Easter Eggs
Plastic Easter eggs are great for hunting on Easter morning but I like using them for learning. These 7 easy learning activities all use plastic eggs and can be done before or after Easter. If you recycle your eggs year to year many of these activities will still work although you might need to wipe paint off a few . Do you have a plastic egg idea not listed? Add your link or idea in comments.
Roll & Paint – Math and painting activity.
Easy Peasy Color Matching
Plastic Egg Letters
Sink & Float – Egg Science
Upper & Lowercase Letter Match
Egg Bugs
Bunny & Egg Color Match
Painting rocks is a classic craft and a family favorite around here. When my daughter and I gathered rocks outside I didn’t tell her what they were for knowing if I asked her what she wanted to do with them she’d say ” Let’s paint!” and she did. We used Martha Stewart paints that I got for this post last spring. I love these paints for adult crafts but they are not at all washable. Have wet sponges on hand for anything that might get paint on it like little boots that trail across your deck… for example. You could do this with more kid friendly paint but I just love the colors that this paint comes in and frankly it’s what I had on hand.
- Gather your materials. You will need some rocks , paint ( this is all weather so the eggs can be put outside) , brushes, a drop cloth like a paper grocery bag and sponges or a wet rag to clean up spills.
- Paint.
- After some pink
she decided like many of her favorite clothes this egg needed to have polka dots. 
- While she made the dots I made a striped egg.
- She helped me choose a few of the colors for the other eggs but after her big polka dot one she was ready to move on to playing in our garden while I had a blast painting in the sun.
She came back a few times to observe and give me tips like ” Make it polka dots!” . Toddlers aren’t made to sit for a long time carefully working on projects so don’t take it personally if they have enough way before you thought they would.
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Time is not in abundance here. It seems like after getting kids where they need to be, food in our fridge, clean clothes and floors there is not as much time as I thought there would be. That is why I love activities like this Easter egg craft that work on developing a skill like fine or gross motor skills as well as teaches a lesson and gives my daughter free reign on how the craft will look. Most arts and craft projects have some fine motor work but using q-tips amps it up when time is short. Creativity, art lesson and fine motor. All in about 8 minutes. Toddlers don’t sit long, they aren’t meant to so don’t force them to. Keep things short sweet and packed full of learning disguised as play.
- Gather your materials. You will need some sturdy paper ( like paper plates), paint ( any colors but you must include white), some containers or tray like an ice cube tray to mix the paint and q tips.
- Start by cutting out your eggs.
- Next pour some paint in your tray. Talk about the colors. Add white to each color and have your child mix the paint.
What happened to the color? This is a basic lesson on tints. As kids learn their colors the next step is to see the differentiation and results of color mixing. I love adding white to make lighter tints of the same colors. This is especially great with toddlers who insist on only ever using 1-2 of their favorite colors. Since doing this activity late last week my daughter has been evaluating colors in our house ” Dat light gween Mama, not dark gween.” it’s pretty fun to see her put her new knowledge to work.
- After all the tints have been mixed pour a little more of the original color in an adjacent container or slot in the tray. Make note of the difference. Ask your child which tint of each pair they like the best. As you can see she chose light pink.
- Time to paint.
This has no desired result other than exploration. Let your child explore how the q-tip makes marks on their egg. They will naturally be holding the q-tip in a pincer grasp and controlling it will be giving their fine motor skills a good work out.
- She explored with dots and stripes.
- I started making a polka dot one too and after she finished her two eggs she joined me in covering mine with dots. Let dry and if you want use as little Easter cards for loved ones. As soon as her’s were dry she gave them to her brother. Who thankfully was full of praise for her efforts. Kids love giving away their art so if you find yourself drowning in it start sending it to loved ones who will no doubt love it.
For more about fine motor check out this Google+ Spring Into Education chat ( you might recognize a face or two)
by Allison McDonaldThis uppercase lowercase letter match activity is not ground breaking but combining it with an Easter theme helps makes letter recognition practice and skill development into play. Adding a fun novelty like a holiday theme does wonders for kids motivation and a motivated child is a child ready to learn. This activity is part of our Alphabet for Starters series which focuses on fun playful ways to learn the alphabet. A few easy adaptations for different levels would be doing a straight identical letter match having only all lower or all uppercase letters and doing this with sight words for emergent readers.
- Gather your materials. I got this egg tray at Walmart for under a dollar. I almost bought all 4 colors but I restrained myself and let my daughter pick her favorite color. You could use an egg carton just as effectively no need to buy anything special. You will also need some paper, marker , plastic Easter eggs and a bucket for the eggs. A circle paper punch is optional for the letters in the tray. You may also want some tape to tape the paper in the tray down. Ours got staticky and interrupted the flow a few times.
- Start by writing lowercase letters on small pieces of paper. Try to include a majority of letters your child knows ( about 2/3) and some you know have been challenging in the past. This will hopefully give them a good balance of ” This is challenging but I can do it!” which is the perfect zone for learning.
- Pop them in your tray.
- Write the corresponding upper case letters on the eggs in marker.
- Put the eggs in the bucket and invite your letter matcher to the table.
- Start matching.
She wanted to put the lowercase letter in the egg after matching them which is a fun add on even though a few of the eggs didn’t want to close back up and that frustrated her greatly. I think an older child would do wonderfully with this add on even if it proved to be too much for a 2 year old. I was tricky for her but with some help she got it. After that it was smooth sailing.
I thought Q would give her trouble but she was a champ.
Celebrate any and all victories. 
Books About Easter
Where Are Baby’s Easter Eggs?
The Best Easter Eggs Ever!
The Night Before Easter
Easter has kinda snuck up on me this year but I am proud to say my Christmas ornaments are finally put away. Well except that one roll of wrapping paper that was too tall for the container. After seeing Easter candy everywhere this week I thought I should share some of our favorite Easter egg crafts from years past. These are easy crafts that are fun to make and all but one are dye free . We will have a bunch of new Easter and other spring crafts on the way soon .
Marshmallow Easter Egg
Easter Egg Magnets
Easter Egg Yogurt Treats
E is for Easter Egg
Texture Egg
Yarn Easter Egg
Easter Egg Waffles
Tape Resist Easter Egg
Easter Egg Bugs
Easter Egg Letter Game
Easter Egg Sun Catcher
Polka Dot Dyed Eggs
Van Gogh Inspired Easter Eggs
Bubble Wrap Easter Eggs
Roll & Paint with Easter Eggs Dice Game
Still not enough? Check out 2 Dozen Egg Activities over on Kids Activities Blog or 10 Easter Egg Decorating ideas on Red Ted Art and 26 New Ways to Decorate Easter Eggs on Hands On As We Grow.
