Easter Theme
~ Pre-K & Preschool theme ideas for Easter ~
Sections for This Theme
Books
Songs
- Easter Bunny Song, by Mrs. Jones
- Easter Songs @ Preschool Education
- Easter Time is Here Again, by Hap Palmer
Activities
Easter Egg Hunt
I send a note home to parents asking them to send in plastic Easter eggs filled with goodies; for example, stickers, erasers, candy, plastic rings, plastic animals, or other small toys. No one is obligated to bring anything in; we use whatever amount of eggs we receive. I make sure in advance that we have enough eggs for every child to have 12. Children collect their eggs in an empty, sterilized egg carton. I tell the children that when their egg carton is full, they are done, and I have them sit down on the grass and look at their surprises.
Egg Decorating
Papier mache eggs can be purchased from a craft store (such as Hobby Lobby) for children to paint. I like this kind of egg decorating because these eggs are less fragile than real eggs and can be saved by the children’s parents. School quality tempera paints usually come in bright colors, but you can give the children some white tempera to mix with the colors to make pastels. The children always enjoy mixing paints.
Play Dough Eggs
I add plastic Easter eggs of different sizes to the play dough area. The kids enjoy filling the eggs with play dough or making play dough baskets for the eggs.
Dramatic Play Eggs
I put a basket of plastic eggs in our Housekeeping Center and the children enjoy hiding the eggs and finding them. I have noticed they use them in a variety of ways, putting them in pots for cooking or using one-to-one correspondence to put an egg in each section of a muffin tin.
Story Retelling
[Literacy]
Choose an Easter-themed book that you would consider good literature (good characters, plot, beginning, middle, end, etc.) Show the book to the children and tell them to think about what happened in the story, and the people (characters) and places they saw in the story. Think about what each character said. Give each child a piece of paper and ask them to draw something they remember from the story. Remind them that this should not be a picture of their cat or their friends, but only pictures of things from the book. After each child has illustrated the story, have them retell the story in their own words. Either record each child with a voice recorder or write their dictation on the page.
Rabbit Stamping Game
[Math, Literacy]
Write a letter or numeral on each rabbit, and make a copy for each child. Children will draw a number or letter card from a stack (or roll a die), find that letter/numeral on their mat, and stamp it out. You can use rubber stamps or bingo dot markers. As an alternative, you can have children draw an “X” over the rabbit if stamps or bingo dot markers are not available.
Rabbit Bingo
Rabbit Grid Game
[Math]
To play a grid game, children roll a game die, identify the numeral and count out that amount of manipulatives. Each manipulative is placed over one picture in the grid. Children play until the whole grid is full. For manipulatives, you can use Unifix cubes, flat glass floral marbles, or you can cut Easter egg shapes from craft foam. Many craft stores will likely have a package of pre-cut craft foam Easter eggs.
Rabbit Grid Game
Rabbit Grid Game
Rabbit Hopping
[Large Motor]
Rabbits hop in a zig zag when they are trying to get away from their prey. For this movement activity, use masking tape to make a zig zag on the floor. Have children hop in a zig zag pattern from one point on the zig zag lines to the next point.
Printables
Directions for printables are given in the Activities section above.
Rabbit Grid Game
Rabbit Grid Game
Rabbit Bingo
Rabbit Pattern Block Mat
Rabbit Pattern Block Mat
Links
