Helen Broadhead provides us with some useful ideas for how to keep the children occupied this Easter. She qualified at Leeds College of Art and Design doing an advanced GNVQ in art and Design and furthered this with a degree in Textile and Surface pattern Design, which she potponed after 2 years to concentrate on her fast growing small business. Helen’s online store can be found at http://www.helenbroadhead.co.uk
Easter is such a fun time for children and a great opportunity to explore different crafts. Below are examples of simple crafts and games that you can enjoy together. As well as being fun the activities are all educational encouraging children to develop hand/eye co-ordination and fine motor skills.
Crafts
Easter Card Why not make a beautiful home made card with your children? Hand made cards are especially nice to give to family and friends.
Example 1- Easter Egg
Using colourful paper cut out an Easter egg oval shape. Stick this to the card using child’s glue for example PVA glue or pritt stick. Decorate the egg using glitter, different coloured paper (you could recycle paper found on packaging and shiny crisp packets fro example), ribbon or paint. You could put zigzags across the egg, spots on the egg or draw a picture on the egg for example.
Example 2- Fun Rabbit
Stick 2 cotton wool balls onto a the card one above the other, using child friendly glue such as PVA glue or pritt stick. Onto the top cotton wool ball place 2 googly eyes or if you don’t have these 2 black circles. Cut out 2 bunny ear shapes from card and stick these above the top cotton wool ball. Using a smaller piece of cotton wool stick to one side of the bottom cotton wool ball. This is the rabbit’s tail. You can also make whiskers using pipe cleaners and attach these to the rabbit’s face. Add painted flowers and grass around the base of the card to finish the card beautifully. You could also glue hay or straw if this is available.
Bunny Ears
Using an old head band or hat. Cut out 2 ear shapes from large pieces of card. Paint these in bunny colours for example brown or grey with pink. Stick these to the hat or head band to produce fun bunny ears. You could also stick cotton wool to the ears to make them fluffy!
Using an old head band or hat. Cut out 2 ear shapes from large pieces of card. Paint these in bunny colours for example brown or grey with pink. Stick these to the hat or head band to produce fun bunny ears. You could also stick cotton wool to the ears to make them fluffy! Painted Eggs Decorate hard boiled eggs with glitter, cotton wools balls, feathers, paint, fabric scraps and coloured paper. You could make a rabbit by cutting out 2 ear shapes from card and sticking these to the back of the egg. Then cut out 2 eyes or use googly eyes and stick these to the eggs. Use pipe cleaners for the whiskers and a cotton wool ball stuck to the back makes a great tail!
Egg Basket
Blow up a balloon. Using tissue paper or newspaper and PVA glue stick this to the balloon. When you covered the balloon with 2 layers and no gaps leave it until the paper sets solid. When this is done using a shape knife (this must be done by an adult) cut a slit through the paper and burst the balloon. Cut out 2 large circles on opposite sides of the balloon to create a handle and base like a basket shape. Decorate this by painting, sticking glitter, coloured sparkly paper and ribbon all over it.
Blow up a balloon. Using tissue paper or newspaper and PVA glue stick this to the balloon. When you covered the balloon with 2 layers and no gaps leave it until the paper sets solid. When this is done using a shape knife (this must be done by an adult) cut a slit through the paper and burst the balloon. Cut out 2 large circles on opposite sides of the balloon to create a handle and base like a basket shape. Decorate this by painting, sticking glitter, coloured sparkly paper and ribbon all over it.
Inside the basket fill with straw, hay or shredded paper and fill with chocolate eggs. These make great presents and are really fun for the children to make! and can be made to any size!
Easter Games
Easter Egg Races!
1- Find a small hill. Using hard boiled eggs paint them all different colours. Each person has their own egg and starting at the top of the hill, roll them down, the first person to reach the bottom of the hill is the winner! This is a great game for all the family to take part in.
2- Mark out a start and finish line on the floor (inside or out). Using different coloured hard boiled eggs, each person has to roll the egg using only their nose. The first person to cross the finish line is the winner!
Easter Egg Hunts!
1- Mark all the eggs with different set colours. Give each child a particular colour. This is the colour they have to look for. Time the game and the child with the most eggs of their colour wins! This means its fun for every child and no child misses out!
2- Mark each egg with a child’s name. The first child to find the egg with their name on wins the prize!
Easter is a fun time for adults and children, but lets not forget why Easter evolved. A good site for information on Easter traditions is http://www.easter-traditions.com Here you can find out where the Easter bunny came from, what the significance of the Easter is and Easter traditions such as Easter Sunday, Easter baskets and much more.
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