Easter Games & Activities

Egg Science
Talk about the parts of an egg - Shell, membrane, albumen, yolk, and germ spot. Crack open some real eggs into plastic bowl and find all the parts. Try some simple egg experiments such as spinning an egg to find out if it is raw or hard-boiled. You might also try floating an egg in plain water and then in salt water (salt water makes the egg buoyant so it floats).
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Who's Hatching Today?
Display a large egg shape and each day hide a picture of a different animal underneath. Give the children three clues about the animal and have them guess the animal of the day.

Egg Guess
Put several small objects in different plastic eggs. Tape them closed and set them on a tray. Encourage the children to shake the eggs and listen carefully to the sound in each one. Try to figure out what is in each one. After several days talk about the possibilities and then open them up to see the real objects.

Surprise Egg
Send each child home with one plastic egg and the following note:

Dear parents,
Your child is bringing home an activity which requires your participation. Your child received one empty "surprise" egg and needs to do the following with you:
1. Find a single object to put in the egg.
2. Have your child tell you three clues about the object. Write the sentences on the clue sheet.
3. Place the clue sheet and the egg in a plastic baggie and return it to
school.

Below is the clue sheet. Fill it out with your child by (Date here).

WHAT'S IN MY SURPRISE EGG?

CLUE #1_________________________________
CLUE #2_________________________________
CLUE #3_________________________________
Child's Name: _______________________________

Easter Bunny "Skipping Game"
Materials needed:
1 Easter Basket (A lightweight, DEEP basket works best)
1 Dozen Plastic Eggs (The fillable kind, but leave them empty)
1 Bunny Ears Headband (I make a white headband, and attach 2 pink "ears" made from construction paper)
1 Record or Tape of any Easter Bunny song (such as "Here Comes Peter Cottontail")

How to play the game: All children stand in a large circle. Choose one child to be the "Easter Bunny". This child puts on the "ears", and gets the Easter basket which is filled with the plastic eggs. While the record or tape is played, the "Easter Bunny" skips around inside the circle of children, and hands out the eggs. As a child receives an egg from the Bunny, he/she joins the Bunny in skipping in the circle . The Bunny continues to pass out eggs,and is joined by the recipients, until the record is over. If the Bunny passes out all of the eggs before the song is done , the Bunny and egg holders just keep skipping to the music until it is over.

The children love playing this simple game , and it is great for practicing the gross motor skill of skipping. The Bunny could also hop, if you prefer to practice that skill, but the egg recipients should skip to keep the game moving. Variation: This same game can be played for other holidays as well. Only the record/tape and the props have to be changed to fit the new holiday theme.

Bunny Buzz
To Play: All players sit in a circle. Players take turns counting off numbers in turn: 1,2,3,4.... When the number seven is reached, that player must say, "I love the Easter Bunny", instead of seven. When she fails to do so and says seven, she is out of the game. The game continues until only one player is left to be declared the winner.

Bunny Flop
Equipment: 10 stiff paper rabbits. To play: This game may be played individually or in small teams. Cut 10 rabbits, about 8 cm in size, from stiff paper. Leave about a 3 or 4 cm tab at the bottom so the rabbits will stand when the tabs are bent. Space the rabbits out in a long row on the floor. Each child gets on her hands and knees and sees how many rabbits she can blow over with one breath.

Button Bunnies
Make paper rabbits with numbers on their stomachs and cover with clear adhesive plastic. Pass out rabbits to children and have them put as many buttons on the stomach as shown by the numeral. Pass rabbits to the left and repeat.

Number Guess
Say "I'm thinking of a number that tells me how many ears a bunny has....a number that tells me how many paws a rabbit has....." Have children answer the questions.

Matching Baskets
Set out baskets filled with straw or grass, clipping a number on the front of each basket. Children place appropriate number of plastic eggs in each basket.

Bunny Game (like Cootie)
Make bunny faces for four children out of construction paper. The bunny needs a white head, two white ears with pink inside, and two eyes made of any color. The nose is a black circle on a pink oval with black whiskers drawn on. The mouth is a black smile shape with two large white teeth. You can make a bow tie for each bunny out of yellow. Laminate all pieces. The object of the game is to make a bunny face. Using a die, for each number rolled you get a piece of the bunny's face. For example, roll a one and get a head, roll a two and get an ear, roll a three and get an eye, roll a four and get a nose, roll a five and get a mouth and roll a six and get the tie. Keep rolling until all have created a bunny.

Cardboard Egg Hop Game
Draw and cut out two large cardboard eggs. Decorate them with paint, markers, or crayons. Have each player choose a partner and give each pair of players two eggs. To play: In each pair, there is a hopper and a helper. Starting at one end of the room, the helper places an egg on the floor in front of the hopper, who hops onto it with both feet. The helper then places the other egg a little way ahead and the hopper jumps onto it. This continues until the pair gets to the end of the room. Now players change roles. The first pair back to the starting line wins. If you don't want it to be a competition, young children have fun just hopping.