Canterbury College students tell Easter story through garden pots
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Canterbury’s Prep to Year 4 students have been creating their own Easter garden pots in Term 1 to help them tell the Easter story at home during the school holidays
Canterbury’s Prep to Year 4 students have been creating their own Easter garden pots in Term 1 to help them tell the Easter story at home during the school holidays.
College Chaplain Fr Dan Talbot visited the classes during their Canterbury Kitchen Garden lessons, explaining that their potted gardens needed to feature:
- A mound to represent the Hill of Golgotha where the crucifixions occurred.
- Three stick crucifixes, including a larger central cross, for Jesus who died on Good Friday.
- A buried empty smaller pot to represent the tomb where Jesus’ body was placed.
- A pebble path leading to the empty tomb, on which Mary walked and discovered that Jesus was risen.
- A rock representing the boulder that was rolled away from the entrance of the tomb, revealing the empty tomb.
- Green growth to remind us that God is still working and creating in our world today, just as we can still grow ourselves to be the person God wants us to be.
In Term 1 2024, Canterbury College’s Prep to Year 4 students created their own Easter garden pots outside to help them tell the Easter story at home during the school holidays, with these students using a ready-grown sedum known as “Blob”
Canterbury’s Year 3 classes used actual grass seeds, but the other students used a ready-grown sedum known as “Blob”.
Fr Talbot said that the garden pot symbols are a great learning and discussion tool.
“The Easter Story is a message of hope and love, and these Easter garden pots are designed to encourage our students — with their parents and families — to discuss the story over this Easter break,” Fr Talbot said.
“These living, growing gardens can work alongside other popular Easter symbols such as eggs — which are a symbol of new life — and even the chocolate — which reminds us how sweet it is to have Jesus in our life.”
In line with Canterbury College’s Anglican values, during these garden-making lessons, students and families of all faiths and religions were acknowledged as being very welcome at the school.
“I really liked making the pebble pathway that Mary walked to his tomb where he was buried,” said Year 2 student William Sinclair.
“That and planting the ‘Blob’ around the crosses and the tomb and the pebbles.
“I really like Easter because I get to have chocolate Easter eggs and my whole family comes over.
“I get to see Pa, Grandma, Grandad, Poppy, Nanny, and all my uncles, aunties and cousins.”
Canterbury College students “planted” crosses made of sticks in their Term 1 2024 Easter garden pots
Fr Talbot said that students engage strongly with these innovative outdoor religious lessons, and really enjoyed hearing about the Easter story.
“There are so many Easter symbols, but it’s great that this year, our younger students have an actual garden to take home with them,” Father Talbot said.
“Hopefully it helps these Canterbury families celebrate the real reason we have Easter in our homes these holidays, and keeping the gardens moist and healthy, should bring some extra ongoing joy into each household.”
Canterbury College wishes everyone a happy and holy Easter, and that the story of the Easter garden will help you discover the hope and love that is offered by this Christian story.
The completed Easter garden pots feature “a mound to represent the Hill of Golgotha where the crucifixions occurred; three stick crucifixes, including a larger central cross, for Jesus who died on Good Friday; a buried empty smaller pot to represent the tomb where Jesus’ body was placed; a pebble path leading to the empty tomb on which Mary walked and discovered that Jesus was risen; a rock representing the boulder that was rolled away from the entrance of the tomb, revealing the empty tomb; and, green growth to remind us that God is still working and creating in our world today, just as we can still grow ourselves to be the person God wants us to be”
Editor’s note: The Easter garden pots are a great idea for families or ministries. Thanks to Fr Dan Talbot, young William Sinclair and Stephen Buckley from Canterbury College for sharing this great story.
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