PIANO Boxes
Refrigerator Boxes
can make a really big walk-in tomb!

Go to a piano store, furniture or appliance stor and ask them to save you a box. The boxes are large enough to fit serveral children in and are reinforced with a wooden frame on the inside. Ours is several years old, and still in good shape, except for the rock in front.

You can also tape two boxes together,

You can also drape a canvas drop cloth over a frame.

The frame can be as simple as 2x4's or PVC or plumbing pipe.

More "How to Make An Empty Tomb" Ideas...

Create a simple wood frame, cover with chicken wire, then fix sheets of brown kraft paper over it (taping it from behind). Then apply thin coating of glue over the paper to harden it into shape.

Tip:  Crumple the paper ahead of time to give it a rough-hewn texture.

Posted by jenny

We did this for VBS one year. I made the tomb from brown paper sacks filled with wadded newspaper. Fill one with wadded up newspaper then slip another paper sack over that on to make a big block. Stack several up and tape them with duct tape. Kind of like an igloo.

Posted by dsevertson

I have made the 'tomb' with the children using paper mache. I make the form using chicken wire, making sure there are no sharp ends, and then have the children put the strips of newspaper soaked in the paper mache "goo" over the wire. When it dries it can be painted and decorated. This can be made to any size and you can make a large "stone" too!

Tip: Use plain newsprint instead of newspaper so you don't have to paint the project when it is done.

We cut large pieces of foam using a hot wire (like theater set departments do and use) to carve and then glue together our Empty Tomb and rocks. We also carved rigid foam insulation for certain piece, gluing together layers to build up props and rocks. We then painted them.

Lightweight, moveable, and reusable for many years!

Go to our Getting Started & Workshop Design Resources Menu

Our tomb is the center focus where our Opening takes place.

It was constructed with a wood frame covered with chicken wire and initially the kids covered it with paper mache.

We have since re-coated it with drywall compound, painted it and it really looks cool.

The stone is in front except for Easter Sunday, when it has been rolled away, bright glowing lights and Jesus's white linens laid on the tomb. Very beautiful & effective.

This thing is life size and takes up a corner in our Luther Hall. It is 3 years old now and needs touched up now and then. The kids and visitors love it.

Cathy W. for Disciple Builders of Trinity Lutheran Church, Findlay, Oh

Update:  Photos added showing the tomb Cathy talks about.  Second photo is the kid's doing the story of the Good Samaritan and the tomb becomes the Inn (it shows a good view of how the tomb is built into the corner of a room - very creative! - and so useful for other dramas!)

At a seminar several years ago, a friend, Nancy set-up the empty tomb she used with little ones at her church for demonstration in the preschool workshop.

When the children went to look inside the empty tomb they would find an angel (a very large doll dressed as an angel - with a flashlight lit under her so she glowed).

She said the children were captivated by the whole experience.

Large fridge box covered by beige bed sheet, in front large piece of cardboard painted to look like a rocky hill, both box and hill have a entrance hole cut into them. Then a piece of cardboard, the rock, that can be rolled to the side to reveal the entrance.  Added artificial grass rug and fake plants.

Central UMC, Meridian MS' canvas tomb and rocks

How to make an Easter Tomb "Stone"

(that can easily be rolled and will also work with Black Light)

Options: You may want to take a permanent black marker and give your STONE a look not quite so round, and with some crevices.   Although, if you leave as is you will also have a nice large MOON!

Note:  pdf files with a list of supplies and directions (with pictures) included at end of this post. 

Sewing Option:

Supplies:

• 1 - Hula Hoop (approx. 30” diameter) – suggest you don’t buy a really cheap, easily bendable one, but one that is more solid.
• 2 - Swimming Noodles (reg size)
• White Felt - purchased off a 72” width Roll
   – length required  3 ½ ft. (1.2 yards) 
• White Elastic (1/4” width by 70” length)
• Black Thread, Straight Pins
• Scissors
• Black Duct Tape
• 2 – Safety Pins
• Sewing Machine
• Black Marker
• Letter-Size Envelope (used for measuring)

By adding the noodle, the extra width allows for the student to easily roll the stone!

Glue Gun Option:

Note:  The Hula Hoop I used to make this sample was old and badly bent, to straighten I had to cut out a piece making it only 22" in diameter when I was done, rather than the 30" one pictured above.  I also used the left over felt from the above project and had to sew two pieces together to make it big enough, which gave me a seam.  As you can see in the picture the seam isn't too obvious, but for a bigger hoop you would see approx. another 8 inches of seam.

The finished result was it had a nice bumpy rim, more like a rock.  Though I'm not sure how well the glue will hold up to the noodle over time and use.

Supplies required for this option:

• 1 - Hula Hoop (approx. 30” diameter) – suggest you don’t buy a really cheap, easily bendable one, but one that is more solid.
• 2 - Swimming Noodles (reg size)
• White Felt - purchased off a 72” width Roll
   – length required  3 ½ ft. (1.2 yards) 
• Scissors
• Black Duct Tape
• Glue Gun (Glue Sticks)
• Black Marker
• Letter-Size Envelope (used for measuring)

More info on Black Light Theater Instuctions, by Luanne Payne & Janice Loeb. Which is an article found under the Drama Workshop Design Forum at this site.

Here's an "empty tomb" display you can make with a pop-up tent and cleverly painted canvas tarps.

I've had this image in my files for a few years and don't remember which church gave it to me (Highland something?)

In a pinch, you can purchase an "Empty Tomb" from Oriental Trading Co.

79" Tomb & Rock Roll Away Cardboard Cutout Stand-Up

...or you can just look how they did it and paint your own. You could also cut out their front of the cardboard and create a "cave" behind the cardboard by draping some black fabric or a dark blanket.

Oriental Trading Company also has a "Cardboard Village Wall" they call "Bethlehem Inn."  If it were me, I'd probably buy TWO so I could piece it together to make it large enough to go around our door and make this the cardboard entry to our classroom, if not part of a drama set.