Easter program for 3-6 yos?

[GreenPartyVoter]

Any thoughts on appropriate songs or scripture I could have them do? This for a conservative evangelical Protestant church so scripture will have to be from that version of the Bible.

(For Christmas we did "Silent Night", Luke 2:7, "Away in the Manger", John 3:16, "Twinkle Twinkle", and "Happy Birthday". So now you know what we are able to manage. :) )

[Critters2]

1. I think little ones could pull off "Christ the Lord is Risen Today",

and they'd probably like "He Arose" ("Up from the grave he arose...").

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Thanks! I did a little more research and found all of these treasures

Complete John 3:16, John 20:31 “These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in His name.”

Song to the tune of "You are my Sunshine"
Chorus
You bring us sunshine
You bring us rain,
We know you make things grow each day
You bring us love to share with others
And we thank you when we pray.
Dear God we love you, we want to know you
And be more like you want us to
Our hearts are open to spread your love God
'Cause we know you love us too.
(Chorus repeated)
You brought us Jesus
Thank you for Jesus
He died to take our sins away
We want to talk to him and thank him
We know he hears us when we pray.
(repeat Chorus)


"Jesus is Alive Today" sung to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
Jesus is alive today, alive today, alive today. Jesus is alive today, it is Easter morning!

Song: Jesus Died For All The Children
(Tune: Jesus Loves The Little Children)

Jesus died for all the children
All the children of the world
Black and yellow, red and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus died for all the children of the world.


Easter time (to the tune of jingle bells)

Easter time, Easter time,
We have so much to do,
Time for bunnies, time for eggs,
But time for Jesus too
Oh, Easter time
Easter time
Jesus showed his love
He died for us and rose again
He’s with the Lord above


POEM
Christ the Lord is risen today!
Angels rolled the stone away
From the tomb wherein He lay!
Little children, come and sing,
"Glory, glory to the King,
Christ the Lord of everything!"

Poem:
1. Celebrate our God who's great ! ( repeat over and over)
2. Thank you Lord for giving. We know your with us living...
3. Praise Him ! Praise Him ! Praise Him ! Praise Him !...
4. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks... Together... Hallelujah !!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. In my experience teaching Sunday School, small children learn good music

as easily as they learn bad music. It's sad that churches have given into the nationwide trend of teaching children bad music when they have such a rich musical heritage. This is one reason why showbizzy fundie churches have such an appeal. The mainstream churches have failed to pass on their traditions to their children.

If you teach the Sunday School kids nothing but "O Who Can Make a Flower?" and "I Will Make You Fishers of Men," then it's no wonder that they find adult church an alienating experience.

When I taught kindergarten-level Sunday School, I taught the kids adult hymns like "We Plow the Fields and Scatter" for Thanksgiving, "What Child is This" for Christmas, and "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" for Easter. (They loved singing the "A-a-a-a-lay-ay-loo-oo-ya.")

I "lined out" each song, singing the first line, explaining what it meant, singing it again, having them sing it back to me. Then I'd go to the second line, repeat the process, and then sing the first two lines together and have them sing them back to me. Soon they'd have the whole hymn down. (By the way, I made them sing in tune and in sweet voices. It is NOT cute if children just stand and shout.)

One of the women who was teaching with me suggested teaching the children "In Heaven Above." That's an old Norwegian folk hymn, the standard English translation of which goes "In heaven above, in heaven above, where God our Father dwells. How boundless there the blessedness, no tongue its greatness tells. There face to face and full and free and ever, evermore we see, we see the Lord of Hosts." I hesitated, but I thought, "What's the harm in trying?"

Sure enough, they learned "In Heaven Above" in nothing flat.

When I thought about it, I realized that the inane jingles that most Sunday Schools teach are no easier conceptually than adult hymns. I mean, what kindergartner REALLY understands "I Will Make You Fishers of Men"?

About twenty years ago, the ELCA put out an excellent Sunday School hymnal. It would be a fine place to start.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. The real trouble here is that I am not musical. I can't read music or carry a tune. But I

am the teacher for these kids so we do what we can. I did "line out" "Away in a Manger" for them, though. I would say a phrase and they would echo it back, and we would go on through the song that way. Then I would sing it in pieces and they would echo it back. Finally we sang it all together. We learn our scripture verses in the same way, although we make it fun by making silly voices as we go along. :) As far as being in tune, only a couple of them have that gift. The rest seem to be non-singers like me. Shouting is no trouble here. I can barely get them to speak up, but we have microphones so that helps.

I'll see if I can track down an ECLA Sunday School hymnal if possible. (We barely use the adult hymnals any more at our church. Just one hymn per Sunday; the rest of the music is modern choruses, which are also lovely in their own way.)