Across the country this year, Easter is going to be considerably different. Unless living in a home with our entire extended families, there’s going to be limited options we have to celebrate. Of course there is the whole religious reason for the celebration of Easter, but there’s also the fun stuff to make the long weekend extra fun for our special little people. Below are some simple and fun art & craft ideas that you can use to decorate your home, or send to loved ones whom you wish you were celebrating with.
Salt Dough Easter Eggs [1]
You’ll Need:
- 4 cups of plain flour
- 1 cup of salt
- 5 cups of warm water
- Egg shaped cookie cutter
- Glitter (if desired for extra sparkle)
- PVA glue mixed with water or glaze spray to glaze
And just a friendly reminder due to the salt content, please keep away from pets as it can be toxic to them.
What to do:
- Preheat your oven to 120°C
- Combine all of your ingredients and knead for 10 minutes. If your dough is too dry add a little bit more water in and continue to knead.
- Roll out the dough to a thickness that you’d like your salt dough ornament to be.
- Using a large cookie cutter, cut out the egg shapes for your salt dough ornament.
- Using a straw, make a hole in the top for where you want to hang your salt dough ornament.
- Bake for 1-2 hours. If your ornaments are still doughy, put back in for another hour. (It will depend on your thickness how long you need to bake for. The thinner ornaments will take less time but thicker may take more).
- If you encounter too much puffing, roll out thinner ornaments and this will help reduce the puffing. If the ornament is still a bit doughy, bake for longer or let sit out a few days to harden before decorating. The thickness of the dough will determine how long you have to bake them for. You can also raise the temperature up to 160°C but do this gradually as they may start to puff up. We prefer to bake them at 120° for longer and let them air dry for a few days.
- Once cool, you can decorate by painting with acrylic or kids paint.
- To make the egg glittery, fill the handprint with glue then sprinkle glitter on top of the glue, shake off the excess and let it dry.
- Spray with a clear glaze finish or water mized with PVA glue.
Popsicle Stick Easter Bunnies[2]
You,ll Need:
- Jumbo craft sticks
- Pink acrylic paint
- Pink pom poms
- White and Pink foam sheets
- Small googly eyes
- Scissors
- Craft
- Black marker
What to do:
- Paint one side of the popsicle stick pink and allow it to dry.
- Cut the following shapes out of the white and pink foam sheets :
- 2 white ears
- 2 small pink shapes for the insides of the ears
- 2 white feet
- 2 pink circles for the feet
- 1 white shape for the cheeks.
- Using the extra strong craft glue, begin gluing the shapes onto the craft stick.
- Glue the ears behind the top of the head portion, the feet on the bottom and the cheeks near the top 1/3 of the craft stick. Glue the pink pom pom onto the cheeks for the nose.
- Add the googly eyes as well as some whiskers onto the cheeks with a thin black marker.
Each one will turn out slightly different with it’s own little personality! You can even paint them different Easter colours like baby blue, green and orange
Egg Carton Bunnies[3]
You’ll Need:
- Egg Carton
- Acrylic Paint pink, yellow and baby blue
- Scissors
- Googly Eyes
- Pink Pom Poms
- White Foam
- Masking Tape
- Glue
- Black Marker
What to do:
- Begin by cutting 2 egg compartments and trimming off any excess to create a flat top to the cartons.
- Place the trimmed egg cartons on top of each other with the flat tops touching. Take a piece of masking tape and put a small piece on the back of the cartons.
- Then open up the egg carton and place another piece of masking tape on the inside.
- Paint the egg cartons a spring colour. Paint colours such as baby blue, yellow and pink paint
- Cut 2 bunny ear shapes out of the foam.
- Once the paint has dried, add the eyes and pink pom pom for the nose with glue.
- Glue on the ears as well. Take a thick black marker and add whiskers and eyelashes if desired.
- Now fill with your choice of fun treats and enjoy!
These would be cute to put up for your Easter Egg hunt or as decoration on a table for Easter dinner!
Felt Easter Eggs[4] (for slightly older kids)
You’ll need:
- PVA glue
- Buttons
- Felt you’ll want stiff felt for the Easter egg and any other felt embellishments
- Pom Poms
- Rhinestones
- Ribbon
- There are many other options you can use. If you can glue it, put it in the pile for decorating options!
- Hand drawn Easter egg template
What to do:
- Have an adult draw out an Easter egg shape onto paper and cut it out this is your template
- Trace the egg template onto your different coloured felt piece and then cut them out of the fabric
- Lay out your decorations on each egg, you really get to use your imagination for this one!
- Use the PVA glue to stick the decorations into place, you only need a little blob for each one, or space out a few little blobs, or a line, to stick down ribbon or bunting
- You’re only limited by your own imagination for this one!
- Use to decorate, or ask your parent/carer to send one to someone you love in the post
Egg Carton Easter Basket[5]
You’ll need:
- Egg cartons
- Craft paint
- A sharp pencil
- Paint brushes
- Pipe cleaners
What to do:
- The egg cartons we have tear easily. If you don’t have the same type of carton, you may have to get out the scissors.
- We each took a section of the egg carton and started painting.
- I got out as many pretty pastel colors of paint as I had, but feel free to use any color.
- Try stripes, polka dots, or just solid colors. Any pattern will look pretty on the baskets.
- While waiting for the paint to dry, we twisted two different colors of pipe cleaner together.
- Once they were twisted, we curved them into a u-shape to make a handle.
- This next step needs to be done by an adult. If you’re working with a large group, you can do this step before painting.
- Before we put in the handle, I used the sharp pencil to poke a hole in each side of the egg carton.
- We then put the ends of the pipe cleaners into each hole, curving up the ends and twisting it around itself.
- Fill them with goodies, or painted/dyed or plastic eggs
At Angel’s Paradise, we encourage learning through creativity.
References:
[1] https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/salt-dough-easter-eggs/
[2] https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/popsicle-stick-easter-bunny-craft/
[3] https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/egg-carton-bunny/
[4] https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/invitation-to-create-felt-easter-eggs/
[5] https://creativefamilyfun.net/egg-carton-easter-baske/