It has been a long and lonely winter and is anyone surprised at all that Easter has brought so much excitement in the air? My 4 year old has been chatting about how to make the most of this holiday ever since the Christmas tree was packed away!
Though I have to say it has been almost equal parts difficult recently because it seems to be impossible to complete a round of grocery without massive chocolate eggs twinkling mischievously at exactly at her eye level! Recently, we ran an instagram poll asking our followers if they worry about the huge amount of focus on chocolate during the Easter holidays – and we received a resounding 82% YES. So this blog is purely about other fun things we can do around these holidays that are minimal chocolate and maximum fun, so dig in!
PAINT EGGS – This can’t be a surprise! For anyone who loves traditional, this has just got to happen! If you prefer it accident-safe, try craft eggs from Amazon! Whichever one you choose, it’s easiest to divide the project into two parts: (a) Paint the whole egg the base colour (b) Decorate it with designs – we used ear buds, toilet rolls, cut lady’s fingers (okra) and even plain old fingerprints to make colourful patterns in no time! For older kids, this tie-and-dye egg idea is my favourite!
PAPER BAG BUNNIES – If you’ve got leftover paper bags at home, tie them about midway up and cut the top to make into ears! Doesn’t take more than 10 minutes and it’s perfect even for the youngest of the lot! TOP TIP: I would suggest drawing the eyes, whiskers and other rabbit features before you tie them. It can get quite tough later on! Get details on the idea from this article.
ALPHABET EGGS – My daughter’s big on learning to read right now. So we are painting eggs with all first alphabet of every family member’s name. Putting extended family together, we have a fair few alphabets to do the rounds. It also doubles up as a super game of recognise the alphabet and guess the person for little ones! If you’re an expert, maybe try this cross-stitch pattern on eggs to make them ultra-niche!
BUNNY EARS/ HAIRBAND – I don’t know about you, but I refuse to go through an egg hunt without my bunny ears on. So that must explain my absolute mastery at the art. Simple, really – cut a pair of ears out (don’t make them too long otherwise balancing gets tough) and use a pipe cleaner to attach each to a hair band. If you have a hair band that matches your hair colour, you’ve officially aced the game. If you don’t have a hairband already, try making a simple one by cutting a thin strip of craft paper.
PEEKABOO CLOTHESPIN – Paint a small egg in any material you like (glitter foam, if you have it!) and cut across it in a zigzag style. Now add some double sided tape on both ends of the zigzag cut and attach it to a closed clothespin. Now draw out a cute little chick from a separate sheet of paper and attach it to the other end of the paper clip and ta-da! This idea has this niggling habit of sounding much more complicated than it really is, so don’t forget to check out the tutorial video.
EGG HUNT – Want to host an egg hunt that’s different from every other year? We’ve got two brilliant ideas! The first is to use the super cute Finger Family finger puppets as markers through the hunt, so your little one knows where to find eggs! And the second idea is to give them something they’ve been asking you for a while as the big prize instead of chocolate. Whether it’s a toy, book or a certificate for staying up as late as they like for a day!
Et voila! That’s a week filled with fun, craft, laughter and hopefully some sun shine too! Happy Easter, everyone :)
