Resurrection
Celebration
The celebration of Jesus’ resurrection can provide a special opportunity for
reaching out to preteens and their friends. If your church has more than one
preteen class, you may want to combine the classes and enjoy this event together.
You could decorate your room with balloons and streamers.
The following pages give a suggested schedule, lots of fun activities, and fun
interactive Bible exploration options written just for preteens. Choose the activities
you want to include in your celebration time.
Note: If your class has been using the HeartShaper preteen lessons on Bible
chronology, you may want to give students PreTeen Activities for Lesson 5 so that
they can do the activities at home. Distribute Live Wire® Issue 5 and encourage kids
to read the articles and think about the miracles Jesus did while He lived on earth.
Suggested Schedule
• Games and Activities (choose the number that works for you)
• Songs
• Bible Exploration (Guide students through either the Fill It In activity or the Act
It Out activity)
• Craft (choose 1)
• Snack
• Prayer Time
Games and Activities
It’s in the Eggs Relay
Materials: strips of paper, scissors, marker, fillable plastic eggs, baskets, spoons,
Bibles
Before class, write out the memory verses, John 20:30, 31, in phrases. Cut the
phrases apart and put each phrase in a separate egg. Prepare one complete set of
eggs for each team of students. Put each set of eggs into a separate basket. Be sure
to prepare enough eggs so that all students can compete in the relay.
Divide your class into two or more teams. Have the teams line up and put a basket
of eggs opposite of each team. Give a spoon to the first student in each team. Each
student is to run (or hop, skip, jump) to the basket, pick up an egg using only the
spoon, and carry it back to his team. When teams have collected all their eggs, they
should quickly open the eggs and put the phrases in memory verse order. Provide
a Bible for each team so that team members can look up the Scripture passage, if
needed. The first team to assemble the verse correctly wins.
Spring, PreTeen Resources, HeartShaper® Curriculum
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Resurrection
Celebration
What’s the Connection?
Materials: index cards, marker
Before class, think of words that have to do with Jesus’ resurrection and write each
word on a separate index card. Be sure to have enough so that each student can
have a card. (Examples: Mary, tomb, first day of the week, earthquake, angel, stone,
guards)
To begin, give each student an index card. Tell students that all the words on the
cards have something to do with Jesus’ resurrection and many of the words can be
connected to each other. Each student is to find another student with a card that
has a word that can connect with his or her word. Once both students agree that
their words can connect, they should raise their hands and keep standing together.
After everyone has found a partner, have partners take turns telling how their
words connect. (Sample pairs: Mary went to the tomb; on the first day of the week
there was an earthquake.) If time allows, give students different cards and do the
activity again.
Guess the Miracle
Materials: Bibles, whiteboard, dry-erase marker
Have kids sit in a circle. Distribute Bibles. Ask a volunteer to read aloud John
20:30, 31. Ask students to name some of the miracles Jesus did. List the miracles
on the board as they are named, then ask for a volunteer to act out one of the
miracles. The volunteer can choose a friend or two to help pantomime the miracle.
The rest of the students are to guess which miracle is being acted out. Whoever
correctly guesses the miracle can act out another of Jesus’ miracles. After each
miracle is correctly guessed, have the class read together John 20:30, 31. After a
few times, see if kids can say the Bible Memory without looking at their Bibles.
Songs
Play and sing favorite songs about Jesus’ resurrection.
Spring, PreTeen Resources, HeartShaper® Curriculum
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Resurrection
Celebration
Crafts
Nail Cross
Materials: 2" masonry nails, 2½" masonry nails, thin wire, red ribbon, scissors
Help students place two of the 2½" nails next to each other, facing opposite
directions. Wrap the wire a couple of times around the nails about one-third from
an end. Place the 2" nails next to each other, facing opposite directions. Place them
on top and across the 2½" nails forming a cross and wrap the wire around the
nails. Bring the wire up and around to the head of the nail at the top of the cross.
Wrap the wire around the head and then form a loop with the wire. Cut off the
excess wire. Tie a red ribbon on the top of the cross as a reminder that Jesus shed
His blood on the cross for us.
Stone Cross
Materials: small wooden crosses, small stones, craft glue (optional: magnetic strips
cut into small pieces)
Have students glue small stones on the wooden crosses. If desired, provide
magnetic strips for students to glue on the back of the crosses.
Jeweled Cross
Materials: different colors of craft foam, scissors, glue, hole punch, ribbon,
markers
Have each student cut out a cross from the craft foam. Cut leftover foam into
smaller pieces to glue on top, creating a stained-glass effect. Punch a hole in the
top and string with ribbon. Students can write messages on their crosses, such as
“Jesus died, but He’s now alive” or “Love sent Jesus to the cross.”
Snack
Empty Tombs
Materials: graham crackers, small chocolate doughnuts, mini Oreo® cookies, white
or green frosting, paper plates, plastic knives (optional: coconut dyed green)
Cut off the bottoms of the doughnuts. Have preteens spread icing on the graham
crackers, and stick on their doughnut “tombs”. Then, take one mini cookie
and twist it apart. Use the side with the icing on it to stick it to the front of the
doughnut as the “stone” that rolled away from the entrance of the tomb. If desired,
sprinkle some coconut grass onto the remainder of the icing. Enjoy!
Spring, PreTeen Resources, HeartShaper® Curriculum
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Resurrection
Celebration
Prayer Time
Thank You!
Materials: self-stick notes, pencils or pens, poster board, marker
Before class, draw a large outline of a cross on a poster board. Give each student
a self-stick note and a pencil or pen. Encourage students to write notes to Jesus,
thanking Him for what He has done for them. Guide students to especially think of
Jesus dying on the cross and rising from the dead. When students are done, they
can stick their notes inside the cross outline. Read aloud the notes. Then ask for
volunteers to use some of those same thoughts in their prayers.
Spring, PreTeen Resources, HeartShaper® Curriculum
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Bible Celebrations:
Taken from Crazy & Creative Bible Stories for Preteens (Standard Publishing) © 2005 by Steven James Kuhn.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Spring, PreTeen Resources, HeartShaper® Curriculum
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, continued
Tell kids you need their help to write a fill-in story. Keep the title and the topic
of the story a secret as you collect suggestions to fill in the blanks in the story.
Read through the list of blanks in the story below, asking students for their
suggestions. For example, you will ask students to name “a large number,”
“an hour of the day,” “the name of a girl from your class,” and so on. When
students have suggested a word or phrase for each blank, read the completed
story aloud. The results may be really funny! After enjoying the surprise fill-in
story, quickly go through the story again. Encourage kids to fill in actual facts
from the Bible story. It’s still surprising, but not absurd—Jesus really did rise
up from the dead!
This is the story of Easter Sunday!
After Jesus died on the cross, he was buried in another man’s grave. He spent __________________________
(a large number)
days there in the ground.
Then early on Sunday at __________________________ just as the sun was coming up, three women arrived
(an hour of the day)
at the tomb. Their names were ____________________________, ______________________________, and Mary
(the name of a girl from your class)
(the name of another girl from your class)
Magdalene.
When they got there, they saw an angel sitting on a large round __________________________.
(a noun)
The angel was dressed all in __________________________.
(a bright color)
He turned to the women and said, “__________________________! Why are you looking for Jesus here?
(a saying from a popular TV show)
He’s not here, he’s in __________________________!”
(the name of a place far away)
Mary and her friends were shocked. All they could think to say was, “__________________________!”
So they ran to tell their friends. When Peter and John found out, they hurried to the tomb so they could see
(a popular saying for teenager girls)
for themselves! John ran really __________________________ and got to the tomb first. When Peter got there,
(an adverb)
they __________________________ for themselves!
(a verb, past tense)
Jesus really had __________________________ up from the dead!
Word spread __________________________! Then later in the day, Jesus __________________________ his
(a verb, past tense)
(an adverb)
(a verb, past tense)
friends while they were at __________________________!
(the name of a place you’d go to eat)
Jesus had kept his promise and came back to life! And all the people said, “__________________________!”
The end!
(a silly saying)
Spring, PreTeen Resources, HeartShaper® Curriculum
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, continued
DISCUSSION STARTERS: Look up Matthew 28:8. What two emotions are the women filled with? Why
do you think they were filled with fear? Why joy? How do people respond today when they hear
about the resurrection? What can we learn from the response of these women?
Spring, PreTeen Resources, HeartShaper® Curriculum
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