Fun activities for lockdown Easter
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WITH Easter just around the corner and the kids on holiday, keeping them entertained can be a challenge.
Former primary school teacher Abby Milnes of education resource experts PlanBee has some great Covid-secure activities to entertain your children
Make an Easter basket or box
Challenge your children to design and decorate an Easter basket or box using their imagination, or provide them with a free Easter basket template or a free Easter box template that they can make themselves.
The colouring in part of this activity can be done by children of any age, but the cutting, sticking and assembly parts are more suited to older primary-aged children.
Why not use these baskets to make doorstep deliveries of Easter treats to family and friends?
Decorate eggs
Children in Years 5 or 6 will have a lot of fun with this activity.
Wash out the shells of cracked eggs. If possible keep the two sides of the egg shells in their pairs to help you match them later. Wait for them to dry.
Glue the two shells back together and cover them with tissue paper. The tissue paper will reinforce the joined cracked eggs together. Wait for the tissue paper to dry.
Decorate the covered eggs using paper or paint.
Always wash your hands after touching the egg shells.
You could also paint the eggshells or use food colouring to dye the eggs into different patterns and colours. Why not challenge your children to decorate the eggs as their favourite character?
Easter number challenge
Place numbered eggs in a basket and challenge your children to work out the total value of the basket. Or extend the challenge by giving them a basket with eggs totalling, say, 25 and ask them to place eggs equalling that number in another container.
You can use this free basket and eggs template, or use your own baskets and make your own eggs.
Easter hunt
Add an extra element to your hunt by making a treasure map that reveals a route to the eggs. This gives you the opportunity to hide the eggs in more obscure places which will lengthen out the hunt and develop your children's orienteering skills.
If making a map is a bit more of a challenge than you’re after, you could write clues for the children to decode.
These variations on the typical egg hunt will be especially useful if you need to do the hunt in a small indoor space.
Or you could get your children hunt for their own set of eggs and time how long it takes to find them all. You can cheer them on from the sidelines.
Why not reach out to other families in your community? Suggest families decorate a large egg with a number in the middle and put it in their front window. As you take your walk each day, see how many eggs you can spot in windows. Challenge older children to add up the total of all the numbers they spot.
You could use this free easter colouring poster.
Window decorations
Make stained glass Easter-themed window decorations using black paper, tissue paper and glue.
Get your children to cut out the shape they would like to display. They could make eggs, rabbits, chicks, religious crosses, flowers or anything that takes their fancy.
Place strips of black paper across the design. We found this made sticking the tissue paper easier.
Rip or cut tissue paper and stick it inside the design.
Wait for your design to dry and then display it in the window and wait for the neighbours to admire your family’s creativity!
