Easy Easter Activities

By Stacie Gaetz

He’s back! The Easter bunny is almost ready to hop his way into our homes and hearts once again.

His visit means two things:

• your kids are about to be on a chocolate-induced sugar high, and
• they have holiday time off school (so it’s up to you to divert that energy into something that won’t get them into trouble.)

Here are our top 7 easy Easter activities that won’t require you to bound to the store for supplies:

1. Egg and Spoon Race

This classic game is the perfect way to get the family out of their seats and off of their screens. It’s fun for all ages and it’s up to you whether you use a raw egg, one you have decorated, or a plastic egg (if you want to bring it indoors.) Do it individually, relay-style or one-legged to ramp up the fun factor.

• Jellybean Guessing Games

Fill any jar or container in your house with jellybeans and get each family member to guess how many are in there. The winner gets them all and it’s up to them whether they want to share their spoils. Alternatively, you can buy the small jellybeans that have a variety of flavors and perform a taste test to see who can correctly guess which flavor they are munching on.

• Easter Egg Charades

Those plastic Easter eggs don’t have to just hold candy, let them be the vessel that holds the prompts for your next game of charades. Bump up the Easter factor by putting only holiday themed clues in the eggs like “bunny,” “egg,” “carrot,” and “basket.” Alternatively, use the plastic shapes to house ideas for “egg-ercizes” such as “5 jumping jacks” or “3 push ups.”

• Make an Easter Wreath

This is one where the possibilities are endless. Whether you choose to make it out of paper, fake flowers, plastic eggs or even candy (like chocolate eggs or peeps.) Work together to make one with the whole family for the front door or let each kid make their own out of the items they choose for their bedroom door.

• Coloring Pages

Sometimes the easiest activities are the best. My windows are currently covered with dozens of free printable Easter colouring sheets. If your kids aren’t big on coloring but like to do activities, there are a number of those that you can print off too with everything from Easter themed mazes, crosswords, word searches and even bingo. (Bump up the bingo fun by using jellybeans as the placeholders.)

• Dye it Different

You didn’t think you were going to get through this list without the “dying eggs” suggestion, did you? We wanted to switch it up a bit though. Instead of just using vinegar and food colouring, why not add a bit of tactile fun to the mix? Use shaving foam or Cool Whip to expand your egg dying experience this year. The foam texture creates a beautiful marble effect on the eggs and gives the colour a softer tone. Other unique items you can use to dye eggs include rice, baking soda, confetti, oil, fabric and tissue paper.

• Get in the Game

Almost any game that you can think of can be turned into an Easter extravaganza! Try pin the tail on the bunny; a matching game featuring eggs, chicks, carrots, flowers etc; a bean bag toss where the goal is to get the chick in its egg or bunny in its burrow; or even a ring toss with bunny ears as the poles.

Whatever activities you get up to this Easter, make sure you take the time to remember that at its core, the holiday represents a time that we can slow down a bit and enjoy our family’s company (with the added bonus of some tasty treats delivered by our long-eared friend).