If you want to do something a little different than just a traditional egg hunt, these Easter activities for kids are full of fun. From indoor crafts to outdoor competitions, we've got a little bit of everything. Keep them entertained and help them wear off the Easter candy sugar rush with these unique ideas.
Easter Crafts & DIY Activities That'll Beat Egg Hunting
Easter isn't only about waking up to a basket and running outside to find the hidden Easter eggs. Pull all of the goodies from your art drawers and put together these cute crafting stations or create homemade Easter games for a completely tech-free, festive holiday.
Weave Easter Baskets
Thanks to Living Life & Learning's easy tutorial, you can work with your kids to make their own Easter baskets using an easy weaving pattern. This gets their hands and minds moving, and only takes some paper, glue, scissors, and a stapler.
Play Guess the Color of My Egg
Guess the Color of My Egg entertains toddlers and teenagers alike. It's a simple guessing game where one person thinks of a color in their head and everyone else goes in a circle guessing the color with a Jeopardy-style query of, "Is the color of your egg ____?" The older the kids are, the more specific and difficult the colors they'll come up with. Think cadmium yellow or sepia.
Create Hand-Print Easter Bunnies
With a few bottles of paint, a black sharpie, a cotton ball, and some construction paper, you can make a beautiful childhood memento. Simply paint your kid's entire palm (except for the thumb) and have them spread their fingers in a Vulcan salute. Press their hand onto some construction paper and let dry. Glue down some cotton ball cheeks and draw on the eyes and whiskers for the final touches on your palm Easter bunny.
Guess How Many Eggs are in the Jar
From Reese's eggs to Easter jellybeans, there are all kinds of different candy eggs you can get to fill a jar up. To make this guessing game particularly hard, have kids guess on different sized jars or on a specific color egg in the bunch. The winner receives a special Easter egg for their awesome guessing skills.
Play a Few Rounds of Easter Bingo
Bingo is an easy way to pass the time if you have a bunch of kids, and you can find themed bingo sheets all over the internet. We love the custom printable made by Crazy Little Projects because of its easy-to-understand illustrations.
Make an Eastertastic Kaleidoscope
For elementary-aged kids, turn them onto a cool art project to fill their Easter afternoon. With just a toilet paper roll, some cardstock, mylar sheets, and a bendy straw, they can rig up their own kaleidoscope thanks to Buggy and Buddy's simple instructions. Task them with creating a festive pattern and see just what colorful designs they come up with.
Bake a Carrot Cake Together
Since your kiddos will inevitably be getting some sweets in their Easter basket, temper their sweet tooths with a savory Easter treat. With all your other cooking and baking you have to do on the day, don't worry about making it from scratch. A box mix will taste just as great.
Make Colorful Easter Sponge Paintings
Head to the dollar store and pick up some washable paint and a few sponges for this cute Easter activity. The Best Ideas for Kids breaks down the specifics for creating your own Easter-themed sponge stamps. And, with a rinse in the kitchen sink, these sponges can be reused all day long.
Decorate Your Own Bunny Ears
Easter bunny ears are second only to the infamous Disney ears you can find in all of the parks. Get inspired by these ornate wearable crafts by creating your own for Easter. Purchase a cheap fabric or plastic set of Easter bunny ears and set about customizing it to your heart's content.
Put on a Colorful Water Show with Peeps
You might've tried a similar trick with M&M's or skittles, but you can get the same effect with peeps. The fluorescent-dyed marshmallows that've become synonymous with Easter can create their own rainbow effect in a bowl of water. On a plate, pour enough water to coat an even layer and set each of the chicks or bunnies around the rim touching the water. Soon, the dye will swirl and mix across the water.
Craft a Mosaic Easter Egg
One sustainable activity to help your kids celebrate Easter is reusing old paper products and creating mosaic Easter eggs. Print off a few blank eggs on cardstock and cut them out. Now, give your kids stacks of old construction paper scraps, fabric scraps, and newspapers/advertisements. Let them cut teeny pieces out and glue them on the egg to bring their mosaic to life.
Practice Sewing With an Easter-Themed Craft
If you've got some time to prep your activities and kids who love crafting, RedTedArt's paper plate sewing craft is perfect for you. Using string and paper plates, you'll teach your kids how to weave thread through the holes to flesh out a baby chick.
Tie-Dye Shirts to Commemorate the Day
If it's a lovely Easter weekend, then you'll want to get the kids outside - and what better way than letting them tie-dye some shirts. Buy a few tie-dye packets and some white apparel, like t-shirts, socks, or pillowcases. Follow the instructions and let your kids experiment with the creative form.
Kids' Easter Activities to Ride Out That Sugar Rush
Generally, you can only keep kids at the craft table or doing quiet games for so long - especially when they're hyped up on loads of sugar. So, you'd better have a few Easter activities that'll get them moving around and wearing themselves out. If not, we've got a few you can pull out when the time comes.
What's in the Box: Easter Edition
What's in the box is a blindfolded game where people put their hands into the holes of a cardboard box and use their sense of touch to guess what's inside. It always ends in laughter because everyone's imagination runs wild when one of their senses is cut off.
For an Easter-themed one, curate a nice collection of tactile Easter goods. Think plastic Easter eggs, straw baskets, Peeps marshmallows, bunny ears, stuffed bunnies, etc.
Pin the Rabbit Teeth on the Easter Bunny
Instead of pinning the tail on the donkey, pin the rabbit teeth on the Easter bunny. Since an Easter bunny's face is pretty easy to draw, you can sketch one out on a poster board with a big sharpie. Then, cut out his two front teeth and set your kids on their hilarious blindfolded mission.
Easter Egg Toss
If you've got a full house on Easter, have everyone team up for an Easter egg toss. Use the decorated eggs from early in the day and see which team can handle the pressure.
Easter Egg Spoon Race
Amp up the competition between your family and friends by putting everyone in an Easter egg spoon race. To make things fair, you can divide it up by age groups (kids, teens, and adults). Break out the spoons, a few fake Easter eggs, and your competitive nature.
Carrot Bowling
A cute way to customize an old bowling set to play on Easter is with spray paint. Spray paint your black bowling ball a vibrant color and the pins a bright orange. Then, with a paintbrush, go in with some green for the leafy carrot tops. Voila! You've got a carrot bowling set.
Easter-Themed Ultimate Frisbee
Another activity with a quick turnaround is Easter frisbee. If you've got an old frisbee lying around, you can give it a new life with a few coats of spray paint. Make wavy patterns or dots with masking tape, and layering your spray paint. You should end up with an Easter egg frisbee to entice your kids outside for the afternoon.
Collect Wildflowers and Press Them
A cute detour to take while hunting for Easter eggs is looking for wildflowers and picking a few to press later in the day. Line an open page in a heavy book with newspaper and set a flower or two in the pages (repeat for the number of flowers that you picked). Carefully close the book and weigh it down with more books to let them flatten. Come back to them a few days later once they've fully dried.
Christian Easter Activities for Kids
If you're looking for ways to celebrate Easter with your kids that connect with the Christian meaning of the holiday, these are some ideas to try.
Make a Resurrection Garden
Make a resurrection garden with kids and talk to them about what happened during Jesus' Resurrection and what it means to the Christian faith. This is not only a fun activity to do with kids, it makes a great centerpiece or decoration. See this simple Resurrection garden tutorial from Walking on Sunshine to get started.
Tell the Easter Story With Resurrection Eggs
Making resurrection eggs is a great way to bring the Easter story from the Bible to life for kids. You can create the eggs with them, use them in an egg hunt if you'd like, and then interactively go through the Biblical message of Easter using the eggs. Check out the instructions and free printables for Resurrection eggs from Bible Games Central.
Celebrate With Songs & Stories
Younger kids might find the difference between more somber notes of Good Friday and the joy of Easter Sunday hard to understand. Parents can them with kid-friendly Easter books and Easter songs that help show the joy that Easter Sunday brings.
Do a Science Experiment About the Biblical Meaning of Easter
A few simple supplies are all you need to do this rising water science experiment. As parents do it, they can discuss how the events in the experiment represent Jesus' washing away of sins and what His sacrifice on the cross means to the Christian faith.
Bake Resurrection Biscuits Together
If you're looking for a sweet way to talk about the events surrounding Easter that kids will (literally) eat up, bake Resurrection biscuits or empty tomb rolls together. Syrup and Biscuits has a simple Resurrection biscuits recipe and includes the symbolism to discuss. Each element of the recipe represents something about the Resurrection.
Give Them an Easter to Remember
Easter isn't all about the baskets, it's about the time you get to spend together. Plan a day filled with fun activities that'll give your kids an Easter they'll never forget.
