Making Resurrection Rolls while reading the Bible story of the Resurrection has become my family’s favorite Easter tradition! Recipe and Story follow the photos.
Ingredients for Resurrection Rolls:
Assemble the Resurrection Rolls and read the story:
1. Read John 19 while the oven is pre-heating according to the package directions. If you’re really on top of things, spend the week before reading John 12-18 with your kids.
2. Unroll the crescent rolls. Explain that this is like the cloth they wrapped Jesus in.
3. Give your child a marshmallow and explain that it represents Jesus… all white and pure because He was without sin.
4. Roll the marshmallows in the melted butter. This symbolizes the embalming oils.
5. Roll the marshmallows in the cinnamon sugar. This is like the spices used to prepare his body for burial.
6. Wrap the marshmallow in the crescent roll cloth, pinching the dough together securely. Don’t worry about the shape so much, they’ll taste the same no matter how you roll or bundle them. This represents how they would have wrapped Jesus’ body. I like to brush them with more melted butter, but it’s not necessary.
7. Put the rolls in the oven (symbolizing the tomb) and bake for the amount of time specified on the package.
8. While the rolls are baking, read John 20:1-18.
9. Open the tomb and remove the rolls. When they’re cool enough to handle, break one open and discover what happened to the marshmallow. Jesus is risen! At this point, I also read 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. Jesus is coming again!
Beware: One year, when Soliel was six, she bit into her roll and discovered that the marshmallow hadn’t quite melted and said, “Hey, Jesus is still in here!” She was very disappointed!
You may also like another tradition we have: Resurrection Eggs
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Note: I am certainly not the first person to post this idea, and I can’t remember where I first heard of it. We did it with my preschoolers back when I was a teacher. I can’t find anywhere who first thought of this so I can credit them. If you know, you can leave it in the comments. Otherwise, to God be the glory 🙂
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Note: This post originally appeared in 2010, and it’s been a big hit, so I thought I’d post it again.
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I did this for my 8 year old activity day girls. They loved it. We acted out the story while the rolls were in the oven. How Mary was the first person to see and talk to Christ as the risen Lord. She must have been a pretty special person to have Christ appear to her first.
I would either use 2 crescent rolls per large marshmallow or maybe use mini-marshmellows. When I pulled them out of the oven, they were bursting with marshmallow. As they cooled, the marshmallow shrunk back down. They girls said it was his burial clothes that Peter and John saw folded up in the tomb. I thought that was pretty good idea. I told them that the sweet deliciousness was the atonement, and how we can all use the atonement in our lives. It is sweet and wonderful to have.
While I don’t know if it was an original idea or not, the first time I made these was 18-19 years ago as a suggested activity for my third grade VBS class. The recipe was include with all the teacher help information (not sure which box curriculum we used that year). However, they had us use canned biscuits that we rolled out to make them thinner. Two summers later the kids that had been in my class came up and asked me if I remembered making “Empty Tomb Rolls” with them. Several of the kids were from non-christian homes, so it was awesome to know that the lesson really made a memory for them.
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Our grandchildren are gone this Easter (2016) but when they get back from their vacation, we will make the rolls. It’s never too late to dwell on the Lord’s resurrection. Thanks for the idea. I had never heard of this and we have had 6 children and we’re in our 70’s! God bless!
I will cook it for my family this weekend
Thank for the recipe 🙂
Love the idea, but make sure you completely seal the tomb (the cresent rolls) our kids didn’t quite get them pinched together, and the melted marshmellow drain out, burned, and started smoking.