Resurrection Project & Printable Shares the Big Picture!

What IS the Big Picture of the Resurrection story? It’s a great question to ask your kids sometime. There are so many aspects to Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection. The big picture of the whole story is the gospel: Jesus died, was buried, and rose victorious. Because of this we have hope! This hope inspired us to create a Resurrection project to share with family and friends last year. These ideas are at the end of this post!

In 2020, Resurrection Sunday was a very personal and quiet time as the majority of us celebrated much like the disciples in the Bible: alone or in very small family groups. Churches were closed here where I live, and sermons on screens just didn’t have the same effect. 

When all seemed hopeless…

When Jesus died, just a week after a triumphal entry, the disciples must have felt a loss deeper than death. Stunned is the word that comes to mind. Jesus, beloved and praised just seven days earlier, had just been suddenly and cruelly arrested, tried, and crucified. No one could’ve predicted this.

Where they once walked and talked with Jesus, now the disciples separated and fled. Each to their own grief. Slowly, they reconvened in secret. 

Quietly, a few women gathered spices needed to embalm His body properly. They had no expectations of a risen Lord when they approached the tomb.

Their story seemed hopeless… 

Our 2020 perspective

When we read the Resurrection Story, we do so with hindsight, which, as they say is… 2020. (I know, we can all cringe at that). 

We may read the story glibly. Quickly. We gloss over the pain and suffering, because we know the ending.

We don’t feel the fear and shock of the disciples as they flee the garden of Gethsemane.

We don’t bear the pain and sorrow of a mother watching her son die.

We don’t furtively gather in secret chambers. 

Why? Because the ending is well-known and celebrated. The ending is not truly an end, but a victorious beginning of a new covenant of grace.

We know the Resurrection Story ends with angels, joy, hope, and a living Lord. And because we know that, we have hope!

This was the hope we sought to share in celebrating the Resurrection during 2020’s pandemic, and we hope to continue sharing this message each year in some way. 

Celebrating the Resurrection with Intention

I read a blog post years ago that reminded me of how much time (and money) we spend on celebrating Christmas, contrasted with the blip that Easter/Resurrection Sunday can make on our calendar. Since then, I’ve tried to commit as much time to contemplation and celebration of the Risen Lord as I give to the Incarnate Christ with my kids. 

Many people observe Lent, which wasn’t part of my upbringing. So similarly, I plan an time of homeschool lessons, readings, projects, and celebratory moments during the weeks leading up to Easter. 

We’ve used The Sense of the Resurrection in the past, which is fantastic for preschool and early elementary children. 

This year, we’re doing something new: drawing our way through the Resurrection Story with ChalkPastel.com’s art lessons to celebrate key moments of the Holy Week.

You can find my ideas for these six lessons over on the Chalk Pastel blog! (click the picture to go there!):

A Big Picture Resurrection Project with Chalk Pastels

Last year, I wanted a way to share the good news of the Resurrection with family, friends, and neighbors. So in 2020, when we did our ChalkPastel.com lessons, we decided to GO BIG. I mean. Literally BIG!

I got large foam board from the Dollar Tree, and the boys drew giant-sized versions of the chalk pastel lessons onto the boards. I embellished them with some calligraphy words. 

Then we drove these “super-sized Easter cards,” as we called them, around to all our family and friends. In April 2020, (if you recall), we had to stay socially distanced, and it was a time when nobody was sure if sending mail was safe. So we used our giant cards to share greetings and the hope of Christ with others… from the car! 

When we got home, I installed the giant Resurrection project cards in our front door, so the mailman and neighbors could see and enjoy them too! 

This was an easy project to do, because all it required was our soft chalk pastels and a few inexpensive large poster boards. Plus we used our ChalkPastel.com membership, which is a wonderful addition to our homeschool. (If you want to check it out, that’s an affiliate link!) 

You can also find many of these Easter art lessons in the Easter Chalk Pastel Video Art Course (also an affiliate link).

A smaller Resurrection Project!

Another Resurrection project we did was creating flower gifts for our neighbors that we could drop off safely and reman socially distant. 

I created a short message of love and hope for our neighbors with a Scripture passage and printed this out on card stock.

My boys completed the Rainbow Cross lesson on the HodgePodge YouTube, and drew several each on backs of the card stock messages. 

I laminated the cards and cut them out. After hole punching them, we tied them onto single pansy flowers, which were abundant that time of year in the garden shops.

With gloves and masks, we dropped these flower gifts and messages of love and hope off to our neighbors. Because the cards were laminated, they could stay outside and our neighbors didn’t have to worry about touching them or opening their doors. (Most people are now okay with handling items from others, but there may still be those who can’t have outside items in their house. So a laminated card allows the gift to stay outdoors without disintegrating). 

You can get this card message to use for your own neighbor gift if you like. Simply fill out the form! You’ll be redirected to an editable Canva template that you can either download as-is, or edit to your liking!

Then have your kids take the Rainbow Cross lesson to create their own beautiful artwork for Resurrection cards!

Let Hope Fill Your Heart

I pray this year, the peace and hope of the Resurrected Christ strengthens your heart. We may yet have loss and suffering ahead, but in Christ, we are victorious. 

If you don’t have the peace and understanding of Jesus in your heart, I’m happy to talk with you about the hope a risen Christ gives to the believer. Just send me an email. 

Blessed Resurrection Sunday!

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