Now is the perfect time to incorporate faith training into your daily routine. This gives your kids the opportunity to see you, Mama, with your Bible open, putting God at the center of your family. Whether it’s for 5 minutes or 30 minutes, be intentional to set time aside to worship, pray, and work through a family faith activity of your choice below. If you share on social media, please tag me at ig: @caseyhilty or fb: @caseyhilty1 and use the hashtag #familyfaithactivity to build community, for accountability, and to share other ideas beyond what is listed here. It takes a village.

JESUS LIVES

DEVOTIONAL

My son had his eyes set on a very special toy. He knew how much it cost and worked hard to save up his money to buy it. At the toy store, he had his wallet in one hand and his toy in the other. He stood in line to check out and when it was his turn, a kind old man behind him reached over and paid for the toy. This reminds me of Jesus paying the debt of sinners. In the Old Testament times, God’s people had to pay for their sins by sacrificing animals such as lambs. But one day, Jesus stepped in and paid off the debt for all sinners. When He died on the cross, He was the last Lamb offered as payment for the sins of God’s people. But let’s back up a minute and see how this played out in history:

After Adam and Eve committed the very first sin, God promised that He would bring a Savior to the world. The Savior would be a King, but not one that wears fancy robes and a gold crown, with castles and chariots and riches. Though God just didn’t say when, He gave people, called prophets, clues about the Savior (also called the Messiah). He going to be born in a little town of Bethlehem, to a young woman, and He would one day die to save the people from sin. Everything that the prophets told God’s people, came true! When Jesus was an adult, He told His followers, called disciples, that He would be have to die, but that God would bring Him back to life.

When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem, there was a parade for Him. He rode on a donkey and the people cheered, “Hosanna!” But days later, things were different. Jesus was accused of doing bad things, though He never once sinned. He was arrested, though He did not commit any crimes. He was punished like criminals were punished, by being nailed to a cross. It was a sad day when He died - the sky went dark and there was an earthquake. His family, friends, and followers cried, but they were in for quite the surprise! Three days later, when they went to visit the tomb, the place where He was buried, His body was gone! Did somebody steal His body? Nope! Did they visit the wrong tomb? Nope! His body wasn’t there because God brought Jesus back to life! He was alive for real! Now everyone who saw Him knew that He was the Son of God. They believed in Him and for that they were cleansed from the punishment of sin. God gifts all those who believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, eternal life with Him - forever and ever and ever. That’s way better than any toy from the toy store.

BIBLE VERSES

Have your Bible handy and turn to at least one of these verses each day. As you search for the verses, teach your kids how to navigate and find things in the Bible via the Table of Contents and reference numbers. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each present their accounts of Jesus’ last days. For these text-heavy selections, summarize these chapters for the younger kids, or break them down into smaller chunks for older kids to read each day this week.

Palm Sunday: Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, John 12:12-19

The Betrayal, The Lord’s Supper, Jesus Arrested: Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, John 18

From Crucifixion to Resurrection: Matthew 27-28, Mark 15-16, Luke 23:26-43, John 19-20

PRAYER

Prayers don’t have to be long and drawn out, but can often be short, simple, and to the point. Pray over your discussions and activities. Repeat the language you used in your activities in your prayer so your kids can hear how you are connecting what they are doing to your conversations with God. Visit your prayer space that you created in week 2. Invite your kids to lead your family in prayer. Write down prayer requests beforehand or do popcorn prayers where each person takes a turn talking aloud to God.

• PRAYER REQUESTS. Place an empty jar in your prayer space to collect prayer requests. At the end of the day, go through the prayer requests and pray together, or throughout the day family members can pull a request from the jar to pray over. You can use different materials to write them down:

  • Strips of paper

  • Sticky notes

  • Rocks

  • Popsicle sticks

• DRIVE BY PRAYERS. Everyone hop in the car and go for a drive. Choose random houses or pick a friend’s house to drive to. As you drive by, pray for that home and family. Do the same for local businesses. If you are friends with the family and know they wouldn’t mind, take some chalk and write in their driveway, “We prayed for you today.”

• PRAY FOR 3: Pray 3 things for the world, 3 things for your community, and pray for 3 people you know. Have your kids send text messages to 3 people you know and ask how they can be praying for them.

DISCUSSION

Use these questions to prompt discussion and the Bible verses to guide discussion. If there is a word that your child does not understand, spend a minute explaining what the word means or turn to a dictionary or thesaurus to help.

Who is Jesus? What do you know about Him?

What does it mean that Jesus died for our sins?

If you were the one who first looked into the empty tomb, what would your reaction be?

If you saw Jesus today, what would you say to Him?

Share your testimony. When did you put your faith in Jesus Christ? If you have not yet put your faith in Him, share any questions you may have about faith.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

WORSHIP

Worship isn’t just music, but it’s about what you bring to the foot of the throne. Allow your children the flexibility and space to use what they enjoy doing to bring glory to God. I like to have a box of paper, scissors, glue, pencils, crayons, paint (if I’m brave that day), and additional craft supplies available to give my kids the freedom to create. While you turn these songs on, encourage them to do one or more of the following: dance, journal, read their Bible, color or paint, draw a picture, sing along, meditate and pray, stretch, or cuddle. Choose at least one day of the week to dedicate your entire family faith activity time to worship and prayer. For the rest of the week, open up your FFA time with a few minutes of worship before you jump into the activity for the day.

MERCY TREE

REVELATION SONG

GOD SO LOVED

PALM SUNDAY

Collect or create palm leaves and have a parade. Read Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, John 12:12-19. Alternatives: role play this scene or use puppets. Lay down blankets for Jesus to walk across.

• Palm Sunday Coloring Sheet

• Call up your cousins and your friends on Zoom and have a Palm Sunday dance party - even if it’s Monday or Tuesday. Put on some praise music and shout, “Hosanna!”

GOOD FRIDAY

THE EMPTY TOMB RESURRECTION GARDEN. In a planter or pot, recreate the scene of the empty tomb. (Example: here)

• Supplies:

  • large flower pot/planter/bucket

  • dirt

  • cup (or small flower pot)

  • small pebbles/rocks

  • large rock/stone

  • sticks

  • grass seed (optional)

• Using a cup or small flower pot, turn the cup on its side so that the top makes the opening for the tomb.

• Using dirt, create a mound over the cup, leaving the opening clear.

• Create 3 crosses using sticks and stick them into the dirt.

• Place the large stone covering the opening of the cup. Before the kids wake up on Sunday, move the stone to the side to show the inside of the empty tomb.

• Use small pebbles/rocks to make a path to the “tomb”

• Optional: plant grass seeds in the dirt and water as needed.

EASTER

RESURRECTION EGGS:

• Supplies:

  • Plastic Eggs

  • Bible verse strips (cut along the lines and place one in each plastic egg)

  • 12 plastic Easter eggs numbered 1-12

  • All of the following must fit inside of a plastic egg: (#1) tiny cup, (#2) 3 dimes, (#3) twine, (#4) soap shaving, (#5) red cloth, (#6) nail, (#7) dice, (#8) crushed rock, (#9) strip of white cloth, (#10) round stone, (#11) bay leaf, (#12 will be left empty).

• Number the plastic eggs 1-12. Place the corresponding item and Bible verse in each egg. #12 should be left empty (the empty tomb). You hold on to this Bible verse to read. Hide the eggs for the kids to find.

  • What worked for us: My family does this every Easter. When the kids were younger, they each had their own set of resurrection eggs and we alternated who got the special item, who got the Bible verse, and who got a treat. Each child knew which color to hunt so that the older kids and younger all got the same number of eggs.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES

Each day, choose one of the following activities to do with your kids based on age and ability, attention span, and what you think your kids will enjoy. Rarely does a family faith activity go as planned (especially in the beginning when you are establishing this as a routine), so be fluid — roll with it — be patient, gentle, and intentional with this time.

• PRAYER SPACE. Go to your prayer space that you and your family created in week 2 and write down prayer requests and answered prayers. (See Prayer below.) Take time to worship in this space and add more scripture art to it to make it your own.

• DEVOTIONAL. Read the devotional above as one of the activities for the day and lead a shorter activity after such as journaling, worship, drawing, etc.

• SCRIPTURE ART. Here are a few coloring sheets for you and your kids. The ones with just words can be used to doodle and draw a picture in the margins or to highlight, underline, journal, define words, and add cross references around it.

  • Palm Sunday Coloring Sheet

  • Coloring Sheet - Mark 16:6

  • Doodling Sheet - Mark 16:6

  • Coloring Sheet - John 3:16

  • Journaling/Doodling (Older Kids) Matthew 28:1-10, 16-20

• JOURNALING. Open up a fresh notebook or staple blank pages together for the kids to use for the next few weeks. Turn on some worship music and let the words flow. Journaling can also look like doodling, comics, bullet points, poetry, or more. There are no rules here.

• SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY. Share your testimony with your kids. How did you come to know Jesus? Talk about what He means to you and how God has forgiven you for your sins. If your kids have already put their faith in Christ, encourage your kids to do the same. Have them practice sharing their testimonies with their stuffed animals. Have them call family members to share their faith as well.

• COUNTING GOD’S PROMISES. Make a list of all the things we can count on every single day. Ex. the sun coming up, flowers blooming, birds chirping etc. Talk about God’s promise of a Savior. Read Luke 2:1-21 and Luke 24.

• NAIL IT TO THE CROSS. Or write it down. Use a poster board and cut out a large cross. (If you don’t have poster board, tape sheets of paper together to make a large cross). Write different, age-appropriate sins on the cross (i.e. times of disobedience, lying, bullying, yelling, etc.) As you write them on the board, have each of your kids pretend to nail it to the cross. Discuss how we can take our sins to Jesus and they are forgiven. Variation for older kids: Using a piece of wood and nails, write down sins on strips of paper and have the kids nail them to the cross. Turn up the worship music and pray for forgiveness of sins.

• NATIVITY. As we gear up for Easter, take time to reflect on Jesus’ birth and life. Send your kids on a scavenger hunt to find toys and items to create your own Nativity scene. For example, build a stable out of Legos, an LOL doll can be baby Jesus, Barbie can be Mary, etc. Or you can use play dough to mold all of the people and animals. Be creative! Read Luke 2:1-21 together as a family.