Easter is a wonderful time, where you can get a chance to spend quality time with family and friends. Although Egg hunts may be the most anticipated activity of the day for children, there are plenty of other fun and also educational activities to take part in as well. Here is our list of some great Easter activities for you to enjoy.
1. egg counting
This is one of our favorite activities. It is geared towards infants through five years old, and has an emphasis on letter, shape and number recognition. First, you take any type of eggs (plastic, real or even d.i.y your own), then number them from one to ten. For infants, you can use this as a sensory activity. They can explore the shape and texture of the eggs. For older children, you can practice counting, addition and subtraction. Ask them questions such as, if we add 1 egg to X amount of eggs, how many do we have? You can also make a a song, to help them remember the order of their numbers. Ex: "One little, two little three little eggs...."
2. Cotton Bunnies
This is a simple and cute arts and crafts activity, with some math.
You can either print out a stencil, or have the children try to draw a large bunny on a medium sized paper. Next, use glue to attach multiple cotton balls to decorate the bunny with. As the children work with the glue and cotton balls, they're building up fine motor and coordination skills. As they are working on their bunnies, ask them math related questions, such as how many cotton balls did they use? For older children, you can focus on how many cotton balls it takes to fill up a certain area.
3. Marshmallow bunnies
Similar to the cotton ball bunny, this marshmallow bunny activity, is also a great sensory arts and crafts activity. Instead of cotton balls, have the children use various sized marshmallows to decorate their bunny pictures. You can also have them glue their own bunny marshmallow collage. In addition to this, you can use paint to decorate the ears and nose, or if the children want multi colored bunnies. With marshmallows, you can compare and contrast the size difference. You can ask questions such as, how many large marshmallows does it take to fill the bunny vs how many small marshmallows?
4. Decorating paper eggs
For this activity, have the children make a large egg outline on paper. Next, have them come up with different ways they can decorate their egg. This can include different patterns, words, or even using this as an opportunity to practice coloring within the lines. This activity focuses on creative expression, while incorporating math and language elements. For language, you can have the children spell out the word egg, and try to fill up their pictures with other words that can be related to Easter, or even start with the letter "E". If they are decorating with patterns, focus on sequences, and try to see if they can remember the order in which they make squiggly lines, straight lines, or different shapes. You can also ask them to count how many lines, shapes or objects such as flowers, they make to fill up their egg picture. For a bonus, you can even have them add stickers, in which the act of peeling helps their fine motor skills.
5. Jelly bean fun
For this activity, all you need is paper, glue and jelly beans. Have the children come up with an image they want to draw or decorate. If you want to focus on letters and numbers, you can have them draw out each letter, or numbers up until about ten. Next, have them practice gluing jellybeans onto their images. A tip for numbers is to have the children use the same amount of jelly beans that each number represents. You can also switch it up, and have them sort the jelly beans by color, and count how many there are in each group. Children 3 years and older, can practice writing on their own. You can also make a jelly bean collage, or practice patterns. Whichever design you choose, the children have the opportunity to practice letter and number recognition, while also having fun.
6.Egg stacking and Matching
In this activity, children can learn counting, matching, patterns, and their colors. All you need is various plastic eggs of different colors. Have the children try to create rows out of the eggs based on color. You can ask them to mix and match the two egg parts, based on size, and ask questions about the larger parts fitting into the smaller parts. The children can stack the eggs, while you can make games out of asking how many eggs do they think they can stack before they topple over. Have them make stacks by a color pattern to see if they can remember what comes after the other.
7. Egg picture images
Another activity you can do with plastic eggs, is to have the children trace and create their own images with the eggs. Using paper and markers or crayons, have the children arrange the eggs into different shapes or letters and numbers. Trace around the shapes, and have them fill in and decorate as they please. You can ask them to count how many eggs they traced to complete each shape. What design can you make out of tracing? Can you make a letter?
8.Egg Shaker
This last activity is a sensory activity, that incorporates music and math. Take plastic eggs and fill them with jelly beans. Make sure some eggs have more jelly beans than the others. The children can count how many jelly beans goes into each egg. They can also observe how depending on the number of jelly beans, the eggs will either be heavier or lighter than the others. They can match certain colored jelly beans, with their corresponding egg color. Next the children can make a simple musical instrument out of the eggs. This sensory aspect is especially helpful to younger children, as they shake and rattle each egg.
Comments