Easter Watercolors and Meditation

I have loved browsing the website, Art Projects for Kids, and this week I plan to have my children make these Easter cards.  I think that some will draw the bunny, but others may do eggs or other Easter shapes and scenes.  Watercolor is a favorite activity in our homeschool, but ours is often aimless, so this will be a nice way to do something with a purpose.  If this is a popular activity, we may give some of the cards to a homeschooling group which collects cards for distribution at nursing homes.

My favorite book for Easter is The Easter Story by Brian Wildsmith, which is illustrated with watercolors, so we will read this book before we do our cards.  The beautiful book tells the Easter story from the perspective of the donkey whom Jesus rides into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  In the story, the donkey continues to be close to Jesus throughout the week, so we see the entire Passion.  For older children, this is a great conversation starter for mental prayer — a wonderful way to do mental prayer is to contemplate a moment in the life of Christ by placing ourselves there.  What would I feel at the foot of the cross, or in the crowd as Jesus was condemned?  Would I be a silent onlooker?  Can I feel his loneliness in those crucial last moments of his life?  We can meditate on different perspectives, but that of the donkey, the most humble of biblical “characters,” was a frequent choice of St. Josemaria Escriva, so this book has extra depth for those of us who have learned to pray through his writings.

At the risk of sounding new-agey, watercolor is a very centering activity for children (and adults), so I will encourage my children to pray and meditate on the Passion while they are painting.  For that part of the project, we will probably just fill sheets with a single color, purple might be a good choice.  After that, I will introduce the card making project.  For the youngest children, I will take their purple sheets, fold them in half, and cut out egg shaped cards for their greetings.