Easter Crafts and Activities
Free Holiday Curriculum Ideas for Teachers and Homeschoolers
Mar 9, 2007
After a long, cold winter, elementary students will enjoy ushering in spring with some Easter related crafts.
Scratch Eggs
Content Areas: Art and Fine Motor Skills (Coloring, Painting, and Cutting)
Materials:
- White Construction Paper (at least 8 ½ X 11)
- Large Egg Stencils (approximately 7X10” but no larger than the construction paper provided)
- Crayons in Different Colors
- Newspaper
- Black Tempera Paint
- Paint Brushes
- Plastic Knives
- Scissors
Activities
Day One:
- Cover student work space with newspapers.
- Have students cover an entire piece of white construction paper with different colors of thick crayon. Encourage students to make their colors very opaque and to overlap the different shades. Ask students to write their names on the back of the paper before going to the next step.
- Provide each student with black tempera paint and a brush. (Classroom Management Tip: Do not hand out the paint and brushes until each student has shown you his or her name on the back of the colored paper!)
- Ask students to paint a thick layer of black tempera paint that covers every bit of the colored paper.
- Put papers aside to dry.
Day Two:
- Hand out yesterday’s work.
- Provide each student with a cardboard egg-shaped template and a plastic knife. Students should place their template on top of the black painted paper and trace around the egg shape using a plastic knife. Tracing will scratch off paint, exposing a crayon outline in the shape of the egg template.
- Ask students to cut along the traced egg outline.
- Finally, students should use the plastic knife to scratch designs onto the egg surface. A variety of crayon rainbow colors will be exposed every place where the paint is scratched off.
Use Your Nuudles
Materials:
Plastic Bowls Filled with Magic Nuudles
Damp Sponges
Activity:
Magic Nuudles (KidTech Tools, Inc.) are biodegradable building materials that are available at many teacher supply and craft stores. Resembling multi-color cheese puffs, the cornstarch based building blocks make fantastic construction blocks for even the youngest students. When wetted with a small amount of water, the puffs stick together and remain stuck before and after drying.
Because Nuudles come in a variety of pastel shades, they make ideal building materials for spring and Easter decorations. While younger students will find it easy to create one-dimensional Easter Bunnies, Easter Baskets, Easter Eggs, chicks, and spring flowers, older students can add more challenge by creating three-dimensional designs.
Now that your students are in the spirit of spring, make thematic connections by encouraging your students to study flowers, make compost, write garden poetry, or make Mexican confetti eggs.
