Easter Week: Monday

Easter week is upon us!  Each day we are going to celebrate Jesus by reading what happened on that day in the Bible, memorizing a key verse, and doing an activity that reinforces the story.  I invite you to join us in our celebration!  Each morning I plan to post what we will be doing that day.  None of the activities take much preparation, just grabbing a few things you most likely have around the house.  Some of the readings are long, and the verses too, so scale it to what you think is appropriate for your child (but I would always encourage you to give them a little more than you think they can handle and let them surprise you at how much they can learn!) So grab your Bible, your preschooler, and let's celebrate Easter!

Monday

Reading: Matthew 21:12-17 ESV

12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers."

14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant, 16and they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read,

    "'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
   you have prepared praise'?"

                17And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.

Memory Verse: Matthew 21:13 ESV

"It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers."

Activity: Things to do in Church Chart

•  Print out (or create your own!) “Things to do in Church” chart.  On the first page you will see a simple       chart with a “Yes” and a “No” on the top.  On the second page are a few pictures.  Cut the pictures out and put tape on the back so your child can stick them on the chart.  After reading the Bible passage for the day, give your child one of the pictures and ask them if that is something that is good to do in church.  Have them stick it in either the “Yes” or “No” column.  When you get to the last picture (the one that goes in the “No” column) explain to them the best you can how church isn’t a place to take advantage of others and make money at their expense.  Maybe in a preschooler’s mind it could be as simple as that church is a place to focus on God, not on ourselves and others.  If you have a better way to explain this story to a little one, I’d love to hear it =)

Happy Easter!