Take a Walk with Jesus Scavenger Hunt

Last Sunday we celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I am not totally against doing egg hunts and dying eggs. I did both of those activities with the kids I watch. However, I am not really big into the Easter bunny. I am more into the real reason of the day: Jesus Christ rising from the dead.

I went on a search on Pinterest to find some cool Christian crafts to do with the kids I watch. This is when I stumbled upon the blog post about Taking a Walk with Jesus for an Easter activity. I found it at this site: http://thegoldenseven.blogspot.com/2011/04/take-easter-walk-with-jesus.html

I read through the details of how to do this scavenger hunt and I knew it was for me and the two kids I nanny. We just had to try it out. They had loved the other scavenger hunt we did and this one was focused on the real meaning of Easter: Jesus. So we did it.

One day I had them gather bags (Tripp used his Easter bucket and of course Bree had to use her Frozen backpack) and we went off to search for items that had to do with Jesus' death and Resurrection. They had so much fun with this.

The first item we had to find was a branch, for the week before Jesus died the people waved palm branches before Him. They immediately trekked off to the woods in search of fallen branches.

Tripp and Bree finding their branches

Then we had to search for something prickly, because they made Jesus a crown of thorns and placed it on His head to mock Him when He was crucified. Bree chose a pine cone and Tripp found a burr.

Next, we had to find a piece of wood since His cross was made out of wood.

We then set off to find something that was no longer alive, because Jesus really did die. Tripp found a dead leaf and was so excited about his find.

Tripp showing off his "something dead" to Bree

The article I had read called for them finding white linen, since Jesus was wrapped in this when He was placed in the tomb. I knew this would not be something they would be able to just happen upon outside without me placing it there so I just had them find something white. I was leaning towards perhaps a white stone or a white flower. They ended up finding broken pieces of pipes, but hey it was white and they came up with it on their own.

We finished the hunt off by finding stones to symbolize the one they rolled in front of His grave and something living, because Jesus truly did resurrect on the third day. They found flowers for something living. I didn't have the heart to tell them that when they picked the flowers they were no longer living. Ha!

Bree looking for her flower for the something living category

They had so much fun collecting these items and I enjoyed getting to talk about them. It was an interactive way to talk about the Easter story that was a blast! I am definitely adding this to my list of traditions to do each year. They stored the items by the front door and just had to show their parents the items when they came home. It was cute listening to Tripp at 4 years old explain to his dad what each item represented.

Tripp and Bree showing off their items from the hunt

This Easter themed scavenger hunt has given me inspiration to take other Bible stories and have the kids find things in nature that would correlate to the story. I will have to let you all know if and when I do come up with one. I can't wait to see what other interactive fun we can have while learning about the Bible.