The Story Of The Jelly Beans (Free Jelly Bean Prayer Printable!)

I love anything and everything that helps keep kids focused on the true meaning of Easter… and that’s Jesus! The more things that I can use to point toward Christ during the season, the happier I am. For this reason, I love the concept of the “Jelly Bean Prayer”, and I love to use this with my kids! I made a brand new free printable that I’m calling “The Story Of The Jelly Bean”, which is different than the traditional jelly bean prayer you may have heard. You can find all of my Christ centered Easter activities for kids here. Let’s take a look at the story of the jelly bean with a free jelly bean prayer printable! 

Guess what? This download is now also a part of my 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. 

Free Printable Is At The Bottom

If you just want to grab your download  and split, scroll to the bottom and click the blue download button with the cupcake easy peasy! 

Is There Something Wrong With The Jelly Bean Prayer?

I used to have a different printable version of the jelly bean prayer here where sin is represented by the black jelly bean, and the grace of Jesus is white. It was brought to my attention (by multiple multiple readers) that this is an old concept originating from a racist mindset. I struggled with this at first, but after talking to my Aunt (who is one of the most awesome people EVER!) and several of my African American friends, I came to one conclusion. Sin and grace actually don’t have colors. They are indeed colorless abstract concepts. 

And now, as a good ‘ol Southern girl that was born in Charleston and raised in South Carolina, I’m going to quote Dolly Patron. This is what she said when she took the name “Dixie” out of “The Dixie Stampede”.

“When they said ‘Dixie’ is an offensive word, I thought, ‘Well, I don’t wanna offend anybody. This is a business. We’ll just call it The Stampede,’ … You just do stuff not realizing, but as soon as you realize that it is a problem, you should fix it. Don’t be a dumba**.”

I also had an African American friend point me in the direction of a study where African American preschoolers were given a choice between a white baby doll or a black one, and they overwhelmingly chose white over black, associating negative traits to the black doll.

In 2010 the study was repeated, and similar results were found. Here is a quote in the conclusion of the article:

Spencer said the study points to major trends but is not the definitive word on children and race. It does lead her to conclude that even in 2010, “we are still living in a society where dark things are devalued and white things are valued.”

I have no desire for the jelly bean prayer to contribute to this idea children may have, so I thought… why not write a new jelly bean prayer where the colors of the jelly beans actually represent things that are that color?

When you know better, you do better! (This is one of my favorite concepts of all time, btw.)

A Version Of The Jelly Bean Prayer That Actually Relates To Color

I decided to re-write the jelly bean prayer to actually relate the colors to the Easter story, and I love the result! I have nothing to say about this poem other than it was completely inspired by the Holy Spirit, because it honestly seemed to write itself. 

The Story Of The Jelly Bean

The Story Of The Jelly Beans

By Lacy Lynch

White is for the bread they broke before the sad event,

Black is for the dark night in the garden where Jesus went.

Orange is for the sunrise on the day of His arrest,

Purple for the robe he wore– a “king” they called in jest.

Red is for the blood He spilled which was for me and you,

Pink is for His mother, whose heart broke into two.

The grass outside the tomb was green when Magdalene arrived,

And yellow is for her shock to find out Jesus was alive!!!

 

I really love the way this version of the jelly bean prayer goes through the events of the resurrection of Jesus in a chronological order, relating actual colors to the story. I hope this version of this jelly bean legend blesses your little ones this year. 

Get Your Free Jelly Bean Prayer Download Here!

I used to charge for a version of this printable, but in an effort to change what the jelly bean prayer is, I am offering this download totally for free! Please share this link far and wide to inspire children to see Jesus’ Easter story through jelly beans! 

Download Includes:

• A large “story of the jelly beans” full page printable
• A place card that can fold in half and stand up on a table top next to jelly beans
• This same thing could be folded in half and stapled at the top of a bag of jelly beans as a “tag” on the jelly beans
• Jelly bean story bookmarks
• A whole lot of Easter awesomeness for kids for free!

Get your free legend of the jelly bean download now by clicking the blue button with my cupcake below! 

More Resources To Go With The Jelly Bean Prayer

Don’t forget to check out my jelly bean bark recipe, which is the perfect pairing with this jelly bean prayer!

And check out my jelly bean display to go with this! 😁 So cute as a display and easy to make! 

Silly rabbit! Easter is for Jesus!!!

You can find all of my Christ-centered resources for Easter here.

And you can find all of my Lenten resources for kids here.

Make it about the lamb, not the bunny!