Interested in freshening up your Sunday school lessons leading up to Easter? You have come to the right place! Remember His betrayal, crucifixion, and resurrection in your Easter Sunday school lessons, and bring this story to life. Teach the children at your church why Easter is so important through interactive Sunday school lessons and more.
Read on for our top seven Easter children’s church lessons that will have the kids' in your ministry informed, excited, and happy to be learning about the value of this exceptional holiday.
1. The Story of Easter Sunday
Teach the classic story of Easter Sunday to your little learners so they can recall and retell it with ease. This lesson requires play dough and rocks, helping the kids get a hands-on understanding of the tomb in which Jesus was resurrected.
This versatile lesson can be used for almost all of your age groups, from kindergarten kids to elementary school students, and it's an ideal Easter Sunday school lesson for preschoolers who don’t yet know the story. Give them a solid knowledge base to set them up for a life of worship.
Get your kids to build their own tomb with building blocks, then roll a stone out of play-dough, and they can roll the stone away themselves, opening the tomb for Jesus’s resurrection. Use Scripture found in Matthew 28 alongside it to help the message sink in!
See the full lesson plan here.
2. Hallelujah! He Has Risen!
This celebratory-style Sunday school Easter lesson reminds us that Easter is a time of miracles. Bring the joy back to your curriculum with this fun outdoor game that reminds kids of the lively and enjoyable side of the Easter story.
If you have access to a field, get your students to line up at one side in preparation for this game. Choose one participant to sit in the center of the field with their back to the other players. Get the others to walk quietly toward the sleeper whispering, “Are you alive?”
At any moment the sleeper will spring to life and chase the others, tagging them if they are caught. Any people who are caught have to join the sleeper in their chase to catch the others. Follow up with a circle activity focused on Luke 23:44-24:12.
See the full lesson plan here.
3. Doubting Thomas
Use mentos, coke, and dominoes in this Easter-themed Bible object lesson to show the power of God’s love. First, recap what happened when Jesus’ tomb was discovered to be empty, and how the town was still filled with people who were trying to arrest any followers of Jesus.
Take a moment to imagine how the disciples felt. They were forced into hiding, feeling nervous, terrified, sad, and uncertain about the future, but then change swept into the room. Use John 20:19-20 to show how, when Jesus appeared, faith was restored among the disciples.
Get your students to line up the dominoes and topple them, causing a chain reaction. This embodies the knock-on effect that Jesus’s love has when shared with the world. Highlight this point by putting mentos into a bottle of coke—we should be so excited about Jesus that we are bubbling to share the news too!
See the full lesson plan here.
4. No More Crying
Based on J.C. Ryle’s sermon for kids called No More Crying, this Easter lesson for children’s church shares important good news with kids. Ask the children to consider these three things:
1. A place where there is a lot of crying
2. A place where there is nothing but crying
3. A place where there is no more crying
Sadly, the world we live in has a lot of crying (John 16:33). Ask the kids what makes them cry, and tell them that the reason we cry is due to sin and our fall from grace, but highlight that there is hope.
As Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even though he dies, yet he will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die,” (John 11:25-26). The place with no crying is in heaven, and Jesus died to lead us there.
See the full lesson plan here.
5. Easter Miracles
This free Easter lesson for children is based on John 20:1-18 when Mary Magdalene visits the tomb and Jesus rises from the dead. Walk your students through the five incredible miracles Mary witnessed on that Sunday.
- Jesus rose from the dead after suffering death on a cross. He did this to pay for our sins, to bring us back to grace.
- The amount of love that takes is a miracle in itself. He loves us so much more than He loves Himself. He is selfless and went through so much pain for us.
- Jesus’ tomb was blocked by a huge and heavy boulder. Without any human touching it, that rock moved to allow Jesus’ freedom.
- Brokenhearted, Mary Magdalene went to visit Jesus and was devastated to see the stone rolled away. But the tomb was not empty—two angels were inside.
- Jesus approached her in the cave, but she could not recognize Him. All it took was for Him to say her name, and she knew it was true.
The miracle of Jesus is why we celebrate this wonderful holiday every year, and we must not forget His sacrifices.
See the full lesson plan here.
6. Make Resurrection Eggs
Get hands-on with this fun Easter activity that blends Bible study and Scripture with creative construction. Once you have made 12 eggs, fill each one with a different segment of relevant Scripture and draw a relevant symbol on the egg.
Randomly place the pieces of paper with Scripture inside the different eggs and get the children to match the correct Scripture with the symbol! From the palm branch and the 30 pieces of silver to the stone that sealed the tomb, these eggs provide a fun walk through the Easter story.
The final egg must be left empty to symbolize the resurrection of Christ. Jesus was no longer in the tomb but had risen to save us from our sins. To make this activity a special treat, why not give your students a small chocolate egg when they get it right?
See the full lesson plan here.
7. Hope in Holy Week
This Easter lesson for children focuses on the horrors that Jesus went through in the lead up to the crucifixion. Start by showing your students photos of tools of torment. Get them to pass these images around in the circle until each student has seen them all.
These could include pictures of a noose, a guillotine, or an electric chair, and you could even add torture devices. Save this class for slightly older children, as little ones could get upset. Ask your students how they would feel about wearing any of these on a necklace. They wouldn’t want to at all! Then, show a picture of the cross, and ask them why they are happy to wear this torture device around their necks. The reason? Because of the value of Jesus’s death and the meaning and power behind it. It is a critical symbol for the Christian faith, as we would be nothing without Jesus’s sacrifice.
See the full lesson plan here.
Help your students see the power and beauty in the Easter miracles by choosing an Easter curriculum for Sunday school that is exciting and dynamic. Easter is a central holiday for Christians, so make sure they love it from a young age with fun church lessons!