Easter Circle Time Activities For Preschool

One Little Bunny – Preschool Circle Time Game For Easter

This is a simple game that I use and reuse with different themes all year long. Here is how you play: Start by placing all the students on one side of the circle time area and sit across from them, facing them. Next, tell them all that today, you will pretend to be little bunnies, and when they are called over, they must hop all the way to you.

Now sing this song ( to the tune of One Elephant)

One little bunny went out to play
in the grass on a spring day
they had such enormous fun
that they called for _____ bunny to come.

Count how many bunnies you have in your group, then continue with 2, 3, 4… little bunnies.

The _____ can be filled in with whatever you want. You can keep it simple and call out student names, give each child a number or letter like I do with One Little Letter, or give them colored easter bunnies and call out the color. I’ll use the printable below saying ” that they called for the number 10 bunny to come” because we are working hard to recognize numbers. Feel free to print it for free here.

The Easter Version of Head Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

This little song will be a big hit at circle time on Easter week! You don’t need to learn too much because it’s a song you already know, with a few adjustments for Easter. I’ve written out the lyrics to the Easter version first, then again with the suggested movements.

Ears, whiskers, fluffy tail, fluffy tail,
Ears, whiskers, fluffy tail, fluffy taillllllll,
A big straw basket full of Easter eggs,
Ears, whiskers, fluffy tail, fluffy tail!

Ears(put your hands on your head like ears),
whiskers ( move your hands to look like you are wiping whiskers)
fluffy tail ( point to your bottom), fluffy tail ( point to your bottom)
Ears(put your hands on your head like ears),
whiskers( move your hands to look like you are wiping whiskers),
fluffy tail( point to your bottom), fluffy taillllllll ( this time add a wiggle as you draw out the final tail)
A big heavy basket full of Easter eggs( mime having a big, heavy basket on your arm)
Ears, whiskers, fluffy tail, fluffy tail! ( repeat all the previous movements).

The Biggest Easter Egg

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This is a great way to work on a basic skill with some holiday excitement as a motivator. You can use foam eggs or my printable below. You will also want to have a basket. If your class is very large and you want every child to have a turn, use this measurement lesson at free choice or small group instead.

I often read Steven Kroll’s The Biggest Easter Basket Ever before this activity and say we must find the biggest egg to help fill their giant Easter baskets! Then, show the students your basket of eggs and tell them you need help getting them from smallest to largest. I call this activity the biggest egg, but not in classes where competition is high. Instead, say we must put the eggs in order so the Easter Bunny can get them to the right baskets.

Pull the eggs out of the basket one at a time. Ask for student volunteers to come up, and as they do, as a group, decide where to put the egg in the order. “Where should Tiffany put the purple egg? Next to the green one?” Keep going. You can use as few as 3 eggs or all in the printable. Remember, the key to great preschool is good differentiation! Throughout the lesson, make sure to use a lot of math vocabulary. This lesson is the perfect time to work on positional words.

Easter Egg Mystery Number

On Fridays, my class does a Mystery Number activity with mini erasers. The kiddos usually work in pairs to count and then check how many mini-erasers are in a small container I have given them. Then they tell me the answer, and we see if the number is the same number hidden in our mystery number pouch.

On Easter week, we will skip the little containers and have big sparkly easter eggs filled with easter mini erasers. It’s a simple adjustment but they are going to love it! Here is how I do it:

Tell your students you have a number hidden in an envelope or pouch. They aren’t going to guess the number; they will figure it out by counting. Hand out the eggs, tell them they must open them up, and count what’s inside to discover the mystery number. When they know the number, they must sit with bunny ears on their heads so I know they’re done counting. This lets me check on any kiddos struggling. Then we all check the number in the pouch to see if it matches… it always does!

I usually do this in pairs, but I will do it solo for the special Easter version and keep the number simple. Pairing is usually my very intentional peer scaffolding. This week, I will have them do this, and then they will get to take the egg home.

Easter Egg Directed Drawing

I love using directed drawing at circles with mini whiteboards. If you aren’t familiar with this type of activity check out an in-depth description of directed drawing here.

For this prek easter activity, I would start with a question of the day like ” What shape are Easter eggs?” This would be a quick question to answer, but offer me a great segue to the activity. “Yes, Easter eggs are oval, but can they be decorated with other shapes? Let’s try!”

Hand out the whiteboards, or you can use paper if you prefer. I like whiteboards and dry-erase boards because they create less frustration and allow children to change the design mid-process. Tell the students they must draw the shapes you call out to decorate their egg. Then you say, “Add one heart to your easter egg, add two lines, add three triangles…” Adjust this to your students!

I hope these Easter circle time activities are helpful for your preschoolers this Easter week!

Same or different? Symmetry and Matching Activity

All you need for this lesson is a pocket chart or magnet board ( and magnets), a laminator, scissors, and this printable. There are 10 different Easter eggs in this printable, so you have two options for using them, depending on your class size and ability. Print out the eggs, laminate them, and cut them in half lengthwise. If you have a magnet board, add magnets. If not, use your pocket chart or just lay the eggs in the middle of the circle.

This is a great short circle time activity that you can adjust as needed. Read any Easter Book about Easter eggs and then ask your students for help matching up these eggs that have been split in half! I like this because it helps me gently and authentically teach about symmetry and very basic fractions.

If you have a class of 10 or fewer, start this lesson by handing out the right half of all the eggs to your students. You keep the left. Place them one at a time on the board or in the chart, asking for the student who has the other half to come up. While you do this, use the vocabulary we want to teach, saying things like, “Oh, Miles, you’re right, your half of the egg is the same height as mine!” ” Look, Brooke, your half of the egg comes together with my half to make a whole!” ” Oh, Missy, you noticed that your egg was the smallest, too!” We aren’t quizzing them on these terms, we are introducing them.”

If you have a large class, you can hand out all the eggs, inviting one child to put their half of the egg up first and then looking for the match. This can get long, which can lead to serious disruptions. Instead, with a larger group, I would suggest you put all the left-hand halves on the board and then hold up two options, asking the class to point to the one that matches. Again, using all those math vocabulary words we want to introduce our students to. Then, after circle time, use these eggs as a free-choice matching activity.

Need more Easter Activities For Preschool?

Check out more wonderful Easter crafts for toddlers and preschoolers here!