continue in the same way until everyone has had a chance to show their moves! Invite the group to sit down. Praise students for their moves. Say: Sometimes we are so excited and happy, we just have to move! Dance! Cheer! Sing! Shout! Jesus friends felt that way on the very first Easter Day. But it wasn t always like that. Jesus disciples were not happy when he died on the cross. They didn t understand why he would die to pay for our sins. But Jesus loves us so much that he took all of our mean, sad, hurtful sins to his cross. There, Jesus paid for all of our sins, forever. Jesus died for you, and you, and you, and me, too for all the wrong things we ve ever said or done. Jesus suffered and died for us because he loves us. And then, Jesus came alive! That is great news! Jesus really loves us a lot! And more great news our powerful, living Savior is with us always! Sing and shout! Jesus lives! Domino Dash Prepare 10 dominoes by placing masking tape over the dots. Then print one word of the Bible verse on each taped domino. Print the Scripture reference on the final domino: [Jesus said,] I am the resurrection, and the life. John 11:25 Make two sets of the prepared dominoes. Place dominoes on the table, face down, so the Bible words are hidden. Scramble the dominoes. Divide the children into two teams and see which team can be the first to display the entire Bible verse in the correct order. (You may want to post the Bible verse so that the teams can easily refer to it as they play.) Play begins as one child flips over a domino. If it is the first word of the Bible verse, the child can set the domino up on end and take another turn, trying to find the second word in the Bible verse. If the domino is not the word needed, the child will return the domino to its place, face down. The next child takes a turn. Children continue to take turns in the same way until the Bible verse is complete. The child to reveal the final domino gets to push the row of dominoes down to signal success! 6 After several rounds of the game, sit together. Ask: Why did Jesus say these words? What do these words say about Jesus power? Jesus is alive! He is stronger than death! He died on the cross to pay for our sins, but then he came alive again! Sing and shout! Jesus lives!
Egg Roll You ll need four Sing and Shout! Jesus Lives! plastic tumblers for each team (order item SAS7PT). Also gather plastic eggs one egg for each team and place a few marbles inside each egg. Securely tape the eggs closed. Designate a starting line and plan to stack the cups a short distance away. Assemble the cups to form a single tower, stacking cups top to top, then bottom to bottom. Divide the children into teams. Explain the object of the game: to be the first team to knock down the tower of cups by rolling the egg into it. Encourage team members to enthusiastically cheer for their team. Play several rounds of the game until everyone has had a chance to participate. Say: Did you notice as you played, that no matter how you try to aim the egg, it sometimes moves in an unexpected way? Life is kind of like that. Sometimes unexpected things happen. Some unexpected things are happy surprises. Some unexpected things aren t so happy; some are very sad. But no matter what, we can remember that Jesus is alive. He is our very best Friend, and he is always with us to help and encourage us. No matter what happens good or bad Jesus is alive! He is stronger than death! That changes everything! Sing and shout! Jesus lives! If time permits, you can help the children work on a page in their activity books. Or you may choose to play another game. Large-Group Egg Hunt As children complete their last small-group activity, have them return to the central meeting area where you began. As each group arrives, sing If You re Happy Jesus Lives, Sing and Shout! found in the Sing and Shout! Jesus Lives! book. (You may find it helpful to print the lyrics on a large sheet of poster paper or poster board ahead of time and display it where everyone can see it.) Keep repeating the song, but as the children learn it, add pats, claps, stomps, jumps, and cheers, as you like. If you haven t already given goodie bags to the children, hand them out now. Explain the guidelines you have set for your egg hunt. Be sure the children understand that they may take only one of the special Jumbo Gospel Easter Eggs (order items SAS7BEG and SAS7XEG). If they find a second one, they should leave it for a friend to find. You may want to pair up young children with older children or adult helpers to make sure each participant finds and keeps just one Jumbo Gospel Easter Egg. When the children finish the egg hunt, invite them to come back to the central area one last time. Repeat the song once again. Thank the kids for coming and make sure they each have the take-home items. In addition, give visiting children a letter, brochure, or postcard that invites them and other family members to join your church family for worship this Easter. After the event and cleanup, gather volunteers. Pray together for the children who attended and for their families, asking the Holy Spirit to bless the Word he has planted in their hearts. Ask that Jesus gift of eternal life will become and forever remain their most precious possession. 2017 CTA, Inc. www.ctainc.com Permission to make photocopies or reproduce by any other mechanical or electronic means is granted and is intended for use within a church or other Christian organization, but not for resale. #SAS7DCE 7
I am the resurrection, and the life. John 11:25
spin jump stomp clap hop Directions: Cut out the template and fold the tabs to create the die. Tape inside tabs securely and tape all around the outside edges for durability. Demonstrate each action to the students before you begin to play the game. dance 9