How to Make a Beautiful Resurrection Garden Centerpiece for Easter

A Resurrection Garden for Easter is such a meaningful way to prepare for the special holiday! It can also make a beautiful centerpiece to use on a dining room table, kitchen island, or even coffee table for the spring season! Keep reading for a simple tutorial for a Resurrection Garden for Easter that you can do even with kids.  Have you ever created a Resurrection Garden for Easter?  I can’t wait to show you one of our favorite Easter traditions in this post.

I absolutely love Easter!  The colors, the sweet traditions, the pretty dresses, the silly Easter egg hunts, a cute Easter bunny, beautiful flowers…all of it!  We have a great time celebrating the Easter season.  One of my favorite things to do is to create a DIY Resurrection Garden for Easter to use in my home decor!

​Most of all, I love the significance and importance of the Easter holiday to my faith!

​A few years ago, we started creating a Resurrection Garden for Easter.  However, I wish I had started it many years ago!

​It is always so much fun doing Easter crafts with the kids.  Best of all, a DIY Resurrection Garden for Easter is a fun craft and meaningful project that opens the door wide for conversation about the beauty of the holiday and the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

​There are a lot of fancy ways to create a Resurrection Garden for Easter.  We chose to keep ours very simple, though you could add a lot of things to make it even more beautiful, as well as to coordinate with your Easter table colors.  You can even create mini Resurrection Gardens to use around your home or give Resurrection Garden kits as hostess gifts for Easter Sunday!

​First, let’s make the DIY Resurrection Garden for Easter!  We are making ours soon so there is time for the grass to grow in!  It should be beautiful before Resurrection Sunday arrives!

After creating your Resurrection Garden for Easter, you can have fun embellishing the fun and meaningful project to fit your own home decor!

How do you make a Resurrection Garden for kids?

Keep reading for details on these simple step-by-step instructions to create a DIY Resurrection Garden!

1. 1. Gather materials (see list below)
   2. Create Jesus’ tomb with a small clay pot
   3. Add potting soil
   4. Plant seeds
   5. Make crosses and add to hill
   6. (Optional) Add small stones or pebbles leading up to tomb
   7. Add a large stone to opening of the tomb
   8. (Optional) Add faux plants or live plants around the side of the pot for accents
   9. Water the finished project and watch it grow for Easter morning!

What does an Easter garden represent?

A Resurrection Garden represents Jesus rising from His tomb on Easter.  It takes us back to Luke 24:1-8:

“At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn’t find the body of the Master Jesus.

They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship.

The men said, “Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up.

Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?” Then they remembered Jesus’ words.

How to Make a Beautiful DIY Resurrection Garden Centerpiece for Easter

Materials Needed to Make an Easy Resurrection Garden for Easter:

• Large terracotta saucer or pretty bowl (we tried ours in a large ironstone bowl last year!  At the end of this post, I have a lot of options linked for pretty bowls!)
• Potting soil (amount depends on the size of your dish)
• Small rocks, craft pebbles, or river rock
• Small twigs or sticks for the cross shapes (send the kids on a scavenger hunt!)
• Twine
• Hot glue
• Smooth big rock
• Small terra cotta pot (the little pots at the Dollar Tree are the perfect pots for a little garden )
• Cat grass seeds (we used two packets)
• Spray bottle, water bottle, or spritzer for water
• Small plants – live plants or faux plants (optional)

While you may need to purchase several things, you can reuse everything except the grass seeds and potting soil year after year!

How to Create a Resurrection Garden Centerpiece for Easter:  Easy Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step One:

After gathering our materials for an Easter Resurrection Garden, we laid the small terra cotta pot on it’s side, centered inside the large saucer or bowl. The small terra cotta pot represents the empty tomb for the garden and creates a small hill for the Resurrection Garden for Easter.

Pro Tip:  When choosing your small pot and large rock, you’ll want to make sure your smooth stone approximately covers the opening of the terra cotta pot.  We will add the stone at the end to show the empty tomb!

Step Two:

Take the potting soil and fill around and on top of the small terra cotta pot.   You’ll want to make it nice and thick!  We left about 1/3 of the saucer with just a thin layer of soil, in front of the opening of the terra cotta pot.

Step Three:

Sprinkle grass seed evenly over the potting soil, over the top of the small pot for the hill.  Then, spread a thin layer of potting soil over the top of the seeds. I like to use cat grass seeds because they begin growing in a short amount of time.

Pro Tip:  Don’t plant the cat grass seeds too deep.  

The first year that we made a Resurrection Garden for Easter, we buried the seeds a little too deep and it took extra long to get any sprouts of grass!

Step Four:

Next, break or cut small twigs for the three crosses and tightly wrapped twine to hold them together.  We stood these up in the top of the soil, right behind the terra cotta pot.  For significance, consider making the center cross a little taller for Jesus’ cross.

You can use sticks from the yard or popsicle sticks and hot glue them for convenience.  We’ve done it different ways!

​For the mini Resurrection Garden projects I did with my preschool students before Easter, we used colorful popsicle sticks that I had on hand.  While the significance of the cross is still front and center, it also makes a colorful Easter project for the young children to share with their families!

Step Five:

This step is optional to make a Resurrection Garden for Easter, but I do think it looks really pretty!  I love the use of natural elements to add texture and interest to a Resurrection Garden for Easter while not taking away from the intentional simplicity. 

We added small rocks around the empty 1/3 of the saucer in front of the “tomb”, which is the small terra cotta pot.  

This pathway can be used as a beautiful reminder of the journey to the tomb and the path that Jesus walked during His time on earth.

Step Six:

Place the large, smooth rock partway in front of the small opening of the terra cotta pot.  This creates the look of the stone, rolled away from the tomb for the resurrection of Christ!  

You can make this a special moment where you read the Easter story and discuss the significance of Holy Week!  

You could also use this time to discuss the significance of Good Friday and incorporate your Resurrection Garden for Easter into your family worship.

Here are some other book suggestions that we have at home or that I use in my classroom for young children(I teach at a Christian school):

• “The Easter Story”
• The Beginner’s Bible Easter Story
• Berenstain Bears Easter Story/Living Faith Series
• God Gave Us Easter
• Good News!  It’s Easter!
• THIS set of resurrection eggs

(Any of these would make great Easter basket gifts too!)

Step Seven:

Placed your DIY Resurrection Garden for Easter in a sunny spot, spritzed it with water every day!  The cat grass seeds usually sprout very quickly, which is great for little people (or big people) who have a hard time waiting!

​Even if you make your DIY Resurrection Garden for Easter a little late and it doesn’t grow too much before Easter morning, this is still a great chance to discuss the Easter story with your children and enjoy for the spring months.

​I love that while Easter is a scheduled holiday, the Easter message can be part of our lives every day!

​

Step Eight: (optional)

If you want to take your Resurrection Garden for Easter to the next level, consider adding some potted plants or spring flowers.  Succulents are another really pretty option.  You can also use realistic faux flowers to get the same look with less maintenance.  The potted real flowers are more difficult to keep blooming if your Resurrection Garden for Easter is indoors, so realistic faux flowers can give the same look but last longer!

​You can also add other decorative elements such as little Easter eggs, decorative rocks, and other natural materials.

​Traditionally, we keep our Resurrection Garden for Easter a little more simple to focus on the meaning of Easter and the symbols represented in the Resurrection Garden.  However, there are many ways to make your Resurrection Garden for Easter beautiful in whatever way you choose!

Here are some options for favorite faux flowers:

• These tulips are my favorite faux flowers.  These tulips look and feel so realistic.  They also come in a variety of colors and are budget-friendly!
• These peonies have such a pretty and realistic look too.
• You can’t go wrong with roses and these are beautiful!
• Preserved moss is a great way to add a pretty touch to your Resurrection Garden for Easter and looks beautiful spread around the top of the small pot.  I love using this moss.

How to make a Resurrection Garden?

Now that you know everything you need, you can start gathering supplies to create your own Resurrection Garden centerpiece for Easter!  The first thing you need is a beautiful bowl.  

I am linking some favorites below.  Each of these can be used for other things throughout the year, too.  I love multi-purpose home decor accessories.  Don’t you?!?!

Favorite bowls for a Resurrection Garden centerpiece for Easter:

• This metal pedestal bowl is a favorite and is what we are using for our resurrection garden this year!
• Add texture and style to your garden with this beautiful bowl.  I love the elevated look!
• This bowl is simple while still beautiful.  A budget-friendly option, it comes in 4 different earth-tone colors.
• This footed bowl is perfect for a smaller Resurrection garden!
• Concrete is such a wonderful material for decorating and blends with any style.  This 8″ bowl would be perfect for a garden!
• Have fun with a different shape and use this rectangular planter.  It would be a lovely table centerpiece!
• This galvanized metal bowl has such a pretty shape and style.
• The stoneware style of this bowl blends beautifully with a vintage look and adds extra texture to any space.
• Add a liner to make this wooden pedestal bowl a gorgeous garden vessel.
• This copper pedestal bowl makes an elegant statement for your Easter garden!
• The gold finish of this hammer textured bowl would be a gorgeous centerpiece!

​What do you put on a table for Easter?

​

Your Resurrection Garden for Easter can become a beautiful centerpiece for your dinner table as well!  For example, flank it with some pretty flower bouquets or fresh plants and add some faux egg filler down the table runner!  (I like to use a vintage grain sack for my table runner!). Simple, but meaningful and so pretty!

​THIS table runner is what I added to my dining room table for spring this year and I absolutely love it.  It comes in different colors and I love the soft blue for a simple touch of spring color!

​At the same time, you could use your Resurrection Garden for Easter as a centerpiece for other accent tables around your home.  For example, welcome guests to your home by featuring it on an entryway table or covered porch!

​A Resurrection Garden for Easter would be a beautiful centerpiece for a coffee table or even a kitchen island too.  Think of your Resurrection Garden centerpiece for Easter as a way to invite conversation about the meaning of Easter among friends and family!

​Place your Resurrection Garden for Easter wherever those conversations are likely to take place and then enjoy!

Shop This Look for a Resurrection Garden Centerpiece for Easter:

• Table runner HERE (grain sack style) or HERE (long, gauzy table runner)
• Resurrection Garden (Get all the materials linked above at Walmart or Amazon for convenient delivery!)
• Extra large vintage-style jars
• Fresh flowers or realistic tulips
• Faux egg filler HERE (egg gourds), HERE (natural wood), or HERE (ceramic robin’s egg blue
• Small copper watering can
• Extra large vintage bread board

Now you are ready to make your own Resurrection Garden for Easter!

If you’ve never made a DIY Resurrection Garden for Easter before, I encourage you to try it!  It is a fun activity for adults and kids.  (You don’t have to have kids in your home to make this special!!!)

​Then, you can find 6 more meaningful activities to do as a family over on this post.

We will be patiently waiting for our grass to keep growing and counting down the days until the special Easter Day arrives!  In the meantime, Happy Easter from our family to yours!

​

“If the tomb wasn’t empty, I would be.

If the tomb wasn’t empty, our hope would be.

If the tomb wasn’t empty, our hearts would be.

Only because the tomb is empty, can life be fulfilling.”

-Ann Voskamp

You may also enjoy these Easter and spring decor posts:

• How to Make an Amazing Easter Tablescape with Neutral Colors
• Easy Ideas to Decorate an Easter Mantel for Spring Decor
• Easy Ideas to Decorate an Easter Mantel for Spring Decor
• 5 Ways to Easily Decorate with Faux Easter eggs
• 7 Ideas for Meaningful Easter Activities with Your Kids
• Decorating for Easter with Neutrals
• How to Make an Amazing Easter Tablescape with Neutral Colors
  
• Easter Basket Ideas for Kids and Teens

“After the Sabbath, as the first light of the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb. Suddenly the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God’s angel came down from heaven, came right up to where they were standing.

He rolled back the stone and then sat on it. Shafts of lightning blazed from him. His garments shimmered snow-white. The guards at the tomb were scared to death. They were so frightened, they couldn’t move.

The angel spoke to the women: “There is nothing to fear here. I know you’re looking for Jesus, the One they nailed to the cross. He is not here. He was raised, just as he said. Come and look at the place where he was placed.

“Now, get on your way quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He is risen from the dead.”

Matthew 28:1-7

I’d love for you to follow me on social media!  You can find my home decor inspiration on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!  

Blessings,

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