Spring / Easter Activity Ideas


Bunny Baskets

Use the bottom 1/3 of a 1 pint narrow milk carton. Staple (adult do this) a 1" strip across the top for a handle. Have cut out ready, 'bunny' shapes - sitting up bunny - ears on top, round head and fat body, width of milk carton (a bit like the traditional cat drawing) If children are able, get them to decorate the basket with paper chips (small pieces of paper cut or torn) and draw on bunny's face. If child is not old enough, adult do bunny's face and glue or paste it on one side of the basket.

One easy way to decorate (need to supervise though) is to let children paint the basket with glue and dip it into a container of confetti.

Let children glue a cotton ball on opposite side of basket for bunny's tail

Put cotton balls, paper shavings or grass in the basket as a nest for the eggs. Ours used to take two hen eggs - one boiled egg decorated by the children and one chocolate one left by the Easter Bunny while we were outside playing.

Decorated eggs

Boiled egg. Let children decorate with wax crayon. Dip in solution of food dye. (Crayon resist)

Easter Chickens

Cardboard Chicken Shapes. Let children glue on yellow cotton balls.

Story -I have a book called "From" subtitled "Understanding the Resurrection" by Beverly Ann Beckmann.
It talks about sunrise coming after darkness (new life), new leaves coming to bare trees (new life), a bulb growing a beautiful flower (new life), an egg producing a baby bird (new life), cocoon producing a butterfly, - and,from the grave in the side of the hill comes new life, the risen Christ.

I used that as a basis for my Easter activities. So we planted bulbs, made egg carton caterpillars and followed it by 'blot' painting and turning our colored 'blots' into butterflies (cut out the children's blots as butterfly shapes, glue on a cardboard body underneath, add pipe cleaner feelers and add a yarn string so the butterflies can be hung from a string across the room. Also made chickens (as above).

Above ideas submitted by Marion from Australia

Egg Critters

Blow the contents from fresh eggs. Pierce each end of egg with sharp nai. Blow firmly into large end, over dish to catch egg liquid (which you can use for a recipe). Let shells dry. decorate to resemble rabbits, chicks, cartoon characters using markers, paint, glued on construction paper, etc. To make stand upright: Cut strip of sturdy paper 1/2 inch by 4-6 ins. Glue into circle, sit egg in in. This paper stand could also be incorporated into design as a collar.

Daffodils

I have made them with yellow crepe paper and yellow cupcake papers. You need green pipe cleaners for the stems. Roll up a little ball on one end of the pipe cleaner so that when you stick it through the flower it won't just fall out. First cut the shape of the "back" of the daffodil...or approximately anyway. Put a small hole in the centre for the pipe cleaner. Cut the cupcake paper in half. Roll it till you can glue the pleated edges together...making the part of the flower that sticks out in front (we called it the "trumpet"). Make a hole (or sort of open the one that's there) and put the pipe cleaner through both parts of the flower; glue the "trumpet" onto the back of the flower. We also added a little edge of orange with markers to make them look like the variations of daffodils.

Eggs in a Nest

Use scissors to cut the shapes of birds eggs from construction paper. Glue the eggs onto cardboard.

Glue short strands of yarn under the eggs for a nest allow them to dry completely.

Use markers to draw tree branches around the nest and speckles on the eggs. Draw leaves or use real ones, or felt (whatever) to make leaves on the branches.

Variations: Wash and dry pieces or real eggshells. Glue them on top of the yard nests.

Talk about the kinds of birds that live in your area. Compare their sizes, shapes, and colors.

Take a walk and look for nests in trees. Talk about the materials that birds use to build nests and how high or low the nests are in the trees.

Popcorn Flowers:

  1. Pop popcorn reserving some to eat after craft is finished!!
  2. Put handfuls of popcorn in plastic baggies and add powdered tempura paint to each one.
  3. Shake well to distribute paint all over the popcorn
  4. Cut stems and leaves out of green construcion paper and glue them to tagboard.
  5. Glue on the colored popcorn to make spring flowers.

Spring Butterflies

  1. Color small bowls of water with food coloring
  2. Using an eye dropper, scatter drops of colored water onto the round coffee filters and watch the colors bleed and blend.
  3. While the filters dry draw eyes and body details on wooden clothes pins.
  4. Gather each coffee filter up in the center and clip with the clothespin.
  5. Make antennea for each butterfly by inserting a pipe cleaner into the end of the clothes pin and twisting it secure.
  6. Bend the ends of the pipe cleaner to make it look realistic.

You can use tissue paper instead of coffee filters for a multilayered effect. Decorate with sequins and buttons. Make caterpillars from green pompoms glued to a large paper leaf (with a bite taken out of it) for a before and after exhibit.

Group Egg Decorating.

Pass out hard boiled eggs to everyone at the table. Have each person draw a feature on the egg with felt tip markers. Continue passing the eggs until each egg has a face (eyes, cheeks, nose, mouth, ears, moles, eyelashes, chin, freckles, etc.

Candle Eggs

  1. Hollow out several eggs by gently poking a small hole in one end of each egg. scrambel the egg for lunch or make an omlet for lunch! Rinse clean and set the eggshell in the egg carton.
  2. Melt some old candles or paraffin wax and wax coloring in a double boiler over low heat.
  3. Place the funnel over the opening of the egg. carefully pour wax into the hollow eggshell in the carton.
  4. When the eggshell is full, insert a wired wick into the egg, centering it with a piece of tape for support.
  5. Allow the wax to cool and harden, then break off the shell and buff the candle with a soft rag.
  6. Heat the bottom end of the candle to soften, then press on a flat surface to make it stand up. or use a candle holder.

Variations: You can use several different colors of wax layering them. Let them cool between colors.

Add glitter or metallic confetti to make the egg sparkle.

Color the wax with old color crayons instead of buying wax coloring.

BE SURE THE EGG SHELL IS DRY BEFORE FILLING IT!

Giant Easter Egg.

  1. Blow up a balloon and tie a 2 ft. piece of thread to the bottom of it.
  2. Cover the entire balloon with startch or watered down glue, using a large paintbrush
  3. Wrap crochet thread around the balloon in one direction, leaving small gaps about 1/2 inch wide so the balloon isn't completely covered. Wrapping doesn't have to be perfect.
  4. Apply another light layer of starch or glue on top of the thread and wrap with anothe rlayer of crochet thread in another direction.
  5. Repeat one or more times until the balloon is covered with thread.
  6. Hang the balloon from the bottom thread to dry for about 24 hours.
  7. When fully dru, pop the balloon and gently pull it out of the thread.
  8. Hang the giant egg from the ceiling or place it in a giant easter basket.

Variations: Use multicolored thread or yarn.
You can flatten the end of the egg by pressing on it gently so it will stand on end. Leave an intentional opening to set figurines and eggs/candy in. They are very pretty this way.

Practical tips: Work quickly before the glue/starch dries or add more when necessary. Handle the egg with care after it dries, as it may cave in if you squish it.
Above ideas submitted by Shari in Georgia.

Four Easter Eggs

-By Jean Warren

Preparation: Cut four egg shapes out of felt, one each from blue, green, red and yellow.

Activity: Recite the poem with the children and let them take turns placing the appropriate colored egg shapes on the flannel board. Repeat the poem until every child has had at least one turn.

POEM
Blue egg, blue egg,
Oh, what fun.
Blue egg, blue egg,
I found one.

Green egg, green egg,
I see you.
Green egg, green egg,
Now I've two.

Red egg, red egg,
Can you see?
Red egg, red egg,
Now I've three.

Yellow egg, yellow egg,
Just one more.
Yellow egg, yellow egg,
Now I've four.

Egg Carton Chicks

To make these adorable Easter chicks, you need one egg cup (cut from a styrofoam egg carton) and two cotton balls for each child, powdered tempera paint, a large Zip-Loc bag, a hole punch, scraps of blue and orange construction paper, blue, scissors and markers.

  1. Cut individual egg cups from an egg carton. Make V-shaped notches the top of each to resemble half of a cracked eggshell.
  2. With markers, have child write their names on the bottom of the cup and an Easter message on the front if you so choose.
  3. Put 2 teaspoons of powdered paint in a Zip-Loc bag with two cotton balls. Seal carefully and shake vigorously. Shake off any excess paint. (You can substitute Yellow Cotton Balls)
  4. Cover the inside bottom of the cup with glue.
  5. Place 1 cotton ball in the cup for the chicks body. Place a drop of glue on top and add another cotton ball for the head.
  6. Punch out two blue dots and glue on for eyes.
  7. Cut a small diamond shape from orange paper and fold in half. Glue on for beak.

Reading

The Egg Tree by Katherine Milhous
Activity:
Decorate hard boiled eggs after reading the book. The fun part comes when you crack and eat them for snack.

Plastic Egg Games

    Supplies
  • 12 colorful plastic eggs
  • masking tape
  • marking pen
  • dried beans

Game 1: Numbered Eggs - Using tape and pen, label each plastic egg with a number. Have child place appropriate number of beans in each egg.

Game 2: Color Match Eggs - Children take apart all eggs and rematch the colored halves.

Game 3: Egg Toss - In pairs, children toss egg back and forth, moving back 1 step after each successful toss. They must begin again when they drop the egg.

Easter Egg Coloring Page
Easter Basket Coloring Page
Bunny Coloring Page
Bunny & Duck Coloring Page