5 ways to have a Christ-centered Easter with your family

If your family is anything like mine, it’s easy to let the true meaning of Easter get lost under a pile of Easter egg hunts, chocolate bunnies and egg-dying. But with just a little bit of extra thought, you can make Easter mean more than just a basket of goodies to you and your family. Here are five simple ways to keep Christ in this Easter season.

1. “Walk with Christ” for a week

In the week leading up to Easter, dedicate a few minutes each day to focus on the last week of Christ’s life as a family. We love Teach Beside Me’s week of Christ-centered activities. Each day, you spend a day in the life of Christ with your family starting with Christ’s triumphal entry, through the Passover, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Crucifixion and ending on the resurrection. With each day of the week, Teach Beside Me’s author, Karyn Tripp, provides scriptures and simple no-Pinterest-required activities to bring that lesson’s message home to your children. The Friend Magazine also provides seven days worth of simple scripture readings, songs and discussion questions for you and your little ones.

2. Re-think Easter egg hunts

Instead of (or alongside) the traditional hunt for candy-filled eggs, consider “hunting for Christ.” When preparing for your Easter egg hunt, instead of filling each egg with candy, fill them with simple messages about what Christ means to us. For example: He suffered in Gethsemane and died on the cross for us, He hears and answers our prayers, He sends the Spirit to comfort and guide us, etc. Make the messages as simple or advanced as is appropriate for your children. When your children have found all of the eggs, have them each write one  thing they are going to do for Christ this Easter (pray to him every morning and night, deliver a card to someone who is sad, etc.). Have the children put their gift to Christ in an egg and keep it somewhere special (and visible) in his or her room as a reminder.

3. Let Spring do the teaching

When you’re outside with your children, help your children notice the new life Spring brings — the birds, the blossoms, the warm weather. Explain to your children that just as spring brings new life, we celebrate the time when Jesus Christ was brought to life again. Explain that we will also be resurrected, because Christ was.

4. Give your Easter egg baskets a Christ-centered makeover

Instead of only filling your children’s Easter baskets with Peeps, chocolate bunnies and Cadbury Eggs (although we are advocates of all of the above), include a small Book of Mormon, scripture stickers and/or markers, small pictures of Christ or other simple trinkets to remind your child of Christ.

5. Take advantage of LDS.org’s Christ-centered videos

LDS.org provides some incredible Christ-centered resource videos that even young children will enjoy.  Check out the site’s Easter-specific videos here.  Use them as part of an Easter Sunday devotional and/or as part of your weekly Family Home Evening lessons.