Easter Traditions

I have two favorite holidays, Christmas and Easter.
Both of these holidays are based on and centered around Jesus. 
The most important man to have walked the Earth. 
Both of these holidays have been commercialized to the point that some children could actually grow up and not know that these days have anything to do with Jesus or God or salvation. 
I absolutely don't want my kids embracing the commercial ideology of these Holy holidays. I don't want my children's main reference for these holidays to be about Santa or the Easter Bunny. I'm not saying that I think those things are wrong or evil. But I don't want these worldly icons to be the first thing that comes to mind when these holidays are mentioned.  I want my children to understand that these holidays wouldn't exist if it hadn't been for the birth of a baby named Jesus. In fact, they wouldn't even be referred to as holidays if they hadn't begun as Holy days. 
As the keeper of traditions in my family it has been up to me to find meaningful ways to teach our kids the Biblical importance and meaning behind these Holy days. 
I like looking for new ways that we can stress the religious importance of these days with our kids. One thing we have participated in has been the Good Friday service at my Father's and Mother's church. This year, we are participating in our first Seder meal with our church. 
But, one of the simplest tools we have found to use is something called Resurrection Eggs. 
It is like an advent for Easter. You all know I love a good advent.
Resurrection Eggs were developed by the ministry, Family Life. 

Inside each kit is a dozen colored plastic Easter eggs.

There is also a guide and devotional for each day.

It contains daily Bible references for reading the Easter story and a devotional narrative. 

Inside each egg is a small object that coordinates with the days devotion.

The objects are sturdy for little hands.  

I have found that the hands on aspect of the objects in the eggs helps the daily lesson be more concrete in the minds of my children.

The last egg is saved for Easter morning for a very important reason. My little boys would always ask "Why is it empty?" because they were expecting another trinket. To which I could then respond, "Because God's not Dead!"

What a great object lesson to share with them! 

We really love this easy and creative way to keep Christ as the center of our Easter traditions. It is a great way to break down the Easter story in small bits for a child's short attention span. The hardest part is remembering to get it out 12 days before Easter!

You can find your own set of Resurrection Eggs here. It is being sold for only $9.99! 

We have had out set for 5 years and everything has held up really well. I would suggest that you keep it set apart and not let your children play with it like a toy.  We only get out the egg of the day and pass around the object inside. Then we put it away. Losing the pieces would make it a lot less fun next year. At the end of the holiday, I just pack it away with the rest of our Easter stuff. Because even though I want to keep our main focus on Jesus during this holiday, we still decorate eggs, have Easter baskets and egg hunts! I'm not about squelching all of the fun, just changing the focus!

If you are really crafty, I am sure you can find a few examples on Pinterest for making your own set of Resurrection eggs. 

It's not too late to start a new tradition for your family. Or you could pick one up as a creative baby shower gift! Do it this year even though you're getting a little bit of a late start. Otherwise you know you'll forget until next year! 

This opinion is my own. I was not compensated in any way by Family Life for the review on this product.