Teaching the meaning of Easter to children can be a tricky proposition.

Many of the trappings surrounding this most important of Christian holidays — baskets of candy, colored eggs, the Easter Bunny — have little to do with the story of the Resurrection.

On the other hand, images and descriptions of tombs, the Crucifixion and death may be too gruesome for the very young.

Sunday school teachers and youth ministers try to emphasize the joy of the Resurrection and de-emphasize the jelly bean aspects of the holiday.

“When it comes to the Crucifixion, we tell of the tomb being empty and that Jesus is in heaven,” said Sally Olsen, an elder at Mars United Presbyterian Church, 232 Crowe Ave.

“We don't dwell a whole lot on how he was crucified. They know he died, but they know the tomb was empty. He wasn't in it,” said Olsen, who has been teaching Sunday school since she was 13 and growing up in Wisconsin.

“We tell them they weren't nice to Jesus, and how he came on Palm Sunday. And he was praying with his disciples and how important it is to pray,” said Olsen.

“We instill the basics. We don't go into details” on Christ's tribulations before the Crucifixion, said Gloria Dillner, pastoral assistant for children's ministry at Glade Run Church, 1091 Pittsburgh Road, Valencia.

“We emphasize he was a carpenter. We emphasize what his house was like,” said Dillner. “As he gets older, we cover as many miracles as we can. They start to know he was the son of God.”

“We don't deal with any of the actual death. The emphasis is on the Resurrection,” Dillner said.

“We don't dwell on the pounding of the nails,” she added.

“At this age, we don't focus on the Crucifixion; we focus on the Resurrection,” agreed Kathy Lawton, who teaches the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd to 3- to 6-year-olds and 6- to 9-year-olds at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, 315 Stoney Hollow Road, Cabot.

The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, a method of teaching religion to young children, was started in Rome in 1954 by Sofia Cavalletti and her Montessori collaborator, Gianna Gobbi.

The catechesis is just starting to blossom in the United States, said Lawton and has been endorsed by the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

“We may say Jesus died, but we focus more on the Resurrection. We only talk about the New Testament at this age,” said Lawton.

For the students of HIS Kids Christian School, 650 Saxonburg Road, learning about Easter is a schoolwide project, said Principal Debora Dawson.

“Because we are a Christian school, we believe that we have an obligation to share the importance of the Easter story with our students,” she said adding all classes participate in a learning activity that will allow each class to share in telling that story.

“For example, kindergarten students will learn about the actual Ascension. They will use hands-on materials to simulate Jesus rising from the dead and being taken up into Heaven,” said Dawson. “First-grade students will focus on the story of Palm Sunday. They will create enough palm branches to use as a demonstration at school and to take home for their families.”

“As a culminating activity, the entire school will meet together to tell the Easter story from start to finish with each class performing their own part,” she said.

St. Joseph's Lawton also uses props to get across the Easter story to her young students.

Lawton said children have their own model of the Last Supper featuring disciple figures.

“They have their own Apostles, they move them around,” she said.

“We show them this as a presentation, and they work with it as they want. They set up as we read Scripture,” said Lawton

“We let the spirit move them as they listen to the Scriptures,” said Lawton.

Lawton said that for three-year-olds the hardest lesson can be to sit still for any length of time.

“They have absorbent minds, but they can't be still. They do pick up on what you are telling them,” she said, adding repetition is the key.

Dillner also has an education aid, Resurrection Eggs, 12 tic eggs each containing a symbol of the Easter story.

“I tell everybody eggs are a symbol of renewal,” Dillner said.

“We have a replica of the tomb in the sanctuary, so we say 'Look, it's empty.' We make it part of the Easter decorations,” she said.

Dillner said the church doesn't emphasize r Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny during Christmas and Easter, respectively.

“I don't think people make as big a deal out of the Easter Bunny as they do Santa Claus,” she said. “The Easter Bunny isn't watching to see if you are bad or good.”

Olsen also incorporates eggs into her Easter lessons.

She said the 3- to 4-year-olds enjoy taking turns opening eggs.

“We start the first week of Lent. The eggs contain chocolate and a Bible verse,” said Olsen. “We hide them every Sunday in Lent.”

They have to find at least one egg that has a Bible verse.

“We also go into what Lent is, a preparation for Easter just as Advent is a preparation for Christmas,” Olsen said.

Olsen said the Bible verses are to be taken home and discussed with the parents.

“I do think parents have an active role in what they learn in Sunday school,” she said.

“The church to me is a place of respect. I want them to know God did this for us. We respect the place we are in. I may be a little old-fashioned.” Olsen said.

“I really don't think it is a place to entertain kids. It's a place for them to learn what God has done for them,” said Olsen.