April Sharing Time - Easter

Like I mentioned last week, this month I've decided to do a separate Sharing Time all about Easter.  All about our Savior and His last week on Earth.

I knew what I wanted to do right away.  The trouble came when I tried to morph what was in my head into an actual, on paper, Sharing Time.

I knew I wanted something like an awesome Easter activity I found and did with my children last year.  Each day during the week leading up to Easter, we talked about what Jesus did on one of the days leading up do his crucifixion and resurrection.

It was such a great experience, I KNEW I wanted to share it with the primary children.

But, like I said, that was the easy part.  The hard part has been trying to figure out how to share it in a manner that will allow me to share as much of the story as possible, while at the same time involving the kids (in both senior and junior primary), and helping them to feel the spirit.

While looking around online, perusing the "week walk" I did last year and listening to the fantastic advice of my husband, I finally got it all sorted.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, I first want to share with you the different places I found ideas and inspiration.

The first is the one I found last year from We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ. 

Next, I found a version that would make a FANTASTIC handout (although I haven't decided if I'm going to use it yet) from Chocolate on my Cranium. 

Then, I also found a week walk I in a 2011 Friend magazine. 

Last, and the one I ended up relying on the most (and the one recommended to me by my husband) is from a website called LDS Seasonal Materials.  He has ideas on how to make the gospel a larger part of several different holidays, and while I haven't delved into any other than Easter yet, you can bet I'm going to.

The setup for both primaries will be the same.  I'm going to print out and stick 11 different pictures depicting different events from Christ's last week around a board (along the edges, leaving the center open). 

You might be thinking, ugh, 11 pictures?  While you certainly don't have to print them, and it's possible your library may have some of them and replacements for others, I love having these.  We'll be using them every year in my home (I laminated mine) and so, for me, it's worth the ink.

Before I stick them randomly around the board, I'm going to arrange them in order ON the board and draw chalk line boxes around each picture.  This isn't purely because I'm slightly, well, organized (someone else might say anal...) and I like the pictures to be even on the board.  Then, I'll number the boxes (writing the number inside the box so it'll be covered later) to coincide with the order it occurred during the week.  Aside from my possible OCD, there is a purpose to the boxes and the numbering, trust me. 

The children will be figuring out which picture goes in which box and what they have to do with Christ's last week (if they don't already know) in different ways.

For Junior Primary, I'm going to hide a small cropped bit of each picture around the room.  Each cropped picture has a number on it, so when we find one, we'll know which box the corresponding larger picture goes in.  See, I told you my crazy OCD-ness would make sense!

For Senior Primary, I'm going to have them come up front and draw out a scripture to read in front of everyone.  As the scripture is read, the rest of the primary will be deciding which picture goes along with it.  The scripture slips are also numbered, which will make sticking the pictures in order much easier.

It's true that you could have the kids guess which order they go in, but that would take up time.  Precious time I'd rather spend talking about each picture.

I tried to limit the number of pictures to give at least a little time to spend one each one teaching and testifying about Jesus Christ.

Here are all the pictures I've chosen, along with the artist and name (if I know it...if you know one I haven't included, I'd love it if you left me a comment letting me know).

 Anderson, Triumphal Entry

 Bloch, Cleansing the Temple

 Tissot, The Pharisees Question Jesus

 Tissot, Conspiracy of the Jews

 Bloch, The Last Supper

 Anderson, Jesus Praying in Gethsemane

 Anderson, The Crucifixion

 Bloch, Burial

 Anderson, He Is Risen

I made an Easter Sharing Time Outline that has each scripture and cropped picture piece along with suggestions for discussion or teaching for each piece of art.

I've also put together the pictures, cropped pieces for junior primary, and scriptures for senior primary for you to download.

After we finish going through the week, I'm going to share a quote from this amazing message containing testimonies from our prophet President Monson.  Even if you're not a fan of sharing quotes during Sharing Time, take a few minutes to read through it.  It's short.  And AMAZING!!!

Here is just one,

“I declare my personal witness that death has been conquered, victory over the tomb has been won. May the words made sacred by Him who fulfilled them become actual knowledge to all. Remember them. Cherish them. Honor them. He is risen.”

My first priority is to share my testimony and love for my Savior with the children.  To help me with this, I'll take every opportunity to testify to the children as we go through the pictures.  In fact, I might even keep out the clues to the last picture (No. 11, He Is Risen) so we can close with it.  As time runs out, I can pull out that last scripture or cropped picture and bear my testimony.

I'm really looking forward to it. 

Have a wonderful Easter!
Leah