R esurrection eggs are a great way to share the story of Easter with your kids. They are a set of plastic eggs like the ones used in an Easter egg hunt, but they don’t carry chocolate or jelly beans. Inside each egg is a symbol that represents a part of the story of Jesus’s death and resurrection. You open the eggs during Holy Week and learn about the events they represent in the Bible. While you can buy resurrection eggs, making your own DIY resurrection eggs with your kids is easy. And when kids make their own, you invite them to think more intentionally about what each egg represents in the Easter story.
The Importance of Sharing the True Meaning of Easter with Children
Easter is the most significant celebration of the year for Christians. Setting aside this special time each year to reflect on what the gift of a new life with Jesus means to us helps us dedicate ourselves to Jesus more deeply all year long.
Yet the magnitude of this gift and the holiness of Lent, Good Friday, and Easter can get obscured by Easter bunnies, egg hunts, and the anticipation of baskets overflowing with stuffed animals, jelly beans, and chocolate bunnies. And you may still want to take part in a few secular parts of the celebration. (I like to think Jesus understands my love of Cadbury eggs.) Resurrection eggs help bridge Easter egg hunts and baskets with the real meaning of Easter.
The meaning of Jesus’s death and his resurrection from the dead also might seem difficult for children to grasp. But don’t underestimate what young children can understand about Jesus. I am amazed by what my preschool students share about their faith on a regular basis. I find it helps them to be able to experience biblical stories with their senses. The resurrection eggs are one way you can do this. The symbols in the resurrection eggs make a story from a long time ago feel more tangible and real. They help children connect the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross with their real lives.
When your children grow up, participating in activities and traditions like resurrection eggs sticks with them. Even as adults, they may look back on the eggs you make and open together as an important part of their early relationship with Jesus. You never know how God is working in their hearts.
Making Your Own Resurrection Eggs with Kids
Number your plastic eggs 1-12. Each numbered egg represents a key event in the Easter story. Leading up to Easter, make a symbol for each event to place inside the corresponding egg. At the end, you’ll have a complete set of DIY resurrection eggs.
Connecting the symbols to the story of Jesus’s death and resurrection is what makes them meaningful. So make sure to take time to read about the biblical event each egg represents with kids.
Resurrection Symbols in this Set
- Donkey and palm branches: Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem
- Coin: Judas betrays Jesus
- Washcloth: Jesus washes his disciples’ feet
- Bread and cup: The Last Supper
- Praying hands: Jesus prays in the garden of Gethsemane
- Feather: The rooster crows when Peter denies knowing Jesus
- Bark or piece of wood: Jesus is crucified
- Blue, purple, or scarlet-colored fabric: Temple curtain split in two
- Linen cloth: Jesus’s body is wrapped for burial
- Stone: A stone seals Jesus’s tomb shut
- Spices: The women take spices to the tomb to anoint Jesus’s body
- Empty tomb: Jesus is risen from the dead
Alternate symbols:
- Leather: Jesus is beaten
- Cross: Jesus is crucified
- Dice: Soldiers play a game for Jesus’s clothes
- Spear: Soldiers pierce Jesus with a spear to make sure he is dead
Suggested Supplies
- Egg carton that can fit a dozen eggs (Tip: the styrofoam egg cartons work best for decorating.)
- A dozen plastic eggs (ideally assorted colors); substitute option: 12 small boxes
- Marker or number stickers to label each egg or box
- Basic craft supplies (e.g., markers, glue, scissors, paper)
- Sculpey clay or something similar
- Resurrection symbols key (download free printable)
- Resurrection story cards (download free printable)
(Feel free to improvise as needed with what you have at home)
DIY Ideas for Making Resurrection Egg Symbols
To make your eggs, you can use our DIY ideas below to get inspired or simply have your kids draw their own symbols to put in the eggs. Feel free to make one egg per day with your kids or do more than egg at a time. I find it works well to gather all your supplies in advance but have kids make either one or two eggs each day during Holy Week. Note: In a few cases, the items will need to dry.
After you’ve made your own resurrection eggs, you can keep using them each year to prepare for Easter. Either begin 12 days before Easter and open one egg each day, or begin around Palm Sunday and open two eggs on a few of the days.
Egg 1. Donkey and palm branches
Biblical event: Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem
The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” — Matthew 21:9
Ways to make this symbol:
- Give your dog a haircut or use faux fur to represent the fur of the donkey.
- Use a small donkey or colt figure; you can get one on Amazon here if you don’t have a figure like this at home.
For the palm branches:
- Find an artificial plant with leaves that resemble palm branches
- Use a few blades of grass
- Make green felt palm branches
- Draw palm branches and cut them out
Egg 2. Coin
Biblical Event: Judas betrays Jesus
Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. — Matthew 26:14-15
Ways to make this symbol:
- You can use a nickel or a dime; anything that resembles a small coin will work.
- You can also order plastic coins online.
Egg 3. Washcloth
Biblical Event: Jesus washes his disciples’ feet
Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. — John 13:14-15
Ways to make this symbol:
- Cut a 2-inch square piece out of a washcloth or old rag.
Egg 4. Bread and cup
Biblical Event: The Last Supper
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” — Matthew 26:26-28
Ways to make this symbol:
- Make a small loaf of bread using Sculpey clay (you can order some here) or Play-Dough. Put a small glue drop on the top of the bread; cover it with a few seeds (e.g., Sesame or Poppy Seeds) if you have them.
For the cup:
- Use Sculpey clay or Play-Dough to craft a small cup. First, make a small ball. Then press a pencil end gently in the middle and form the cup with your fingers.
Egg 5. Praying hands
Biblical Event: Jesus prays in the garden of Gethsemane
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” — Matthew 28:39
Ways to make this symbol:
- Make a picture of praying hands.
- Find a small picture of praying hands online to print.
- Make praying hands using Sculpey clay or Play-Dough.
- Order a praying hands figurine on Amazon.
Egg 6. Feather
Biblical Event: Peter denies Jesus three times, and the rooster crows
Then a female servant, seeing [Peter] in the firelight, stared at him and said, “This man also was with him.” But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” A little later someone else, on seeing him, said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not!” Then about an hour later still another kept insisting, “Surely this man also was with him, for he is a Galilean.” But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about!” At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. — Luke 22:56-60
Ways to make this symbol:
- Use a small feather, real or artificial.
Egg 7. Bark or piece of wood
Biblical Event: Jesus is crucified
After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. — Matthew 27:31
Ways to make this symbol:
- Find a small piece of bark or wood to represent the cross.
- If you want to use the cross as a symbol, you can use a small wooden cross bead or pendant. You can order a wooden cross pendant here.
- Make a cross out of small twigs, tied together with string or twine.
- Have your child draw or paint their own cross.
Egg 8. Blue, purple, or scarlet-colored fabric
Biblical Event: There was an earthquake and the curtain to the temple was torn in two.
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. — Matthew 27:50-51a
Ways to make this symbol:
- Use a 2 X 3-inch rectangle piece of paper or linen. Have your child color it using a blue, purple, and/or red marker and cut the paper or linen in half.
Egg 9. Linen cloth
Biblical Event: Jesus’s body is wrapped for burial
Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. — Matthew 27:59
Ways to make this symbol:
- Use a 1 X 2 or 2 X 3-inch rectangle piece of linen (if you don’t have linen, another white fabric will work fine).
Egg 10. Stone
Biblical Event: Jesus’s tomb is sealed shut with a stone
“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard. — Matthew 27:65-66
Ways to make this symbol:
- Find a small stone outside.
Egg 11. Spices
Biblical Event: Mary Magdalene and Mary take spices and perfumes to anoint Jesus’s body.
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. — John 23:1
Ways to make this symbol:
- Use a clove and/or a piece of cinnamon.
Egg 12. Empty tomb
Biblical Event: Jesus is risen from the dead
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. — Matthew 28:5
Ways to make this symbol:
- Since this egg or box should be empty to represent that Jesus is no longer in the tomb, you’re all set!
Additional Suggested Materials
- Benjamin’s Box: A Resurrection Story* by Melody Carlson, Jack Stockman (Illustrator)
- STORY EGG: The Easter Colorful Nesting Toy with Resurrection Book
- The Gift of the Cross: Celebrating Christ Through Holy Week by Brandon Helder
- An Easter Egg Hunt with Jesus
- He is Risen: Rocks Tell the Story of Easter by Patti Rokus
- God Gave Us Easter by Lisa Tawn Bergren
- The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross Storybook: The true story of why Jesus died and rose again by Carl Laferton
- Easter Love Letters from God: Bible Stories by Glenys Nellist
- `Twas the Morning of Easter by Glenys Nellist
*More about Benjamin’s Box
Benjamin’s Box is an optional, additional resource. The eggs in the story are not an exact match to the resurrection eggs shown here. The book is a bit hard to follow for some 5-year-olds and for children 4 and under.
Kathy Ruiter
Kathy Ruiter is an experienced Christian educator and curriculum writer. She currently teaches preschool and young fives at Rockford Christian School in Rockford, Michigan.