Easter is right around the corner and despite Covid still being rampant (can you believe it’s been over a year!?) it’s certainly not canceled (you can’t cancel Jesus, am I right?!) Here are some fun learning activities that celebrate Christ’s resurrection- and of course Mr. Easter Bunny too- that you can do with your little leading up to Easter Sunday or even the day before (just pick and choose what you think your little would like!) I highly recommend doing a resurrection egg hunt and using them to tell the story of Jesus’s crucifixion and triumph over sin and death- it’s a heavy topic for littles, but the small toy-like items in the eggs help make the story more memorable for kids. Don’t forget to hop on over to my toddler post “Hopping Down the Bunny Trail” for some fun art activities like a water color Easter egg hunt and an Easter egg rescue activity!
–Literacy:
-ABC Easter egg hunt: This was so much fun and my little loved it! You just pop your ABC magnets in some Easter eggs, hide them around the house or outside, have your little find them all, then have them open them and identify the letter hidden inside one by one! I got this idea from A Little Pinch of Perfect.
-Easter egg upper and lowercase matching: I wrote an uppercase letter on the top half of each plastic egg and the matching lowercase letter on the bottom half. Then I separated them and had my little match upper to lowercase (I did them in color batches so he couldn’t use the color of the eggs to help him!)
-E is for Easter: The letter of the week this week was E for Easter (or egg in the case of the worksheet I found! LoL) You could also do B is for bunny or J is for jelly bean (or Jesus!) if your little has already mastered the letter E. We practiced the letter E each day throughout the week during our calendar time, and on the last day I had my little complete this letter E writing practice page. I also added a letter hunt in the blank spots by writing a bunch of E’s mixed in with other letters and had my little hunt for them and dot them after he practiced his writing.
-The story of Easter read and retell: Before doing this activity, we did the resurrection egg activity under the science/social studies category below. Then we read the Easter story in our Jesus Storybook Bible (I highly recommend this edition if you don’t have a copy! We have read it countless times and if I try to switch to another kids’ Bible, my littles complain! LoL) Then I had my little retell the story using the props from the eggs to guide him (I put them in the correct order first to help him along).
-Easter booklist: Here are some secular and religious Easter stories we enjoyed this week! The first 5 are secular and the last 3 Christian. We also read the Easter story in our Bible!
–Math:
-Easter egg hunt and jelly bean counting: I put 3 jelly beans in each of 10 plastic eggs then hid them around the house. After my littles had found them all, I opened them and placed all the beans in the center of the table. I had my preschooler count them, then divide them by 2 (division is really just making equal shares, so why not introduce it early, right?!) so he and his brother had the same amount (he chose to do this by using the “one for you, one for me” method- totally preschool appropriate!)
-Easter egg number stamping: For this activity, I cut out an egg shape then drew lines on it with all the numbers my little is still working on between 1 and 10 on it- one per line. Then I had him identify the number and use Easter stamps to show the number- stickers would work too! I got this idea from PreKinders.
-Easter number book: I folded 3 half sheets of paper and stapled them to make a book. I wrote a number 1-10 on each page (with a title on the cover) and had my little identify each number then use Easter stamps to show the number. You can also use stickers!
-Easter egg number and dot match: There are so many fun activities you can do with Easter eggs- I found this one last year and made the set, so I knew we had to pull it out again! You just write the numbers 1-10 on the bottom of some plastic Easter eggs (one number per egg). Then put dots on the top half to match each number. Disassemble the eggs and have your little count the dots and find each number then match them. I got this idea from Raising Dragons.
–Science/Social Studies:
-Sink or float Easter eggs: Fill 6+ plastic Easter eggs with different items (pennies, small erasers, pom poms, beads, dried beans, rice, etc.) Show your little what’s in each one, then have them feel the weight of it and predict if it will sink or float. Have them test it out in the sink or in a Tupperware shoebox container. We also tried it with a real egg! I got this from Lessons for Little Ones.
-Egg in colored vinegar: We’ve probably all done the “egg in vinegar” experiment with our littles where you place an egg in vinegar for a few days and the acid eats away the shell, but my little and I decided to see what would happen if we added food coloring to the egg! He thought the colored vinegar would still eat away the shell, but was curious to learn if the color could actually permeate the egg itself!
-Salt of the earth painting: For social studies, I told my little that in the Bible Jesus said Christians are the “salt of the Earth”. I asked him what he thought that meant, and used a few leading questions (ie. “Why do we put salt on food?” “Since salt makes food better, why would Jesus call us “salt”?” “What can we do to make the world better?”) to spur the discussion along. Then I drew a cross with wet glue and sprinkled salt on it. I shook off the excess and gave my little his set of watercolor paints and showed him how to gently touch the loaded paintbrush to the salt. The water (and paint) moves only through the salt if this is done carefully, so that you end up with a colorful cross!
-Resurrection eggs: You can buy a set of these on Amazon, but it’s free and pretty easy to just make your own (plus it’ll save ya $20!) I used a small piece of palm leaf (Palm Sunday), a small sample bottle of perfume (woman anoints Jesus), an oyster cracker (last supper), a dime (Judas betrays Jesus), a flower (garden of Gethsemane), a screw (I couldn’t find a nail in the garage…), a rock (to seal the tomb) and an empty egg (the empty tomb). You can also use some cloves to represent the spices the women were taking to prepare Jesus’s body after he died, a torn piece of cloth to represent the veil in the temple tearing, a small cross from a necklace- whatever you like really! So here’s what you do- place each of the items in an egg and hide them. Have your little find them all first, then open them up. I had my little try to guess what each item represented in the story of Easter from the Bible since he’s already familiar with it. Then I put the items in the correct order and used them to tell the story.
–Art:
-Cross chalk art: Cut out a cross and attach it to a sheet of black paper with ticky tack. Then have your little color with chalk all around the cross. When they’re done have them blend the colors with their finger. Then peel away the paper cross to reveal it’s “shadow” in the chalk!
–Supply/shopping list:
- 36+ plastic Easter eggs (that sounds like a lot- but they’re like $1 for 12 so it’s only $3 worth!)
- ABC magnets
- Easter stamps or dot markers
- jelly beans
- salt
- watercolor paints
- egg
- vinegar
- yarn
- shoebox sized storage container (or sink)
littlelovesandlearning.com 
