DIY a meaningful Easter celebration at home

Easter Sunday activities abound around town but for families who prefer to avoid the crowd and to keep the meaning of Easter at the core of their celebration, here are some activities to consider.

Read and talk about the Easter story

Easter would be pointless if the story of Jesus' victory over death were forgotten. In the Bible, it can be found in chapters 14 to 16 of the Gospel of Mark.

Remind everyone that Easter is a celebration of new life. That's why we celebrate with plenty of color and use symbols like eggs and rabbits (they're very bouncy and lively plus they reproduce quickly...).

Have a colorful activity

To decorate Easter eggs, it's easy to make your own dye by mixing food coloring and vinegar. For brighter-colored results, use more food coloring and let the egg stay immersed in the solution longer. Markers, crayons and stickers work too!

To emphasize the "new life" message, why not find broken pieces of crayons and re-melt them in a silicone mold or muffin tin? The marbly effect when light and dark colors swirl together is pretty cool. Coloring pages are also easy to find online and print out and you can use your "new" crayons right away.

READ: 20 questions kids ask about Lent, Holy Week and Easter

Make something yummy

Baking is all about rising (get it?)! And it's fun to frost sugar cookies and cakes then eat them too. Look for cookie cutters or decorate cakes in the shape of Easter symbols so you can also talk about how they relate to the Easter story. The cross is not only how Jesus died - the empty cross shows that He lives!

Organize a hunt

Use the eggs you decorated or buy plastic ones from stores (regular-sized eggs cost about Php 80 for 18 pieces from a toy store) and put small prizes inside. Prize ideas include small toys, school supplies like erasers, stickers, coins, and sweets.

Of course, no one's stopping you from customizing your own hunt: doing it three-legged race style, having a night hunt (most mobile phones can double as flashlights!), or even limiting the number of eggs each participant can claim so there's enough for everyone.

Ask the kids to return the plastic eggs afterwards so you can re-use them next year. You don't even have to use eggs - older kids will enjoy a photo scavenger hunt (e.g. seeds, buds, babies, and pregnant ladies... symbols of life can be found everywhere!).

Ask the child, "If you realize that there is one egg or object that hasn't been found yet, wouldn't you go look for it?" The process of searching until everything has been found is similar to how God actively looks for lost children or those who have not yet invited Him into their hearts. Surely a person is more important than an Easter egg!

READ: Holy Week mall hours 2016 – Activities at Ayala, SM, Robinsons, Megaworld

Of course, you may still opt to see what malls have in store for the family, but it won't hurt to try some of these ideas out or to process the activities they experienced as soon as you get home. Not only will these memories last a lifetime, they open up the conversation about eternal life as well.

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