Easter is the most important feast day for Christians, and the cornerstone of our faith. But did you know that Easter is not just a day, but an entire season of the church year? It’t true! Easter lasts for 50 days- all the way through Pentecost, with 8 full Sundays of Easter! We love to keep our celebration going through this season since we reserve our time before Easter observing Lent. So this is my post to help you celebrate the true meaning of Easter with your kids with crafts, printables, activities, and more for kids!
If you have popped over a bit early and it’s not quite Easter yet, be sure to check out my Lent resources for kids as well!
Now because Easter is a whole season and I like to keep the liturgical year alive in our home, I consider anything that is Easter-like a religious activity after Easter Sunday! So during this season, we may celebrate with Spring crafts, flowers, eggs, bunnies, whatever! If you are keeping the liturgical season going, that is a win!
Resurrection/Empty Tomb Crafts
A great way to focus on the true meaning of Easter is to actually make resurrection and empty tomb themed crafts and activities with your kids! I also love “Resurrection Sets”, which is just like a nativity set, but for Easter! And I have a few versions here you can craft yourself.
Printable peg doll resurrection set– The bodies print and mod podge onto the pegs, then you have step by step directions to paint the heads yourself.
Printable paper resurrection set– This set can be printed on paper or card stock and stapled into tubes that stand up. The black and white version of this is free for subscribers! Details on post.
DIY Resurrection Garden– this is really fun and relatively easy. Kids love watching this grow as the season goes on, and it makes a great centerpiece!
NEW!!! This set of printable “Happy Crosses” is so easy and perfect for Easter time! They print flat on paper and roll into a tube to stand up on their own.
Resurrection Story Place Setting Eggs– Each one includes a piece of the Resurrection story to be by a group, one part per person. Perfect for Easter dinner!
- Free resurrection notebooking pages
- Easter handprint crafts
- Easy empty tomb craft– made from play doh and a plastic egg
DIY Easter Candle
Meaningful Easter Recipes
No reason to leave the kitchen out of the fun! Here are some fun and meaningful ways to celebrate the true meaning of Easter in an edible way with your kids.
Check out my new cookbook for families– The Symbolic Holy Week & Easter Cookbook! This cookbook includes 23 recipes that point to the true meaning of Easter. It also includes 29 pages of bonus printables! You do not want to miss this amazing resource.
Resurrection Rolls– These are very easy and fun to make and the bake empty in the middle, just like the tomb on Easter morning! Sometimes they are also called empty tomb rolls.
How to color your deviled eggs for an Easter celebration!
No Bake Empty Tomb Treats– Easy to put together and fun for kids.
Symbolic Easter Tea for kids– this is fun and each food represents an event that happens from the resurrection through Pentecost.
Bake some easy angel cookies– You probably have an angel cookie cutter that came with a Christmas set, and it’s just as relevant for Easter!
Lamb and sheep dessert ideas– these are perfect for Easter since a lamb is a Christian symbol of the day, and NONE of these ideas require you to own a lamb shaped pan or cookie cutter. 🙂
Easter Candy
I’m going to put the candy here with the “recipes” kinda lol. I like to make as many aspects religious as possible, so here are some ways you can tie in that Easter candy!
Jelly Bean Prayer Printable– have ya’ll heard of the Jelly Bean prayer? Each color of jelly beans stands for a different part of the resurrection story. It’s so cute and fun for kids and I now have an all new jelly bean prayer printable pack for kids that’s free!
Post continues after this brief information about the Catholic Icing Monthly Membership
Monthly Liturgical Membership
Cross shaped Easter egg candy holder-This is easily put together and can hold any small candies for your Easter centerpiece.
Make a candy resurrection centerpiece– Super fun and easy! This was a super cool and fun Easter centerpiece the year we did this! And it goes together pretty easy- everything pictured here is from the Dollar Tree, even the plate!
Melt Your Own Candy Cross Pops – made in your oven with jolly ranchers.
Cross Crafts And Activities For Kids
Easter is the perfect time to make a really fun cross craft with your kids! You can find my post of fun cross crafts for every age here.
I also have a whole round up of edible crosses! So be sure to check out all of these cross food and snack ideas for kids.
Egg Dying Ideas
I mean is it really Easter if you don’t dye eggs? Did you know that the egg is a symbol of the resurrection? It’s true, so those egg activities are religious, too! I have some really fun and easy ideas for having a great time with your egg dying this year.
You can find all of my religious egg decorating ideas here.
Have you heard the legend of St. Mary Magdalene and the red egg? She’s obviously highly associated with Easter as she is the first person to witness the Risen Lord, so you can check out all of my St. Mary Magdalene resources for families here.
DIY At Home Stained Glass Windows
This is so fun and easy to do and a great way to celebrate the Easter season. Find full directions and the paint recipe here.
More Egg Dying Resources:
- Easy shaving cream eggs in the carton
- Watercolor brush marker eggs
- Beautiful (and easy!) ombre Easter eggs
- Story of Mary Magdalene and the red egg
Kid Activities That Run Through The 50 Days Of Easter
Don’t forget that Easter is a season! Here are some activities to keep the celebrating going.
More Easter Season Posts:
- Check out 50 ways to celebrate the 50 days of Easter here.
- Also see 8 ideas for celebrating all 8 Sundays of the Easter season. All of these are easy and involve little to no prep for moms!
Bring Lenten Activities Full Circle For Easter
Transform your sacrifice beans into Jelly beans! I have a free printable for that in the post.
Bring out your “Alleluia” that got buried for Ash Wednesday and display it for the Easter season!
Transform your sacrifice crown of thorns into a beautiful nest for your Easter eggs.
Stations Of The Resurrection
Learn about the Stations of the Resurrection and print these cards
Christian Easter Symbols For Kids
There are many symbols of the resurrection that will make for fun kid activities during Easter! Some of these include the egg, cross, lamb, angel, lily, bunny, butterfly, dogwood flower, and even a peacock! Let’s look at some fun Easter symbol crafts for kids.
Lamb activities and resources for Easter:
Divine Mercy Sunday- Second Sunday Of Easter
Find all of my resources for celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday with your kids here.
Ascension Thursday Activities For Kids
You can find Ascension Thursday activities for kids here.
Pentecost Sunday Resources For Kids
And then you can find all of my resources for celebrating Pentecost with kids here.
Hope these resources are useful for you! Be sure to check out my navigation bar for celebrating other feast days.
Thank you so much for linking up with Impress Your Kids!
I am literally on your site right now b/c I'm printing off the resurrection set to color w/the kids. Thank you for the great GREAT ideas!
I can't thank you enough for your ideas for my first year teaching Faith FOrmation. Thanks!
Thanks, Lacy for the Resurrection Rolls recipe! We are going to try them for our egg hunt on Tuesday with our friends! They seem a lot easier than the cookie one.
Love this site and keep coming back for the terrific ideas!
God Bless!
Jennifer
More exciting ideas as usual. I had fun seeing your napkin rings, but as you warned – I'm out of ink! I honestly think I have more fun with these crafts than the kids!
I’m so happy to have found this.
The internet lacks the kind of things you share.
God Bless your Generous Soul,
Teresa
Hey! I went back and read your Easter Basket stuffer post and wanted to share that the religious stickers are at my Dollar Tree this year- except the Stations of the Cross and Rosary ones… the two I really wanted… I bought a package of the others while they had them, though, Also, I saved my :inspirational” metal eggs from last year and plan to refill them this year. My kids didn’t really like the mints that were in them anyway. Great post!
I signed up for your blog, SO glad I found you! But I never got an email with the color resurrection set….is there a way I can get that? Thank you, thank you for all you do! Please don’t stop! I use all of it with my 3 little boys!
If you weren’t subscribed back then, you wouldn’t have gotten the email. They only go out once, when I first publish them.
Does that mean there is no way at all to get the colour Easter calendar either? I would really love a copy of that one.
Thanks for everything you are doing.
You can read the directions here for printing it in color:
http://www.catholicicing.com/2011/04/printable-easter-countdown-calendar/
I am having trouble printing the Easter Cookies recipe and story. Am I doing something wrong? I clicked like on facebook and I can get to the download page but I’m not able to print it up. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful ideas.
The download is working, not sure why you’re having trouble. ???
Tried to come to this site yesterday but it was down, almost cried thinking it was gone. Never go down again. I don’t know if I could take it. Love ya!
Lol! Love hearing this. Sorry to scare you. 🙂
Thank you so much for posting your inspiring ideas! I am always looking for kid-friendly ways to point our grandchildren to Christ! Your ideas & free helps are very much appreciated. I have printed out the “resurrection set.” I was going to purchase one (I saw in a magazine) this year, but yours is going to be so much more meaningful, as my Grands will be coloring it & we will be making memories as we do the craft together. May God richly bless you for sharing His creativity with the masses! Thank you, again.
I do not even know the way I stopped up here, however I assumed this publish was once great.
I don’t recognize who you’re but certainly you are going to a well-known blogger if
you happen to aren’t already. Cheers!
Lacy- you kind of spoiled me with your AWESOME ADVENT and CHRISTMAS planner that now I feel a little lost in these final weeks of lent/Easter. I’m in line for the LENT/EASTER planner…yes, I’d pay… just saying! 😉 Thanks for being a rockstar Catholic Mom who enjoys the joy of our faith.
I know, I wish I had one too! It’s just that writing the Advent/Christmas planner nearly killed me, so I didn’t want to write them both in the same year. lol 😉
I have a bag of 50 peg dolls arriving tomorrow, bought my ink cartridges and paint today. 🙂 I printed the other two sets already so I’ll be ready to roll! Thanks, Lacy! (uh oh… hope I don’t need other colors of paint. Ah well, I’ll wing it. 🙂 )
Hahah! Love this! I wish I had finished it sooner, but then again, finishing it sooner might have killed me. lol.
Lacy,
Thank you so very much for sharing your Catholic faith with all of us. As a cradle Catholic I feel like there are certain things I should already know about and believe but it never ceases to amaze me how much I can learn by doing these activities with my children. You have renewed, strengthened, and made me see my faith through child-like wonder! Thank you! Happy Easter!
I just made the resurrection peg dolls and they came out great – thanks! Do you have a resurrection story that goes along with them? I have the resurrection story from the toilet-paper roll Easter set you made in 2011, but you included more “characters” in the peg doll set and I’d like to be able to include them all when I tell my little ones the story. Thanks!
I don’t have another full script like that yet, but hopefully by next year. 🙂
Love the legend of the dogwood. I’m looking out the window at my dogwood in full bloom and i think about the last fact about the dogwood thay most people forget or dont know about. In the fall the tree drops blood red, drop shaped berrys that grow from the crown of thorns symbolic of Christ sheding his blood.
I cannot get into the subscriber system!! I have entered my email pressed subscribe, I received an email which simply had a URL https://www.catholicicing.com/get-catholic-icing-delivered-free/ which simply took me back to one of your pages. If I try to login it asks for a password — which I haven’t yet been asked to set up; if I try the forgotten password link it says that I am not a subsciber. So… if I now go back to the email subscription window, type in my email and press subscribe it sits there on ‘Sending…’ without actually sending me anything. As I would like to use your excellent Easter B&W set for Easter this is proving problamatic. Please help!!
Chris Leslie (Revd)
Hi Chris –
After you get an email to confirm your subscription to the newsletter, you’ll get a welcome email. In that email, you’ll find a link to the Subscriber Bonus page and the password to that page (it is not something you set up, it’s a set password).
If you haven’t received that welcome email, be sure to check your spam folder.
However, it also looks like the service we use for the newsletter is currently having some temporary issues. So, if you just subscribed very recently, I’m not sure if the welcome email would have gone out yet. And, unfortunately, because of their issues, I can’t currently manually verify your subscription either.
But hopefully you’ve received the welcome email and already have it. If not, drop me an email if you don’t get it by tomorrow. https://www.catholicicing.com/contact-me/
Angie, Catholic Icing Project Manager
Thanks for these, wondering if you have non-sugary recipes to share? 😀