Jesus is Alive: Easter Storytelling Script
The Women Find an Empty Tomb
I don’t know about you, but I struggle when it comes to Holy Week and telling the story of Easter to kids, particularly our littlest ones. I worry about making Jesus’ death too central, I worry about giving kids the “right” theology behind Jesus’ death and resurrection, I worry about littles being scared about the violence or not knowing what to do with the injustice done to their hero and friend, Jesus…!
Maybe like me, you feel a bit paralyzed about how to go about this. This story script is my attempt to tell the Easter story to our littlest kids (2-5). You’ll notice a few things:
This story doesn’t emphasize any theology regarding Jesus’ death and resurrection. I don’t talk about how Jesus’ death and resurrection mean the defeat of sin and evil, or the resulting new life for all of us. Instead, I just tell the story. This is an intentional choice, mostly because our audience is littles! There are plenty of years ahead to “spiral” the story and help kids glean more meaning and depth from this story as they grow and develop (this is a Meredith Miller-ism from her book, Woven. I strongly recommend her chapter, “Do Less on Purpose.”)
I don’t focus on the gruesome nature of Jesus’ death. It’s not necessary, and it’s also distracting. It can upset kids more than anything, and it detracts from the main message of the story - Jesus is alive!
We hope you will use this script as a starting point, and feel free to adjust based on the ages and stages of your own kids and your family’s faith culture. This excellent podcast episode may help you figure out how to do just that (I Kid You Not Tricky Stories: The Resurrection.)
We also recommend couching this story in an entire season of Easter celebration. See our other post, Celebrating Easter as a Family, for ideas.
MATERIALS
Peg people: Jesus, 2-3 religious leaders, 2 angels, 2-3 women
Felt:
Clothing for each peg doll (we created simple cloaks by tying felt squares around each peg person. We dressed the angels in white and the women with head coverings.)
A path that leads toward the tomb
A small vial or container to signify the spices would be ideal (you could even use essential oils like myrrh and clove so kids can smell.) I just used a pen cap!
A cross (this could even be cut out of felt)
A tomb with a rock (we used a rock structure found in the garden section of our craft store and added a big rock we found in our backyard. You could also use a few rocks to make a pile or wall as long as its big enough to hide Jesus behind.)
SCRIPT
This is a story that starts off sad.
(hold Jesus.) When Jesus was around, he was always doing amazing and kind things. He healed people. He saw people who were hurting. He cared for people, even those who everyone else ignored. He taught people about what God was like and how to walk in the way of God. He said, “Follow me! God is doing a new thing!”
But some people – mostly the religious leaders (bring out 2-3 religious leaders) - didn’t like this. They were confused by Jesus’ kindness. They were offended by the ways Jesus spoke like he was God. So, one day, an angry crowd came to find him. They treated Jesus like he was an extremely dangerous person, even though he wasn’t (have religious leaders close in around Jesus.) Jesus made a choice about how to react; he chose not to fight back. The religious leaders believed Jesus had to go, and it had to happen in a way that made it clear that no one else should dare be like him.
(Set out cross on corner of felt and move Jesus and the religious leaders toward the cross.) So, they brought Jesus on a hill outside of town and killed him the way criminals were killed, on a cross. Jesus was buried in a tomb. (put Jesus behind rock/tomb.) It was a horrible, sad day. But the good news is that it wasn’t the end of the story.
Here’s where it gets good. (remove cross, religious leaders, Jesus’s body – see if you can remove Jesus without your kids seeing!)
It was very, very early on Sunday morning. The sun was just beginning to peer out over the horizon and it was still pretty dark. Some women who had been friends of Jesus had been sad about his death and went to the place where Jesus’ body was buried (bring out women with their small vial.) They brought some good smelling spices, because they knew his body probably didn’t smell good anymore.
They walked to the tomb, sad, and missing their friend Jesus (move women toward the tomb.) Once they got to the tomb where Jesus was buried, they had to blink to make sure what they were seeing was true – it looked like the stone that had covered the entrance to the tomb where Jesus’ body was had been rolled away! (roll away the stone) They blinked, and sure enough – it was gone! Someone had rolled this huge stone to the side! Then they became worried – what happened to the body of their friend Jesus?
Before they had time to think about this, two men appeared next to them (bring out two angels in white). There was so much light around them that the women had to squint their eyes! They knew they were seeing something so amazing that it must be from God.
The angels said, “Why are you looking for Jesus – the living one – in a place where they put dead people? Jesus is not here. Jesus is ALIVE! Remember how he told you while he was with you about how he would one day be raised up from the dead?”
And the women gasped. They remembered what Jesus said! And it turned out that what Jesus said was true – he was now alive!
I wonder how the women felt when they found out Jesus was alive.
I wonder what Jesus did first when he became alive again.
I wonder why God had these women hear the news first without all Jesus’ other friends there.
The women could barely believe this great news, but they knew what they had to do – they had to tell everyone they knew! They had to tell Jesus’ other friends! Everyone needed to know and to celebrate. They ran as FAST as they could, as if their lives depended on getting this news to the others! (have women run fast toward the other edge of the felt)
The women struggled to get the words out because they were breathing so fast - “Alive! He’s alive! We saw angels that told us – Jesus is alive!”
Later, Jesus came to see all his friends for himself (bring out Jesus). He told them, “Peace be with you! Don’t be afraid. It’s really me! I’m alive! Let’s eat together!”
Because of that happy day, because Jesus is alive, there are people who follow Jesus now, just like people did 2000 years ago.
I wonder what Jesus’ other friends thought when they heard the women’s news that Jesus was alive.
I wonder what Jesus wanted to eat for his first meal now that he was alive again.
I wonder what your favorite part of the story was.
Download a PDF of this script below.
