Whether you call them Easter Story cookies or Empty Tomb Cookies, these special cookies that tell the Easter Story of the Resurrection have become a tradition in many homes. If you’ve ever thought about doing these with your kids, I just want to encourage you to make this the year that you begin this tradition in your home. I came up with ten reasons to make these Easter cookies part of your Easter celebration.
*Scroll down for the link to the Empty Tomb Cookies Recipe.
10 Reasons to Make Easter Story Cookies
1. Children learn by repetition. In families of faith, every year children are told the Easter story. Cookies add a new element to the story by creating hands-on learning with multiple opportunities to connect ancient truths in an understandable way. When these steps are repeated each year, children learn.
2. Each year, children will respond to the story with a new level of maturity. As children grow and develop physically, so does their capacity for understanding. Making the Empty Tomb cookies with your 8-year-old this year will look a lot different from making them last year when your child was 7. You’ll be surprised by what your children have learned and how they can process the Scriptures at a new level every year.
3. Children learn by teaching siblings. You know you’ve learned something when you’re able to explain it to someone else, right? In the same way, you’ll see your children learning the Easter story as they explain it to their younger siblings. Every year, they’ll pass on the explanations of why they are pounding the nuts and tasting the vinegar as you move through the steps of making the cookies.
4. There is something for every learning style. When making these Easter cookies, kinesthetic learners will learn by the hands-on activities. Auditory learners will process by listening to God’s Word being read aloud. And visual learners will understand as they see what is going on and take turns reading the Scriptures. Every learning style learns together.
5. You’re creating a tradition that will be passed on. You’ll find that even as your children get older, they are going to want to make the Empty Tomb cookies. I have friends who have been making these with their families for years, and their college-age kids are coming home to make the cookies together.
6. Children see you setting the example. As you walk your children through the Easter story, reading the Scripture, participating in each of the activity steps, you are sharing your beliefs and your faith as you share the story with them.
7. You’re creating a new focus. The solemn moments—mixed with laughter, of course—as you take time one evening to make these cookies for Easter will create a new focus in your home. This is what Easter is all about.
8. You’re making Easter real and applicable. Leaving the cookies in the oven really does send you to bed feeling like the story is unfinished…because until the next morning…it is! What a great way to help our children identify with what the disciples and other Christ followers were going through when Jesus was crucified!
9. You’re taking advantage of the best learning lab: your kitchen. What better place to learn about the Lord than by taking advantage of your home’s best learning lab–your kitchen! Gathered around the kitchen table, you’re providing a relaxed, comfortable place for asking questions and understanding what Easter is all about.
10. Enjoying a real celebration. Your celebration on Easter morning is not about the Easter baskets. When you make the Empty Tomb Cookies the night before Easter, you’ll find your kids more interested in what happened in the oven “tomb” than anything else when they get up that morning. And what’s more, you’ll find that you’re able to really celebrate Easter too.
Empty Tomb Cookies Recipe and FREE Printable Downloadable Instructions HERE
Find a step -by-step picture tutorial with complete instructions, and a FREE printable download that includes the recipe, steps, and all the Scriptures when you click on the recipe for Easter Story cookies HERE.
