The Colors of Easter Poem is one of my favorite ways to relate the story of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus to the colors of jelly beans. Each jelly bean color represents an important part of the Easter story, which helps students remember the meaning behind the holiday in a simple and meaningful way.
Students always love learning the poem, and the colorful jelly beans make it very engaging for young learners. Over the years, I have created several activities to help reinforce the poem while also practicing important skills like reading, writing, counting, and color recognition.
Here are a few of the activities we use in the classroom to help students review and remember the message of the Colors of Easter Jelly Bean Poem.
Colors of Easter Jelly Bean Poem Student-Made Book
One of my favorite activities is having students create their own Colors of Easter Jelly Bean Poem student book.
When creating their books, students read and review the poem, trace the color words, and color the jelly beans the correct colors that represent each part of the Easter story.
This activity gives students a meaningful, hand-made keepsake they can take home and share with their families. It also provides a great opportunity for students to practice reading and recognizing color words while connecting them to the story of Easter.
Students love taking their books home and retelling the story to their parents.
Around-the-Room, Count-the-Room Activity
Another activity that students always enjoy is the around-the-room jelly bean activity.
This movement-based activity helps students review the symbols for each jelly bean color while also reinforcing the order of events in the poem.
To set up the activity, I place the jelly bean cards around the room. Students walk around the classroom searching for the jelly beans and complete their recording sheets.
When students find each card, they:
- write the color of the jelly bean
- count the number of crosses
- write the correct number
This activity allows students to practice several skills at once, including:
• recognizing and reading color words
• counting objects
• matching symbols
• writing numbers
Students love getting up and moving around the room while learning.
Classroom Display of the Colors of Easter Jelly Bean Poem
We also create a classroom display to serve as a colorful visual reminder of the poem and its message.
For this activity, students paint jelly beans using condensed milk paint. To make the paint, simply add a few drops of food coloring to a small amount of condensed milk. The condensed milk gives the jelly beans a shiny, glossy appearance that looks very similar to real jelly beans.
After the jelly beans dry, we hang them around a printable version of the poem to create a bright and meaningful Easter display.
This display helps reinforce the poem throughout the Easter season and reminds students of the story behind each color.
The Colors of Easter Jelly Bean Poem Student Gift
Another fun way to share the poem is by attaching it to a small bag of jelly beans as a student gift.
Students love receiving this special treat, and it gives them an opportunity to share the poem and its meaning with their families at home.
It’s a simple and meaningful way to help students remember the message of Easter.
If you would like to use these Colors of Easter Jelly Bean Poem activities in your classroom, Sunday school program, Christian school, or at home, the printable activities are available here.
The resource includes:
• the student-made printable book
• the around-the-room activity
• recording pages and printable cards
• gift tags for the jelly bean poem
These activities make it easy to help young children understand the Easter story in a hands-on and meaningful way.
You can download the Colors of Easter Jelly Bean activities here.
Want even more Christian Easter activities?
If you teach the Easter story each year, you may also like my Christian Easter Activities Bundle, which includes the Jelly Bean Easter Poem activities, Resurrection Eggs activities, and several Christian Easter crafts that help children understand the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.
The bundle includes:
• Resurrection Eggs review activities
• Jelly Bean Easter poem activities
• Christian Easter crafts and art projects
• Printable books and hands-on activities
• Digital Boom Cards for additional review
These activities work well in Christian classrooms, Sunday school, CCD, or homeschool, and help students engage with the Easter story in meaningful ways.
👉 You can see the Christian Easter Activities Bundle here.
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