Easter is the most important season on the church calendar, so utilize it to intentionally teach your grandchildren about the death and resurrection of Christ and the events of Easter week from the Bible. Familiarize yourself with Scripture and the timeline of events surrounding the death of Christ so you are able to easily communicate it to your grandchildren. Utilize books such as Easter Studies from SheReadsTruth.com, Behold the King of Glory by Russ Ramsey, The Final Days of Jesus: The Most Important Week of the Most Important Person Who Ever Lived by Andreas Kostenberger and Justin Taylor. You will find a list of ideas about important events in the Easter calendar to discuss with your grandchildren, Easter activities, and resources to help you make the most of Easter Sunday. Don’t try to do them all. Pick a couple that work for your family and enjoy.

Important Events to discuss

• Ash Wednesday begins Lent, a 40-day season, not counting Sundays, marked by repentance, fasting, reflection, and celebration. The 40-day period represents Christ’s time of temptation in the wilderness, where he fasted and where Satan tempted him. The purpose of Lent is to encourage believers to set aside time each year for similar fasting, to intentionally focus on Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.
• Holy Week commemorates Jesus’ last week on earth, beginning with Palm Sunday, ending with Easter Sunday.
• Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter, which marks the first day of Holy Week. On this day, we celebrate that Jesus entered Jerusalem as Savior and King. He was riding a donkey and a large crowd gathered, laid palm branches across the road, and shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” For more of the event read Matthew 21:1-11.
• Maundy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter when Jesus celebrated his final Passover meal with the disciples, washed their feet, and where Judas left to betray Jesus.
•  Good Friday is the Friday before Easter where we remember the death of Jesus, his incredible sacrifice, and when he was placed in the tomb. The Bible provides hourly details about the events of the day.
• Easter Sunday is our celebration that Christ is Risen! 

Activities

• Attend an Ash Wednesday service or host a Passover Seder meal. Set aside time to discuss the symbolism of the event and pray with your grandchildren.
• Dye Easter eggs together or for less mess use an EggMazing Easter Egg Decorating Kit. Explain that eggs represent new life and are symbolic of new life in Christ because of his death and resurrection.
• Make a mini resurrection garden together. Resurrection gardens are simple to make and only require a few ingredients: a shallow pot, rocks, sticks, potting soil and grass seed. Pinterest explains how to make this meaningful project that will be a daily reminder of the true meaning of Easter.
• Purchase for grandchildren a special shirt or outfit for Easter Sunday. Girls love new dresses, tights, headbands, or sparkly shoes. Consider neckties, suspenders, polo shirts or hats for boys. Ask your children for sizes and style preference, or even better, take your child shopping and make it a fun outing.
• Attend Good Friday or Easter services together. Be willing to attend your grandchild’s home church.
• Make Easter bonnets or flower crowns with your daughters and granddaughters. Craft stores and dollar stores carry faux flowers, floppy hats and inexpensive headbands. Remove faux flowers from their stems and glue them to hats or headbands using a glue gun. Wear them to church on Easter Sunday or at your family gathering.

Easter Sunday 

• Attend church together. Bring mints or gum to give grandchildren during the service. Take a photo together at church.
• Eat a meal together. What are your traditional Easter foods? Some families prefer a home-made meal of ham and cheesy potatoes while others enjoy the ease of brunch at a local restaurant. 
• Read the Bible together. 
• Purchase an Easter Lily and place it in a prominent place as a reminder of our new life in Christ.
• Give each grandchild an Easter basket or chocolate bunnies, with parent’s permission.
• Hide colorful plastic Easter eggs in the yard. Fill eggs with candy, coins, dollar bills, or handwritten Bible verses. Hide one golden egg with the best prize inside! Be creative with what you put inside the eggs to make the activity memorable for grandchildren of all ages. If the weather is cold or wet, move indoors.

Resources

• Purchase or make your own Resurrection Eggs. Open one egg at a time to tell the story of Easter in a hands-on way. Read the companion book Benjamin’s Box by Melody Carlson and Jack Stockman.
• Read and play Fulfilled Prophecies in Jesus matching cards from SheReadsTruth.com.
• Listen to and sing the music from Andrew Peterson’s Resurrection Letters. 
• Give each family an EvangeCube from e3resources.org. Explain it to your grandchildren and let them take it home.
• Countdown the days until Resurrection Sunday with Easter cards from crewandco.com. Each card has a Scripture verse and suggested readings from the Jesus Storybook Bible. Crew + Co has similar cards for Thanksgiving and Christmas, which are ideal activities to be done by telephone or video chat for grandparents at a distance.
• Purchase books about Easter for gifts and set them around your home for visiting grandchildren to read: Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter, Preparing for Easter by CS Lewis, The Donkey who Carried a King by RC Sproul, Holy Week: An Emotions Primer by Danielle Hitchen, Oh that Easter Morning by Mary Joslin, Grandfather’s Story by Mervin Marquadt, The Bread and Wine: Story of the Last Supper by Denise Ahern.
• Buy a bag of Jelly Beans and let grandchildren eat one color at a time while you read them the Jelly Bean Prayer. If you live at a distance, print or write the poem and mail it with jelly beans to your grandchildren. 

Red is for the blood He gave,
Green is for the Grass He made.
Yellow is for the sun so bright
Orange is for the edge of night.
Black is for the sins we made,
White is for the grace he gave.
Purple is for his hour of sorrow.
Pink is for our new tomorrow.

A bag full of jelly beans is yummy to eat,
It’s a picture, a promise, a special treat,
To help us remember Jesus’ work complete,
Gives us hope beyond any earthly sweet.