Looking for things to do with kids this Easter? Look no further; here are our top TEN things to do, wherever you are!
1. Chocolate Easter Egg Nest Cakes
A Golden Oldie, a favourite for generations, probably because they’re just so quick and easy to make with small children in tow, it’s the Corn Flake cake we all know and love!
You’ll find an easy-peasy, no-baking-needed, recipe to follow, perfect for an Easter afternoon at home, here.
2. Bonnet-Making
Easter, has long been seen as a time to celebrate new life and the spring season, a time to dust off the cobwebs of winter; and so, it’s hardly surprising that, over the years, churchgoers have marked the celebration with the wearing of new Sunday Best: new clothes or a new hat, and from this, has come the tradition of the Easter Bonnet.
Easter bonnets come in all shapes and in some staggering sizes; they don’t have to be expensive; they can be as simple as cardboard crown decorated with flowers, or as complex as an entirely reconstructed and rethought top hat. I think that the point in making Easter bonnets with your children is to take time to make something fun together.
Hobbycraft have put together some fun Easter bonnet ideas: here.
3. The National Trust
Wherever you are in this country (apologies if you’re not UK-based, there will be alternatives available to you, just ask Google!) you will be able to find an Easter egg hunt somewhere near you and whilst there are a wealth of options out there; I have to confess to having a favourite.
The National Trust. I have been doing National Trust Easter egg hunts for nearly 30 years now, from charging around Penrhyn Castle in my youth, to exploring Mottisfont with my own children, the experience will never get old to me. I think there’s something glorious about strolling past daffodil-filled meadows, through knot gardens and courtyards, inside historic houses whose walls have seen hundreds of Easters before this one, and winding up collecting a chocolate egg from a volunteer in the Tea Room. To me, you can’t really get more ‘Eastery’ than that!
You can find your local National Trust Easter egg hunt: here.
4. Potato Printing Easter Eggs
You can’t beat an Easter craft, and one of my favourites is this super-simple potato printing one (photo shown here is from Clumsy Crafter).
Simply slice a potato in half, and carve in to the potato any pattern you like, you could do stripes, zig-zags, polka dots, letters, whatever takes your fancy. Then, (for a smoother finish, brush on the paint) and let your little people stamp away! Perfect for Easter cards, decorations or just for fun!
5. Egg and Spoon Races
Once that spring sunshine does start shining through again, there’s no reason not to be outside and Easter is the perfect time for an egg and spoon race. If you’re feeling confident, you can use real eggs, if you’re less certain, or if you're racing with young children: wooden eggs, ping pong balls, pom-poms and (if you can hold off from eating them) Mini Eggs all work well too!
6. Veg Patch
Easter is the perfect time to crack on with a spot of gardening; why not get your little ones involved: visit your local garden centre together, choose some seedlings and give the children the responsibility of caring for them. Cultivate a veg patch, grow sunflowers, make cress-haired egg-shell people – spend some time together being green-fingered; my children love nothing better than getting grubby-fingered and muddy-knee-d, watching their tomato plants grow, watching their flowers climb.
7. Chocolate Fondue
If, come Easter Sunday, you find yourselves buried under a mass of chocolate eggs, why not make a chocolate fondue! Melt down the chocolate and, literally, make a meal of it, as a family. I like One Handed Cooks’ recipe (here) but how you make yours is up to you! Serve with fresh fruit, marshmallow, bread, pretzels, biscuits – the choice is yours!
8. Easter Tree
One of my daughter’s favourite things to do at Easter is to make her ‘Easter Tree’, because, in our house, decorated trees are not just for Christmas!
Our ‘tree’ is, in fact, not even a tree, but instead a tall vase of twigs and branches, that my daughter militantly collects in the days leading up to Easter. We then decorate the ‘tree’ with wooden and papier-mâché eggs and it sits proudly on display until my husband says that “Easter was weeks ago” and that we really should take it down.
If you have a tiny twig collector in the family, then this is a lovely way to involve the children in decorating for Easter, if you’re not up for the rigorous ‘checks’ each stick must undergo during the branch-collecting process(!) , then there are plenty of beautiful, ready-made Easter trees in the shops nowadays.
9. Wreath-Making
Wreaths have been used as celebratory accessories and decorative features for thousands and thousands of years; almost every culture in the world incorporates the making of wreaths at some point in their year.
Easter wreaths, much like their Christmassy counterparts, can be as minimal or as decadent as you like, and it’s this factor that makes wreath-making a really kiddie-friendly activity; whether you make a paper plate wreath with cut and stick Easter images, or you wind evergreen foliage and spring flowers into a willow ring base, making a wreath together is a great way to spend a few hours of your Easter holiday. Hang it on your front door, use it as a table decoration, wear it as a crown – it's your call!
10. Visit a Farm
It had to be, didn’t it? Spring isn’t spring without seeing fluffy-tailed lambs bouncing around in the fields, or teeny tiny piglets snuggling up to mum, so why not book in to one of the farms near you and go and see, stroke and feed some of this year’s newest arrivals to the birthing pens!
Have a very Happy Easter-time folks, whether you’re celebrating from a religious perspective or not, Spring is on its way and that means that days of sunshine, blossoming flowerbeds, wearing dresses with no tights on (!) and sitting outside, drinking old fashioned lemonade, are on their way soon, and that’s definitely to be celebrated!
Until next week! xx