In recent years, to help my grandchildren learn the Easter story, I made them “Easter in an Egg Carton.” The carton contains 12 plastic Easter eggs with a part of the Easter story and a token to go with each. I wanted to share it with you. Feel free to copy!

First I collected empty egg cartons. You can buy unused egg cartons at a farm or country store. I bought some plastic Easter eggs in a variety of colors and wrote the numbers 1 through 12 on the eggs with a Sharpie.

The eggs are opened one by one in order from 1 to 12.

Egg #1

Token: piece of bread

Story: 1. When evening had come, Jesus sat down to supper with the twelve apostles. He took bread and blessed it and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then he took wine and blessed it and said, “Drink; for this is my blood which I shed for you.” Then they sang a hymn and went to the Mount of Olives. (Matt. 26:26-30)

Egg #2

Token: Roman coins

Story: 2. One of the twelve apostles was named Judas Iscariot. He went to the Jewish leaders and said, “What will ye give me, and I will deliver Jesus unto you?” Since the leaders were eager to arrest Jesus, they paid Judas thirty pieces of silver to betray Jesus. (Matt. 26: 14-15, Zechariah 11:12)

Egg #3

Token: Flowers

Story: 3. Jesus came with his disciples to a garden place called Gethsemane and asked them to wait for Him while He prayed. He went a short distance from his disciples, fell on his face, and prayed, saying, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” In those agonizing hours, Christ suffered for all the sins of the world, which suffering was so severe that He bled from every pore. After his suffering, the Jewish leaders arrested Him and subjected Him to an illegal trial. (Matt. 26:36-46)

Egg #4

Token: Whip

Story: 4. When the morning came, the chief priests and elders took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. They tried him in an illegal trial, then bound him, led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate. After Pilate questioned Jesus, he knew that Jesus was innocent and wanted to let him go. However, he couldn’t convince the angry Jewish crowd, and they cried out for Jesus’ crucifixion. Pilate took water and washed his hands in front of the multitude and said, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person.” The people answered and said, “His blood be upon us and on our children.” Pilate had Jesus whipped and delivered him to the Roman soldiers to be crucified. (Matt. 27:1-2, 31-32)

Egg #5

Token: Wooden cross

Story: 5. The soldiers stripped Jesus and made him wear a scarlet robe and a crown of thorns. They spit upon him and took a reed and smote him on the head. After being scourged by the Roman soldiers, Jesus was too weak to carry his own cross. The soldiers made Simon of Cyrene bear his cross to Golgotha. (Matt. 27:28-32)

Egg #6

Token: Nail

Story:

6. The cruel Romans nailed Jesus’s hands and feet to the cross and lifted Him up to die between two thieves. They set a sign over his head that read: “This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.” (Matt. 27: 33:37)

Egg #7

Token: Dice

Story: 7. As Jesus suffered on the cross, the soldiers divided up his clothes and played a game of dice to see who would get to keep them, just as the prophets had prophesied. (Matt. 27:35-36)

Egg #8

Token: Spear

Story: 8. While Jesus languished on the cross, darkness covered the land. Jesus cried with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!” Then Jesus gave up the ghost and died. The earth trembled and rocks upon the face of the earth broke apart. Seeing the destruction and tempest, a centurion said, “Truly this was the Son of God.” The Sabbath was coming, so soldiers broke the legs of the two men who were crucified next to Jesus. One of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear to make sure he was dead. (Matt. 27:50-51, John 19:31-34)

Egg #9

Token: Piece of linen cloth

Story: 9. Jesus friends took His body, wrapped it in clean linen, and laid it in a garden tomb.

(Matt. 27:58-60)

 

Egg #10

Token: Stone

Story: 10. They rolled a great stone over the opening of the tomb. The Jewish leaders who had insisted that Jesus be crucified were now afraid that his followers would take his body and claim he had been resurrected. So Pilate gave them guards who were to stay at the tomb and keep watch both day and night. (Matt. 27:60, 65-66)

Egg #11

Token: Lavender seeds

Story: 11. On the morning of the third day, when the Jewish Sabbath was over, the earth shook as angels came out of heaven and rolled back the stone from the door. The frightened Roman guards ran away. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James came to the tomb to anoint Jesus’s body with burial spices. An angel sat on the stone and spoke to the women, “Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen, as he said.” (Mark 16:1, Matt. 28:2-5)

Egg #12

Token: Empty egg

Story: The tomb is empty! He is risen!