This quality fictional drama by children presents the Easter story - from Jesus' betrayal and arrest to his resurrection - through the eyes of Bible-times children. Recommended for ages 7-9.

Children hear the story of Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane and His betrayal, arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection. After learning that Jesus died for everyone so we can have eternal life, kids play a game in which they reflect on and answer questions on what they learned about Jesus' last days on earth. The Easter package includes the DVD drama presentation plus CD Rom with: lesson outline and DVD script, life application activity, instructions for related craft activity.
This package can be purchased through the Australian Willow Creek Assocation. A similar DVD Easter package as been prepared for older children 7-12 yrs.
www.willowcreek.com.au

The people from Friends & Heroes have produced an DVD and Easter resource pack: 'Why does Easter Matter?'
Each session features: Prayer time; Session background; Friends and Heroes episode; Bible reading; Question time plus All-age optional extras: games; puzzles; quizzes. All in high-quality, printable form on the special CD-ROM, in this pack. Pack also includes publicity material for your course: posters, flyers and cards ready for you to enter your details and then print as many as you need. If you already own the DVDs episodes 35-39, then you may purchase just the resource pack in downloadable format.

Check it out.....

If you're looking for an easy-to-prepare Easter program, then look no further. We'll highlight some of the materials currently available to assist with your planning for the Easter celebrations. The Neighbourhood Easter Egg Hunt kits seek to encourage families to organise these events within their own neighbourhood. It's Family Ministry beyond your church walls...   Group Publications have produced a special Easter outreach program: Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt Neighborhood Kit
 
Imagine the outreach impact as 10…15…50 families hold Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunts in your community! Churches purchase one Church Leader Kit for their ministry, plus one of these Neighborhood Host Kits for each family organizing a Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. It’s egg-ceptional fun with big-impact outreach!
The Neighborhood Host Kit contains... 1 x Neighbourhood Host Guide (includes easter devotion),     1 x Easter Egg Hunt CD, 12 x invitations, 12  x church invitations, 12 x glow in the dark wristbands.

Check it out.........

The people from Big Idea have produced another Church Event kit in time for Easter- "Twas the Night Before Easter".
It's Easter time in Crisper County and cable news reporter Marlee Meade (Petunia Rhubarb) is hunting for a way to help others. On a tip that the old town theater will be shut down, Marlee cooks up a plan to save the stage and make a difference through the power of musical theater! With a cast of costume-clad townies, massive props and a 20-foot robot rabbit -- "Up With Bunnies" is hatched! There's only one thing missing -- the star of the show!
The theme of T'was the Night Before Easter is helping others and to encourage families to take action with this message, VeggieTales has partnered with World Vision. There is a bonus features section of the DVD with discussion guide and Larry the Cucumber's 10 tips for helping others including sponsorship through World Vision.

'Twas the Night Before Easter kit includes Event disc, Planning Guide, Event Advertising Posters (2), Kids Activity Posters (50), VeggieTales Stickers (200).
Purchase your copy from the Veggie Tales site..

'Create a path of faith discovery for kids and families with this life-changing Easter Walk.
Jesus’ footsteps were marked on Earth long ago, but they continue to lead us today. During this Easter season, transport your families to Jesus’ last week on Earth so they can walk in his footsteps.

Use these six easy-to-do discovery stations to help families experience the first Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter morning, and more! Invite people of all ages—from little toddlers to grandpas and grandmas—to join this amazing walk. Each family will experience the walk differently—some may hear the Easter story for the first time, while others will view it again through new, young eyes.
So get ready to walk in Jesus’ footsteps with the families and children in your ministry.' Group

We found that this was a great way to involve others who normally wouldn't volunteer for children's ministries. People were quite receptive to the idea of organising and preparing just one discovery station and presenting it to multiple groups of children. The information is well-presented and the presenters really threw themselves into their various stations. A sample chapter is included.

Paper Bag Puppets are a great way to dramatise a story for children. They are also a great way to involve them in telling the story. Check out some of these paper bag puppet designs.
 The puppets pictured here have been printed from Shelly Comiskey's 'Born to be Wild' image collection (www.pccrafter.com). The lower jaw of the lion was cut off and glued under the fold of a gussetted paper bag. The top portion of the lion's head, was glued to the folded base of the bag. (If you haven't used paper bag puppets before, check out some of the sites listed.)
These lion puppets were used to tell the Bible story 'Lion Goes Hungry'- Daniel in the Lion's Den.. The story script was read and children encouraged to act out the lions' parts- roaring fiercely when necessary.  The script is provided below. Paper bag puppets can also be given to the children so that they can retell a story.
Paper Bag Puppet designs 
Simple designs for puppets      

Script for 'Lion Goes Hungry'

Puppets grab immediate attention, maintain interest and create a memorable and often humorous presentation for all ages. But puppets can also be used by the children as they are involved in the telling or retelling the story. Even the smallest of children delight in using finger puppets to tell a story. Whenever possible, include the hands-on involvement of children using sock puppets, hand puppets or finger puppets. These can be professionally produced puppets but simple paper designs can create the same delight with children. Their imaginations provide the rest. Finger puppet patterns can be full colour or designed as colour-in craft projects for the children to create. And there are some wonderful designs available.
Check out some of the following:
Happy heart finger puppets
http://familyfun.go.com/valentines-day/valentines-day-cards/valentine-finger-puppet-670003/print/
Cute finger puppet friends
http://familyfun.go.com/printables/cute-finger-puppet-friends-703065/
Felt finger puppets
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/finger-puppets-710786/
Download people pattern here  from www.billybear4kids.com

Although puppetry has been around for many years and used very effectively as a teaching medium(proven resoundingly by Sesame Street), you may not be aware of the types of puppets that are available and their use in your children's ministry. One of the lastest forms of puppetry to hit the scene is digital puppetry, puppetry that interacts with the children. Check out www.powerpuppets.com
As Dean Wlison, director and producer of the PowerPuppets says, 'Imagine, for example, a puppet on screen welcoming first time visitors, calling them by name and commenting on their Saints’ jersey or their sweet Adidas tennis shoes. As a teacher I no longer have to be behind a curtain or stage, but I can be where I can see the kids and interact with them. Now, I’ve got their full attention and can drive home the points of the lesson, lead them in scripture memorization or just play a game with them.

View a sample of digital puppetry to gain some idea of its potential.

Unless you're a seasoned, expert puppeteer yourself, the easiest and probably the best way to teach novice puppeteers is to purchase a quality training dvd. There are not too many on the market but puppetsinc have some oldie but goldie training dvds  demonstrating the basics or advanced techniques. As they say themselves of this series: ' A blast to the past, this collection of six DVDs was made in the mid 1980's and the hair and clothing styles show it. But puppetry is an old school art form and the fundamentals haven't changed for hundreds of years. You can still learn plenty from these entertaining videos. And they aren't just a static camera angle of somebody teaching a class, either. Each has one or more wacky puppet hosts along with lots of examples and demonstrations.' With a price of $20 per dvd or $100 set of 6, this series is well worth the outlay.


We've included a training handout for your puppetry training session to print off and use to introduce this versatile and effective teaching medium. The handout has been designed to print onto A3 paper and folded.