Three Easter Traditions to Do With Your Family at Home Easter is coming! Are you ready to add to your families’ Easter traditions? Our residents have shared with us some of their favorite Easter traditions that they do with their families at home. Rocks in Baskets The day before Easter, give kids empty baskets so they can walk around the neighborhood, park, or just around the yard. Have them start picking up rocks as they walk around until their baskets are full. Start by saying how our baskets feel a little heavier than when you started. After they’ve filled their baskets with rocks, sit down and talk about what the rocks symbolize in our hearts- the rocks are our sins and they make us heavy, like the rocks make our baskets. Then ask what sin is and for examples (lying, unkind words, disobedience, etc) not to condemn them but to help identify what we do wrong. “Since there is nothing that we can do on our own to get rid of the sins in our lives, we need someone to help us. That someone is Jesus. He wants to get rid of all the weight of our rocks (our sins) so that we don’t have to carry them anymore. We talk about how Jesus came to die on the cross to get rid of the weight of our sins then rise from the dead to win forever.” - Ashley Khastedhel, Teams Resident After that, you’ll bring the baskets home and cover them with a blanket or towel of some kind, representing Jesus covering our sins on the cross. Leave these baskets covered overnight! In the morning, the kids go back to the baskets and remove the cover to find some treasures and treats that have replaced the rocks. “We explain that Jesus wants to replace our sins (the rocks) with treasures (heaven, eternal life, fruits of the spirit). Hooray! Jesus rose from the dead and wants to lift the weight of sin and replace it with good and sweet things!" This is a simple and effective tool to explain the true meaning of Easter! Confetti Egg Fight A confetti egg fight is not the run-of-the-mill Easter tradition! A fun way to conclude the Easter meal is to go out in the backyard and throw confetti eggs at each other. All you need is a few cartons of confetti eggs that can be bought at most grocery stores and your family! “As long as I can remember, every Easter Sunday after church, my family would pack up and head to Easter lunch. After lunch, our family would head out to the backyard and battle it out in our confetti egg fight. Whoever was left standing or hit the most amount of people would be considered the “winner” of our fight.” - Maggie Coffey, Communications Resident This can be a fun way to celebrate the holiday with your family at home! Resurrection Eggs OnDat Truong, Richardson’s Groups Resident, and his family celebrate Easter with Resurrection Eggs. This tradition is easy to make and is made up of 12 plastic eggs with symbols inside of the eggs that represent different moments of the resurrection story. Every day the children open a new egg to find a small gift that represents a different part of the Easter story. For example, in the first egg, there could be a leaf to represent the palm branch. In other eggs, there could be two nails to represent the nails of the cross, or a rock to represent the stone rolled in front of the tomb, and so on. It’s a great way to simplify the Easter story in a way that’s digestible for kids each year. Not only does this make a great activity during the Easter season, but it also creates itself as a year-long toy for the kids! Overall, Easter can be a wonderful way of showing children how God showed His love for us in a fun and interactive way! Come celebrate Easter online with Chase Oaks and discover the power of the resurrection that does more in our lives than we could ever imagine.