Easter Craft: Resurrection Eggs

Last year Stephanie posted about Resurrection Eggs. It was the first I had ever heard of anything like that. You can buy them here, but I decided to make my own. I didn't have to buy anything! We already had plastic easter eggs because we hang onto them every year, and then for the little objects inside, we used what we could find around the house, or we made it. Stephanie lists the items at the end of her post so you can make your own. For a few of them, I used something else. Here's what I did:

First, I gathered 12 plastic easter eggs and an egg carton to hold them in. This particular egg carton is from a box of confetti eggs. Then I labeled them 1-12 using removable stickers. You can also write the number in permanent marker directly onto the easter egg.

Second, I gathered all the object to put inside. You can refer to Stephanie's list on her post.

1. Palm leaves (Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people waved palm branches.) As you can see above, I used a pirate playmobil section of palm leaves. It fit perfectly inside the egg.
2. 
   
   Cotton ball with perfume. (Mary poured expensive perfumes on Jesus's feet.)
3. 
   
   Bread and Wine (the last supper). I used a piece of chex cereal, and a goblet from a Playmobil pirate treasure chest. (playmobil has come in so handy!)
4. 
   
   Silver (Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver). I raided HF's chest of drawers for spare silver coins.
5. 
   
   Cross (Jesus carried his own cross). we cut 2 toothpicks and glued them together.
6. 
   
   Crown of thorns (Soldiers placed a crown of thorns on Jesus's head). You could use a small branch of thorns, or a single thorn. We used a square of purple cloth to represent the cloak they put on him to mock him, and I printed off a small clipart picture of a crown of thorns to put in there with it. I didn't have any access to thorns.
7. 
   
   Dice (Soldiers cast lots for Jesus's garments)
8. 
   
   Nail (Jesus was nailed to a cross) Thanks again to HF. I raided his tool box.
9. 
   
   Sponge (they gave jesus vinegar mixed with gall to drink on a sponge). I found a perfect sized piece of sponge from a magic kit that Daisy got as a gift.
10. 
    
    Spear or Spices (you could do spices that were used to prepare for Jesus's burial, or a spear because they pierced his side with a spear) We used a toothpick to look like a spear.
11. 
    
    Rock (The stone covering Jesus's tomb was rolled away) Thanks to Daisy, I had an assortment of stones to choose from her collection.
12. 
    
    Empty (He was not there. He has risen!) you could also put in a piece of linen to represent that the only thing left in the tomb were his burial cloths.

Another idea would be to put excerpts of the story in each corresponding egg for the children to take out and read.

We had fun making this and the kids definitely were attentive during the story because of the objects "hiding" inside. When I was holding the carton of eggs and giving them a background on Jesus and what led up to his crucifixion, my four year old interrupted me with a gasp and said, "They killed him with eggs?!?!" Uh, no. My 7 year old was on the edge of her seat with such pain and horror in her eyes during the story, but the four year old just wanted to play with the eggs. I don't know if he'll ever be interested, but that's okay right now.

 Anyway, it was fun, free (or cheap if you don't have everything already), and a good way to tell the Easter story to children.