Amy’s Free Ideas
 
Seasons > Easter > Activities for the Home > 10 fun Easter activities for the family > Ideas for Easter baskets for Preschool and kindergarten children
Seasons > Easter > Activities for the Home > 10 fun Easter activities for the family > Ideas for Easter baskets for Preschool and kindergarten children
An Easter Basket to help your young child grow spiritually
It is not always easy to ferret out what is good, and what is junk, from the plethora of Christian goods available. If you find yourself gritting your teeth when your child brings you a book to read for the 20th time in a day, it’s probably time to donate that to Goodwill, and buy something better. Good materials are pleasing to the adult as well as the child, even when you have to read it over and over.
 
Here is an idea that might help you narrow your focus for choosing items to go in the Easter basket. Sundays can seem really long to young children, especially if their parents are busy doing lots of things at church--teaching Sunday school, talking to people, preparing lunch, etc. If we are not careful, they can begin to think that the church is more important to their parents than they are. One way to counteract that, is to have special things that only happen on Sundays. Buy toys, books, games, videos/DVD’s that are only used on Sundays--to make Sunday a special day. Easter baskets are the perfect venue for doing this, and it gives us a deadline to buy new things each year, so that we keep pace with their growing, developing minds. For more ideas on how to make Sunday special, there is a booklet called, A Day of Delight, making Sunday the best day of the week. It is available through a small company called Doorposts. They have lots of great materials for training children based on Biblical principles. Link to the Doorposts website:
 
Just for Fun
There are so many fun things available, and they change so rapidly, that I will not try to advise you on what to choose. You know your children better than anyone, and you know what will delight them. Check out your local Christian Book Store to peruse the vast array of books, videos/DVD’s, toys, games, puzzles, puppets, crafts, etc. Pictured here are Bible character dolls. If your children like playing with dolls, Bible character dolls and small plastic animals will enable them to re-enact the Bible stories they hear in Sundays school and at home.
Bible story books
These are our favorite Bible story books for 2 and 3 year olds. The stories are really well written, perfect for this age, and there are good questions at the end of each story. Our oldest child could quote all the stories verbatim when she was 2.  It is best to not read  the easy reader Bible story books to your children at this age so that when they begin reading on their own, they will really be reading, rather than saying them from memory.
This is our favorite Bible story book for 4 to 6 year olds. The illustrations are the best of all the Bible story books, bar none. The happy people look really happy, the scared people look really scared--what ever the emotion, you can almost feel it. This is a good age to begin family devotions. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Just make a time each day to read one Bible story to your children, then pray together. To keep it easy to remember, and to keep it from going too long by praying for everything every night, we prayed for missionaries on Monday, friends on Tuesday, the world on Wednesday, giving thanks on Thursday, family (relatives) on Friday, and Sunday school and church on Saturday. (If you noticed that friends doesn’t start with a “T,” you are right, but we used the Japanese word that does “tomodachi.”) You will come up with your own system, but keep it simple, so you don’t feel tempted to skip it.
 If your church does not have child care during the worship service, you should stock up on quiet toys and books your child can play with during the service. If you don’t, they may end up hating church before they can even understand anything. Save these items for the church service only, so they seem new and exciting. If they play with them every day, they will have little staying power. Older children will be happy with coloring books, sticker books, and activity books--try to find ones that have Christian or Bible themes. Younger children are a little bit trickier, since curiosity is what drives their exploration. Try to find toys that will occupy their attention for long periods of time, rather than items they pick up, look at once, and put back down. If it makes noise, keep it at home.
Link to websites that sell Christian books, games, toys, crafts, DVD’s and music
Family Christian Stores:     http://www.familychristian.com/
Gateway Films/Vision Video:   https://www.visionvideo.com/start.taf
 
Link to websites that sell candy molds
 
Link to websites that sell Easter decorations and crafts
 
Easter Baskets for Mom and Dad? No, I don’t really expect you to fix yourselves an Easter basket, but while you are looking for items for your children, it might be a good time to check out what is available on how to do family devotions or how to discipline your children, etc, etc.  There are so many great materials--give yourself an education, so you train you children well. Discover new approaches that you never would have come up with on your own. Nothing is more important than teaching your children about God--it is worth investing both time and money by buying and using great materials. It is never too early to help them love and follow God.