This week, my three-year-old and I embarked on a delightful adventure: creating a “resurrection garden.” If you’re unfamiliar with this concept, it’s a simple yet profound way to impart the Easter story to children. All it requires is a small empty pot, soil, grass seed or small plants, rocks, and a few twigs and twine to craft three crosses. We scoured the backyard for materials, adding an element of exploration and discovery to our project.
My friend does such a great job explaining resurrection gardens and provides so many intentional gospel-centered conversation starters with kids on her blog. I adapted ours to my three-year-olds attention span but click here for more details!
Explaining the concepts of death and resurrection to a young child is no small feat, especially for someone like me who revels in detail. It’s a beautiful challenge for me to distill complex ideas into short, engaging, and memorable explanations for my littles, who tend to think more concretely than abstractly. These hands-on experiences are invaluable in helping them grasp such profound concepts.
So, how did our resurrection garden conversation come to life? It was surprisingly simple! It was a brief 90-second conversation with my daughter before she was ready to play another game. Despite the brevity of our discussion, I was amazed by her engagement. She sat in my lap, asking questions while happily playing in the dirt. It was a delightful surprise to see how much she retained from our brief interaction.
In the days that followed, my daughter’s understanding of Easter blossomed!
Here’s a little blip from our recent conversation:
“Who is Jesus?” I asked. She replied, “God is Jesus.”
“Does Jesus love you?” I asked. She said, “No, He loves my Dada… and me and you and brother and my puppy and everybody!” Admittedly, we chuckled when she said “no,” but we were incredibly impressed with how inclusive her answer actually was!
“When did Jesus die?” I asked. She responded, “Friday!”
“When did He come back?” I inquired. She exclaimed, “SUNDAY!”
Her responses were beyond my expectations. It was a heartwarming reminder of children’s resilience and their ability to absorb profound truths. This experience reaffirmed my belief in the importance of sharing these foundational stories with our children, no matter how challenging they may seem. And what better time to start than today?
So what if it’s after Easter? The good news of Christ’s love is for always! I’m going to keep our little rinky-dink resurrection garden up until it’s blown over, referencing its symbolism of the love of Jesus to my children as we get to watch the flowers grow around it.
Just a special note: my kids are not only hearing about Jesus from our one-time storytelling; they are constantly learning from church, seeing Jesus through others, and engaging in intentional weekly conversations at home. What a joy it is to talk with my kids about Jesus- and an even greater joy to hear them tell the stories back!
Coming up Next: A Parenting Reflection on Body Image.