Simple, Fun Ways to Make and Use God’s Big Easter Story

One of my favorite things about God’s Big Easter Story: A Holy Week Devotional for Families is all the fun, imaginative ways families can make the beautiful symbols that go with each day’s reading. Once families in your congregation have the resource, share these ways they can create the symbols and pathway they’ll need for Holy Week:

If you have access to a printer at home:

• Print on cardstock: Print the symbols on cardstock and cut them out. You can use them as is or paste them to a wooden circle. If you don’t have any wooden circles, you can also cut out cardboard circles to make the symbols a little heavier.
• Print on sticker paper: Print the symbols on sticker paper and then stick them to wooden circles, cardboard circles, or have your child(ren) stick them directly onto the path each day.
• Make the ornaments into magnets. Attach clear epoxy stickers to the front of your printed symbols and a magnet to the back. Hang your printed path on the refrigerator and add a magnet symbol to the path each day. 

If you don’t have access to a printer:

• Draw the symbols freehand: The symbols are simple images that children can draw on their own. Open the black and white symbols on your phone, tablet, or laptop, and have your children draw and color in their own set.
• Trace the symbols: Using the black and white symbols, enlarge the document until the symbol is the size you want, then place a piece of paper on your screen and gently trace the image with a pencil. Go over the pencil lines with markers and then have your children color them in.
• Get creative! If you don’t have paper you can use to draw or trace the symbols, there are lots of other things you can use to make the symbols. You can collect rocks and draw on them with Sharpies, sculpt symbols out of play-doh, or my family even made a set out of Shrinky Dinks! Be creative and use what you already have.

Once you have your symbols ready, you’ll also want to print or create a pathway. If you have a printer, you can print the pathway that’s on page 3 of God’s Big Easter Story. If you don’t have a printer, grab a large piece of paper (butcher paper or wrapping paper work well), and use a sharpie to draw a pathway. Yes, it really is that simple! A path is just two parallel lines with some circles inside. You can do it!

Have other ideas for creating symbols for God’s Big Easter Story? We’d love to hear them! Share your ideas below or on our Dwell Facebook group.