Multi-Sensory Easter Story Talk and Activity

This talk is suitable for smaller groups of children or even for a larger group as long as you have plenty of resources to go around!  The talk goes through key events of the Easter story and involves touch, taste, sound, sight and smell.  Beware allergies!!

You will need: bread, some stones, salt water in a pot, nails, a piece of wood, salt and vinegar crisps, a bandage, a hollow, chocolate Easter egg, scented candle and lighter

bread- Talk about the last supper.  Jesus gathered his friends around to share a last meal, to prepare them for what would happen and tell them how to remember him.  Share out pieces of the bread

stone- Gethsemane.  After the meal, Jesus went to a garden to pray for strength and that God would help him in the coming days.  Children take a stone and hold onto it.  Think of things in their life that are hard.  Ask God to help them.

Nails- After being arrested, Jesus is led out to be crucified and is nailed to the cross.  Hammer the nails into the wood and talk about the sights and sounds of the crucifixion

Salt and vinegar crisps- People were standing with Jesus while he was on the cross and gave him some sour wine or vinegar to drink. This sourness also helps us to remember the pain Jesus went through on the cross. Pass round the salt and vinegar crisps.

Salt water-Get a couple of children to dip their finger into the water so that they can taste the salt.  This saltwater represents the tears of the people who cried for Jesus when he died on Good Friday.

Bandages- When Jesus was dead, his friends took him down from the cross, wrapped his body and put him in a tomb, putting a stone in front of the entrance. so that it was completely closed.  They couldn't prepare his body because it was their special Holy day and they wanted to keep him safe until it was over and they could come back.

Hollow Easter egg- This represents the closed tomb (Hold the egg to show that it is completely sealed- you might need to hold it if it comes in two separate halves!)

Scented candles-Women arrived on the third day with spices to get the body ready (light the candle so the children can smell it)

But...

Pick up the egg- and break it open to reveal the hollow inside.  Jesus wasn’t there! Like a baby chick breaks out of an egg shell (or a butterfly out of a cocoon) as a sign of the start of new life, Jesus rose to new life out of the tomb. He was no longer dead.  He is alive!  When Jesus died, it seemed as if everything had gone wrong for his friends and followers but God had other plans.  Something amazing happened! Even if we’ve done wrong things or think that things will never get better, God has other plans! If we go to Jesus, say sorry to him and ask him to help us then, because he loves us so much, we have a chance at a new start too.  This is exciting and amazing and is a gift for everyone!

Share out the egg with the children as a symbol of the gift of new life and new starts that Jesus brings us.