Easter is a Christian holiday traditionally celebrated across the UK with a long bank holiday weekend. In many Early Years settings, the Easter celebrations can bring bright, new activities and opportunities for learning.
If you’re stuck for ideas of what Easter activities you can do, why not take some inspiration from our suggestions below?
Read Easter-themed books
An easy way to explore the themes of Easter is to read books to the children in your setting at storytime. Not only does this introduce them to the concept of Easter but reading books also helps create a strong foundation for building language and literacy skills.
Some great books we would recommend starting off with are:
- The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
- Llama Llama Easter Egg by Anna Dewdney
- We’re Going on an Egg Hunt by Martha Mumford
- The Dinosaur that Pooped Easter by Tom Fletcher and Dougie Poynter
Create Easter cards
Easter cards are a fun craft that make lovely presents for the children in your setting to take home with them! These crafts are great for children of all ages and are a great way to capture the creativity of the little ones in your setting.
There are several ways you can make Easter cards.
Handprint bunnies – To make a hand-print bunny simply paint your children’s hands with washable paint and press it onto a piece of paper. Once the paint is dry, you can draw on bunny ears and a face using markers or paint.
Easter chicks – To make little Easter chicks dip your children’s fingers into yellow paint and have them make fingerprints on a piece of paper. Once the paint is dry, add eyes, beaks, and feet to turn the fingerprints into cute little chicks!
Or you could simply provide the children in your setting with some stickers, pencils, and other craft materials and let their imagination run wild!
Dress up like bunnies
Another great way to get into the spirit of Easter is to dress up like bunny rabbits. You don’t have to have elaborate costumes to do this either!
You can make a bunny headband by cutting out two large bunny ears from construction paper and glueing them to a headband. Add some cotton balls to the ears to create a great sensory experience for the children too!
Make chocolate bird’s nests
A really popular activity that is often done across the UK near Easter is to make chocolate bird’s nests out of cornflakes and melted chocolate.
To make these bird’s nests:
- Simply melt down the chocolate of your choice. We recommend doing this by heating the chocolate in the microwave in 10-second bursts, stirring in between.
- Once you have a bowl of melted chocolate, pour in your cornflakes and mix.
- Next, spoon your mixture into little cupcake holders and leave to cool in a fridge. You could add some mini-eggs to the middle to make the bird’s nests extra special!
Do a sensory Easter egg hunt
An interesting spin on a classic activity is to create an Easter egg hunt that involves sensory play. Instead of hiding plastic eggs with treats inside, hide sensory-filled eggs that contain different textures and materials for the children in your setting to discover.
To create these sensory eggs, you can fill plastic eggs with different materials such as rice, beans, pom-poms, cotton balls, feathers, and other small objects. You can also add a few drops of essential oils to the materials to provide a pleasant scent for the children to enjoy.
Once you have filled the eggs, hide them around the room or outdoors for the children to find. Encourage them to shake, touch, and explore the eggs as they find them. This activity provides a fun and educational way for the children in your setting to celebrate Easter while engaging their senses and promoting sensory development.
However you are celebrating at your setting we hope you and your families have a wonderful Easter and enjoy your long bank holiday weekend. You deserve it!
