easter

Holy Week Activities for Families

Bible, Uncategorized

I recently had a conversation with a friend about how it can be hard to plan Easter activities with kids. In a season saturated with cute bunnies, colorful eggs, and sugar, it can be a challenge to get to the heart of the resurrection of Christ with kids. And with spring break behind us and summer on the horizon, Easter feels like it sneaks up on us every year!

My family has developed Holy Week traditions to prepare our hearts for Resurrection Sunday. Here are some of the things we love to do:

Resurrection Eggs

I grew up with Resurrection Eggs and love sharing this tradition with my son. Each morning, we open a plastic egg and take out the small, meaningful object. Then we read the accompanying devotional and scripture.

If plastic eggs aren’t your thing, a great alternative to this is building your own in a small box using the book Benjamin’s Box as your guide.

As a kid, I built my own Benjamin’s Box. I showed it to a friend, who loved the box and asked to go through it together on several occasions. You never know what kind of conversations your kids can share with their friends when you provide tools like this.

Go on a Devotional Walk

We love to take a devotional walk during Holy Week. You might be able to find a church or nature path that offers guided prayer or reflection on scripture. In the Phoenix area, I know of two great places we can do this:

Canaan in the Desert, which is a prayer garden in Phoenix founded by German Evangelical nuns. The garden offers a path decorated with artistic representations of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection.

Prayer Hill at Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria. This is an easy hike up a hill that offers several prayer prompts along the way. We enjoy stopping to read scripture at the cross at the top and in the empty tomb on the way down.

Host a Messianic Seder

You may know that in the last few days before his death, Jesus and his disciples were observing Passover. The traditional seder meal is a celebration of God’s saving work during the Exodus, but it also points to the Messiah. Experience this for yourself and see how closely the story of Passover and Easter are intertwined.

Here is a guide for the Messianic seder meal. And this resource can help you prepare for the Messianic Passover.

Plan Acts of Service for Maundy Thursday

One of the most touching accounts from Holy Week is Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. This display of humble servanthood is an example for us to follow.

On Thursday (or any time during Holy Week), read John 13 and talk about what it means to serve others. Do something together to show service–maybe wash each other’s feet, serve at a food bank, or challenge each person to surprise another family member with an act of kindness.

Attend Good Friday Service

Not every church offers a Good Friday service, but it’s easy to find one that does. A Friday evening reflecting on Christ’s sacrifice is a great way to set the mood for Resurrection Sunday.

What does your family do on Holy Week? Share your traditions below!

A Traditional American Easter 

American University of the Caribbean, AUC, Caribbean, Expats, Expats and TCKs, Foster Parenting, International Travel, Saint Martin/ Sint Maarten, Uncategorized

Apparently, American Easter is different than St. Maarten Easter. So, we had a lot of fun introducing R to American-style Easter celebrations!


I chattered all weekend about dying eggs. Anything artsy is fun for me, so I was excited to do some egg decorating with my family! R isn’t particularly talkative, so it wasn’t until Ben started mixing the vinegar and egg dye that R asked us what in the world we were doing! “Dying eggs,” I told him. His look of confusion prompted me to ask, “Have you ever dyed eggs?” “What’s that?” He asked. Ah ha! A new and fun thing to introduce my son to. Part of the joy of being a foster parent is learning about my kid’s traditions and sharing mine.


In St. Maarten, apparently, kids still hunt for eggs (which are not left by a bunny), but only plastic eggs. They get lots of chocolate, something I unfortunately forgot to buy! There’s also an underwater egg hunt, which I did last year.


As it turned out, R loved decorating the eggs. He didn’t really get the point, since they were just going to become deviled eggs in a few hours. But he had fun in the process!


Speaking of deviled eggs, those were totally new to R, as well. So was jello. I don’t know if jello is a part of your Easter celebration, but it’s always been a part of mine! R really thought it was strange– a little bit inedible, even– but despite his initial disgust at its look, he enjoyed it. He probably didn’t enjoy the rest of us staring at him while he tried it, but someone’s first taste of jello is an epic moment, people.


Also epic was the fact that my “bunny bread” didn’t look like a disoriented demon for the first time ever.

Aside from traditional Easter dinner, we also went to church in the morning. R usually goes to church on Easter, but our church is different from his other church. I’m guessing they don’t serve hot dogs for brunch at his other church!

That night, we watched “The Passion of Christ.” It was the first time for both R and I. Wow, is it good! It’s also really intense as tough to watch. It’s about as realistic as you can get as far as crucifixion goes. That movie made the whole Easter story come alive to me again! For R, it seemed to really cause him to think. He was on the edge of his seat the whole time, and had some deep comments during the film. During the whipping scene, he remarked, “Jesus could have stopped that any time he wanted. But he didn’t, because he wanted to die even for those people who were hurting him.” Wow, that is exactly what Easter is all about! No matter how rotten any of us has been, Jesus still made the choice to sacrifice himself instead of letting us be punished. He loves us that much.