Number 1. Easter Egg Spaghetti
First on my list of Easter Activities for Toddlers is Easter Egg
Spaghetti. We love Rainbow Spaghetti and have used it for everything from Under
the Sea themes to Valentine's Play. It is super easy to make and provises the
perfect nest for your Easter Eggs!
All you need is dried spaghetti, gel food colouring and water. Cook your spaghetti to packet instructions, drain and stir in the food colouring. Rinse with cold water. Ready to play straight away or the spaghetti keeps really well in the fridge overnight too.
I made three colours for Easter - pink, blue &
purple. Then added these fillable toy Easter Eggs on top. I put a little basket
and more eggs nearby as an invitation to play. This was lots of fun and perfect
for on an Easter play tray.
Number 2. Easter Bunting
Next up is Easter Bunting! I love getting crafty but I know I need to keep things simple for my toddler. I ordered a pack of Easter themed craft supplies from The Works and was really excited to see how my wee boy would get on. The pack included large Easter shapes made of card, coloured paper, tissue paper, pom poms, Easter stickers, googly eyes and glue. I also bought a pack of Easter stamps.
I laid all of the materials out on the tuff tray and asked my toddler if he wanted to help. He sat on the Tray and I offered him one item at a time. He took to it straight away and I was amazed at the care and precision he used with the stamps. I prompted my toddler to stamp, glue and stick. We did two shapes at a time. When he had finished each shape, I took it away and gave him a new one. Once we were finished, I cut holes in the top of each shape and threaded through some string. Simple!
Number 3. Easter Topic Tray
I love teaching my toddler about new things. Topic Trays are one of my favourite ways to do it! That's why I have included our Easter Topic Tray as number three on our list of top ten Easter activities for toddlers.
I try to include a variety of textures, colourful and bright objects to explore, and simple tasks
to complete. Easter is a great time for toddlers to learn about Spring,
animals, religion, and family traditions.
Our Easter Topic Tray included sensory rice, tissue paper, sponges and pipe cleaners for a variety of textures and materials to explore. I made sure to include a book as well as items that would help to stimulate conversations about what Easter means. This is also a great way to expand your child's vocabulary.
I placed a real daffodil and tree branch on the tray
to introduce nature and Spring. We also had plastic eggs, painted boiled eggs
and an egg box to play with. The puzzle pieces were colour themed and were
buried underneath the rice for toddler to rescue.
My toddler loved this invitation to play and learn. What will you put on your Topic Tray?
Number 4. Easter Rice Scoop
Number four on my list of the top ten Easter activities for toddlers is the Easter Rice Scoop. This is a fantastic sensory play idea as well as a great
activity for developing fine motor skills. The sensory rice is super easy to
make. All you need is rice, gel food
colouring and white vinegar!
If you don't have the time to make the Sensory Rice, cereal and large pom poms could also work as a play base for this activity. Just provide utensils for scooping!
Why not also try burying
toys or flash cards for your toddler to find? I made these printable Easter Flashcards and you can grab a copy for FREE here.
Number 5. Easter Egg Paint & Roll
Painting Easter Eggs is a classic early years art activity, so it had to be included in my list of the top ten Easter activities for toddlers. To prepare the eggs, just place them in a pan of cold water. Bring to the boil and cook for 7-10 minutes. Once cooked, drain and rinse the eggs in cold water. I also popped mine in the fridge overnight as they are much easier to peel when properly cold.
We used three different painting methods. The Marble Roll, The Finger
Paint & the Acrylic Paint.
The Marble Roll
To give your little ones a chance to practice egg rolling and achieve a fantastic Marble effect, try out the 'The Marble Roll!'.
You will need a large dish or tray. I used a casserole dish. Place blobs of gel food colouring across your dish. Peel a cold, boiled egg and place in the dish. Use a spoon to roll the egg across the dish and through the colouring. Once your toddler has had a go, use a fork or tooth pick to spear the egg and dip the top and bottom of the egg. We displayed ours in a snack dish afterwards. However, this is definitely process art and does not lead to a dry painted egg!
The Finger Paint
If you would prefer a quick drying option, then you want my 'Finger Paint' technique. Place a boiled egg (shell on) into an egg cup. Give your toddler some non-toxic, water based, poster paint on a plate. Allow them to dip their fingers into the paint and then onto the egg. Once dry, use PVA glue to stick on googly eyes, felt shapes or sequins.
The Acrylic Paint
Alternatively, use paint brushes and non-toxic acrylic paint to carefully paint a design onto your boiled egg.
When your eggs are finished, remember to roll them! Down a hill, a ramp or in the grass!
Number 6. Easter Glove Puppet Game
Number six on my list of the top ten Easter activities for toddlers is the Easter
Glove Puppet Game! You can grab the FREE printable photo cards for this activity here.
I attended baby massage classes which were the most wonderfully calm, welcoming experience with my new baby. We learned to use exfoliating gloves as a fantastic sensory toy!
Not only are exfoliating gloves colourful and textured, but they actually work really well with Velcro! This is a great way to keep babies engaged while singing nursery rhymes and it is fantastic for teaching toddlers to count!
For Easter, I have created these photo cards of chicks, rabbits and piglets to play with by pulling on and off our gloves! It makes a great prop when singing nursery rhymes. Here are some song ideas:
This Little Piggy
Sleeping Bunnies
Five little ducks
You can grab a FREE copy of the printable animal cards
here.
Number 7. Easter Colour Splash
I
couldn't do an activity list for toddlers without including some kind of water
play. So number seven on my list of the top ten Easter activities for toddlers had to be
the Easter Colour Splash!
I bought these pipettes from Amazon. We have loved playing with them and a tray full of snow! Now it is getting warmer, I wanted to do a water tray with Easter eggs and sponges to explore. My toddler is fascinated by colours at the moment, so I included coloured water.
The coloured water was made by simply filling dishes with water and adding a few drops of gel food colouring. I matched the pipette to the dish of coloured water and showed my son how to squeeze the pipette and suck up the water. He then used it to colour the plain water and even put little drops onto his sponges. We had lots of fun with this Easter Colour Splash activity!
Number 8. Easter Cards
Greetings
cards are an important part of most celebrations and Easter is no different.
That's why making Easter Cards had to be on my list of top ten Easter activities for toddlers. We kept it super simple and created Spring themed cards with a
cupcake case as the top of the flower. This gave my toddler the chance to use a
glue stick again which is a new skill we introduced this month. He also loved
using his Easter themed stamps and washable markers.
You can also add an extra personal touch to your cards by adding a toddler hand and footprint using paint. It's easy to turn a foot print into a carrot and a hand print into a bunny. Grandparents are sure to love this personal keepsake at Easter!
Number 9. Easter Tree
Trees aren't just for Christmas. Number nine on my list of the top ten Easter activities for toddlers is an Easter Tree! Did you know decorating trees at Easter is actually an age old German tradition? Trees begin to bloom at this time of year and eggs symbolise new life. So why not embrace the season, decorate your home and teach your toddler about Spring with an Easter Tree?
We went on a couple of walks before we found the perfect branch for our Easter tree. I then filled a glass vase with lentils and oats to weigh down the branch. My toddler loved helping to fill the vase and run his fingers through the lentils and oats.
We kept our decorations simple. I cut out egg shapes from shiny card and Joseph decorated them with Easter stickers. Then we cut a hole in the top and threaded pipe cleaners through it so that we could hang our ornaments on the tree. We even popped a few stickers on the vase. And voila! An Easter Tree to play with and a cute display in the window.
Number 10. Egg Hunt Practice
I couldn't have a list of the top ten Easter activities for toddlers without including an Egg Hunt!
Cultural traditions are important and we can only really understand them by being involved. It's important to remember that our little ones are brand new to this life and annual traditions have only cropped up two or three times in our toddler's lifetime. If you are planning an Egg Hunt on the big day, make sure you get in a bit of practice! You know what they say practice makes perfect.
You don't need to use chocolate eggs for Egg Hunt Practice. I bought these plastic refillable toy eggs from The Works. But you can also use boiled eggs, lemons, egg shapes cut out of cardboard, or why not try a bunny theme and hunt carrots instead?
The important thing is to teach our toddlers how to carry a basket and how to look around their environment for particular objects. It will be helpful to show your child the object you are looking for before you begin and demonstrate how to place it in the basket. Walk around with your toddler and talk about how to look for something behind, underneath and on top of other objects. This is a super fun game at any age and can be made even cuter by a pair of bunny ears!
Are you ready for Easter?
I hope you are excited to start celebrating Easter with your toddler! Will you try some of these activities? Have i missed any extra special Easter activities off my list? Let me know! You can email me at vikki@craftytoddlercompany.co.uk or tag me @craftytoddlercompany in your posts!
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