Staying at home to avoid the Coronavirus doesn’t mean that you can’t have a meaningful Easter Sunday celebration with your family. Our team has lined up some great ideas for you! Read on.
Lockdown. Isolation. Quarantine. These are now the new realities that we must adhere to in order to fight the COVID-19 global pandemic. But amidst all the uncertainty, us parents need to do whatever we can to find some semblance of normalcy for the benefit of our children.
So, while most people say “everything is cancelled” (at least for the interim of the isolation/quarantine period), children just don’t see it that way. They still think about their upcoming birthdays, they still think about family routines and they still love to take part in special celebrations, and in case you’ve not kept track – Easter Sunday is less than two weeks away!
Don’t worry. It’s perfectly all right if you haven’t even thought of Easter or any other occasion for that matter. Collectively, the world is still reeling from recent events and we are all still coping with our “new normal”.
On that note, it’s perfectly okay, as well, if you and your family is not really up for celebrating anything at all. In times of great stress and grief, we deal with things the best way we know how. For some, holding on to beloved family traditions is balm to the soul, while for others – simply letting the days pass by is a good way to heal.
Whatever the case may be, the Kinacle Team has come prepared with Easter activities and trivia that you’ll love to share with your kids. Whether you want a fun, active day or a quiet afternoon just talking about what Easter means, our suggestions will suit however you want to spend Easter Sunday.
First, let’s start with the fun stuff!
Children of all ages simply love a good Easter Egg Hunt. But the best egg hunts usually happen outside, with friends and family, under the warm Spring sunlight. But this year might even become more special and meaningful because even if our Easter activities won’t be quite the same as the ones before, we are spending it with everyone in the family, in the comforts of your own home and you get the chance to be more creative, as well.
To help inspire you with at-home Easter fun, here are easy activities for you to do:
Fun Easter Activities For The Families
1. Rainbow Colors Scavenger Hunt
Easter represents rebirth and is oftentimes symbolized by bright, vibrant colors. And nothing is more vibrant than the colors of the rainbow. Celebrate Easter in the most colorful way with this first activity.
By the way, this is inspired by an Instagram post from Amanda Lorenzo, a creative pre-K teacher based in Miami, FL. She is best known for her viral video of illustrating how viruses/bacteria “run away” from clean hands through a paper plate, water and pepper flakes.
This activity is a fun scavenger hunt that will teach your children the values of:
- Teamwork
- Language development and color recognition (especially for the younger ones)
- Time management
Materials:
For this activity, here’s what you’ll need:
- Everyone in the family to join in! Older kids team up with younger kids. For single-child families, mom can partner up for the first half of the activity and dad can partner up for the second half.
- An Easter Basket – this doesn’t need to be an actual basket. It can be a bowl, a bag or any container.
- A timer from your phone.
- Lots of enthusiasm
Age group:
This activity is suggested for ages 3 and up.
Preparation time:
It’s best to prepare everything one day before but preparing early on Easter Sunday is all right, as well.
Instructions:
- If there’s plenty of kids in the family, split up in pairs (or groups). Again, for single-child families, mom can partner up for the first half of the activity and dad can partner up for the second half.
- Give each pair or group one Easter Basket.
- Have each pair or group go around your house to look for 2 objects each for the color of the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, red, blue, indigo, violet e.g. 1 blue stapler, 1 blue hat, 1 yellow scarf, 1 yellow sippy cup, 1 orange sock, 1 orange coat, etc.
- All objects must be placed in the basket. That’s the rule which means the objects they find can’t be carried by hand as they race around the house; they need to chuck everything in the basket.
- Set the timer to 1 minute (3 to 5 minutes for single-child families).
- Go!
- After the timer stops, let everyone gather what they found.
- Most likely not everyone will have gathered 2 of each rainbow color within the set time so the pair or group that has the most objects in the basket is declared the winner.
- Give simple prizes like chocolates or candy. Another idea is for the winner will be allowed to pick movie for everyone to watch during your family’s next movie night. Whatever you decide the prizes will be, you don’t need to go outside and buy anything. Get creative and everyone will love it.
Scavenger hunt master tip: Before starting, try to hide rainbow-colored objects in different places in the house to make the activity a bit more challenging.
2. Easter Egg Hunt: At-Home Edition
Easter is never the same without a classic egg hunt! And this year, you can make it more challenging with this at-home edition of an Easter favorite. How is it different? We’ve added riddles and clues into it. If your kids guess the riddle, then they’ll definitely find the egg.
This guaranteed hit will teach your children the following values:
- Critical thinking
- Teamwork
- Problem-solving skills
Age group:
This activity is suggested for ages 3 and up.
Preparation time:
It’s best to prepare everything one day ahead.
Materials:
For this activity, here’s what you’ll need:
- Everyone in the family to join in! Older kids team up with younger kids. For single-child families, mom can partner up for the first half of the activity and dad can partner up for the second half.
- Easter Baskets – this doesn’t need to be an actual basket. It can be a bowl, a bag or any container.
- Easter Eggs
- Paper and printer – in the absence of a printer, however, this can also be handwritten.
- A timer from your phone.
- Lots of enthusiasm
Instructions:
- Make sure eggs and baskets are prepared ahead of time. Again, baskets don’t have to be actual baskets. Any container available at home will do.
- If you didn’t have the chance to buy eggs at the store, no need to worry about all of that while on lockdown, you can make Easter eggs out of paper! Check Google or Pinterest for ideas.
- On a piece of paper, write a clue pointing towards a location, for example:
“Dad loves to sit here, morning coffee in hand. This is also where he hangs out, to listen to his favorite band!”
Answer: Comfy wicker chair on the back porch where dad loves to sit, drink his coffee and listen to music on his days off.
Once your child guesses the location, they’ll race there to find an egg.
It’s ideal to make several clues as the kids will find these randomly all over your house.
- Hide the clues and eggs around the house.
- Instruct your kids this is a SILENT GAME. They need to read the clues quietly to each other. For younger kids who can’t read yet, they can definitely be “runners”. Older kids (or mom/dad) can whisper the location to the younger kids’ ears and then they’ll be off!
- The catch here is that this game is timed. Set the timer for 5 minutes (8 minutes for single-child families).
- The pair or group who gets the most eggs within the set time wins.
- Give simple prizes like chocolates or candy. Another idea is for the winner will be allowed to pick movie for everyone to watch during your family’s next movie night. Whatever you decide the prizes will be, you don’t need to go outside and buy anything. Get creative and everyone will love it.
We’ll add in a couple of “make-your-own” activities that you can also send out to the COVID-19 frontliners at your local hospital to give them some Easter cheer.
If your local hospital has a NICU, so much the better! The NICU is known for dressing up their preemies in superhero costumes or Christmas outfits. We’re sure they’d love some cute, bunny ears for some Easter vibes, as well.
A word of caution: Should you decide to do this, contact the hospital first to find out what’s the safest way to drop off your Easter creations. Our suggestion is to wrap and label everything in a box (wash your hands thoroughly!), drive to the hospital and then drop them off curbside by the main entrance or ER entrance.
Artsy and crafty moms and kids will love these:
3. Make Your Own Bunny Ears
Cute, fluffy bunnies make Easter holidays extra cuter. Check out our fun Easter facts in the next section of this blog to know exactly why the bunny is symbolic of Easter.
In what seems like such a long time ago now, most of us would head to the nearest store to buy bunny-ear headbands, hats or even bunny masks. But, as we are all advised to stay home, you can definitely make a fun activity out of making your own bunny ear headbands.
Use assorted items and supplies found around your house; no need to buy anything.
This fun DIY activity will teach your children the following values:
- Following instructions
- Creativity
- Language and color recognition
For younger children, this activity helps with the development of fine motor skills, as well.
Age group:
This activity is suggested for ages 4 and up.
Preparation time:
It’s best to prepare everything one day ahead but preparing early on Easter Sunday is all right, as well.
Materials and Instructions:
- Prepare hot glue or regular school glue. For safety, only mom/dad or older sibling should be handling the hot glue.
- For safety, only mom/dad or older sibling should be handling scissors unless child-safe ones are available.
- Arts and crafts items like glitter, buttons, ribbon, lace, sequins, yarn, colorful bits of fabric, etc.
- Crayons or coloring pens.
- Old headbands or popsicle sticks. You can also use old hats or baseball caps.
- Look for easy bunny ears template online. Here’s an example from Pinterest. If you have your own ideas, that’s great, too!
- Print copies of the template you’ve chosen.
- Distribute copies to each child.
- Start creating your bunny ears.
- Cut around the bunny ears template.
- Color and decorate the bunny ears with your arts and crafts items.
- Glue bunny ears to popsicle sticks, headbands, hats or baseball caps. You can also decorate whatever you decide to glue the bunny ears on – a glittery baseball cap to go along bunny ears will look fab!
- Make sure your bunny ear creations dry properly before wearing them to make sure decorations don’t fall off.
- Wear or carry bunny ears as you play and enjoy the rest of your Easter Sunday at home.
4. Make Your Own Easter Basket
Easter will definitely not be complete without special Easter baskets. After all, where will the kids put all their Easter loot? From colorful Easter eggs to yummy treats, little children protectively clutch their baskets as they go about hunting for eggs and other goodies. Baskets are definitely something you’d like to have your kids create at home this Easter Sunday.
Since we can’t head to the store to buy Easter baskets, this activity will teach you how to create Easter baskets made out of paper and decorated with colorful, crafty art materials.
This fun DIY activity will teach your children the following values:
- Following instructions
- Creativity
- Language and color recognition
For younger children, this activity helps with the development of fine motor skills, as well.
Age group:
This activity is suggested for ages 4 and up.
Preparation time:
It’s best to prepare everything one day ahead but preparing early on Easter Sunday is all right, as well.
Materials and Instructions:
- Prepare hot glue or regular school glue. For safety, only mom/dad or older sibling should be handling the hot glue.
- For safety, only mom/dad or older sibling should be handling scissors unless child-safe ones are available.
- Arts and crafts items like glitter, buttons, ribbon, lace, sequins, yarn, colorful bits of fabric, etc.
- Crayons or coloring pens.
- Colorful art paper or construction paper. Plain white paper will also do, as well.
- Look for easy paper basket instructions on Google or Pinterest. If you have your own ideas, that’s great, too!
- Print copies of paper basket instructions.
- Distribute copies to each child.
- Start creating baskets and follow instructions.
- Once baskets are done, decorate with glue and your arts and crafts items. You can use these baskets for an Easter Egg hunt at home or any other Easter activity.
Family bonding tip: Have a look at our Easter Sunday fun facts below. Use it as talking points while you’re making your bunny ears and Easter baskets. Tell your kids why rabbits are symbols of Easter. Talk to them about the origin of Easter. Make it fun and engaging.
Aside from games and activities, kids simply love to listen to interesting things and fun stories. Check out our fun Easter trivia and share them with your kids, too. To make it more engrossing, use the DIY bunny ears and baskets you made as props or if you had a big Easter celebration last year, maybe you’ve got some leftover masks, accessories or costumes you can use.
Ready, set.. let’s begin!
Fun Easter Trivia Facts For Kids
Fact No. 1 – The Story of Easter
This story is a kids’ version that focuses on new life and resurrection rather than the death of Jesus.
A long time ago, there was a man named Jesus.
Jesus was a good man who taught his people to do good things, as well. He was known as the Son of God. The gospels in the Bible tell us that he performed great miracles and he was very popular during his time. Jesus healed the sick, he was kind to strangers, he turned water into wine and loaves of bread into fish! Best of all, Jesus loved children. He was often out on the road teaching God’s ways and children would gather ’round and listen to his wonderful stories.
Soon, King Herod heard about Jesus. King Herod was the king of all Judea, where Jesus lived. Herod became very jealous of Jesus because everyone in the kingdom called Jesus a king, as well. Herod didn’t want anyone else to be king. So he ordered Jesus to be imprisoned. Jesus suffered greatly and soon after, he died.
But God loved Jesus so much that on the third day of his death, Jesus resurrected and became alive again. His mother Mary and his friends, followers, and family celebrated. Jesus lives! It was a cause for great celebration.
History tells us that his resurrection fell on a Sunday and that is why it’s become known as Easter Sunday.
Today, it considered the oldest Christian festival because the first Easter was celebrated over 2,000 years ago! Up until today, we still celebrate it with family and friends.
Fact No. 2 – Easter Sunday is part of Lent.
As we all know, the other most important Christian celebration is Christmas. But while Christmas is just a one-day event (maybe two, if you consider Christmas Eve) celebrating the birth of Baby Jesus, Easter is actually the last of a 40-day Christian observance called Lent which is a solemn, religious time for Christians to practice fasting – meaning they eat less of certain types of food for several hours during the day.
Easter Sunday can mean fun, games, and treats but the rest of Lent is actually pretty solemn and sad. This is because Lent is the time to remember the sacrifices of Jesus. Fasting is a way of sacrificing, as well.
Fact No. 3 – The word Easter came from a goddess
According to the writings of the Venerable Bede, a monk, and scholar from the 8th century, Easter is said to have originated from the Anglo-Saxon word “Eostre”, which is actually the name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility.
The interesting thing is that modern scholars actually found no other reference to Eostre being the origin of the word “Easter”. With nothing else backing up the Venerable Bede, his claim for the word Easter’s origins has since been discredited.
But we still think it’s interesting and timely that Easter represents rebirth and that Eostre is the goddess of spring – universally, the season of spring represents new beginnings, as well.
Fact No. 4 – The rabbit or hare representing Easter is actually due to an incorrect translation.
When the gospels were translated for biblical purposes, an animal called a Rock Hyrax was mentioned in relation to the fasting traditions of Lent. St. Augustine, most likely confused by the animal’s description, translated the animal as a rabbit or hare.
Over the years, as Christians continued to observe Lent and celebrate Easter Sunday, the rabbit and hare became the accepted symbolic animals of the Church.
Today, the Easter Bunny is the worldwide symbol for easter. From chocolate bunnies to Easter Bunny mascots, we see the bunnies everywhere around this time of year.
Fact No. 5 – The interesting histories of both Easter Egg and Easter Basket.
The history of the Easter Basket is easy to understand. When Easter Sunday was celebrated thousands of years ago, great feasts of food were brought in baskets to be blessed by religious leaders. And that’s how baskets were brought into modern Easter celebrations, as well.
The Easter Egg, however, has a more complex history.
The egg has always been symbolic of rebirth and life itself. Anyone who’s ever watched a chick hatch will understand this concept. Even religions other than Christianity, the egg represents similar things.
Historically, egg decorating has always been an integral part of Easter festivities. For many religious scholars, hand-painting eggs and dyeing eggs as a tradition is an important part of the Easter celebrations.
Another theory of the egg as an important symbol for Easter is a historical account of Mary Magdalene holding an egg when she told people of how she witnessed the resurrection of Jesus.
Fact No. 5 – Why chocolates and treats are part of modern Easter Sunday traditions.
Chocolate is a treat to many people all over the world. During Lent, Christians fasted for 40 days and gave up on many other favorites, as well.
When Lent was finally over and Easter Sunday came around, people could finally have their treats – including chocolate.
Eventually, chocolatiers around the world caught on and special Easter chocolates, bunny-shaped candy, jelly beans, and other candies and treats became part of our Easter traditions.
Conclusion
Easter is a lovely time for family! Even during the trying times of this COVID-19 lockdown, it’s still a great day to bond with family and look forward to better days ahead.
What are your favorite Easter activities? What do you think of our suggestions? Let us know in the Comments section below.
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