Family Easter egg scripture activity
We were given this set by the Primary a couple years ago and I’m sure they got the idea from somewhere else (I’d give credit, but I just don’t know the original source.) They’re plastic Easter eggs with little props in them that go with scriptures. Some of the scriptures in our set had typos and were a little garbled, so I’ve been meaning to redo it and finally got around to it; we’ll use this tonight for Family Home Evening (we’re late, but last week for FHE we were busy celebrating Rose’s St. Patrick’s Day birthday.) There are a couple other versions that I also like (and that have some other nice details, like a palm leaf and a sponge) that can be found here:
Version 2 (about halfway down the page)
Since we already had the props for our version I was too lazy to change it to incorporate the other ideas, but if you were starting from scratch you might want to play around with it to get the perfect combination (and I’m sure a little Googling would find yet more versions.) My favorite is the empty egg that represents the empty tomb, but I also like that our version has a picture of a living Christ in the last egg. (I would like it if our version included Gethsemane, though.) Anyway, here’s my re-typed copy of the version we were given:
1. Sacrament Cup (or piece of bread or pita.) Mark 14:22-24
2. 3 Dimes. Matthew 26:14-15
3. Knotted twine. Matthew 27:1-2
4. Piece of soap. Matthew 27:24-26
5. Piece of red material (king’s coat.) Matthew 27:28-31
6. Nail. John 19:17-19
7. Dice. John 19:23-24
8. Small baggy of dirt. Mark 15:33-34 & 37; Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:39
9. White cloth. Matthew 27:58-60
10. Stone. Matt. 27: 62-66
11. Empty egg. Matthew 28:1-2 & 5-6
12. Picture of Jesus Christ. Doctrine & Covenants 76:40-42
1. (Jesus assembled his apostles in an upper room on the occasion of the Feast of the Passover.) “And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.” Mark 14:22-24
2. “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.” Matthew 26:14-15
3. “When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.” Matthew 27:1-2
4. “When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.” Matthew 27:24-26
5. “And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
6. “And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.” John 19:17-19
7. “ Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.” John 19:23-24
8. “And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? . . . And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. . . . And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent . . . And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.” Mark 15:33-34 & 37; Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:39
9. “[Joseph of Arimathea] went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.” Matthew 27:58-60
10. “ Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.” Matthew 27: 62-66
11. “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Matthew 28:1-2 & 5-6
12. “And this is the gospel, the glad tidings, which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us— That he came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness; That through him all might be saved whom the Father had put into his power and made by him.” Doctrine & Covenants 76:40-42
March 28, 2008 at 6:49 am
that’s cool. Ab’t the empty egg/tomb: I learned that over in the UK, once the kids have decorated their eggs. they go outside and roll their eggs down a hill, to symbolize the rolling of the stone away from the tomb. I thought that was a nice tradition.
March 28, 2008 at 7:13 am
How interesting — we were in St. George (Utah) at Easter time one year, and went to Snow Canyon State Park and saw families gathered for their annual tradition of rolling eggs down the dunes. They gave our kids eggs and let them roll some, too — turns out there’s a bit of an art to it, because you have to create a track by rolling eggs in the same place several times. Nobody told us any symbolism for the event, though, and although “egg rolling” sounded vaguely familiar to me, it was the first time I’d known of anyone actually doing it. (Well, wait a second, don’t they do something like that traditionally at the White House? I think they do.)
Yes, they do.