We'd been there since early morning setting up for our Easter family event, 'Rock-n-Roll Easter', unsure of how many families and children would shortly walk through the door. The program was simple: children's ministry was responsible for a 15-minute segment of the worship service, the children's program and the following Easter egg hunt outside. This year, we'd decided to use Group's Rock-n-Roll Easter Event, and all the leaders were enthusiastic.

Our worship service segment involved the kids as much as possible. 
1. We started with the kids singing one of the praise and worship dvd songs provided in the kit. (If you haven't used Group's praise dvds before, it's well worth checking out. The kids really enjoy the music and love doing the actions and singing along with the kids on the clip. And.. it removes the pressure of wondering if the kids will sing or be overcome with stage-fright. The kids are also more confident and I just had to remind them that they just had to sing along with the songs we'd been practising during our regular programs.)
2.We followed with a clip with photos of the kids during their mid-week program, made using SmileBox, followed by the puppet skit supplied with the kit. 
3.Some of our older kids presented the puppet show and it was also easy to prepare, since the voice-over audio is provided in the kit, too.
4. We included a clip from the Skit Guys to highlight the resurrection (see here).
5. The final segment was another song with the kids singing- He Arose. We encouraged the whole church family to join in singing this well-know chorus.

Then we went out for our program. And again, it was really easy. We sang a couple more songs with the kids, showed them the Easter clip, A Very Special Easter.

The Rock-n-Roll Easter Event provides clear instructions and resources for 8 activity stations; Gospel Wristband, Rock Craft Station, Resurrection Cupcakes, Rolling Rock Game, Silly Sphere Pool Station, Easter Skin Decals, Rock-n-Roll Singer station, & Candy Basket Station. We allowed the kids to go to whichever station they wanted, but limited the number allowed at any one time at a station. It worked really well... and the volunteers enjoyed it... (a big plus!)

We played music to bring them all back to the main area before going out to the Easter Egg Hunt. The program suggests hiding plastic eggs which can then be redeemed at the designated area for a bag of Easter goodies including a comic Where the Rock Rolled Away that shares the gospel in a fun way. It worked very well with many parents commenting that they had never been to a better Easter program and Egg Hunt that not only was heaps of fun, but taught the kids something, too. 

So.. would I recommend it? Definitely... Our numbers swelled to three times our usual crowd of families and everyone had something encouraging to say about the morning. I even had new families coming up afterwards wanting to sign their kids in for our mid-week program, too.

What programs did you use this Easter and how did it all go?

If you're looking for a 'thank you' gift for your volunteers and leaders that is a little more meaningful than an Easter egg or a box of chocolates, then this simple egg candle may be useful- it's very easy to make. Then package it up with some plastic film and add a 'thank you' label'. 

Instructions:
1. Carefully cut the top off an egg and remove the egg. Rinse and dry.
2. Add a candle wick inside the empty egg shell and fill with candle gel. (The gel candle kits are readily available from most toy shops and contain the candle wicks and gel.)
3. Pop the egg shell candle in an egg cup.
4. Cut out 2 x 6cm diameter circles of styrofoam or corrugated cardboard
5. Cut a piece of clear plastic film 15cm x 21cm. (OHP transparency film would be fine.)
6. Place the egg cup with candle on one of the styrofoam circles.
7. Form a cylinder by wrapping the plastic film around the styrofoam circle and eggcup and secure with clear tape.
8. Attach the other styrofoam circle at the top of the cylinder.
9. Print the label. (see below)
10. Cut out and wrap around the base of the cylinder with eggcup.
11. Add a ribbon bow to the top of the cylinder, if required.

The Easter weekend is only days away and you still may be organising last minute details.

If you're looking for printables and downloadable activities for your children's ministry Easter program, take a couple of minutes to look through these ideas.

Simply click on the image of the printable activity to locate the website and further information.
You'll find Easter treasure hunts, a jellybean devotion, Easter figures, colouring sheet and an Easter wreath.

Thank your children's ministry volunteers, this Easter, with a simple iced cookie ('biscuit' in Australia) and thank you note.
The cookies can be prepared beforehand and iced. You may even have a creative church family mum who loves to cook and would love to help you make these little edibles.
The basic recipe is listed below, but you may have your own recipe that you  prefer to use. After the cookies have been baked and cooled, cover with fondant icing and attach a bow to the stem.
Print off the small 'thank you' notes onto light card.(see file below) Cut out and attach the cookie stem with a small piece of tape. Slip the completed cookie and note into a cellophane bag and hand out to your volunteers.
Basic Cookie Recipe
Ingredients:
*1 cup butter
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 large egg
* 1 teasp vanilla essence
* 3 cups flour
* 1 teasp baking powder
* pinch salt

Method:
1. Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy.
2. Add egg and vanilla
3. Mix in dry ingredients gently, one cup at a time. Mix thoroughly until the consistency of the cookie dough is no longer sticky and can be handled.
4. Roll out half of the cookie dough between two sheets of baking paper until 5-6 mm thick. Use a flower shaped cookie cutter (or egg shape) to cut out cookies. Gently, insert a candy pop stick into each. ( If you have trouble with this, they can be attached later to the back of the cookie with icing.)
5. Place the cookies on a tray lined with baking paper.
6. Bake in oven 180 degrees for 8-10 minutes or just until the edges begin to lightly brown.
7. Ice with fondant when cool.
(This recipe should make around 24-30 cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutter.)

I usually find, whenever I create a list of suggested movie clips, that I've overlooked some great ones as soon as the blog is posted.
So.... just realise that this list is not exhaustive but does contain some worthwhile suggestions to check out for use in your kids church and other programs over the Easter period.

1. INVITATIONS    This is a great little clip to encourage your church family to invite along friends and family to your Easter events.
2. A VERY SPECIAL EASTER     This clip uses crayon drawings to illustrate responses and comments by kids about the Easter story. It does have a great finish.
3. PETER & JOHN: THE TOMB    This clip from The Skit Guys (I've included it below) would be great to use as a discussion starter with older kids: Why were they running? Who ran inside first? Why did their expressions change to delight and laughter?...
4. A VERY SPECIAL SUNDAY   One from the series that tells the Easter story with line drawings through the eyes of children.
5.  TINY BIBLE TREASURES 6- HE'S ALIVE    This is another animated series retelling the Easter story (Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20)
6. AN EASTER STORY   This presentation uses children as Bible characters to retell the Easter story.
7.WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT       This short little clip would be a great introduction or conclusion to your Easter event and just highlights the real message of Easter.
8. THE JESUS EGG   I've included this story clip about an Easter egg hunt. It has a great message that you might like to use as a discussion launcher or to develop further following Easter. 
9. REMEMBER ME   Friends and Heroes have a quality musical presentation of the Easter story.
10. I BELIEVE  If you're looking for some downloadable music for your kids to sing along with, check out Groups selection. Our kids really enjoy them and love to see other kids singing, too. This is just one of the list available to download.

Easter is less than a month away and I'm sure the preparations for your children's ministry Easter events are well underway. You may be thinking about some early promotion of these events and so I've created a simple Easter slide that you may like to use.

The wording may be altered to suit your own needs. I created the design using Smilebox. I've mentioned this great little program before but in case you missed it, use the link below to find out more. 

I've also include a little promotional movie clip, also created with Smilebox, for our Kids Club program so that you can see how it can be used. Smilebox makes it easy to share invitations, slideshows or clips via Facebook, twitter or your website/blog. It probably took about 15 minutes to create the clip.
Find out more about Smilebox here...