MAKING AN EASTER GARDEN

With Easter just around the corner, we have started preparations and talking about why we celebrate it in our household. Making an Easter (resurrection) garden is a wonderful way to think about, and explore, the Easter story.

Before we made our garden we read “The Story of Easter’ by Fiona Boon, which is a great book to introduce Jesus’ death and resurrection to young children. This was the first time that I had made an Easter garden with the children, and they were so engaged and proud of their creation that I felt it deserved its very own blog post. We will definitely be making this a tradition each year.

What we used:

• Terracotta saucer and plant pot

• Potting soil

• A big rock

• Small sticks

• Twine

• Moss

• Grass seeds (optional)

• Wildflower seeds (optional)

• Decorative white pebbles (optional)

• Small watering can (optional)

Steps:

• Place the plant pot on its side in the saucer. The plant pot will act as the tomb.
  

• Add soil to the saucer and on top of the pot, then compact the soil (that’s on the top of the pot) to create a mound.
  

• Position the large rock to the side of the tomb (pot) entrance.  
  

• Sprinkle grass seeds over the soil, and wildflower seeds if you wish.
  

• Water the soil with a small watering can if seeds have been added.
  

• Add moss over the rim of the pot for decoration.
  

• Use two sticks and twine to create a large cross. Then use smaller sticks to make two other crosses. Position the larger cross in the middle of the mound, and then add the smaller crosses either side.
  

• Add decorative pebbles if you wish.
  

• Leave the Easter garden in a warm sunny spot to encourage germination of the seeds if added.

Our Easter garden is now proudly sitting on our kitchen table and has been shown off to every visitor we’ve had! Excitement levels were high when the grass and wildflower seeds started sprouting, and they love monitoring their growth. I think the scissors will need to make an appearance now though! We will be revisiting our garden again over the Easter weekend, and linking it back to the story and its significance.