With older children off school for the holidays and our pre-schooler activities and classes suspended too, we’re looking for some fun Easter crafts for kids to keep us entertained at home this month. Here are our favourites so far…
Cuddly easter bunny basket
Take an odd sock* and fill it with dried peas/beans/lentils (rice is too sharp) up just past the top of the heel. Secure the contents with a rubber band above the heel, then tie a ribbon around the sock just below the heel to create a head and neck for the bunny. Thin ribbon is best, so you can tie a big decorative bow without totally covering your bunny’s face!
Next, cut the ankle of the sock with scissors to create two long, floppy ears: trim the material to shape or use a short length of thread to tie up the base of each ear so that you get a good shape. And finally, cut little pieces of scrap material to make two eyes, a nose, and a big soft patch on the tummy (some fake fur would be great here).
Scrunch up some tissue paper (pastel shades or bright floral colours are great, but use what you have – black and white newspaper pages would look very shabby chic!) and put it in the bottom of your chosen basket. Sit bunny in the middle and surround him or her with mini Easter eggs – you can use real chocolate eggs or make your own ‘eggs’ from plasticine or playdoh. Tie a big ribbon around the outside of the basket and you’re done.
This would make a great Easter gift for grannies: for a ‘professional’ finish that’ll make your basket easier to carry to Granny’s house without losing bits along the way, wrap the whole thing in cellophane (the kind that big bunches of flowers come in) and tape it closed across the bottom of the basket.
*Sock tips: baby socks are too small; Daddy socks are too big! There’s a well-proportioned Easter bunny waiting for you somewhere between pre-schooler and full Mummy-size… We found that Mummy-size was easier for little hands to work with – the kids’ own socks were just too fiddly to decorate. Try knee-high socks for some truly magnificent ears!
Easter bonnet
Take a wide-brimmed hat (such as a traditional ‘bucket’ sunhat) and, using glue, decorate it with artificial flowers, painted polystyrene eggs, Easter chicks, and more – whatever your kids’ imaginations can come up with!
If your hat is straw or another bumpy or shiny material, you might struggle to get your decorations to stick. Tie a wide piece of ribbon around the hat (stitching it into place if necessary) to give you a surface that your kids can decorate easily.
Easter egg home decorations
Take a pretty coloured fluffy pipecleaner and thread small, coloured beads onto it, spacing them out along the full length (allow a couple of undecorated centimetres either end).
Twist the ends around each other to create a loop and slide some of the beads over the doubled up part to decorate it.
Then bend your loop into an egg shape, tie thread to the top, and hang. Make a few of these to create an eye-catching Easter egg display.
Easter collage
Take a big sheet of card and draw outlines of Easter images on it: a bunny, some eggs, a chick, a bonnet… Use decorative bits and pieces from around the home or from a craft shop to decorate your collage: buttons, glitter, bits of ribbon, coloured foam and sparkly paper, wool and string, oddments of material – whatever you can get your hands on!
Create one big collage with a few images on, or make a series of pictures and hang them up together in the kitchen. This is the simplest of our Easter crafts for kids: it’s great for younger ones as there’s no right and wrong at all – once you’ve drawn the outlines for them they can just stick what they like, where they like.
So sit down, have a coffee, and practice your proud Mummy or Daddy face for when they’re done!
Happy Easter!
by Vicky Scowcroft
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