Printable Resurrection Peg Doll Set; Fun Christ-Centered Easter Craft

Ok, as promised when I debuted the Printable Passion set for peg dolls, here is the Resurrection set counterpart! (And I now have a post about painting these little guys in 3 different styles- check it out here.)


printable resurrection peg doll set for easter

Nativity sets are so popular at Christmas time (and for good reason), so I can’t figure out why the whole Resurrection Set thing at Easter hasn’t totally caught on yet. I think resurrection sets are awesome!

First, I want to share with you what reader Melissa said about my printable peg dolls:

I have to tell you, when I received the first Peg Doll post I thought to myself “They are so cute, but I am not an artist…there is no way I can do those”. But, after seeing the project for the second time, I decided to try it. I had so much fun and they were so easy! … Can’t wait to do this set.

I have to say, it’s true. Once I have them all painted and scanned, it’s unreal how fast and easy these go together! Even when you paint your own peg dolls, they still have to be sealed with Mod Podge anyway, so the only added step with these is printing and cutting.

For anyone unfamiliar with my printable peg dolls, here’s how it works.

printable peg dolls- catholic wooden saint peg dolls small

You don’t need to be an artist to paint the heads! I designed all the faces to be cute and expressive, yet easy to re-create. The download includes pictures of each head from the front, side, and back along with step by step directions for painting them. Best of all- all the faces can be draw on with a sharpie or a paint pen! *note- Mod Podge will not run sharpie marker* Some people paint very simple faces on their dolls, and that look has it’s own quaint charm. Here are some more beautiful peg dolls with simple faces. That also eliminates “expression” on the doll’s faces so your child’s imagination can take over, and they work for all parts of the story.

Characters Included In The Resurrection Set

I am a super big believer in waiting until Easter to start celebrating Easter, and keeping it going the entire Easter season. Did you know the Easter season lasts all the way until Pentecost Sunday? Well, it does. And so does this set of Easter peg dolls! 🙂 I tried to include everyone you need for all of the Stations of the Resurrection so kids can learn about all the things that Jesus did and said while he was appearing to his Apostles.

Pentecost Mary Peg Doll

printable pentecost peg doll

I think “Pentecost Mary” as we’ve been calling her is possibly my favorite doll in this set! She is receiving the Holy Spirit on her head, and is surround by the Apostles! Mary surrounded by the Apostles with “tongues of fire” is very common imagery in art for Pentecost, so this one puts a big smile on my face. 🙂

Risen Jesus Peg Doll

risen jesus peg doll- printable resurrection set

Risen Jesus has all 5 of his wounds showing. He’s also surrounded by Easter lilies, a common symbol of the season.

Mary Magdalene Peg Doll

st. mary magdalene printable peg doll

St. Mary Magdalene is holding her jar of spices she brought to the tomb, and also her red egg! She has really exaggerated hair because she needs it for when she washes Jesus’ feet with her tears and dries them with her hair. My girls absolutely love her hair- including Anabelle, who is only 2! Mary Magdalene is often depicted crying, and since you paint the heads of these peg dolls, that’s totally up to you. We went with smiling. 🙂

St. John The Apostle Peg Doll

st. john the apostle printable peg doll

It’s widely accepted that when the Bible refers to the “beloved disciple,” it’s referring to John. This peg doll is writing in a book with his feather pen, and the symbol of his Gospel, the eagle, sits at his feet. Remember when you paint his head that he is very young at Jesus’ crucifixion- probably just around 16!

St. Peter The Apostle Peg Doll

peter feed my sheep activity for kids

St. Peter is holding a fish because he was a fisherman, a key because Jesus gives him the keys of heaven, and there’s a rooster on the ground because he denies Jesus 3 times before the cock crows. St. Peter is also included in the Passion set, but we painted him with a happier face for the Resurrection set.

2 Easter Angel Peg Dolls

printable angel peg doll

In several of the Gospels, it refers to the angels as young men, so I tried to paint them as such. They have wings already painted on their backs, but I added 3D wings by gluing on wooden butterflies from the wooden stuff aisle at Michael’s. These were just 30 cents each! I painted them gold and hot glued them right on. The girls love the addition of the wings!

easter angel peg dolls

St. Thomas The Apostle Peg Doll

Post continues after this brief information about the Catholic Icing Monthly Membership


Monthly Liturgical Membership

Catholic Liturgical Monthly Membership

Perfect for families! Each month you gain access to printable activity pages, crafts, home altar pieces, and more.
 
Never has living the liturgical year been so easy and affordable!
 

st. thomas the apostle peg doll- doubting thomas

St. Thomas was also a very young Apostle, so no bald head or white hair for him, either. I feel like St. Thomas gets a bad rep with his whole “doubting” thing, but he was a very devoted follower of Christ and a martyr. I wanted to put a positive spin on this peg doll, so I included his expression of great faith, “My Lord and my God” right on the doll. He also has a finger sticking out to feel the nail holes in Jesus’ hands.

2 Other Woman At The Tomb Peg Dolls

women at the tomb activity for kids

All 4 Gospels say something a little different about these ladies at the tomb in the morning. In the Gospel of Luke, it says the 3 women were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Joanna, so I ran with that.

 Roman Soldier Peg Dolls

roman soldier peg dolls- easter set

These little guys were also included in the Passion set, but again, I painted their faces differently for the Resurrection set. I also painted their helmets a little differently, being inspired by Monica. 🙂

So that makes 12 dolls total in the Resurrection set. HOWEVER. If you’re making both the Passion set and the Resurrection set, you actually only need 20 pegs (2 bags of 10) because St. Peter and The Roman Soldiers are repeats. Here’s the run down of all 20 people with the Passion set and Resurrection set combined:

passion set peg dolls- jesus on the cross

  1. Last Supper Jesus
  2. Mary, Mother of Jesus
  3. Women of Jerusalem
  4. Crown of Thorns Jesus
  5. St. Veronica
  6. Simon
  7. Pontius Pilate
  8. Peter
  9. Roman Soldier 1 (St. Longinus)
  10. Roman Soldier 2
  11. Mary Magdalene
  12. Pentecost Mary
  13. Risen Jesus
  14. St. John the Apostle
  15. Joanna
  16. Mary, Mother of James
  17. Angel 1
  18. Angel 2
  19. St. Thomas the Apostle
  20. … And that actually leaves 1 extra peg! I suggest filling in with Divine Mercy Jesus since the second Sunday of Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday! In fact, I’m going to include a printable Divine Mercy peg doll for free in the pack! Celebrate Easter to the fullest, and spread it to your children! 🙂

Of course, you can always decide just to make the 5 main people, or any combination you like.

saint faustina and divine mercy printable peg doll

If you’re in the mood to go above and beyond, I did make labels for the bottoms of these pegs as well. These help keep the set together, and I really like having the Saint name and feast day easily accessible to the kids. The lily is the symbol to mean “Easter Set.”

label peg dolls on bottom- resurrection set

 Included In The Download

  • All 12 Resurrection set characters plus Divine Mercy Jesus as a bonus peg!
  • Directions on how to paint each head with photographs of each head from the front, side, and back. These are designed to be drawn with a sharpie for the non-artist!
  • A printable Tomb background that just has to be cut out, and taped onto the front of a tissue box. Attach the rock to the tomb with a brad to allow it to swing open and closed!

printable tomb craft- attach to tissue box

This download costs just $10, which turns out to be just one dollar per peg person. 

This is a craft your family will cherish for years to come!

Add to Cart
printable resurrection set- easter craft for kids
All of the photographs from this post are of dolls that have been decoupaged, not painted. Well, their heads are painted. I think you know what I mean. ;-) The point is, these really do look and feel painted once the Mod Podge is painted on, and my kids absolutely love them!

FAQ’s About My Printable Peg Dolls:

  • Can I use these downloads with an ink jet printer? Won’t the Mod Podge smear the ink? In the directions in the download, it says that you’ll need to spray hair spray or a fixative on your paper before you Mod Podge it. Also, the less strokes and less “scrubbing” from the paint brush with the Mod Podge, the better. So once you have your initial layer on there and it dries, you’re good to go. A laser printer decoupages with no problems at all. This is in the directions in the actual download. If you’re having trouble keeping it from smearing, you can have them printed at Staples or another office store.
  • Can I use it with a different size of peg? Yes, you can! Monica from Equipping Catholic Families already made a much smaller set, and gives great directions for how you can, too! :-)
  • Where do you get your pegs? Get them from Amazon in bags of 10 for just $1 each with Prime shipping here! 
  • Won’t the decoupage peel? I got a Saint from a swap with something decoupaged, and it peeled right off. NO!!!! The decoupage doesn’t peel if it’s properly done, and I have good directions in the download to do it properly. It will hold up just as well as peg dolls that have been painted and sealed. In fact, we have some decoupaged peg dolls that my kids have played with for months, and the paint on the face chipped a bit, but the decoupaged paper held its ground.
  • When will you come out with more? I tend to paint these spontaneously, so who knows? My  husband says that I’m peg doll obsessed. I’m not going to argue with him. 😉

My Other Printable Peg Doll Sets

Printable Peg Dolls- The Passion Set!

printable peg dolls the passion set- just paint the head and decoupage the rest

Saints Who Go Together

printable peg dolls for decopage

Printable Peg Dolls: The Nativity Set

Find My Lenten Resources For Kids here

Silly rabbit! Easter is for Jesus!!!

You can find all of my Christ-centered resources for Easter here.

Make it about the lamb, not the bunny!

Comments

  1. SO EXCITED!!! 😉 thank you so much, Lacy, my kids are going to be thrilled!

    • Yay! My kids are, too. This set has a lot more details than my last 2 sets, and kids really do care. My girls are especially crazy for Mary Magdalene. 🙂

  2. This is a brilliant idea! I hope this catches on.

    Maybe in the future you can add the disciples on the Road to Emmaus as peg dolls? I think that would be so cute to act out! I may also be a little biased as it’s one of my favorite Gospel stories. 🙂

    • Yes, that would be awesome. I’m thinking we’ll act it out with some of our more generic-looking dolls. 🙂

  3. I have to tell you, I spent yesterday making 2 sets of the Passion (one for home and one for my youngest’s VPK class) and the saint pairs – I think I’m officially obsessed! And now, to come online this morning and find the Resurrection set? It’s like you read my mind. 🙂 Thank you SOO much for making saint peg dolls a reality for my kids.

  4. Thank you for your hard work on these! What is so great about purchasing both sets is that I can make these as gifts for others! ❤️ handmade Catholic gifts! Off to get my wings! 😉

  5. Thank you so much for making it fun, easy and affordable for us to have peg dolls! I make the dolls using wooden pegs from Amazon they are a little smaller than yours, so I print at 70%. They are $10 for 20 dolls, which is great! I have an ink jet printer so spray them with hair spray and have to be careful, but they always turn out cute 🙂
    My 11 year old made a poster of Jerusalem like in your other posts and did the stations of the cross. He took pictures of each station so I will try to post them on your FB page. Thanks again!
    Oh one suggestion, for the last supper you could make the rest of the apostles… 🙂

  6. These are beautiful! They look like a wonderful keepsake set to help the kids contemplate the mysteries of the season.

    I would be interested in a B&W outline version that we could color with colored pencils since we do not have a color printer.

  7. These are 2 and 3/8, a little smaller, but only $8.95 for 20 of them. I hadn’t thought to shrink them.

    https://www.etsy.com/listing/214387999/20-wood-peg-dolls-dads-unfinished-wooden?ref=shop_home_active_3

  8. Hi!
    Thank you!
    Quick question about printing. Do I need to print immediately after downloading (I don’t currently have a printer at home) or will I be able to save and print later?
    Thank you.
    Laura

  9. Bethany B. says

    Thank you SO SO very much for the hard work you put into these!! I have been looking for a resurrection play set for my kids for years and this is exactly what I was hoping to find. Thank you again!!!!

  10. Sometimes when I spray with hairspray it causes the color to run. When I didn’t spray with hairspray the color ran, too. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you!!!

    • The first coat of Mod Podge has to go on very carefully with an ink jet, not brushing over the same place twice really until it dries. After the first layer dries, you are golden. If you’re having a lot of trouble, my suggestion is to have them printed at Staples. That’s what my mom did.

  11. So can we buy the wooden pegs from Michaels or Hobby Lobby?

  12. Thank you! I’m a Christian with the Mormon faith, and I love these so much. We did the paper roll people last year and my almost 4 year old was so excited to get them out this year. We celebrate Easter for the week before, focusing a different part of the story each day. We were so excited to find these this year, and even though I only had ‘boy’ peg people (scaled to 60), my printer color is low (antique look anyone?), and misplaced my mod podge (Elmer’s worked the same for now) both my kids are loving them. Glad I didn’t wait for making them perfect, and I think I’ll have everything ready and make a nice set next year. I wish I could send you a picture, they’re quite cute. My daughter’s request was for the 10 virgins next, as we go through Christ’s teachings that last week. So sweet! Thank you again! Have a meaningful Easter.

  13. Ashleigh says

    Lacy-
    do you include the color of paint for matching hair or Mary’s veil color??

    • No, just do your best. You can always paint a few lines down the decoupaged hair of whatever color you have used to help it blend, but it’s very forgiving.

  14. so do u get the pegs with the order

  15. Wanda Van Ortwick says

    Thought I had paints but they were Poster Paint not Acrylic, would that work?

  16. Erin H. says

    Help!! I am stuck… After over an hour on the website… I was finally able to put in my shopping basket… 1) printable pegs dolls set, 2) passion set, 3) resurrection set, but I still cannot seem to find out how I can buy the saints such as Maximilian** Kolbe, St. Michael, St. Bernadette & the nativity set together (when I try to add the nativity set to my shopping cart… it always redirects me to the “pay-pal” website. I need to purchase some the of individual saints for a “peg doll- party” that we are having at the end of the month.

    Thank you so much for your time & for any help!!

    • Erin –

      All purchases are paid for through PayPal. So, at check out, you’ll be sent to PayPal to make your payment.

  17. Teresa Gardenour says

    I can’t seem to order the resurrection set. The button doesn’t work. Is it still available?

  18. I just LOVE your peg dolls and how easy they are to make. I just made them for my kids and that is all they play with. They are begging me to make the 12 apostles…so I thought I’d ask…are you planning on making more sets? I just love, love, love what you have allowed me to do for my family through these projects. Thank you!

  19. Kathy Carlisle says

    I love your peg dolls and my kiddos love them too. My question is when are you going to do the 12 disciples?

  20. I totally love it, but as I don’t have the peg dolls, I can’t make it so easily. The Nativity printable is easier as you always have toilet rolls around the house. So I’ll use the Nativity printable and make some changes to get an Easter set of figuers made of toilet rolls.

    THANKS!