Easter Eggs and the First Easter

An assembly from the Culham St Gabriel archive

Suitable for Whole School (Pri) - Church Schools

Aims

To use Easter eggs as a focus for thinking about the first Easter.

Preparation and materials

• You will need a selection of chocolate Easter eggs of different sizes, a fresh egg and a collection of stones, including some larger and some smaller ones.
• You will also need three opaque bags or socks. One bag or sock should containa Cadbury's Creme Egg, the next a hard-boiled egg and the final one an egg-sized and shaped stone.
• Familiarize yourself with the Bible story in the passage Luke 24.1-3, which is the Easter story, so that you can retell it or arrange for one of the children or someone else to read a child-friendly version of the story in the 'Assembly', Step 4.

Assembly

1. Show the children the three bags or socks, but don't give away what the contents are.  Ask for volunteers to come forward to feel inside the bags and guess what they contain. Before the children make their guesses, ask them to describe what the objects feel like.
2. Ask the children to remove the eggs from the bags or socks and hold them up for the others to see. Point out that the stone is shaped like the other eggs.
3. Show the children the collection of stones and ask them to spot the differences between the egg-shaped stone and some of the other stones in the collection.
4. Show the collection of different-sized Easter eggs. Ask the children to focus on the eggs and the stones as you tell them the Easter story or as the Easter story is read.
5. Show the fresh egg, explaining that this egg is not hard-boiled. Ask if anyone has ever seen a hen or other bird sitting on her eggs in a nest. Talk about the way in which a hen will sit on her eggs to keep them warm and protect them while the chicks grow inside. Explain that at some point each chick will burst out of the egg and into the world!
6. Ask the children what a chick hatching out of an egg has to do with Easter and why they think we have Easter eggs. Explain that Jesus came back to life and Christians believe that he offers everybody a new start in life, too. We give each other Easter eggs to remind us and celebrate the first Easter day when Jesus came back to life.

Time for reflection

Draw the children's attention to the collection of stones and eggs. Pick up one stone for them to focus on as you say the prayer.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the fun we have at this time of year when we give and receive Easter eggs. 
Thank you for all the signs of new life we see at this time of year - baby animals, birds, leaves and flowers. 
Please help us to use these things to remember the story of the first Easter.
Amen.

Song/music

'Lord of the dance' (Come and Praise, 22)

Follow-up ideas

1. In RE, the children could write about their reflections from the perspective of either one of the women or a disciple arriving at the empty tomb.
2. In art, the children could decorate hard-boiled eggs, design an Easter bonnet or make an Easter card.