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Make a real impact at Easter this year. Did you know that over 65% of our population are visual learners? You can make a lasting impression by having a unique visual element at your service or in your children’s ministry.
Think about how powerful it could be as you recount the Easter story of the resurrection, and your guests can see and walk through a scene that truly brings this truth to life!
Amazing Small Church Easter Tomb Scenes
- Just The Basics Easter Tomb: very basic and easy to put together with materials you may even have on hand.
- Next-Level Scene Setter Tomb: requires more creativity and hands-on crafting of some elements.
- Get The Full Tomb Experience: This is for people who love working together and making quality stage-production sets.
Three Things To Do Before You Start
1. Determine Size & Space
The first thing to do is determine where you will set up the tomb scene. For those with the advantage of a large classroom available for use, this can enable you to work on it for several days before you need to use it. You may need to make your elements off-site and assemble them all on the day before your service.
2. Consider Your Budget
Your church budget will help you identify which Easter tomb scene you do. It will also help you determine the extras you have in your scene.
3. Sketch Your Scene
After determining your space size, sketch your scene with all the measurements. Include the width, length, & height of the tomb and the entire scene. Include the extra decoration and garden scenery you will add to the scene.
Just The Basics Easter Tomb
Your small church can make a scene fairly quickly using readily available materials. Create a simple scene on the wall. Do this by drawing and painting a scene on a painter’s drop cloth, a bed sheet, or paper rolls. Of course, you need someone with artistic ability on your team!!
Not to worry if you lack an artistic team member. You can create a nice scene without drawing ability; here’s the secret. Order a photo backdrop (less than $25) on Amazon, then put some elements around your scene’s base for an added 3D effect.
Add These Elements To Enhance Scenery
- Faux trees (borrow from folks in your church)
- Plants: real or silk, they don’t even need to be in a pot
- Green tablecloths draped over boxes for mounds of grass
- Faux rocks & boulders (keep reading about how to construct them)
- Make a garden path (instructions below)
Create A Walkway With Stepping Stones
A simple walkway leading up to the scene makes a great visual impact. Easily make one by using brown kraft paper cut into the shape of a winding path. Use brown grocery bags cut apart and attached together for a budget-friendly walkway. Be sure to secure the paper down to the floor with a removable adhesive so people don’t trip!
Make stepping stones from recycled cardboard or poster board. Painting the stones with textured paint can add a realistic feel to the stones. Place the stones on your walkway or along the sides.
This basic setup is enough to make a great visual impact for your small church Easter celebration.
Next Level Scene Setter Tomb
This requires some crafting of a few elements. It’s a great opportunity to gather a few team members to work together!
For this tomb, use a tent. You can even get away with using a small pop-up camping tent. This is the basis for your tomb. Purchase gray plastic tablecloths and drape them over the entire tent. Attach the tablecloths with duct tape and tuck the ends under the bottom of the tent.
Again, add foliage, trees, plants, and flower bushes tucked in among crumpled pieces of kraft paper. Cover boxes and plastic tubs with paper to make the appearance of dirt and rock mounds.
Add groupings of rocks and boulders outside the tent/tomb. Adding rocks and boulders to your scene brings it to another level. You can easily construct these yourself; the instructions for some simpler ones are as follows.
Easy DIY Crafting Stones & Boulders For Your Easter Tomb
1. Easiest Rocks
Use brown kraft paper, packing paper, or grocery bags and crumple them into a rock shape. Put multiple pieces together to make bigger rocks. Secure them by using brown masking tape and wind loosely around the pieces. Spray paint the rocks with a gray or brown color or a combination of the two for more detail. Another option is to use watered-down acrylic paint.
2. Easy Crumpled Paper Method
Another easy method is to wrap items with crumpled paper to make rock shapes, e.g., plastic bowls, boxes, beach balls, and even an exercise ball to make a large boulder. Then, proceed to paint in the same way as mentioned above.
3. Paper Mache Method
Use a basic paper mache with homemade paste and strips of cut newspaper over a form, like a balloon. This is an easy but messy way of making rocks. Plenty of drying time is needed, as well as a way to paint them when they are dry.
4. Quick Spray Foam
Spray foam insulation is a quick way to make stones. First, spray a mound of the foam. Then, using disposable gloves, shape the stone and let it dry. You can further shape it by shaving it with a serrated drywall knife. Watch for fumes; it is best to spray foam stones and boulders in a garage or outside.
5. Large Boulders Made From Boxes
Make larger boulders by using cardboard boxes as a base. Cut and fold in the sides of the box lids to make more of a curved shape. Hold it together with packing tape, and then add your spray foam.
6. Quick-Mix Cement Takes Some Time
To create stage-worthy rocks and boulders, use the cement method. Spread a ‘quick mix’ cement on top of a form created with styrofoam or cardboard, covered in newspaper. Then cover the whole shape with hardware cloth or moldable metal mesh. The mesh gives the concrete something to adhere to. You need 24-48 hours of good dry time.
Get The Full Tomb Experience
Construct a tomb large enough to bring a group of kids inside to do part of the lesson. Use a 10′ x 10′ pop-up canopy tent for the base. Only raise one side of the canopy halfway because it will be more cave-like inside.
Purchase two rolls of brown packing paper, 36” wide by 180 ft. long. Crumple the paper, cut it into strips, and lightly spray areas of it with dark brown and black spray paint. This brings out the lines in the paper and gives depth to the project. Finally, hang it over the tent, covering it completely.
Inside the tent, cover the ceiling pitch with the same method. Doing this makes the tomb quite dark inside but has a great effect. Use small touch lights in the corners to bring in just enough light to see everything.
Make a ‘platform’ from cardboard boxes, covering several areas with spray-painted crumpled paper. The platform is the funeral bed to place the empty grave clothes, a.k.a. cheese cloth strips. Add several faux boulders and rocks, and put some real stones from the garden center on the floor in different areas. Add some dried moss in some of the corners and on the ceiling. Also, hang a lantern from the ceiling to give a little light.
Outside the tomb, make a walkway from the classroom door up to the tomb entrance. Use inexpensive tablecloths hung from the ceiling to create a large tunnel-like area to walk in.
Collect or borrow lots of fake plants and trees. Make a large stone that was ‘rolled away’ from a piece of cardboard from a refrigerator box. Use more crumpled paper adhered to that and spray paint it to finish it off. Place this rolled-away stone just to the side of the tomb opening.
Increase Easter Excitement In Your Sunday School
Create an Easter story that children and adults can walk right into! Enlist the help of two men from the congregation to dress up as Roman guards and post them outside the classroom door.
Begin the story in another area where children hear from the 3 women on their way to the tomb. Pause and listen as they speak of their sadness and witnessing the crucifixion. Plan ahead for the women to show the spices they are bringing to anoint the body. Next, the women lead the children to the classroom, where the guards give them a hard time but finally let them in. Then witness the women entering the garden, discovering the stone and an open tomb!
Enlist the help of a volunteer to be the angel who appears and speaks to the women. The women can then tell the group of their excitement and the need to go back and tell the others as they exit the room with boisterous joy! Next, the group leader leads everyone to the tomb. Everyone sits down. Talk about the empty grave and what that means for all of us. Sing a song together and pray. This can be quite moving! Both kids and adults will remember this at future Easter celebrations.
Use this project for your children’s ministry on Easter Sunday morning or as something for an all-church or intergenerational family gathering.
Bring The Resurrection Story To Life
Your small church can make a big impact this Easter!! Bring the resurrection story to life and construct your own tomb scene.
Easter is the perfect opportunity to share the good news with people who may not usually attend your church. So welcome your visitors with something really special. Go the extra mile and ensure your whole building is guest-ready this Easter!
If you try this project, we encourage you to share pictures in our Creative Solutions For Small Churches Facebook community. We love to celebrate what God is doing in small churches all around the world!
Looking for a step-by-step guide to starting or restarting your children’s ministry?
Check out the Children’s Ministry Bundle For Small Churches!
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