I know all of us are having to completely rethink how we do Easter this year. Many of you already purchased this year’s Easter weekend curriculum before any of us had any idea all of the churches were going to shut their doors and go completely online. I’m right there with you on the front lines trying to figure this out in my own ministry. Unfortunately, I just don’t have the spare time to put together a completely separate Family Edition of The Greatest Story Curriculum. However, I wanted to at least share some tips on how to use this curriculum in our current situation. I am aware that there are different mandates and recommendations out there in other states and countries. With that in mind, I am going to share a few different variations of how to use this curriculum and you can choose what works best for your ministry and area.

Online Service with Family Activity Bags

  • Record your choice of service elements for the kids and families to watch online. Service elements we recorded included worship songs, the verse song, a game, and the teaching portion of the Story Stations.
  • Substitute the game for the Good Friday service out for Charades. Choose items and actions that go along with the series and Easter. The game for Easter Sunday is a great option for an online service.
  • Encourage families to watch the service and do the Story Station activities together instead of using them in small groups.
  • After teaching the Story Station, give your families quick instructions on how to do the activity for the station together as a family and have them pause the video while they do the activity.
  • Create Family Activity Bags. Provide the items the families will need to do the activities in the Story Stations and choose the games you want to include the supplies for. We chose to only give the families the supplies to play one of the games included in the original curriculum for each service to cut down on cost and preparation.
  • Provide packets for the families with the instructions for the Story Station family activities, game(s), and family discussion questions. Here are the Good Friday and Easter Sunday packets we created for the families with only the info they needed for their activities.
  • Take precautions to make sure the activity bags are safe for families to use. Sanitize anything that can be cleaned after purchasing it, wear gloves while you pack the items, and encourage families to leave the items in the bags for a few days to allow any germs to die before they use the items.
  • Communicate with parents about the precautions you are taking to keep their families safe and healthy ahead of time.
  • Offer times for families to “drive thru” to pick up their activity bags before Easter weekend.
  • Communicate that you and your team are willing to drop off bags at families’ doorsteps who are unable or uncomfortable with leaving their houses.
  • Optional: Offer additional fun Easter activities and challenges for your families to make their Easter weekend extra special. We included a Chalk Your Walk Challenge with a bag of chalk, a Family Photo Challenge, and a glow in the dark egg hunt kit (12 stuffed glow in the dark eggs, 5 glowsticks, and instructions). We are encouraging families to take photos, post them on social media, and tag our kid’s ministry pages to win Chick-fil-A and Target gift cards.

Online Service without Family Activity Bags

  • Record your choice of service elements for the kids and families to watch online. Service elements we recorded: worship songs, the verse song, a game, and the teaching portion of the Story Stations.
  • Sub the game for the Good Friday service out for Charades. Choose items and actions that go along with the series and Easter. The game for Easter Sunday is a great option for an online service.
  • Encourage families to watch the service and do the Story Station activities together instead of using them in small groups. Choose the activities that you believe your families already have the supplies for at home and adapt the activities as needed. Most families will have crayons, markers, paper, scissors, and they might have toilet paper.
  • Optional: You can choose to cut the activities entirely if you don’t think the families will have the supplies or be willing to go to the extra effort to put the activity supplies together themselves.
  • Provide packets for the families via email with the instructions for the Story Station family activities, game(s), and family discussion questions. Here are the packets we created for the families with only the info they needed for their activities. Insert link here Pull out the game or activities if you don’t plan on using them.
  • Offer Easter challenges online with gift card incentives. Send the Chalk Your Walk Challenge and the Family Photo Challenge to your families digitally.
  • Optional: Don’t record the Story Stations at all. Provide the full Story Stations from the curriculum for your parents to teach their families.
  • Provide parent cards via email and social media for parents to review what their kids learned about in the services.

You can still purchase the full curriculum for The Greatest Story for just $19.99 to use in your ministry!

I hope these tips are helpful for creating your own services for the families in your ministry. Feel free to use any of the curriculum/media in your online videos and for distribution to your families. Please let me know if you have questions or need help with ideas for adapting this curriculum to meet the needs of your families. Have a blessed and safe Easter!