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?