Exploring the Mystery of Easter with Friends
Quaker Resources for Children’s and Adult Religious Education during the season of Lent, Easter and Pentecost
This is a place to share resources and ideas for learning about and celebrating the Easter season.
- How do we approach this as Friends?
- What can we share with RE colleagues from our experiences?
- What can we share with families in our communities?
We offer these resources in the hope that you will use them, create others and share the mystery and wonder of this season in FDS and beyond in your meeting or church.
Easter Light: Seeking in the Spring of the Year (Wellesley Friends Meeting, NEYM)
Holy Week in a Box is an idea that might not be for everyone, but could be adapted and is a devotional way to approach the story of what happens between Palm Sunday and Easter using simple materials. Each day from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday you share a part of the Bible story together, either reading it or retelling it, and wonder about the item in the box to which it relates. This is possibly a resource to recommend to families, and consider sharing this handout of instructions while inviting adaptation for Friends.
An Introduction to the Life of Jesus for Quakers, Inspired by the Musical Godspell available on “KidsQuake,‚Äù a Quaker youth outreach project supported by the Friends Media Project. This website is full of resources for young people and has lots to explore, including these multimedia lessons — passages from the New Testament gospels, historic context and explanation, music from the show, how the story connects to Quakerism, and queries for discussion.
An Easter Story for Friends from the Faith & Play™ Group. If your meeting is using Godly Play® and Faith & Play™ materials, the free download of this story (released in 2014) may be a resource for approaching the Easter story. Beautiful handmade materials can also be purchased from FGC QuakerBooks.
Exploring Godly Play Stories for Lent and Easter with Friends (by Melinda Wenner Bradley, Godly Play/Faith & Play trainer)
Teaching Children About Jesus: Part 2 edited by Barbara Caldwell. Seven lessons on parables, miracles, Easter week, Resurrection, the road to Emmaus and Pentecost. Activities, background materials. Ages 5-10. Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1999 (There is also a “Teaching Children About Jesus ‚Äì Part 1)
Plays for Children: “Temptation in the Desert” and “An Easter Week Play” — These plays were created by adults with little or no theater experience, for the upper elementary age and middle school children they were working with in First Day School. The hope was to expose them to stories from the New Testament, acknowledging that this experience, including any misunderstandings, would later be followed by them reading it for themselves. The youth who who put on the plays were quite influential in how they were written, including a certain irreverence; for instance, Jesus being renamed “Bob” was an intentional choice by the youth so that nobody had to play “Jesus.”
Wellesley Friends Seder (2010) — resources from NEYM Friends about the tradition of the Passover seder.
The Light and Languages of Pentecost — musings on exploring this story among Friends and activities for First Day School.