Easter Mountain and Resurrection Rolls

This morning the kids and I ventured into new territory; we made an Easter Mountain and Resurrection Rolls! I had heard of the Resurrection Rolls, but not the Easter Mountain.... both are pretty cool for teaching Jesus at Easter, instead of just the "Easter Bunny."

Easter Mountain

4 cups flour

1.5 cups salt

1.5 cups water

1 TBS. Oil

Mix ingredients and knead. Add small amounts of water as needed until the texture is right.... we didn't know what texture was right....with the 1.5 cups of water, it was so course we couldn't do anything with it; added some more water...probably another 1/4 of a cup, and it was a little too much....

Get two sticks from the yard, bound together with twine or a rubber band...or even pine straw.... make the size of the stick 5 or 6 inches tall; make the cross.

Shape the lump of clay into a mountain. Use a can or small jar for the "cave" opening. We were given one of those miniature clay pots to use....

On the top of the mountain make a deep enough hole for your cross to be able to stand in once the mountain is baked. Because ours was a little runny, when the cooking was half way done, I took a knife and made a whole in stiffer mixture. Our directions say to make the hole a bit larger than the actual stick circumference because the hole will get smaller as the mountain bakes... set cross aside.

Get a rock; we were given a flat pebble rock.....but any size rock will do to fit the size opening you make. Press the rock that will cover the tomb against the opening to shape a better fit. Set stone aside.

Bake at 250 degrees for four to five hours. When cooled, color as desired with paint or markers.

Now, it took our four hours to cook. It's been sitting for two hours and is still warm, so if you attempt this tonight, tell your kids nothing about painting it until tomorrow or they will drive you nuts to want to pain it!!! Lesson learned the hard way:)

Resurrection Rolls

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls. The crescent roll represents the cloth in which Jesus was wrapped.

Give each child a marshmallow representing Jesus.

Dip the marshmallow in melted butter representing the oil of embalming.

Dip the buttered marshmallow in cinnamon-sugar representing the spices used to anoint the body.

Then wrap the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll, completely sealing the marshmallow inside. This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death.

Bake 10 - 12 minutes in the oven representing the tomb (pretend it's in there 3 days).

When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there.

HE IS RISEN!!

Now, I suggest doing the Resurrection Rolls first.... my kids are 3, 4 and 16. All three kids loved it! My oldest thought it was too "deep" for them; but Christopher got it with no problem and Kaitlyn did too.

We also colored our Easter Eggs this morning.

Olive is having a service tonight and two tomorrow; we are going tonight.

Celebrate Jesus!