If you've been following me on social media, then you know we've been in vacation mode for two weeks! It's definitely a strange time to be traveling since we're all in Corona virus quarantine mode, but the beach was the perfect place to be stuck at home. We loved our daily walks along the beach, and we had a gorgeous grassy park next to us to help the little ones still get fresh air and burn off their energy. I'm so thankful that our house feels fresh, and the kids are extra entertained with their usual toys since we've been away!
We're back home now, and I can't believe that tomorrow is Palm Sunday! I wanted to post what we'll be up to this week as we prepare to celebrate Easter.
Sunday - Palm Branches for Jesus
Pull out 2-3 kinds of green paper. Trace your child's hand on the paper, and cut it out. Older kids can practice the cutting on their own! Cut several out and use them as the palm leaves. Attach the leaves to a stick and then let your kiddos act out the Palm Sunday story. Talk about how we use our hands to praise Jesus too! How can you use your hands to show God's love? Olivia (17 months) is learning to show love by being gentle when touching others. She's also learning how to help me by throwing away trash and picking up toys. Aaron (3 years) is learning to show love by picking up his toys, giving hugs to family and friends, and creating little gifts for others to make them feel special.
Monday - Color Easter Eggs & Easter Play Dough
Coloring eggs is classic and irreplaceable. Since they're so little, we're keeping it very simple this year!
But I will be spicing up their regular play dough time! I made spring colored homemade play dough, I've pulled out our Easter cookie cutters, and I made a few Easter play dough mats. To get all of the details on this play dough, check out my full post here.
Tuesday - Count & Stack Easter Eggs
This is a fun stacking game to practice colors, number recognition, and counting. I opened up all of my Easter eggs and threw them into one basket and laid out number cards. You can get my free printable for the colored numbers here.
As your kiddos take one number at a time, they have to find the right color of egg shell, and then find the right number of shells. Once they have them, they can stack them to practice visualizing the numbers. Be sure to guide them to either pick the top half or the bottom half for the towers to stack well. If you mix tops and bottoms, it won't be as stable. If you want to focus more on the color recognition, have your child sort all of the eggs into piles according to color first and then they can focus on the number recognition second.
While Aaron is practicing his colors and numbers, Olivia will be having fun making towers and knocking them over! So this activity can still engage younger ones.
Wednesday - Indoor Movement Eggs
It looks like we're going to have a cold and rainy week, so by mid-week we'll be needing a way to get our wiggles out indoors! I typed up some spring themed phrases that'll prompt my kiddos to use their imaginations and use up some energy! To add an Easter twist to it, I've cut the phrases and put each one into an Easter egg. You can get the free printable here.
Thursday - Alphabet Hunt
Grab a glue stick and print out two copies of the alphabet, numbers, or shapes from my free printable.
I cut up my alphabet sheet using my paper cutter, which saved a lot of time! I matched the colors of the letters to the eggs, and as he matches the letters we'll try saying the color out loud too (a blue B, a pink C). Slide your glue stick over each letter on the paper and then easily stick the cut up letters to match as your kiddo opens each Easter egg.
I'll try the shapes with Olivia, and I bet Aaron will jump in to help. She'll love a chance to hold the glue stick, and she loves trying out new words. Another variation for babies is to put Easter stickers in the eggs and let them put stickers on a blank piece of paper.
Friday - Bible Reading, Easter Books, & Watercolors
Good Friday is the perfect day to snuggle your kiddos on your lap and read through the Bible story of the crucifixion. We're also going to read the Easter books that we have on hand on Tuesday. One of my favorites is The Easter Story by Patricia A. Pingry.
An easy activity to do that incorporates the cross is watercolor painting. Use masking tape in the center of the page to create a cross. Let your kiddos paint freely, and when they're done and the paint is dry, take the masking tape off to reveal the cross in the center.
Saturday - Drip Painting
This one is a little more messy, but I'm excited to see how it turns out! Grab a large piece of paper or even a roll of brown/white paper. Pour tempura paint into cups and add water to make a thin, watery paint. Pour the paint into the matching colored Easter egg. (Make sure your plastic egg has a hole in it for this to work!) Hand the paint-filled egg to your child and let them have fun creating a drip painting! If they want to then use their hands to smear the paint, let them go for it!
Sunday - Bible Reading, Easter Baskets, & an Easter Egg Hunt
I'm keeping Sunday very simple and traditional so far. We'll have a special time in the morning to read the resurrection story together. I'm excited for them to open their Easter baskets, which are filled with backyard spring toys! I'm sure they'll play for a bit and then we'll have a classic Easter egg hunt in the backyard.
I know this Easter will be very different as we all celebrate in our own homes, but I hope that these ideas can help it be a special week with your little ones!
Comments