7 Ideas for Meaningful Easter Activities with Your Kids

I absolutely LOVE Easter!  And I really make an effort to make it special for my children, both with meaningful activities to help them remember why we celebrate Easter, along with fun experiences that help us make a few extra holiday memories.

I can’t recall where I first heard this and I don’t even remember the actual quote.  But the idea is that, as moms and caregivers, WE get the privilege of molding and shaping our children’s memories about special events and occasions.  WE get the privilege of creating experiences that they will hopefully remember.  And even if they don’t always remember the actual activities or experiences, they will never forget that you cared and that you tried!  That has really stuck with me over the years and is why I do my best, with the time and resources I have, to make holidays special.

When Easter falls early, like it does this year, it feels extra challenging to fit in alllllll the things.  Am I right?!?!  I’m looking at the calendar now, thinking there is no way we will do everything I want to do.  However, we will enjoy what we can and save the rest for another season.

Here are a few family favorites along with some new things I want to try also!!!

Resurrection Garden

Materials:

• Large terracotta saucer
• Potting soil
• Sticks
• Twine
• Smooth rock
• Extra small terra cotta pot
• Cat grass seed (we used two packets)
• Spray bottle or spritzer for water

Last year was the first year we made a Resurrection Garden.  And guess what…it didn’t really get to growing very much until after Easter.  Chances are high that if you start this today, yours won’t grow until after Easter either!  Ha!  But, you can still get the message across through setting up your garden and enjoy it all through the spring!

Here’s how we made our garden:

Step One:

After gathering our materials, we laid the extra small terra cotta pot on it’s side and filled around and on top with potting soil.   Make it nice and thick!  We left about 1/3 of the saucer with just a thin layer of soil, in front of the opening of the terra cotta pot.

Step Two:

We broke sticks for the three crosses and tightly wrapped twine to hold them together.  We stood these up in the dirt, right behind the terra cotta pot.

Step Three:

We spread the cat grass seeds evenly over the potting soil and then spread a thin layer of potting soil over the top of the seeds.  The first year that we did this, I think we buried the seeds too deep and it took extra long to get any sprouts of grass!

Step Four:

We put small pebbles around that 1/3 of the saucer in front of the terra cotta pot.

Step Five:

We placed the large, smooth rock partway in front of the terra cotta pot.  This creates the look of the stone, rolled away from the tomb.

Step Six:

We placed our garden in a sunny spot, spritzed it with water every day, and waited!

So even if you’re garden doesn’t grow before Easter, this is a great chance to discuss the Easter story with your children and enjoy for the spring months.  I love that while Easter is a scheduled holiday, the Easter message can be part of our lives every day!

Easter Baskets

Easter baskets are a big deal and a fun tradition for our kiddos.  I love putting them together and shared all the details HERE .  You may get lucky with many Amazon items still arriving in time for Easter!  But if not, here are a few of my favorite places to shop for Easter basket stuffers:

• Target (especially the dollar spot!)
• Dollar Tree
• Altar’d State for my girls
• Five Below
• Pottery Barn Kids
• Walmart
• Grocery store!

Grab a cute basket from around your house, add some Easter grass, and fill it with some favorites.  If you want a more curated look, you can wrap larger gifts (Legos and books are favorites for my kids) and tuck some color-coordinated eggs around the basket.  Dollar bills and coins are the perfect, last-minute, non-candy basket stuffers!  My kids LOVE that, followed up with a trip to the dollar store or dollar spot!

Easter Basket Scavenger Hunt 

As our kids are getting a little older, we have to get a little bit creative to make these things still extra fun!  I found this set of cute little paper egg scavenger hunt ideas in the Target dollar spot a few years ago.  I just recycle them each year and use the blank ones to change things up.  However, you could create this with just strips of paper, rolled up in plastic Easter eggs!  We give each child their starting “egg” with instructions.  We usually do about 5 or 6 eggs for each child before they eventually find their Easter basket, but you could make it as big or simple as you want and also developmentally appropriate for their age.

Remember…we are creating lots and lots of little moments that add up to special holiday memories?

Our kids are already talking about this years’ scavenger hunt, though I think we are going to have to up the game a little this year and make them work for it….just a bit!  Make it exciting!

Resurrection Eggs

I absolutely love this fun Resurrection Egg set for kids!  I first got it to use in the Children’s Ministries at our church and found that my own kids enjoyed it also.  I am using it in my classroom this year and it is a great way to engage children in the Easter message!  I love that it has a little booklet with it to guide you.  This is a great set to use as an Easter gift, as well, and then enjoy for many years to come!

Glow in the Dark Egg Hunt

For TWO YEARS, I’ve had this on my list to do…and we just didn’t get around to it.  So this year, I’m determined to make it happen.  I don’t have any pictures to share of our actual experience, but hold me accountable!  Haha!  I think this will be especially fun now that my kids are a little older.  Traditional Easter egg hunts aren’t quite as exciting, though I’m going to share some ways to still make it fun for older kids too!  You can find the Glow in the Dark Eggs HERE…and Amazon should still get them to you by Easter!!!  These would be fun to use even unfilled, which is what we will probably do!

Egg Decorating

I admit…this hasn’t always been my favorite.  When my kids were really small, it seemed like I did most of the work and the mess was hardly worth it.  So, moms, if you’ve got littles…opt for some paper eggs and crayons or wooden eggs and washable markers.  They will have just as much fun…and you can enjoy the little moments rather than spending an hour cleaning up afterward!

Now that my littles aren’t so little anymore, we have a lot more fun dying eggs and decorating them.  To make it simple, I let them each choose one egg decorating kit.  Then, they can trade, mix and match, etc. as they go.  This year, Target had some super cute kits!  Since our Easter weekend is going to busy with family visiting, we went ahead and had some fun with the eggs and I thought they turned out so cute!

Easter Desserts

While I always miss the days of having babies and toddlers around, I am fully and happily embracing these ages where they can be independent!  Payton made some amazing Easter cupcakes last weekend and shared all the details HERE .  We also like to do simple cookie decorating with the pre-made kits like this one. 

Remember…we are creating lots and lots of little moments that add up to special holiday memories?

Your cookies don’t have to be gourmet…they may not even be very beautiful…and they definitely don’t have to be fancy.  But making the memory is what counts, so whatever that looks like for you…just do it!

There are so many fun and cute Easter desserts out there and you can find some of my favorite ideas HERE.

No matter how many activities you do, how pretty your Easter baskets are, or if all the candy melts before it’s found…if a random chocolate stain ends up on that special outfit (before you even get to church)…if the Easter snapshots look more like a circus…I hope you find some special way to celebrate this beautiful and meaningful holiday.  I am so deeply grateful for the gift of Easter and how it can be celebrated in our hearts and lives every day of the year.

Blessings,

Robyn