How to keep kids entertained over Easter
The Easter holidays will feel rather different this year – for children and parents. Former primary school teacher Catherine Lynch of leading education resources and lesson plan providers PlanBee has a selection of easy-to-do, fun activities to enjoy at home and keep children occupied and having fun while learning about this important celebration
The real meaning of Easter
Easter is a Christian festival but it can be easy for children to think it is just about chocolate eggs and Easter bunnies.
At this time of year, Christians remember the last week of Jesus’ life and reflect on his death and resurrection. Share the Easter story with your children to help them understand the origins of the festival.
Make a special Easter basket or box
Challenge your children to design and decorate an Easter basket or box using their imagination, or provide them with a free Easter basket template or a free Easter box template that they can make themselves.
Top tip: the colouring in can be done by children of any age, but the cutting, sticking and assembly are more suited to older primary school-aged children.
Egg decoration
First wash out the shells of cracked eggs. If possible, keep the two sides of the egg shells in their pairs to help you match them later.
Wait for them to dry.
Glue the two shells back together and cover them with tissue paper. The tissue paper will reinforce the joined cracked eggs together.
Wait for the tissue paper to dry and then decorate to your heart’s content!
Top tips: preparing the eggs is quite fiddly and is probably beyond the reach of very young children, but they can join in with the decoration.
Always wash your hands after handling the egg shells.
Number challenge
Put numbered eggs in a basket and challenge your children to work out the total value of the basket.
Or extend the challenge by giving your children a basket with a total and ask them to place eggs equalling the total into the basket.
Provide a selection of numbered eggs that children can place in the basket to make the total or give blank eggs and challenge the children to come up with two numbers that make the total.
You can use this free basket and eggs template, or use your own baskets and make your own eggs.
Easter egg hunt with a difference
Add an extra element to your Easter egg hunt by making a treasure map that reveals a route to the chocolate goodies.
This gives you the opportunity to hide the eggs in more obscure places which will lengthen the hunt and develop your children’s orienteering skills. If making a map is a bit more of a challenge than you’re after, you could write clues for the children to decode.
These variations on the typical egg hunt will be especially useful if you need to do the hunt in a small indoor space.
Window decorations to raise neighbours’ spirits
Make stained glass Easter-themed window decorations using black paper, tissue paper and glue.
Cut out the shape you would like to display.
Your children could make eggs, rabbits, chicks, religious crosses, flowers or anything that takes their fancy.
Place strips of black paper across the design: we found that this made sticking the tissue paper easier.
Rip or cut tissue paper and stick it inside your design.
Wait for it to dry and display it in the window.
It will cheer the neighbours at this difficult time!
. Visit www.planbee.com for more free learning resources.
