Model of Jerusalem with wooden blocks

Several years ago, I read on Living Montessori Now about how Deb had her children in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd build a model of Jerusalem with wooden blocks. I've always wanted to try this idea, but never quite got around to it. In planning the Easter Club this year, I decided to finally buckle down and make the materials in German to do it. 

In Easter Club, I always try to have stations where the children can discover parts of the Easter story on their own. I also like to find new ways to use materials that I already have, so I combined the idea of building Jerusalem with Resurrection Eggs to tell the events of Jesus' last week, death and resurrection. 

The children are given a map of Jerusalem with numbered places such as the Temple, the Garden of Gethsemane, etc. An instruction sheet tells them to build the outer wall of the city first. 

Then, there is a basket with Easter eggs. Each egg has a number on it that corresponds to a place on the map of Jerusalem. Inside the egg is a slip of paper and a small object that explains what happened at that corresponding place on the map. The children are instructed to lay the object at that place. There is also a wooden Jesus figure to move from place to place. 

For example, location #1 is the Temple where Jesus taught daily in the few days before the Last Supper. The object inside the egg is a wooden incense altar from the Temple.

A set of praying hands go by the Garden of Gethsemane along with some trees.

A communion chalice goes by the Upper Room where the Last Supper was celebrated, and silver coins by the House of Caiaphas.

When everything is laid out, the set-up looks like this:

New Idea for Resurrection Eggs

 Before I discovered Godly Play, I was still very aware that children need to explore their spirituality with all five senses. Resurrection Eggs were one of the first tools that I used with my own children to help them experience the mystery of Easter. In case you are not familiar with them, they are plastic eggs with small objects inside that tell the story of Jesus from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. It is a bit like the Stations of the Cross plus the Resurrection.

The eggs are numbered so that the children know their order
in the Easter story.

This is a peak at the objects inside.

Though there are many great resources for using these eggs in English, I have had to be creative in my German-speaking context. In the Easter Club for elementary school students, one year used the eggs as part of an Easter Egg hunt and the following year I told the Easter story using the objects found in the Easter Egg hunt.

This year I wanted to do something new with the eggs,  and also wanted to give the children an opportunity to explore the events of Holy Week more. When we use them in the Easter Egg hunt, the kids only see the objects briefly on that particular day. 

So this year, I decided to make a station during our Godly Play Response Time featuring the eggs. On a table I placed a felt underlay with a path leading to the cross and then to the empty tomb. The children are then able to take out the individual pieces and place them on the path where they can wonder more about them or ask questions. 

This is what I place on the station table during the Response Time
and how a child might lay the pieces out and play with them.

At our first week of Easter Club on Monday, this was a popular station.
Here a child explores them with a co-worker.

If you don't already have Resurrection Eggs, you can easily make them. Just check out this post from Lacy at Catholic Icing.

If any of you have other ideas of how to use Resurrection Eggs, please leave a message in the comments!

Linked to Eco Kids' Tuesday at Like Mama-Like Daughter and Organic Aspirations

and Waldorf Wednesday at Seasons of Joy