Written by Phie Bannister
Despite the weather looking sunny and clear, we can never be certain! So here are lots of Easter-themed activities to keep you and your children busy whatever the weather!
Decorate your front door
Going OTT decorating your front door for every festivity seems to have become a celebrity trend. But it is very achievable for us mere mortals too! An Easter wreath can easily be made with a paper plate and some ribbon or string. Simply cut out the middle, attach a loop of ribbon and decorate with colourful paper shapes, real egg shells, unwanted toys, seashells, bows, anything! You could try a bigger one using a pool noodle or a wire coat hanger. Or why not make a pretty fresh one using real flowers and greenery (it won’t last long on the door, but it’ll brighten it up for a few days)?
Another fun way to decorate a door is with some big googly eyes, bunny ears and rosy pink cheeks. The possibilities are endless!
Easter hunt
Easter equals Easter egg hunts in our opinion. Chocolate eggs are always a winner, but you can get creative and educational here too! Write clues and riddles to send older children off around the house and garden, or perhaps they have to answer a sum or unjumble a spelling to get to the next round!? Send them off to find something beginning with every letter of the alphabet or of every colour of the rainbow. You don’t even necessarily have to have hidden anything if you really want to keep them busy for a while!
Egg and spoon race
Set up an indoor or outdoor sports day, with egg and spoon race, sack (bin liner or sleeping bag) race, tin-can alley, assault course, juggling, dribbling a ball round some cups. You can use anything that you have at home. Think: score the most goals in 1 minute, trampoline challenges, how many different ways can you travel round the garden?
Trip to the library
Head to your local library and see if you can find some Easter or Spring-themed books. You could explore different celebrations around the world, changes of the season, baby animals, plants, cook books, colourful picture books…we’ve got you covered for all this and much more.
Check out our ESCC Libraries Facebook page or visit our ESCC Libraries Instagram for the latest info.
Get planting
Now is a great time of year for little green fingers! You can pick up packets of seeds and small plants in lots of different supermarkets and garden centres, and it can be a lovely way to talk about nature and the environment with children. Ask them to decorate a plant pot or some stones to label what they’re growing and add any care instructions they might need to remember. Herbs can be easy to care for, and they provide a great sensory experience for little ones and children with SEN. They could even help fussy eaters become more adventurous too!
Bake off
Talking of fussy eaters…baking is usually a quick win with children of all ages. Chocolate nest cakes are super easy to make with cereal, melted chocolate and mini eggs. Just make sure you cut or crush mini eggs for young children as they pose a real choking hazard.
Make a batch of dough and give your children some cookie-cutters, playdoh cutters and cutlery for mark-making and shaping before you pop their creations in the oven. Or just put a load of digestives/rich teas on a plate and mix up some pastel icing and sprinkles to decorate as Easter eggs. We’d love to see your pics, please share them with us.
Natural art
Can spring nature inspire your child to get creative? What about making a giant picture with sticks, stones, mud, leaves and flower petals? You could collect some leaves, paint the back of them and print onto paper to see the different patterns of their veins. Or place a fresh flower in kitchen roll inside a heavy book, put another couple of heavy books on top and leave to dry for a week to make a pretty pressed flower. This is another one with loads of options- daisy chains, flower and twig wands, leaf crowns, garden perfume, mud pies, grass slime… Just make sure you avoid anything poisonous wherever you are!
Random act of kindness
You’re never too young to learn the importance of kindness and looking after those more vulnerable, so why not encourage your kids to do something for someone else this holiday? Leave a positivity stone in their local playground, donate some food to your foodbank or bake a cake for a neighbour. No act of kindness is too small.
Fort fun
Last but not least is the humble fort. Sheets, sleeping bags, blankets, cardboard boxes, pegs, chairs, tables, sofa cushions…these are all perfect fort and den building blocks. Your den can be a rocket, a secret camp, a chill-out zone, a pirate ship, a fairy castle…whatever takes your fancy! Again, we’d love to see your pictures!
Hoppy Easter!
