Educational and Affordable Easter Craft Activities for Children

These days, trying to cut corners and still have enough to celebrate remind me of when supplies at school were limited and we had to make do with what was available. Still, I remember some of the crafts that were made for Easter on a tight budget and they were equally exciting to make.

The first craft is very simple to assemble. All you need is:

Glue or Paste
Pastel-colored construction paper
Pipe cleaners
Child-safe scissors
At least 2 paper plates for each child

Objective: To make a bunny face.

Have the child (ren) cut the construction paper in the form of bunny ears, a bunny nose, bunny eyes and a bunny mouth. Leave it up to the imagination of the child to come up with what these features should look like. I assure you they will not all look like bunnies. If you are pressed for time or if your little ones are very little and cannot handle scissors effectively, you might want to cut the face features beforehand.

Precut the pipe cleaners or have the child (ren) cut them to whisker size. Then, use the glue or paste to adhere the face features onto the paper plate. The ears need to hang off of the plate so they can bounce up and down. The pipe cleaners may or may not jut off the face but that's okay. It's up to the discretion of the youngster.

Second craft Objective: To reproduce Russian Faberge style Easter eggs

You'll need:

Vinyl tablecloth or plastic sheeting
Pictures of Faberge eggs
Different colored glitter
Non drinking water containers (plastic cups)
Water
Acrylic paint
Acrylic metallic paint
Paintbrushes
Different color plastic eggs
Glue or paste
Paper plates
Oversized adult t-shirts or play smocks (for the mess)

Instruct the children to put on the t-shirts or the smocks before anything else is started. Then, get the plastic cups, fill them with water, and then place one cup per child on the craft area table lined with washable tablecloth or plastic sheeting. Show the Pictures of the eggs to the children. Here is a history of the Faberge egg, if you would like to explain where they came from. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faberg%C3%A9_egg

Then, use one plate for each child as a palette to put quarter size portions of each paint color. Another paper plate is for each child to work on his/her eggs. This is where the children get creative and put their own designs on the eggs. Show them how to put glue on the egg and then sprinkle glitter onto the glue portion. This will create an added sparkle to the imitation creation. If you have enough picture example of the Faberge egg, you could cut out some unique designs and help the children paste them onto the egg for a more realistic attempt at replicating the Russian eggs. Have fun in the endeavor.

Third craft Objective: To make and Easter hat

You'll need:

Child-safe scissors
Stapler with staples
Paper plate
Various colored gift-wrapping Ribbons and bows
Easter Gift wrap paper
Glue and/or tape

I saw this at a baby shower and I thought it was a good idea.

Just cut the ribbon into 6-inch to foot-long strips. Curl the ribbons by holding one shear of the scissor against the ribbon and sliding the shear along the ribbon tightly until you reach the end of the ribbon. If you can't curl the ribbons yourself, maybe getting already curled ribbons is a better alternative.

Cut or have the children cut the gift-wrap paper into little strips to be glued onto the outside curved side of the paper plate.

Then, start gluing or taping the ribbons onto the paper plate. Stick the gift-wrap bows onto the plate as well.

When the plate is overloaded with ribbons, bows and gift-wrap, measure each child's head and cut a ribbon accordingly to create a tie string. Staple the edge of the ribbon on opposite sides of the plate. The child can put the Easter hat on his/her head to wear.

(Girls will go for this craft more than boys will. If you want, you can cut the plate into a tie shape, and add ribbons there and then a ribbon added to hang around the boy's neck.)

Fourth craft Objective: To imitate early medieval and renaissance painters,
to make an Easter shroud

You'll need:

Vinyl tablecloth or plastic sheeting
Different colored glitter
Non drinking water containers (plastic cups)
Paper plates
Water
Acrylic paint
Acrylic metallic paint
Paintbrushes
Legal size to 14x17 pieces of burlap, canvas, cotton, silk or similar fabric
Oversized adult t-shirts or play smocks (for the mess)

This is just a painting craft but with a more permanent effect.

Instruct the children to put on the t-shirts or the smocks before anything else is started. Then, get the plastic cups, fill them with water, and then place one cup per child on the craft area table lined with washable tablecloth or plastic sheeting. Then, use one plate for each child as a palette to put quarter size portions of each paint color. Ask to children to paint what they think Easter looks like. This is a good time to explain the true meaning of Easter aside from the commercial images that they are widely exposed to on a daily basis. If you have it on hand, show pictures of the story of Jesus. Google Easter images or Here are some good websites to go to for ideas:
http://www.holidays.net/easter/story.htm
http://www.theholidayspot.com/easter/easter_story.htm
http://www.stpaulskingsville.org/easter.htm

Fifth craft Objective: To produce a Seder meal for kids

This was an idea from someone else. I thought it was ingenious, though I don't know how to produce from memory. So I'll give you a list of websites to go to in case you want to participate and get your children involved in learning about Passover.

http://www.orchardpark.org/documents/April06.pdf
http://www.chabad.org/library/howto/wizard_cdo/aid/120432/jewish/Introduction.htm
http://www.torahtots.com/holidays/pesach/pesseder.htm
http://www.sederfun.com/
http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz.cfm?qid=293487