Talking to children about the real meaning of Christmas is easy. There’s a baby born in a stable with farm animals! Angels! Shepherds! SHEEP! Yes, the Christmas Story is quite kid-friendly.

The Easter Story is a little more difficult, however. In order to get to the happy part (Jesus Lives!) you have to tell the sad part–the part where Jesus dies on the cross because we are sinners. In reality, I think adults have much more trouble talking about death and sin than children do. Fortunately, there are ways to tell this story that are fun and also share the importance of Easter.

We read these Easter books to learn about Jesus’ death and Resurrection

One way is to bake Resurrection Rolls. I’m not sure where the original recipe comes from, but it has been floating around the internet for years.

To make them, you will need refrigerated crescent rolls, marshmallows, melted butter, and a mix of cinnamon and sugar.

Take the marshmallow, and explain that the marshmallow represents Jesus. (Since I actually did these steps with my children, I don’t have pictures. Oops!) Dip the marshmallow into the melted butter and roll it in the cinnamon sugar. This represents the oil and spices with which the women prepared Jesus’ body. Next, wrap the marshmallow with one triangle of crescent roll dough. This represents the cloth wrapped around Jesus’ body. Pinch the dough together well.

Bake the crescent rolls in the oven as directed on the package. The oven represents the tomb. (I kept forgetting this, and thinking that the crescent rolls were the tomb! Doesn’t the roll below look tomb-like?)

The marshmallow melts in the oven! Talk about the resurrection with your children, and how there was an empty tomb on Easter morning!

Of course, my children (who should know better) began to talk about how they were eating Jesus. They weren’t being disrespectful–after all, aren’t we given Jesus’ body and blood during Holy Communion?–and I gently reminded them what the roll represented.

Do you have any Easter activities you do with your kids? Share in the comments, please!

Link up any tips you’ve blogged about in the linky below. (They do not need to be Easter related.)