As Easter approaches, it’s the perfect time to infuse engaging activities that celebrate the season while promoting child development. In this blog post, we’ll explore five Easter-themed activities that seamlessly blend my love of homeschooling and occupational therapy. Each activity is designed to provide therapeutic benefits while incorporating the story of the resurrection, allowing children to learn and grow in both their academic and spiritual journeys.
1. Egg-cellent Sensory Hunt
- Materials: Easter egg print out which you can get for free when providing your email on the pop up, rice sensory bin or other sensory bin of your liking, tweezers or tongs (optional).
- Benefits: Enhances sensory processing, fine motor strengthening, sustained attention and visual perceptual skills.
- Instructions: Fill plastic bin with different sensory items. Hide the eggs in the bin, you could also opt of the bin and hide them around the house or outside. Have children search for the eggs using their sense, and use this as an opportunity to describe what they feel, what they hear, what they see, etc… Once finding the eggs they utilize their visually skills while matching the eggs.
2. Easter Story Sequencing
- Materials: Pictures depicting key scenes from the resurrection story (e.g., Jesus in the garden, the empty tomb, disciples’ reactions). I made these cards using Canva, but you can find tons on Etsy. I am hoping to starts selling items like these on TpT or Etsy very soon so stay tuned!
- Benefits: Improves sequencing skills, understanding of narrative structure, and cognitive processing.
- Instructions: Show children the pictures and discuss the events of the resurrection story in order. Have them arrange the pictures in sequence and retell the story in their own words.
3. Easter Egg Letter Hunt
- Materials: Plastic eggs ( I linked eggs that come with small objects), small objects starting with different letters (e.g., ball, car, doll, etc.) or letters as pictured above.
- Benefits: Enhances letter recognition, phonemic awareness, and fine motor skills.
- Instructions: Place small objects that start with different letters inside plastic eggs or letters themselves. Hide the eggs around the house or yard. Have children search for the eggs and open them one by one. Encourage them to identify the object or letter inside and say its beginning letter sound. For an additional challenge, have them write down or trace the letter of each object they find.
This activity not only reinforces letter recognition and phonemic awareness but also provides a fun way for children to practice their handwriting skills.
4. Easter Egg Marble Painting
- Materials: White card stock paper, shallow container or tray, food coloring, shaving cream
- Benefits: Promotes creativity, sensory exploration, and hand-eye coordination.
- Instructions: Find an egg cut out or just draw one yourself, squirt shaving cream into the shallow container or tray, creating a smooth surface. Add drops of food coloring to the shaving cream, spacing them out. Use a toothpick or small stick to gently swirl the colors together, creating a marbled effect. Next, lay the egg flat on top of the colored shaving cream mixture, pressing gently reassuring it is evenly coated. Lay the egg on a flat surface and use some sort of squeegee type tool to scrape off the shaving cream to reveal your masterpiece! Let dry. You can make several of these to hang for Easter or spring decor!
This activity provides a fun and sensory-rich experience for children as they create beautiful Easter egg artwork using shaving cream and food coloring. It encourages experimentation with color mixing and promotes fine motor skills through rolling the eggs and manipulating the shaving cream mixture.
5. Resurrection Garden
- Materials: Potting soil, small container or planter, grass seed, small rocks, mini figures of Jesus, tomb, and angel (optional)
- Benefits: Fosters sensory exploration, gardening skills, and understanding of the resurrection story.
- Instructions: Fill the container with potting soil and sprinkle grass seed on top. Arrange rocks to create a path leading to a small space representing the tomb. Place mini figures of Jesus, the tomb, and an angel in the garden. Water the grass regularly and watch it grow, symbolizing new life.
To tie in the story of the resurrection, you can incorporate Bible verses or simple explanations during each activity. For example, while doing the Easter Story Sequencing, you can discuss each scene and its significance in the resurrection story. You can quote verses from the Bible, such as Matthew 28:6, which says, “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” This helps children understand the religious significance of Easter while engaging in fun and educational activities.
Remember to keep the instructions clear and concise, and feel free to adapt the activities to suit the needs and abilities of your children. If you need to cite sources for simplifying the lesson plan and activity for the resurrection story, you can refer to reputable religious education websites or books on Christian homeschooling curriculum.
As you incorporate these Easter activities into your routines of homeschooling or in the classroom or therapy setting, remember the power of integrating faith and education. By weaving the story of the resurrection into fun and meaningful activities, you’re not only fostering academic growth but also nurturing your child’s spiritual development. May this Easter season be filled with joy, learning, and the reminder of new beginnings
This post may contain affiliate links. Original post 2024
