“Rolled Away”

In “Easter is about Jesus”, I mentioned the game, “Rolled Away”. A game we play every year at Easter. I can’t take credit honestly, this is something my mom did with us as kids that we played and looked forward to every year. As we grew older, she would let us be in charge of the game for the younger two. It was a tradition that we treasured and all of us continue with our own children… and any Bible class/ Sunday School class we teach with the story of the resurrection.

The object of the game is simple. “Find Jesus”. But its the telling of the story to my kids, over and over again as we play, that I love the most.

“1 Corinthians 15:3-6 NIV “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.”

Set up the cross and the tomb on an easily accessible surface. (I’ll post how we made ours soon!)

With your children gathered around, tell the simple story: “People hurt Jesus and put Him on a cross to die. But Jesus didn’t do anything wrong. When Jesus died, His friends were sad. They cried. (everyone be sad…) They took Jesus off the cross and wrapped Him in a clean cloth. Then they placed Him in a tomb and rolled a stone over the entrance. Then everyone went home. Slowly. Sadly. (encourage them to walk away with a frown, ducking their heads and walking slowly.) Some of the women went home to make some spices to honor Jesus. They were going to bring it to the tomb later.” (encourage them to go “make spices”… this can be creating something with play food, or play dough, or sensory bins that you have set up)

While the children are making “spices”, you “hide” Jesus. Now, there is one rule. Jesus was never hiding so no one could find Him. He was visible and seen by more than 500 after the resurrection. He has to be visible in His “hiding place”.

Once Jesus has risen and is hiding visibly, place the stone at the tomb away from the entrance and set the angel there beside it. Then sing. Download written music of “Rolled Away” for free below.

When your children hear the song, they should come running – with their spices. Another rule. They cannot go looking for Jesus until they first come to the tomb and hear the angel’s message. “He is not here! He is risen!”. Then they should leave the spices at the tomb and go search for Jesus.

It is seriously such a fun storytelling game to play. The kids love both looking for Jesus and making the spices. And I promise, you will love repeating the story over and over again. “He is not in the tomb. Jesus is risen, just like He said He would!”