Fun and Learning with your Family Easter Traditions.

The kids are getting so excited. They know Easter is coming and they are full of energy and want to do things that remind them of the holiday. There are many traditions you can turn into learning experiences and they won’t even know they are learning. What a better way to fill the time around this holiday, especially if your children are in school and are on Spring Break right now.

Coloring Eggs and More Fun

Coloring Easter eggs is so much fun. There are so many different ways to color them as well. Each one leads to a great science learning opportunity. You can talk about why the egg shell colors so easily as it is porous and will absorb color easily. Don’t be afraid to use that vocabulary with your littles, we need to make sure to always use words that will build their vocabulary and knowledge. You can discuss why the little store bought tablets fizz in the vinegar and water mixture, as the tablets are a base and the vinegar is an acid and the fizzing is a chemical reaction between the two. Look for a fun Eggsperiment below to talk more about the fizzing.

Another way to color eggs is by using a pan of shaving cream or if you prefer whip cream (we used shaving Cream in the picture). Add food coloring to the pans and roll the eggs around in the pans. Then wipe the mixture off the egg and it is colored. Oh this is so much fun and messy. However, you can was the dye right off your hands because the base of shaving cream is soap and whip creams base is an oil. I prefer the shaving cream because it does clean up better. You can talk to them as they are cleaning up about how the soap helped keep their hands clean.

A Fun Eggsperiment:

Flying Easter Eggs (ages 3 and up only with supervision)

Materials

Plastic Easter Eggs
Water
Alka Seltzer tablets
Safety Goggles

Optional Materials:

Colored Paper or Card stock
Pencil
Glue Gun

Flying Easter Eggs

(Optional) You can decorate the eggs to look like bunnies or chicks or any way your child would like.
Put 2 Alka Seltzer tablets in the small part of the egg
Fill the top (larger) half of the egg half way with water.
Quickly put the two halves together, put down with the smaller side down and move out of the way.
Watch the top of the egg go flying. (Is this a new tradition or what?)

The Egg Hunt

So the egg hunt is just that an egg hunt right??? No you can prepare them for and help them learn to use problem solving strategies before and during the hunt to help them find the eggs. Talk about the area where the eggs will be hidden, ask them where would be good places to hide the eggs and ask them why. Ask them where they would look for the eggs.

You can also bring math into the hunt. You can tell them how many eggs were hidden. They then have to figure out how many more eggs need to be found after they pick up one or a couple. They can practice counting forwards and back and use subtraction. They can count all the eggs when they think they are done and decide if the number they counted is the same number that was hidden, talk about equal when they are doing this.

To see what to do with all those plastic eggs, Click Here.

After the Hunt Jelly Bean Activity

After the hunt, I am sure you have a whole bunch of jelly beans. I know we always have lots of jelly beans.

For your toddler or preschooler:

Sort them by color
Count how many in each group

For your kindergartner or 1st grader:

First sort them by color and count each group
Then have them make a graph with them
Finally they can answer questions about their graph ( Which has the most, least?, Which ones are equal?, How manay do you have if you add the red and yellow together? etc.)

Crafts

Egg Collage:

Materials:

egg shape on card stock, construction paper, or any paper
children’s blunt scissors
glue
ribbons, stickers, beads, small pieces of paper

Directions:

Cut out the egg shape (great fine motor activity for your toddler and preschooler)
Make a pattern with the items to decorate the egg
Glue everything down

Hand Print Bunny:

Materials:

white or brown paint
pink paint
black paint

Directions:

Paint the hand (NOT the thumb) white or brown depending on the color bunny they want.
Between the pointer and middle finger and the ring finger and pinky paint pink for the inside of the ear.
Let it dry and then paint a face with the black paint.
Older children can use different colors to make a spring scene behind the bunny.

Egg Roll Painting:

Materials:

Plastic eggs
Several colors of paint
Container (bowls) to put paint so you can roll the egg in the paint
Paper
Container (cookie sheet or cake pan) to put the paper in so you can roll the egg around on the paper

Directions:

Roll the egg in the paint
Move the egg into the container with the paper
Hold the container and move the container from side to side, tip it a little in all directions
Do the same with different eggs in different colors to make a fun abstract spring painting

Easter Books

Of course you cannot go without reading. The one thing every teacher wants you to do with your child if nothing else, is read to them. See some of my favorites below:

Pete The Cat Big Easter Adventure by James Dean

The Easter Egg by Jan Brett

Biggest Easter Basket Ever by Steven Kroll

How to Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoe by DuBose Heyward

Happy Easter Little Critter by Mercer Mayer

Duck and Goose, Here Comes the Easter Bunny by Tad Hills

The Night Before Easter by Natasha Wing