Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts

The Stations of the Resurrection - Great Focus for the Easter Season

Have you heard of the Resurrection? They're also know as "Via Lucis", "Stations of Light", or "The Way of the Light". There are 14 stations, and they the counterpart to the Stations of the Cross. Every station is something that happened between Easter and Pentecost. Here they are:

Stations of the Resurrection (Via Lucis)
1. Jesus Rises From the Dead (Matthew 28:1-10)
2. The Finding of the Empty Tomb (John 20:1-10)
3. The Risen Lord Appears to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18)
4. Jesus Appears on the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-27)
5. Jesus is Known at the Breaking of Bread (Luke 24:28-35)
6. Jesus Appears to His Disciples in Jerusalem (Luke 24:36-43)
7. Jesus Gives the Disciples the Power to Forgive Sins (John 20:19-23)
8. Jesus Strengthens the Faith of Thomas (John 20:24-29)
9. Jesus Appears by the Sea of Tiberias (John 21:1-14)
10. Jesus Tell Peter to Feed His Sheep (Primacy of Peter) (John 21:15-17, 19b)
11. Jesus Commissions the Disciples on the Mountain (Matthew 28:16-20)
12. Jesus Ascends into Heaven (Acts 1:6-12a)
13. Mary and the Disciples Wait in Prayer (Acts 1:12-14)
14. The Holy Spirit Descends at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-13)

You can go through with prayers for each station (just like
the stations of the cross) and this site has a great set you can
read from for children, and another for teens.
Also, here's a pdf you can print to go through the stations 
(although this one isn't specifically for kids).

Family at Feast and Feria made a printable set of the

On Bookworm you can download some printable 
for making a box with symbols for each station!
These could be used in SO MANY WAYS! :-)

Remember, it's still the Easter season until Pentecost! We observed lent for 40 days- we may as well celebrate for all 50 days of the Easter season as well! :-)

I found all these links via 4 Real Forums. Thanks for the great resources, ladies!


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Have a Meaningful Easter Dinner with Resurrection Story Napkin Rings

Did you know that to us Christians, Easter is more important that Christmas? It can be so hard to keep the day focused around the true meaning of Easter, but not impossible! I designed these resurrection printables to be used at Easter dinner as part of a religious place setting!


Each of these eggs has a piece of the resurrection story, and they're numbered. Basically, what you do is incorporate them into your table setting. After blessing your food around your Easter table, the resurrection story is read by everyone around the table! Just print them, cut them out, and tape them into a ring.

They can go around your napkins...

...or they can stand up on their own right on your Easter place settings!

I broke the resurrection story down into 8 reading parts. If you need to use more than one at each place setting, that's ok. If you have more than 8 guests for Easter dinner, I also included one matching sheet of blank eggs that you can use to fill in with. These can also be used for children who are too small to read, or as coordinating place cards. A few of the eggs have smaller reading parts- I did this so they could be used for new readers. :-) You're welcome to download these religious Easter dinner helpers for free:

Resurrection Story Napkin Rings:
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Extra Blank Eggs

*As always, download these before printing because Google docs can be weird sometimes and only want to print half the page. Also, these were designed by me for personal use only yada yada yada, so don't sell them or make me regret posting them on the internet for free, k? ;-) * 

If you'd like to make your own so you can have the right number for your guests, here's my printable resurrection story you can use as a jumping off place.

This is the first year we will be incorporating the resurrection story into our Easter dinner, and I'm really excited about it! I would like to do something similar for Christmas dinner. I truly hope these Easter napkin printables can help your family have a meaningful Easter dinner! If you're looking for more free Easter printables, be sure and check out my post from yesterday. :-)

Actually, find all my Easter posts (and great ideas from Catholic Icing readers) at my Easter Link up! Keep the links coming! :-)

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Free Religious Easter Downloads and Printables!

I was just over on It's Always a Party at the Parker's and I found the most adorable set of free Easter printables! This is a super big set and includes cupcake toppers, bunny silhouettes, cross silhouettes, water bottle wraps, napkin wraps, tent cards, favor tags, candy bar wrappers, Easter signs, flags, a banner and more! It's cute stuff, and I just love the mix of crosses and bunnies. I'm also in love with the "Happy Easter" banner. :-)

Inspiring Ideas also has free religious Easter cupcake toppers that you can print. I posted about them here.

Also, you can download the kindle edition of The Very First Easter for free! (I don't know how long it's going to stay free, so make sure it still says $0 before you "order").
And don't worry if you don't have a Kindle (I don't either) you can download a free app from Amazon that will let you read it right on your pc! :-)

 
 
 Find "He is Risen" printables all over the place, including here, here
here, here, here and yet another here. So many choices! :-)


Right now, you can also download a 

free religious Easter lapbook from Scripture Adventures!



And you can print even more educational Easter stuff
free at Confessions of a Homeschooler.



Also, check out this free printable Easter banner from 
Celebrations in the Catholic Home! It says "Christus Resurrexit"




Of course, don't forget about my printable Resurrection set or my Easter Countdown Calendar! Also, save a little printer ink because I have another free Easter download coming tomorrow! ;-)

Also, as you have your Easter posts ready keep adding them to my Easter linky!


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Meaningful Easter Activity for Kids - Empty Tomb Snack

I wanted to make a cute and religious Easter treat for my kids, but as most of ya'll know, I'm not much of a cook. Well, here's an idea for a sweet Easter treat that is no bake plus your kids can assemble them as a religious Easter activity!



Ingredients Needed for Empty Tomb Treats:
  • Graham Crackers
  • Peanut Butter (or icing if you have an alergy)
  • Small Chocolate Doughnuts
  • Mini Oreo Cookies
  • Shredded Coconut
  • Green Food Coloring

Prep the Snack:
Before you grab the kids for this Christian Easter activity, you might want to prep a few things. Take your shredded coconut and place it in a sandwich baggie. Drip a few drops of green food coloring in, and shake the bag until your coconut turns green. Also, cut off the bottom of your chocolate doughnuts.


Now you're ready for the fun to begin! Have your kids spread peanut butter on the graham cracker, and stick their doughnut "tomb" on. Then, take one mini oreo and twist it apart. Use the side with the icing on it to stick it to the front of the doughnut as the "rock" rolled away from the entrance of the tomb. Sprinkle some coconut "grass" onto the remainder of the peanut butter. 



We also made some Easter banners from the leftover Stations of the Cross stickers we got at the Dollar Tree. 

These we so easy to make, and came out cuter than I thought they would! Enjoy these Resurrection treats on Easter!


Don't forget to bring your Easter ideas to my Easter link-up!

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No Need for a Lamb Mold!

In keeping with our "Focus on the Lamb, not the Bunny" Easter theme, I wanted to make some actual edible lamb treats of some kind for Easter. The food industry would like to pull the wool over our eyes and lead us to believe that we can't make a lamb cake without store bought mold, but we know there are greener pastures, right? Because I don't have a lamb cake mold, I started thinking... what kind of ba-a-a-rillant lamb desserts or Easter food could you make without a lamb mold of any kind? The internet actually turned up many answers to my sheepish question, so I herded some of them together for ewe! (Ok, ok, I'll stop with the ba-a-ad lamb puns and get on with the ideas now). ;-)

For you ambitious bakers out there, I just love
these lamb cake pops from Bakerella! :-)
Here's a cute lamb cake from Family Fun.
Again- there is no lamb mold needed to make this cake!



Make marshmallow "lamb tails" and package them with
these adorable printable labels with Can't Stop Making Things.
What's easier than that? I made these for an Easter basket stuffer.

Baby Club has directions on how to make these
adorable lamb cupcakes.


These cauliflower sheep were on flickr. So cute with
their black olive heads and black eyed pea eyes!
Wouldn't they be the cutest centerpiece to a veggie tray?


 Rosa's Yummy Yums made these Lamb Rolls.
Wouldn't these be cute at Easter dinner?

Also, check out these Lamb Cinnamon Rolls!
What a great idea for Easter Breakfast!

These lamb cupcakes come from Family Fun.
I made them for Lydia's baptism (over 5 years ago! *sniff!*)

These lamb cupcakes from Cookies and Cups are super cute,
and you could totally skip the cupcake if you wanted!

Not only do I not have a lamb cake mold, but I don't have a lamb butter mold either. If you want a butter lamb and don't have a mold, you still have a few options.

 First, find directions on making a 
free form butter lamb on Taste of Home.

Also, check out your local grocery store because
it turns out they sell butter already shaped like a lamb!
I found these at Giant, and heard they were at Wegman's, too.

I can think of many foods that seem ideal for decorating edible sheep, including popcorn, marshmallows, shredded coconut, and squirty whipped cream. Hope your Easter prep is going well! Worthy is the Lamb! :-)


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Religious Easter Ideas for Kids- Focusing on the True Meaning of Easter

We all know that Easter is the most important religious day for Christians, so how do we keep Jesus from getting lost in the Easter bunny shuffle? Or as Amanda says,

How do you make Easter about 
'The Lamb' and not 'The Bunny'?

Here are some ways that we've kept Easter religious in a fun way!


Make a Resurrection Set (with free printables!)



Make an Easter Candle with Kids.

 Print my Resurrection Napkin Rings!
Each one includes a piece of the Resurrection
Story to be read by your table guests before eating.

Try these no-bake and easy-to-assemble
empty tomb treats for kids!

More Meaningful Easter Posts:
 The Jelly Bean Prayer Activities and Printables

Now it's your turn! Use the linky below to link up your Easter posts and share with all of us! :-)


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Religious Easter Craft for Kids -- Make a Resurrection Set! {It's Printable!}

I've been working on something that I've had in my head since last Easter, and I'm very excited to reveal it to you today- my new Printable Resurrection Set!


We all put nativity sets out at Christmas time, and I'm not sure why resurrection sets aren't more popular. So I made a printable version that's the counterpart to my printable nativity set.

What you need to make your own resurrection set:
  • 10 cardboard tissue tubes (or about 4 paper towel tubes, or like 1 wrapping paper tube)
  • 1 empty (square) tissue box
  • Glue or a stapler
  • Something to color them with (optional)
  • Resurrection Set Printables
  • Scissors
All you do is print the pages provided from this post, color them, cut them out, and glue them around toilet paper tubes.  The cutting is very easy... if you want it to be. For the most part, just cut around the outside lines. If you want something to stick out from the sides (like Jesus' arms or the angels' wings) you can cut them out around the edges and let them flap free from the sides of the tubes.



The tomb is cut out and glued to the top of a tissue box. This part could actually stand alone as an empty tomb craft for Easter. The rock and tomb print on the same page. I used a brad to attach our rock so that we can swing it open or closed. I found brads in the scrapbooking section of our craft store. Cut the hole out of the middle of the tomb and glue it over the open hole in your tissue box, and turn it on it's side. This makes a tomb you can actually place Jesus in.



The cross definitely needs to be cut free, so on that one I provided dotted lines to cut on.


On the cross page, I also provide a Jesus that can go on the cross. The way you use this is to have your children tape Jesus onto the cross on Good Friday at noon. Then at 3, take Him down, place his body in the tomb, and close the stone. On Easter morning, replace Jesus' body with the empty linen cloths. 

 
The linen cloths can just be folded to stand up and placed inside the tissue box.


I wanted my Resurrection Set to hold up a little longer than our nativity set did, so I painted them with watercolor paints, laminated them from the top with contact paper, and then cut them out. I didn't laminate them on the backs because they just glued around the cardboard tubes anyway. It would have been easier to attach them in the back with a stapler, but I couldn't find mine, so I used glue and held them in place with clothes pins until they dried. Now, here are the printables so you can make your own resurrection set!


Free Printable Resurrection Set 
in Black and White

My printable resurrection set includes Risen Jesus, St. Mary Magdalen, Mary the mother of John, St. Peter, 2 Angels, a Tomb with a rock, Linen cloths, 2 Roman soldiers, a Cross, and Crucified Jesus.


Use this set to teach your kids about the Resurrection
You can use this set as an interactive way to teach your kids the story of the Resurrection! If you'd like to use this as a religious Montessori activity for kids, I made a printable resurrection story for kids that you can use. Read the story aloud to your kids while you act it out with the pieces. I have included all the pieces you need for this biblical story. When you're done teaching with it, use it as a religious Easter mantle display! ;-)

You can also print this Resurrection set for free in Color! 


 I painted this Resurrection sets with watercolors, and scanned them again so I could offer them to all of you already in color as well! (It's pretty cute to have your kids color them, but sometimes it's nice to have this option as well.)

The colored set is available on my new special page for those who are subscribers of Catholic Icing! If you've already made yourself a friend of Catholic Icing by subscribing, just look to the bottom of this post in your reader or email, and you'll find a link to the "Subscriber Bonus Page". If you'd like to print the colored Resurrection set for free, but are not yet a subscriber, no problem! Subscribe here, or by entering your email address into the box below. After entering your email address, an email will be rushed to your inbox with access to the Subscriber bonus page!

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These pages are my own artwork and are free for any not-for-profit use by individuals, families, or educational organizations. Copies may not be sold, reproduced for profit, or published by anyone but me. If you'd like to post this calendar for others to find, I would ask that you link to my post and rather than my individual downloads because their location may change. When printing or running copies, please do not remove my website from the bottom of the page. Thanks!

Linking this up at Tatertots and Jello and A Holy Experience.
 
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