Building an Easter Garden

As the crib is to Christmas, the garden is to Easter.
It is an imaginative recreation in symbols of the events of Easter Week. As the children construct the garden during the weeks of lent, they will be kept in mind of the story of Jesus and of how he died for us and rose again on Easter Sunday. They will be reminded of how Jesus loves us, listens to us, helps us and is our friend; of how some people love him and others turn away from him. Because of this, we have the chance to show our love for him by helping other people.

The Easter Garden will take six weeks to build if you concent­rate on a different aspect each week. The making of the papier maché tomb and the figures will take the longest time.

Where to work
Find a floor space in a corner of a room, or a table, on which to construct the garden. Cover the space with a plastic or polythene sheet. This will protect against spillage when the plants are watered. Underneath the sheet, place the bricks or cardboard boxes to give an undulating effect to the terraine. Make sure to leave a flat space into which the tomb will fit. Cover the ground sheet with a green cloth, moss or wood chippings.

Materials:
Waterproof ground cover
Green cloth, wood chippings or moss
Bricks or small cardboard boxes
Large stones for rockery effect
A piece of mirror for a lake

Foliage/Plants
Potted plants, shrubs and trees will give the garden a rich foliage effect. Place the larger plants at the back and around the sides and the smaller ones in front. Ivy is very useful for draping over things and giving the effect of age.

Ensure that you label the plants with the owner's name so that they can be returned after Easter. If you are working from a church it might be worth your while approaching the local garden centre for a loan of plants. Explain what you want them for and offer to put up a little notice near the Easter Garden giving them credit for lending the plants.

The tomb
There are several ways in which a tomb can be constructed.

(a) A papier maché tomb
Materials:
Old basin
Newspaper scissors
Chickenwire
Wallpaper paste
Wire cutters
Stone coloured paint and brushes (optional)

Cut the chicken wire to suit the size of the garden, which can be small enough to fit on a table or large enough to fill a whole corner of a room. Bend the piece of chicken wire into a tomb shape with a space to enter. Dent the tomb here and there to give a rock effect when it is covered with papier mache.

Cut the pieces of paper into strips about 5cm in width. Make up the wallpaper paste according to the instructions on the packet. Dip the paper strip by strip into the paste. Take off excess paste by running your fingers scissors-like down the strip of paper. Drape the paper strip over the chickenwire and repeat until the tomb is completely covered.

Allow to dry for a couple of days before applying the next layer. Repeat until there is a fairly thick cover on the tomb. When completely dry, the tomb can be left as it is or it could be painted in a stone colour.

(b) Cardboard Tomb
Materials:
A cardboard box
Stiff grey paper
Stapler or glue
Scissors

Cut off the lose flaps around the open end of the box. Loosely scrunch up the stiff grey paper and attach it to the outside of the box with staples or glue. Bring the grey paper down over the open edges of the box to leave a half-circle opening in front of the tomb, hiding the box.

(c) A Stone Tomb
Large stones might be built up to form a cave which would serve as a tomb. The stones need to be balanced in such a way as not to cause injury to children if they collapse. Moss or ivy can be draped over the stones to give a more authentic appearance.

Backdrop (Optional)
The children might paint a hill with three crosses on top and a path coming down towards the garden. This can be used as a backdrop to the garden by pinning it to the wall behind.

Pipe Cleaner people

Materials:
Pipe cleaners
Table-tennis balls
Wool for hair
Glue and scissors
Pieces of coloured tissue-paper or material
The neck and arms are made from one pipe cleaner. Bend in half, with the bent end uppermost. Twist the top half to form the neck and open out the ends for arms.

Holding two pipe cleaners side by side, twist them together about two centimeters from one end. Hook this end around the shoulders. Twist a few more times down from the first twist and this is the body. The loose ends are then the legs.

Cut out a simple costume from material or coloured paper as shown in the diagram and put it on the figure before the head goes on. Using coloured tissue paper and glue to dress the pipe-cleaner people will be simpler for small children than using material.

Pierce a small hole in the table tennis ball with a sharp scissors and insert the neck of the pipe-cleaner person into it. Paint a face with the markers and glue on hair and a beard as required.

The pipe-cleaner person is then fixed in a base of playdough or plasticene and you can bend them into different poses.

A long veil was the headdress for women, and either a short veil with head band or a turban was common for men. These can be held in place with straight pins or glued on.

The trimming

A soldier will have a cloak attached at the neck and will carry a dagger or spear and wear a helmet. Make the soldier's dress shorter and straighter and then put trimming around the waist.
Paint the helmet and trimming grey or silver.
For the helmet, use the same kind of trimming but make it short and narrower. Double it to help it sit better and tape it underneath to hold it together before sticking it to the head.
Swords, daggers, helmets and wings can be cut out from the cereal packet card and covered in tinfoil.
The wings and helmets can be glued on, while the swords and daggers will be gripped in the hand by wrapping the end of the pipe cleaner around the handle.

The Tomb Stone
This is made by cutting a circle of card to fit over the opening of the tomb. Cover the card with papier maché, or scrunched-up stiff grey paper, to make it look like a big rock.

Stone slab
This will be placed in the tomb to lay the body of Jesus on. Make it from a box, ranging in size from a matchbox upwards to suit the size of the tomb. Cover it with papier maché or paint it grey.

Other ideas
Lots of little animals and insects can be added to the garden by the children, eg. ladybirds, butterflies, birds, rabbits, etc, and some could be half hidden in the foliage to make a game - ‘How many butterflies can you spot?'

Taking care of the garden
All the items in the garden must be cared for regularly, as most of them will be on loan. Appoint a different child to water the plants each week

Getting the most from the garden
Those with Easter Gardens at home, or in their local church, can celebrate the events of Easter as they happen. On Good Friday evening, the body of Jesus is place on the slab in the tomb. The body is wrapped in a white grave-cloth. The big stone is rolled across the door to prevent anyone stealing the body. There will be some soldiers, apostles and women in the garden that evening. When the children come down on Holy Saturday morning, all the people will have gone from the garden and the stone will be in place at the entrance of the tomb. The children will probably peep to see if the body of Jesus is still there.

When the children get up on Easter Sunday morning, they will find the stone rolled to one side and Jesus' body gone. The women will be in the garden with the two angels. As the day goes on, other people will come to look. There will be Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joanna, along with soldiers and other disciples.