I am heading out to help a with a community Easter Egg Hunt with some friends later today. There will be games, food and of course the Easter Egg Extravaganza!!! As I began thinking about all the kids’ faces who will light up when they start opening their eggs to find goodies inside, I am reminded that not all families think and believe in the same things. I have families who are very religious and don’t believe in the Easter Bunny, they think Halloween is for worshiping the devil, and don’t celebrate Christmas with Santa and his elves…On the flip side, I have had families who go over the top on Easter Egg Hunts, Halloween Costumes and decorations, and Santa-fying Christmas. Regardless of my beliefs, it is important to honor each families wishes when it comes to holidays and religions.
My rule of thumb for holiday crafts/games is, only bring them out a week before. (Except for Christmas..if the stores have decorations out in September, I’m pretty sure the kids start getting excited around…July. When time comes closer we can talk about the Do’s and Don’ts about Christmas gifts n’ such.) Ok, so a week before Easter I start playing games and doing crafts like the ones listed below.
Easter Cookies
Around Easter time, stores sell super cheap duck, bunny and egg shaped cookies that are great for decorating. A lot of the kids I watch also like to bake cookies so I have acquired lots of randomly shaped cookie cutters over the years. Store bought or homemade, these are a cute, cheap and yummy way to get in the spirit of Easter.
Easter Egg Wreath reposted from BusyBeeKidsCrafts.com
Here’s what you’ll need…
• Piece of cardboard cut into a doughnut shape (you can also look at your local craft store for a wreath base made of sturdy cardboard or thin plywood).
• Easter Grass
• Plastic Easter eggs that split vertically (although any will do)
• Glue
• Embellishments to decorate your eggs – we used glitter, self-adhesive foam shapes, and other self adhesive decorations (have a look at your local craft store)
Here’s how you make it…
1. Glue Easter grass all around your wreath base. Split your eggs in half and place them around the wreath so you will know how many you will need to decorate. Split the eggs evenly among a group of children to create!
2. Decorate the half eggs with fancy embellishments (fancy doesn’t have to mean expensive). We put different colors of loose glitter in paper plates and had the children make designs with white glue and then roll the egg in the glitter. We also you self-adhesive shapes which made it easy and fun to decorate! Be creative!
3. Once all the eggs have been decorated and dried, glue the eggs to the wreath. You can use regular school glue, but to make it extra sturdy you (an adult) can use hot glue!
Hide the Egg
After Easter families have tons of plastic eggs. Craft stores, Walmart and Target also have major discounts on Easter themed decorations. I pick up a giant egg from the store (usually as cheap as $o.50) per child. Before Easter we fill it up with cute cheap gifts (I try to avoid candy) then we play hide and seek with the egg. When the children have found their egg we sit down and play with what is inside. After Easter we decorate the egg to look like rocket ships or treasure boxes. Kids love playing this game year round, so it is reusable and fun!
Things to add to the Egg for Cheap Easter present:
- puzzle
- costume jewelry for girls
- small racecar for boys
- crayons
- rubber duckie
- small stuffed animal
- stickers
- erasers
- silly putty
- random little toys that you can pick up in a bulk treasure set (from sites like Oriental Trading)
Easter Play
*Ask parents which skit they would prefer their children to act out. I have a Christian religious one where one child finds Jesus and they act out the scene of the resurrection. The other skit is basically jumping around dressed up like bunnies or chicks or sheep.
WILL POST SKITS AND COSTUME DESIGN TONIGHT
IMPORTANT: Easter is a religious holiday.. some families don’t believe in the Easter Bunny as it takes away from the religious significance. Others don’t believe in Jesus’ Crucifixion and Rising so the merriment of Easter Bunnies and Peeps is A-ok. Gage your families religious-ness and be aware of any Easter Egg with-holdings.
Nannyville 