Easter themed activities and arts and crafts

I don't know about you but I love Easter themed activities, the bunnies, the chicks, the eggs, the pastel colours with all the Spring colours and activities in the mix too. This blog has lots of easy Easter activities, baking and arts and crafts that you can do at home using mostly things you would already have and the best part is it will keep the children busy and entertained over the Easter holidays.

First thing we always do in the run up to Easter is our Easter window. We love decorating it and love seeing the neighbours stop outside to admire it. You can see the pride in the boys faces when they notice someone stopping to look. By displaying their art work in this manner you are showing your child support which is a great way to boost confidence and self esteem. And of course the boys love when we meet a neighbour out and about and they comment on how lovely our window display is.

Easter window:

We use Stabilo 3 in 1 pencils and chalk markers I bought from www.discoveryplaytime.ie . They can draw whatever they liked on the window safely known it washes off easily. This gives them the opportunity to be creative and give them free choice on how they want the window to turn out like. The pencils are quite chunky & so are the chalk markers and are great for little hands to write/draw with. The boys love any type of occasion to decorate the window and the best part of these pencils/markers is that they rub off with a damp cloth really easy!

If you didn't want to do it on a front window you could alternatively do it on a back window leading out to your garden or even let them decorate their own bedroom window. If you haven't got these pencils or chalk markers yet then I highly recommend investing in them. They last ages too!

Prep time 1-2 mins to gather the pencils/markers, activity time up to an hour depending on age and interest.

Sun catcher eggs:

You need: A4 paper or card, scissors, sticky back paper (can get from Dealz or Mr.Price), blue tac and some quality street wrappers we saved from Christmas. Alternatively you could use tissue paper too.

These sun catcher eggs are so easy to do. I got two A4 pages and drew a large egg on them and cut them out. Then I punched a hole in the middle and cut around the end of the egg leaving a rim about 10cm thick so that the sticky back paper had something to stick to. Using the quality street sweet wrapper we saved from Christmas (I do this every year ) , we cut them into small squares and put them into a bowl. Stick the sticky back paper on the egg then facing the egg with the sticky back towards yourself, stick it to the window with blue tac. The boys then decorated the eggs. These eggs are lovely when the sun shines through them. I love making these with the kids not just for Easter but at Christmas time as Christmas trees, St.Patrick's day Shamrocks and they are beautiful as Butterflies and flowers too on your window.

Prep time 5 mins, activity time up to 30 mins depending on ages and interest.

Paper Easter egg chain:

You need: Card, Scissors, glue, markers, pencils and lots of different materials (scraps of papers, stickers, wool, colourful matchsticks, pom poms, pipe cleaners anything from your arts and crafts press), hole puncher and some ribbon.

First cut out the shape of the egg out on the card. These dont need to be the same size, you could use all different size eggs. Set up all the different materials, glue and scissors and let them create their eggs. This one is great for creativity. It allows them to freely choose what they want which allows them to freely express their ideas and creativity. Great too for building self esteem, confidence, sense of self accomplishments and helps to develop all those fine motor skills. When they are finished, use a hole puncher and punched holes in them and threaded in the ribbon and hang them on the window. You could also hang them as decorations elsewhere.

Prep time 5 mins, activity time up to an hour depending on age and their interest.

Easter bunnies using empty toilet rolls:

You need: Empty toilet roll holders, glue, pom poms, pipe cleaners, scissors, white paper or crepe paper cut into long strips ( long enough to go around the toilet roll), googly eyes, two small rectangles of white paper(teeth) and two ears cut out. If your child is old enough you could get them to cut the teeth and the ears out.

First get them to cover the toilet roll in glue, then add the strips of papers around it. Then allow the child to place the eyes, nose, ears and teeth onto the bunny. When dry using the scissors and carefully punch two holes in each side of the bunny. The child then can thread the pipe cleaners from one end to the other for the whiskers. You could extend this activity by giving them some colour beads to thread through the whiskers.

I always allow the boys to put the pieces where they feel they should be and would never correct anything that is not in the place it should be or the right colour ( one bunny has a blue nose, why? Because he is cold! Words from a 4 year old!), that's what makes each piece they create unique.

Prep time 5-10 mins, activity time 30 mins depending on age and interest.

Chicks in a nest:

You need: Two circle's of yellow card, googly eyes, feathers, small triangles of orange paper, brown paper cut into a nest shape and some things to use for the nest like straw, sticks, wool.

Stick the two chicks first to the brown nest then let them decorate the nest using glue and the materials. For the chicks I gave them 4 eyes and the 2 beaks and they put them on. They decided to use feathers for wings which was a lovely idea.

Very easy craft with little prep work involved and the kids spent about 20mins decorating these.

Prep 5 mins, activity time 20-30 minutes depending on age and interest.

Easter wreath:

You need: A wreath or a circle piece of heavy cardboard from a box cut out into a shape of a wreath or we used our old wreath from last year and up cycled it. A selection of materials, we used egg shells, feather, fake flowers, leaves, foamed eggs, ribbon, straw, coloured straw, chicks, scissors and our glue gun.

First we deconstructed the old wreath (photo above) and recycled some of the bits from it. I lay out all the bits and pieces out for him so he can get creative. Both my boys know how to safely use the glue gun so they can pick and choose what they want and glue on the pieces themselves.

We will deconstructed it again after Easter and save as many pieces as we can for our one next year. The one below is this year's Easter wreath.

At no point was the boys left unattended while using the glue gun. Never leave a glue gun unattended and always supervise your child if using it as it is quite hot and can cause burns. Only ever allow your child to use after he/she has been properly shown how to use it first.

Always wash egg shells with hot soapy water and leave to dry before use.

Click the link to watch our reel on how we made it

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CMxREhsl4SM/?igshid=1r5hu7vywersl

Prep time 5 mins, activity time 30-40 mins depending on age and interest.

Tin foil Easter eggs:

You need: Empty cereal box, scissors, tin foil and the end of a paint brush.

Very simple craft, cut out an egg shape out of the cereal box with the scissors, wrap it in tin foil leaving the front smooth. Give them a paint brush each and use the end of it to draw your design on it. Great for creativity and imagination, pre writing skills, fine motor skills, patterns and design and concentration.

For older kids you could use sharpie pens to do the design on the tin foil as the sharpie pens will not rub off the tin foil.

To watch the reel on how we made it click the link

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CM12IXQlGTY/?igshid=9fgkiqitcr48

Prep time 1-2 mins, activity time 20-30 mins depending on age and interest.

DIY Easter stamps:

You need: a glue gun, pasta shapes from @lidlireland and some wine corks.

Glue the pasta shapes on to the wine tops and you have instant DIY stamps that are great for playdough and for painting with. You can also add them to a tinker tray with loose parts and playdough and let them be creative.

These are great for using as painting stamps (one time use), stamps for mad mattr or playdough.

To watch the reel on how we made it click the link:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CMpkgEXF-6d/?igshid=1s43f3c7t7o63

Easter bunnies using odd socks

All you need is odd socks, rice, a glass to hold the sock in place, elastic bands, scissors, sharpie pen and ribbon.

Great recycling activity which gave me the chance to explain all about recycling and waste, fine motor skills, hand eye coordination and creativity. Best part is you dont need to sew to make these and you use up some of those odd socks that are lurking around!

To watch the reel on how to make them click the link:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CMumcnJlYhN/?igshid=1pinpxqt8i5m8

Prep time 5 mins, activity time 20-30 mins depending on age and interest.

Easter egg obstacle course

This activity is a throw back to a few years ago when the weather was so good and we went into our first lockdown. This was super fun, our Easter egg obstacle course. We all had a go and timed each run, the person who had the best time won! As you can see in the video (click link below) it got competitive and some cheating went on!!! We used plastic eggs but if you fancied taking it to the next level you could use a real egg!

Great for body coordination, hand eye coordination, balance, awareness of your surroundings, concentration, following instructions.

To watch the reel click the link:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CMwcWNulPbN/?igshid=np6pvkr7dbqf

Prep time 1-2 mins, activity time 30 mins depending on age and interest.

Easter egg shaving foam:

You need: cardboard, pen, cellophane and shaving foam. First draw the egg on the cardboard, attach the cellophane to the cardboard, spray some shaving foam on and rub over the egg. Let your child then use his finger to trace the pattern. Great one for pre-writing skills.

Thanks to IIona from @messyfundublin on Instagram for sharing this one with us.

Easter egg painting with different materials:

You need: Card or paper, pen or marker to draw the egg, paint and different materials as paint brushes.

You can use lots of different materials when painting you dont need to be restricted to just using paint brushes. Why not create some eggs using pom poms, feathers, forks and so much more. Thanks Mireia for sharing this with us, do check out @discoveryplaytime video on all the different materials you can use. Do check out www.discoveryplaytime.ie for some more free Easter printables too, to keep the kids busy over Easter.

To view the reel and all the material @discoveryplaytime used click the link:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CM6koX5nxMG/?igshid=uq8rui7905ru

Easter bunnies:

Paint a pastel background first. Can use paint or markers. Then cut doilies in half for the head. Some of the kids did it upside down but they turned out quite cool too! Cut out eyes and ears using white paper. Then add nose/ear details using pink felt or foam. Last step is to add whiskers and eyelashes with a black marker.

Check out this really cool reel on how @missmuinteoir made these cute bunnies.

Easter egg maze:

We love making all sorts of themed mazes from empty cardboard boxes. They are brilliant for hand eye coordination, bilateral coordination and just great fun. We have made lots of themed mazes down through the years using lots of different resources instead of a ball.

Cluck the link below to see how this one was created.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CNAKzJqFir0/?utm_medium=copy_link

Easter themed sensory bin:

I set this up as an invitation to play. They loved filling up the eggs, hiding the chick's and bunnies, filling the barrels up with rice with the fine motor tools, pretended play with the bunny's, carrots, the chick's and all the didn't parts.

I reused our St.Patrick's day themed rice and added pink and yellow rice to the mix using poster paint from mrprice Ireland. The fake eggs, plastic eggs, chick's, bunnies, carrots from dealz Ireland and the Barrels and fine motor tools from www.discoveryplaytime.ie

You could use straw, shredded paper, pop them in water or spaghetti to create an Easter sensory bin.

Great sensory bin with lots of language opportunities (on,in,over,fill,empty etc), imagination play (chick's hatching from eggs), development of motor skills (using the tools for the rice), sorting skills (sorting the pasta shapes), hand eye coordination (filling the rice up into the barrels) and so much more.

Prep time 5-10 mins, activity time anything from 5 mins to 1 hour depending on age and interest.

Easter Chocolate treats:

Easter Rocky road:

We used 7 hobnobs biscuits and crushed them, half a cup of M and M eggs, half a cup of white mini eggs, half a cup of marshmallow and one single pack of wonderbar home chocolate. Put all into a bowl, melt the chocolate and then add the melted chocolate into the ingredients and mixed well. I empty it all out in to a tuba wear box that had grease proof paper on and put a few eggs and marshmallows on top. Put it in the fridge to harden. Cut into slices and put it into a air tight container in the fridge. These are so delicious!

Prep time 1-2 minutes, activity time 20 minutes.

Chocolate nests:

We used 3 cups of corn flakes, half a single bar of wonderbar home chocolate, melted and mixed well into the corn flakes and topped with 3 mini eggs. Leave in the fridge to harden and enjoy.

Prep time 1-2 mins, activity time 20 mins.

Easter cookies:

We bought these cookies in Tesco in Newry (still haven't found them in the South of Ireland yet) and used some colour icing and lots of different sprinkles. Boys spent ages decorating these. We also found some Easter cookie cutters in Dealz which we are hoping to make some cookie with too.

Check out our reel below of our Easter cookies.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CbScGn9vdtS/?utm_medium=copy_link

Prep time 1-2 minutes, activity time up to an hour depending on age and interest.

Easter egg hunt:

Why not have a practice run of an Easter egg hunt with plastic eggs or wooden eggs. You dont need to put anything inside the plastic eggs, finding them is the reward and its part of the fun.

Prep time 1-2 mins, activity time from 5 minutes upwards depending how well you hide them and how many times they want to do it again!

Easter egg actions:

You need: strips of paper, pen and some plastic eggs (can be bought in Dealz or Mr.Price or any discount store).

Write on the strips of papers some actions like, hop like a bunny, pretend to eat a carrot, pretend to lay an egg, walk like a chicken, and whatever action you get you have to act it out. You could also pair this activity up with the practice run of an Easter egg hunt.

Prep time 1-2 mins, activity time 20 minutes plus, depending on age and interest.

Egg-speriment:

This egg-speriment is the best fun ever. So simple to set up.

You need: plastic eggs, glue gun, baking soda, food colouring, vinegar and eye dropper.

Check out our reel to see how cool this egg-speriment is. Its a great one to see cause and effect, reactions and see how far the foam can shot out the holes!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CNHtOaglB62/?utm_medium=copy_link

Prep time 5 mins, activity time 15 minutes plus depending how many times they want to refill them.

All these activities, baking and arts and crafts I have been doing for years and have always been a great hit even with my own kids. The three Instagram accounts who contribute to this blog all gave permission to share and have been tagged under their activity.

Do check out our Instagram page @playwithmemammy as we will be doing more Easter activities leading up to Easter. Why not follow along on stories to see what we get up too over the Easter holidays. We hope you all have a fun break and that you get some Easter inspiration from this blog.

Dont forget to tag us on Instagram if you try any of these out and we will share to our stories. You can also share this blog on Facebook or Twitter by pressing the Facebook or Twitter symbol below. You can also share on Instagram by resharing my Instagram post on this blog or paste the link to your stories so more people can avail of this free resource.

Happy Easter from our family to yours.