Easter will soon be upon us and this time of year is a great opportunity to try out some Easter activities for babies and toddlers. To save you some time, we've combined lots of fun suggestions to do with your little one including treasure hunts, songs and even a tasty recipe.
If you're looking for even more ideas, be sure to check out our Easter crafts, DIY Easter eggs and cards.
Get messy
Using whipped cream and food colouring to dye eggs is a great messy-play activity, and the finished result is safe for your toddler to eat.
Start by hard-boiling some eggs, then soak in vinegar for two minutes. Cover a baking tray with foil to make clearing up afterwards easy, then squirt canned whipped cream all over it. Mix some food colouring – gel colours work best – with a splash of vinegar, and drip blobs onto the cream. Give your toddler a spoon and let them drag it through the mixture, swirling the colours through the cream. Once your tot has created a marbled effect, roll your eggs in the cream, before leaving them to sit for at least 10 minutes. Gently wipe them with a paper towel and enjoy your coloured Easter eggs for lunch!
Decorate a twig-tree
Decorating trees isn’t just for Christmas, it’s great fun at Easter, too! and your toddler will love getting involved in this German tradition. find a twig when you’re on your next walk, and stand it in a jar. To make colourful egg decorations to hang on it, have a go at potato printing.
Cut a potato in half and carefully use a knife to cut some lines into the flat service. Press the cut side of the potato onto a few sheets of absorbent kitchen paper to dry. Then squeeze some paint onto paper plates and encourage your tot to dip the potato into the paint and press it onto some card. Once the prints are dry, cut out the best ones, punch a hole into the shape, and add string or ribbon to hang it onto the twig.
Nesting instinct
Bring your paddling pool indoors and fill it with cushions to create a giant bird’s nest for your little family. It’s the perfect place to cuddle up and enjoy some stories together!
Super scooper
Put a few hard-boiled eggs into a colander and give your youngster some different utensils to try to scoop them out with – a serving spoon and an ice-cream scoop are good, but give them the option of a spaghetti server to try, too!
Candle creations
Use a wax candle to draw patterned egg shapes on a white sheet of paper. Give your tot some water-based paint and encourage her to cover the paper with colour – they'll be amazed when the magical pictures appear!
Easter greetings
Put a splodge of yellow paint on the centre of a piece of paper and encourage your tot to spread it out using the prongs of a sturdy plastic fork. Once the paint has dried, draw on eyes, a beak and feet to turn it into an Easter chick.
Bunny stamp
Create a simple rabbit stamp using the cardboard tubes from three toilet rolls. Squash two of the tubes slightly to make ear shapes, and leave the other tube as a circle for the face. Tape the three tubes together and let your tot dip it into paint and make rabbit prints.
Giggly songs to sing
Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall (Bounce your baby up and down on your knee, holding them around their middle) Humpty Dumpty had a great fall (Separate your knees and allow them to gently drop down)
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men (Shake your head from side to side)
Couldn’t put Humpty together again (Lift up your little one and cover them with kisses!)
Chick, chick, chicken
Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken Lay a little egg for me (Bend your arms at the elbow and flap like a chicken, encouraging your little one to copy)
Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken
I want one for my tea (Rub your tummy as if you’re hungry)
I haven’t had an egg since breakfast And now it’s half-past three (Tap your wrist as if you’re looking at a watch)
Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken
Lay a little egg for me (flap your arms)
Sleeping bunnies
(Lie down on the floor with your tot and pretend to be asleep as you sing)
See the little bunnies sleeping
’til it’s nearly noon
Shall we try and wake them with a merry tune?
_They’re so still, are they ill?
Wake up soon
_(Jump up and jump around as you sing)Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop
Hop little bunnies, hop, hop, hop
Try under your baby's armpits and super-sizing their bunny hops, too. Once they've got the idea of the song, try tickling them to the Wake up soon line. They’ll soon learn to anticipate it, and start giggling, especially if you sing the They’re so still, are they ill? line before it oh-so-slowly.
Peekaboo puppet
This game helps your little one learn that an object is still there even when she can’t see it, and will grab the attention of even very young babies. To make your finger puppet, cut an egg shape out of yellow card and cut two circles out near the bottom, large enough to poke your fingers through to make the chick’s legs. Draw on eyes and a beak. To make the wings, cover your little one’s hand with yellow paint and make some handprints on card. Cut out the best two and stick them onto the chick. Once dry, make the finger puppet disappear from your tot’s sight, with a flurry of overexcited cheeps when it reappears.
Rabbit roleplay
Using a soft paintbrush, cover your little one’s feet with paint and stand them on a sheet of card to make footprints. When dry, cut around the footprints. Take a strip of card and tape it into a circle to fit your toddler’s head. Tape on the footprint bunny ears.
Build a bird's nest
This craft is brilliant fun and it’s a great way to boost the strength in your tot’s fingers and put their fine motor skills to the test, too.
Rip tissue paper of different colours into shreds. Then, together with your tot, spread a big pool of glue in a nest shape on a sheet of thick paper or card. add the shreds of paper to the glue, along with any feathers from your craft tub. and have fun! Sprinkle them on, poke them into the glue, swirl them around – the beauty of this activity is that, the messier it is, the more like a nest it’ll look like – so let your little one get stuck in! You’ll both end up with lots of tissue shreds stuck to your fingers, so you can have a game pretending they’re a flock of feathery baby birds landing in their nest. But do keep a packet of wipes at hand for when she wants her fingers back! To finish, cut egg shapes from coloured paper and glue them into your nest. Then leave to dry.
Related: The cutest baby Easter outfits 2022
Easter treats
These nest cakes take minutes to make.
**Ingredients
**65g coconut oil
7 tbsp maple syrup
4 tbsp raw cacao powder
40g puffed-rice cereal
50g ground almonds
Melt the coconut oil and 5 tbsp of the maple syrup in a pan over a low heat and then stir in the cacao powder until the mixture is smooth. Pour the chocolate mixture into a bowl and add the puffed rice. now your tot can join in the fun too, using a big spoon to mix it all together and make sure the cereal is completely coated. Be warned, this could get messy! Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and put them into the fridge until they are set.
Meanwhile, make some eggs. Mix the ground almonds with the remaining 2 tbsp of maple syrup and 3 tbsp of cold water. Roll the mixture into egg shapes to add to your nests – do be careful to make them small enough that they’re not a choking hazard.
Three treasure hunts for toddlers to try
Animal spot
Click here for free-and-fun printable bingo cards. take one with you on your next spring walk with your tot, or if you’re heading to the farm. if you want to get your toddler really interested in looking out for the animals, all you need to do is take a long a sheet of stickers to add to the card when they spot one!
Bunny trail
Draw a simple bunny footprint on some card: one big circle with three little circles above it works just fine. cut out the shapes to make a stencil. In the garden, lay the stencil on the lawn, then sieve a little flour over it, and make a trail around the garden. Your tot will be excited to follow the trail, especially if you tell them it’s been left by the Easter bunny.
Raisin roulette
Easter-egg hunts needn’t be all about chocolate. Plastic eggs your little one can open by themself can make for a fun treasure hunt. They'll be just as excited to find a raisin inside – just make sure you leave some empty!
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