Final words.....!

If you have joined in on this journey...thank you! I really hope and pray that it has been helpful. If you have the inclination to let me know how it has worked for your family I would love to hear from you, even with suggestions of improvements! You can email me at tkemac(at)gmail(dot)com


I have also written similar devotions to be used in the countdown to Christmas, so if you enjoyed these, check back later in the year to see the Christmas ones! I will definitely start posting them earlier to allow more time for getting resources organised! 


I am also nearly finished writing a years program for our TinyTots Sunday School class at church. They are the 2-4 year olds! The first two terms follow a similar path to these devotions - discovering who Jesus is and what He has done for us and Terms 3 & 4 look at the bigger picture of the bible and why we needed a Saviour and who that Saviour was going to be - thus looking at the Christmas story! I was inspired by the Jesse Tree style for term 3 & 4! So if that is of any interest to you and your church please let me know. I'm happy to share it!!


May God continue to bless your families as you journey together in teaching your precious little ones about Jesus and guiding them in their faith journey! 
Kate xo

Devotion Time - Day 29

Good Morning!! Here is the last devotion for Easter. I wonder whether God has allowed it to be helpful to other families in their walk to know, love and understand Jesus better this Easter? I sure hope and pray so!!  This devotion brings it all together with the promise of Jesus' return one day and the story of His work in our lives that is still to be continued!! Praise God!! 


Day 29


Revelation 1, 5, 21, 22
“A dream of heaven” p. 342 in The Jesus Story Book Bible


Treasure Hunt Resources: Photos of the kid’s favourite cake, toys, anything precious that they would love to receive as a gift! You will also need the actual object as well for later on!


Beginning Activity/ Chat: Explain to the kids that they are going to help do the treasure hunt today! One at a time they will take turns to hide something or someone (the kids themselves could also hide!)  somewhere in the room or even somewhere in the house that we are currently in. Each time something/someone is hidden talk to the kids and make the point that even though they can’t be seen they are still with us in the same room or house, just like Jesus is always with us even though we can’t actually see him.


After they have all had a turn tell the kids that there actually is another treasure hiding for them all. Once they have found the envelopes with the pictures of their favourite gifts, talk about how the things in the photos are so special to us. Ask the kids how they would feel if they could only eve look at the picture, but never actually have their special item? How would they feel if they knew that sometime soon they could have this special thing for themselves?


In today’s true story from the bible we will hear that not only does Jesus promise that he is always with us wherever we are, but he also has promised that he will come back to earth again one day and take us home to heaven to be with him. So just like we feel really excited to be able to have our special thing sometime soon,  we can also be so excited and know for sure that one day Jesus has promised to come and take us home to heaven to be with him forever! Hooray!


Read “A dream of heaven” p. 342 in The Jesus Story Book Bible or “Jesus is coming!” in The Beginner’s Bible p. 504


Questions:

1.        What did God tell and show to John in his vision? (God sitting on a throne and everything bad on earth had come to an end. From the Storybook bible - Lots of laughing and cheering like a big party, an amazing city, God’s children all together again and Satan defeated!)

2.        Will there be any more death, sadness, crying or pain in heaven? (No! It will be a happy and joyful and amazing  place where all God’s people will be together with Him!))

3.        Has Jesus promised to come back again one day? (Yes!)

Either now or at the end might be a good time to give your children their special thing from the beginning. It just depends on when it will be the least distracting for the children!!


Prayer:
Thank you, thank you King Jesus that you have promised to come back to earth again one day. Thank you that you came to die for us, so that we can be your friends again, and that if we believe and trust in you will be able to go and live with you in Heaven, such an amazing and wonderful place!  Thank you that we can trust in your promises! Amen.


Memory Verse Activities:
For the final time practice singing the memory verse together! You could have a sing/dance off completion if your kids like that sort of thing, or perform it for the neighbours or other family members! They might like the chance to make a video clip of them singing it too!


It could be good to ask the children one last time to explain what they think this verse means for them. Just to check their understanding and that they have begun to grasp it personally for themselves.


You could ask them to choose their favourite memory verse activity we have done and do it again together.


Now might also be a really good time to look at the children’s version of “Two ways to live”. It is available to view for free online or you can purchase copies also. It is a really effective revision of all we have been learning over this Easter period. You might be able to think of some craft activities your children might enjoy based on the pictures, or even see if they can copy and draw their own and learn to talk through each step! Here is the link to the online version!


Written and Compiled by Kate McIntosh, April 2012.

Devotion Time - Day 28

...and here is the next one to make up for yesterday!!! Enjoy! xo


Day 28


Acts 1-5, John 15
“God sends help” p. 326 in The Jesus Story book Bible


Treasure Hunt Resources:  Materials to make headbands with a flame on them eg. Strips of cardboard, a cardboard flame shape to attach, a stapler to join the head band up! You could decorate and make it have a 3D effect with cellophane, glitter.


Beginning Activity/Chat:  Together construct the headbands and explain that although Jesus had gone back to heaven he had promised to send a helper back to His people. In today’s true story from the bible we are going to hear about Jesus’ promise to the disciples coming true in a very unusual way!


Read The Jesus storybook Bible p. 326 or The Beginner’s Bible p. 473


Questions:

1.        What was Jesus’ promise to the disciples in yesterday’s story? (Go to Jerusalem and I will send a helper for you)

2.        Who was the special helper? (The Holy Spirit)

3.        What did the Holy Spirit look like in this story (flames on the disciples heads and in their hearts)

4.        Does the Holy Spirit look like that today? (No, not unless God wanted it to)

5.        Is the Holy Spirit living in our hearts today? (Yes! If we have asked Jesus to forgive us and asked him to live in our hearts, then the Holy Spirit is definitely with us!)

How precious it is to know that if we have asked Jesus to forgive us and come and live in our hearts that he promises to send the Holy Spirit to help us as we learn to be more like Jesus every day! We are not alone and even though we can’t see the Holy Spirit or Jesus, we can know that they are right with us and ready to help us whenever we call!


Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, Thank you for not leaving us alone here on earth while you are in heaven. Thank you that you have sent us a helper in the Holy Spirit. Please help us to always trust you and to know that you are living in us. Thank you that you have rescued us from all the wrong things we do and that you love us and will never leave us. Amen.



Memory Verse Activities:
Continue practicing the song!


Maybe you could write the memory verse around the band of the head band to remind the children as they wear it that Jesus is their King and they are not alone when they trust in Jesus!


This could be a long bow....You could make a picture of a person who knows Jesus– say with a crown on their head or a cross on their heart, and then a cloud radiating light to represent heaven. Then with some flame shaped cards and cross shaped cards that have the words/sections of the verse written on them and the children have to put them in the right order going between the person and heaven, allowing you to talk and reinforce that as we walk through life between now and when we’ll meet Jesus, if we trust in Him, then we can always know that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are with us and guiding us every step of the way!


Written and Compiled by Kate McIntosh, April 2012

Devotion Time - Day 27

Hi there!!
I was a little slack not posting another devotion yesterday sorry....hopefully I can be excused on Easter Sunday?! I hope you all had a fabulous day celebrating Jesus with your families!! We had a great day, after a very rushed start getting to church! We suddenly realised when we got up that to get the hire car back by 12 we were going to have to do it before church! So a few phone calls later and Tim had organised to be picked up after dropping it of  and the boys and I just arrived way early at church and played with our minister's girls! We lent our other little car to our  minister and have swapped for their one that fits three car seats across the back, until we can pick up a new one as our other car is not fixable without spending thousands on it.....


Anyways....here's the next devotion! Only two more to go! May God bless your families richly in reading His word together! xo


Day 27


Matthew 28:16-20, Luke 24:44-51, John 14:2-3, Acts 1:6-11
“Jesus goes to heaven” p. 466 in The Beginner’s Bible


Treasure Hunt Resources: Drawing things and or building materials! For the extra activity you will need big cardboard/fabric “W”, “T” and “L” letters and things to decorate them!


Beginning Activities: Together with the kids discuss and dream about what your perfect home to live in would be/look like. If you have kids who enjoy drawing or making things you could even have a go at visually representing what it would look like, either on paper or by building it!.


In today’s true story from the bible we are going to hear about Jesus saying goodbye to his special friends. Then we will read about how he went back to his home in heaven with God to prepare a perfect place for us to go one day!  It will be even better than anything we can imagine...better than any of our dream houses here on earth could ever be!


Read “Jesus goes to heaven” in The Beginner’s Bible p. 466 or The Jesus Storybook Bible, p. 322-325


Questions:

1.        Where did Jesus go? (back to heaven to prepare a place for us)

2.        How did Jesus go? (He rose up in the air into the clouds! How amazing!)

3.        What did he tell the disciples and now us to do until we see him again? (Go and tell everyone about the good news of Jesus, so that they can know and trust in Him too!)

An extra activity that you could do after reading this story could be to decorate big letters (W, T & L) together and talk about how the “w” stands for “way” the ‘t’ for “truth” and the “l” for “life” and that it is only by knowing and trusting in Jesus and all he has done for us that we can see him again one day. Only He is the way the truth and the life! If you know the song you could sing it too!


Prayer:
Thank you Jesus that you have gone to heaven to make a place ready for us one day! Thank you that one day we will see you again. Please help us to remember your instructions to us while we wait to see you again and help us to always be ready to talk to our friends about how they can trust in you too. Amen.


Memory Verse Activities:
Continue practicing the song!


Today’s story really is the culmination of this memory verse, that by trusting and believing in Him we will not perish but go and live with Him forever! Praise God!! Maybe you could collect some interesting things from around your house to make an artwork around the “w”, “t”, and “l” theme, eg making the letters out of pebbles or leaves! When finished you could draw it all together by writing, sticking the memory verse around the edge, or written on a cross stuck in the middle!


Or you could practice drawing the letters on the concrete with chalk and they have to jump on them and say “jesus is the way!”, Jesus is the truth” and Jesus is the life”! You could then make it more challenging by encouraging them to remember the memory verse each time they jump on a certain letter etc...!


Written and Compiled by Kate McIntosh, April 2012

Some photos from our house....

I thought I should share some photos from our devotion time! Most of the time I set out with good intentions of taking lots of photos and mostly I completely forget in the moment!

Here are some from "The Lost Sheep" devotion and their pictures they made!

These ones are from our Resurrection Garden that we made together out the front of our house in a garden bed that we had just cleaned out! The boys were quite excited to help make it!

Our "tomb" is behind this rock!

We even have a little gravel path from the hill with the crosses to the tomb! Don't know if that is how it really was, but the boys enjoyed collecting the gravel!!!

Devotion Time - Day 26

Hi there! This is a shorter one today, but important in helping the children understand that Jesus did indeed rise again and came back to see his friends. Hopefully you all have a fabulous Easter together with your families! God bless xo


Day 26


John 20:19-20
“Jesus Returns” p. 459 in The Beginner’s Bible


Treasure Hunt Resources: Blindfolds!


Beginning Activities: Using the blindfolds explain that we are going to take it in turns to add something new to the room we are sitting in and everyone else has to guess once their blindfolds are off what it is!  (So...all but one person have blindfolds on, while one makes the changes!!)


You could also make a flap picture of the disciples sitting in a room and when the flap is opened Jesus is there with them too!


In today’s true story from the bible we are going to hear of something amazing that Jesus did to see his friends!


“Jesus Returns” The Beginner’s Bible p. 459 or The Jesus Storybook bible p. 318-321


Questions:

1.        Why were the disciples locked in the room? (Because they were afraid that soldiers might come and arrest them)

2.        Who appeared in the room with them? (Jesus!)

3.        Did he come through the door? (No!)

4.        How did the disciples know that he was real? (They touched the scars on his hands and feet and watched Jesus eat fish)

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, Thank you that you are real and that you really have risen from the dead and are alive again! Even though we can’t see you with our eyes please help us to always trust in you and believe in you. Amen.


Memory Verse Activities:
Continue to practice the song/actions together.


Revisit playing one of the earlier games with the verse: treasure hunt for the words, pop the ballons for the words, fishing for them.....


Written and Compiled by Kate McIntosh, April 2012

Devotion Time - Day 25

Hello there! I trust you are having a great day remembering with your families the amazing sacrifice Jesus has made on our behalf. 

As we are living in a little country town we didn't have a church service today (the ministry team were doing services in the nursing homes and at other branches of our church), instead we had a Passover meal at church last night which was followed by a service together. It was lovely to sit and share the experience with all of our church family. However all of our boys were so tired, being the last day of the school term, and we didn't last long in the service before we had to come home so they could go to sleep. Poor Sam was trying to sleep on the pew behind us, but when he crawled onto my lap asking when he could go home to sleep in a real bed, I knew we needed to go. Poor little guy!

Enjoy this devotion! May God richly bless all of your families over this special Easter weekend! xo


Day 25


Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-10, Luke 24:1-11, John 20:1-18
“Jesus is Risen!” p. 453 in The Beginner’s Bible or “God’s wonderful surprise” p. 310 in The Jesus Story Book Bible.


Treasure Hunt Resources: Hollow Easter eggs and a two baskets


Beginning Activities/ Chat: To begin with today check the Resurrection Cookies from yesterday and have a bite/break open. They should be hollow and be a perfect lead in to talking about how Jesus did not stay dead, but has risen, and that the tomb was empty, just like our cookies and Easter eggs!


In today’s true story from the bible we are going to hear some super exciting news......


The Beginner’s Bible p. 453 or The Jesus Storybook Bible, p.310


Questions:

1.        Why were Jesus’ friends sad at the beginning of the story? (Because they thought their good friend Jesus had died and they were missing him.)

2.        What did Mary Magdalene and the other women find when they went to Jesus’ tomb? (It was open and empty! )

3.        Who appeared to them? (An angel)

4.        What did he tell Mary and her friends? (That Jesus wasn’t there...he was ALIVE again!)

5.        How did Mary and Jesus’ friends feel? (Amazed and VERY excited! So happy!)

Don’t forget that you could finish off today’s stickers in the sticker book too! You can also roll away the stone in front of your tomb in the resurrection garden you made the other day too!


When finished the day’s devotion, use some of the Easter Eggs and the basket to put together a sharing basket – a basket to be given to another family who might be in need or who are good friends and could be blessed by it as well as one for your own family to share!


Prayer:
You are alive again Lord Jesus! That is such good news! Thank you for loving us so much that you would die for us. Thank you that you still love us today and that you are always with us wherever we go. Please help us to always believe and trust in you. Amen.


Memory Verse Activities:
Continue practicing the song/actions.


You could make together an empty tomb piece of craft such as this. Maybe you could write the memory verse along the top of the tomb or as a flag to stick in your tomb, or hidden behind the stone so you see it when you roll it away!


Written and Compiled by Kate McIntosh, April 2012

Devotion Time - Day 24

Hi there! I got a little mixed up in yesterday's post and realised that this one is to occur on Good Friday, not yesterdays one! The devotion time yesterday was to focus more on Jesus time praying in the garden and his arrest, saving the crucifixion part of the story for today! Oh well! I hope it doesn't cause too many problems for families using this. Have fun and Enjoy Celebrating Jesus!


Day 24


Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19
“The sun stops shining” in The Jesus Story Book Bible p. 302


Treasure Hunt Resources: A hammer and nails and Ingredients for resurrection cookies.


Beginning Activities/ Chat: After the children have found the treasure spend some time revising what we read yesterday and ask the children what they think might be going to happen next. Read the story together and put the stickers in the next section of the sticker book.  The hammer and nails might be useful visual tools for the story. 


The Jesus Storybook bible p. 302 or The Beginner’s Bible p. 450

Questions:                                           

1.        What did the soldiers make Jesus do? (Wear a crown of thorns and carry a big heavy cross and then they made fun of Him)

2.        What did the soldiers do to Jesus up in the hill? (They nailed his hands and feet to the cross and crucified Him)

3.        Had Jesus done anything wrong? (No)

4.        Why did Jesus let the soldiers nail him to the cross? ( Jesus knew that it was all part of God’s perfect plan to rescue us and to forgive us, so that we could be friends with God again)

5.        Where did they take Jesus once he had died? (They put Jesus’ body in a tomb and rolled a big rock in front of it and left a guard outside of it)

After reading the story make some Resurrection Cookies with the kids (recipe here) and talk through the story again.
Or if preferred you could use some of the cross craft ideas from yesterday to make while discussing the story further with your children.


Prayer:
Dear King Jesus, how scary it must have been for you to die like that. Thank you for being prepared to die for us so that all our sins and bad things we do could be forgiven. Please help us to live every day of our lives for you. Keep teaching us from your word, the bible, and help us to grow closer to you each day. Amen.


Memory Verse Activity:
Continue to practice the song/actions.


You could use this Great visual lesson to talk about Jesus and why we needed Him to come and rescue us and why God needed to give His only Son! Maybe you could make the pieces more jigsaw shaped to make it harder, or write the memory verse out on them so that it comes together when the “gap” is bridged by Jesus and His great love for us on the cross!


Written and Compiled by Kate McIntosh, April 2012

Devotion Time - Day 23

Hi there!! Here is the next devotion! I hope and pray it helps your families to turn your eyes and hearts towards Jesus in a new way this Easter. God Bless xo


Day 23


Matthew 26-27, Mark 14-15, Luke 22-23, John 18-19
 “Jesus is arrested and Crucified” p. 446 in The Beginner’s Bible


Treasure Hunt Resources: The Peek-a-bible “The Easter Story” or another children’s Easter story for your collection!, T-Bags and matches


Beginning Activity: Read the treasure hunt book together and talk particularly about the next part of the Easter story – that is Jesus praying in the garden and being arrested.  The next section of the sticker book could be done too.


Beginner’s Bible, p.446-449 or The Jesus Storybook Bible p.294 are also worth reading, going into more depth about this part of the story.
IN THIS TRUE STORY FROM THE BIBLE WE CAN SEE THAT JESUS WAS AFRAID, BUT TRUSTED GOD AND HIS PERFECT PLAN TO USE JESUS AS OUR RESCUER.


Questions:

1.        What did Jesus do in the garden that night? (He spent time praying and talking to God, telling him he was afraid and asking for another way to be the rescuer and then coming to peace with God’s perfect plan in the end)

2.        Who came into the garden later that night? (Judas and the soldiers)

3.        What did they come to do? (arrest Jesus and take Him away)

Ask the children what they think the tea bags might be for? It could be fun to talk through the significance of the Easter story again with the children using T-Bags – see attached instructions.


If you have children who enjoy craft you might like to create something focussing around the cross. Such as:

 A stained glass effect of three crosses on a hill, a light ray cross with oil pastels, a stained glass egg with cross in the middle, a coin cross - "paid in full"
Sorry I couldn't the pictures to come up to show you. There are thousands of other great ideas out there in cyber space too!


Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank you so much for having a perfect plan to rescue us through Jesus. Thank you that He died in our place so that we could be forgiven. Please help us to understand just how amazing that is this Easter.  Amen.


Memory Verse Activities:
Continue to practice the song/actions.


Together make a resurrection garden in a pot. Talk about some of the details of the story as you make it and the fact that Jesus had to die for us, to rescue us, and also because of his great love for us. We are more loved by Him than I think we’ll ever be able to imagine! As you finish making the garden decorate a flag to put in the garden or a strip to wrap around the pot, with the memory verse written on it. Make the connection with the children between the Easter story and the love of God for us that he would give His son, just so that we could be friends with Him again and be able to live forever with Him in heaven one day!


Here are the instructions for "The gospel according to a tea bag" as well! It's really quite clever!!


Written and Compiled by Kate McIntosh, April 2012

Devotion Time - Day 22

Hi there! We've been busy having birthday celebrations in this house today for my amazing husband! So I'm sorry to post this so late in the day again. Hopefully tomorrow will be better! Enjoy!


Day 22


Matthew 26:17-29, Mark 14:12-25, Luke 22:7-19, John 13-14
“The last supper” p. 442 in The Beginner’s Bible


Treasure Hunt Resources: Things needed to cook a Passover meal for the family and “The first Easter” puzzle book.


Beginning Activity/Chat: Once the treasure has been found look at all the cooking things needed to make a Passover meal for the family and talk about how in the last few days before Jesus died he had a very important last meal with his special friends, his disciples. At this dinner he told his friends what was going to happen to him and explained why it had to happen, so that they would understand and not be afraid.


Read “The last supper” in The Beginners Bible pg. 442 or The Jesus Storybook Bible pg. 292 to help the kids understand what happened and to give them some understanding of the significance of sharing a family Passover meal.


Cook and share a Passover meal together as a family. While the kids are waiting for it to cook read and do the puzzles in the book from the treasure hunt and put the stickers in the next section of the Easter sticker book.


Questions:

1.        What did Jesus do with his special friends? (He had a meal with them called the Passover meal)

2.        What did Jesus tell his disciples during the dinner? (That he was going to die so we could be rescued and not to be afraid.) The Jesus Storybook has a great and very clear explanation for kids of this!

Prayer:
Thank you Lord Jesus, that you came to earth to die for us so that we could be rescued. Thank you for taking the punishment for all the wrong things we do. Please help us to always trust in you and live our lives praising you. Amen.


Memory Verse Activities:
Continue to practice the song/actions.


If you’d like you could hide pieces of paper with the words/sections of the verse under the plates, inside a bread roll..... and as a family “find” your words and see if you can put them back together in order again as you eat!


Written and Compiled by Kate McIntosh, April 2012.

Devotion Time - Day 21

Hi! So here is the next devotion...a little later in the day than I planned, but here at last! Enjoy!!


Day 21


John 13:3-30
 “Washing the disciples’ feet” p. 437 in The Beginner’s Bible


Treasure Hunt Resources: A bucket of warm water and a washer and “My first story of Easter” by Tim Dowley, or another similar Easter picture book– just to build up an Easter book collection and reinforce the story.


Beginning Activity/Chat: Have a look at the bucket and towels from the treasure hunt and ask the children to have a guess as to what they might be for? Explain that in today’s true story from the bible we are going to see Jesus being a true servant to his friends. Spend some time washing each other`s feet and while doing so talk with the kids about how Jesus does this in the story and why he did it. Discuss how back in those days there were no footpaths or sealed roads and how it was warm where they lived and that they mostly just wore sandals or thong like shoes. As a result the people s feet often got very dirty and dusty and needed washing. It was a servants job to do the washing, so it was a big statement Jesus was making by telling his disciples to sere each other in such a way. Are our feet sometimes smelly? Do you think it might have been a nice job to wash other people’s dirty feet?


IN THIS TRUE STORY FROM THE BIBLE JESUS TEACHES US HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO LOVE AND SERVE EACH OTHER IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS.
Read “Washing the disciples’ feet” from The Beginner’s Bible, p.437 or pgs 286-291 of The Jesus Storybook Bible


Questions:

1.        What did Jesus do for his disciples in this story? (He washed their feet)

2.        Should Jesus be doing that job? (No)

3.        Why was it strange for Jesus to be washing their feet? (It was only the servants-the people working in the house- job to do that, and important people like Jesus shouldn’t be on their knees doing such a dirty job)

4.        Why did Jesus wash their feet? (To serve his friends and to show them how to love and look after each other, even when it might mean doing something they don’t like to do.)

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, Thank you for teaching and showing us how to love and serve each other. Please help us always to be looking out for our friends and family and ways that we can serve and love them like you would do. Amen.

Memory Verse Activities:

Continue to practice the song/actions.

If you are feeling game you could do some painting and making footprints with paint. You could make a cross with a few footprints going vertical and a single one horizontal. Once they are dry you could get the children to help you remember the memory verse and write it somewhere around their “foot” artwork and frame it for the wall to remind them during Easter of Jesus’ amazing love and sacrifice for us. You could also make many footprints in a row to write the words/sections of the verse on and play games with....

Written and Compiled by Kate McIntosh, April 2012

Devotion Time - Day 20

Hi there! Here is the next days devotion. I have a sneaking suspicion that somewhere along the way my counting was out because really this devotion should be for today, for Palm Sunday. I'm super sorry about that....and here I was thinking I was getting ahead.....oh well. Hopefully it doesn't muck up all your plans too much and you can still  be inspired to think of some creative ideas to do with your kiddos, and next year we'll have it all worked out!


Day 20


Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-40, John 12:12-19
Pages 1 & 2 in “My Very first Easter Story Sticker Book” or “The True King” in The beginner’s Bible p. 427


Treasure Hunt Resources: “My very first Easter Story” sticker book and some palm branches (made out of cardboard if nor real ones on hand!) and some coats.


Beginning Activity/ Chat: After the treasure has been found read pages 1 & 2 from “My very first Easter Story” sticker book. Use the palm branches and coats, have a go at acting out the story. Talk about how exciting it must have been for the people who were there to see Jesus ride into town, knowing that He was their promised Saviour.


If you can get some palm fronds you could also make a palm cross. Instructions here: http://www.kidssundayschool.com/Gradeschool/Crafts/1craft08.php


Questions:

1.        Who rode into Jerusalem? (Jesus)

2.        What did he ride on? (A donkey)

3.        Were the people excited to see Jesus? (Yes!)

4.        What did they do as Jesus rode towards them? (They waved branches and laid their coats on the road)

Prayer:
Thank you Lord God for sending Jesus and for teaching us about Him and all He did in the bible. Please help us to understand and know how much you love us this Easter as we read the Easter story each day and help us to be excited about Jesus being our Saviour too. Amen.


Memory Verse Ideas:
Continue practicing the song/actions.
You could make a palm leaf/palm cross banner with the memory verse words/sections written on each leaf and put them together in the right order. Or have palm leaves cut out of paper that the kids have to match up with pictures of coats that have the memory verse written on them. Or walk across with a toy donkey ....


Written and Compiled by Kate McIntosh, April 2012

Lazarus devotion in our house!

Here are some photos from the devotions about Lazarus! The boys were super excited to make our cave....it's been a while since we last did this! Can you tell?!

"Lazarus in!"

"Lazarus out!"

"Lazarus in!"

E as Lazarus!! They thought this was very funny!

S didn't last as Lazarus for as long before the paper started breaking!

A trail of destruction left after all the fun!

I wonder how this devotion went in your house and if your kids thought it was as much of a blast as ours did?! (& if you are still finding bits of toilet paper all around the house like I am?!)