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EASTER
0From
Stormie:
Although I'm posting ideas below as often as I can, I have reserved my very favorite
Easter activities for my "EASTER"
booklet (see the "Stormie's Stuff for Teachers" section
of my website).
Easy Easter Baskets: Have each child bring a plain unpainted basket to school to decorate/collage and/or paint.
Pre-Math/Science:
Add small boxes and other containers along with plastic eggs to the Blocks Center
today. During your Greetings Group Time, ask, "If you were Mr.
Rabbit today, how many plastic eggs do you think you could haul away in all those
containers?" (It's interesting to see how the children experiment
with this as some may fill containers by laying the eggs on their sides, some
may stand them on end, some may place the eggs in layers, etc.)
Coloring
Eggs: In the Play Kitchen, provide plastic eggs, coloring wands, and other
supplies for children to pretend they are coloring Easter eggs.
Action
Song:
Mr. and Miss Rabbit
(Tune:
Mulberry Bush)
(Child's
first name) Rabbit gathers the eggs, gathers the eggs, gathers
the eggs
Mr. Rabbit gathers the eggs all for Easter morning
(Child's first name)
Rabbit cooks the eggs, cooks the eggs, cooks the eggs
Mr. Rabbit cooks the
eggs all for Easter morning
(Child's
first name) Rabbit colors the eggs, colors the eggs, colors
the eggs
Mr. Rabbit colors the eggs all for Easter morning
Other
verses: Hides the eggs, Finds the eggs, Peels the eggs, Eats the eggs.............
Have children volunteer to take turns going to the center of group time, naming and carrying out an action involving Easter eggs. To get the whole thing started, you might ask what would we have to do first, and then second, third, and so on leading up to the actual eating of the eggs. (This is a wonderful memory/sequencing game.) And when you run out of things to do with eggs, have children think of something else they might do for Easter if they were Mr./Miss Rabbit.
Gross Motor: Have children pretend they are the Easter Bunny at his "bunny school" hop from one area to another (hop to the bathroom, hop to line up at the door, hop to the table, hop down the sidewalk, etc).
Please share your ideas too. E-mail me at stormie@preschoolbystormie.com
0I
love this idea sent to me by Sister Mary, from Hopewell Junction, New York:
Art Tissue Eggs: When coloring Easter eggs with
little people, a fun, safe, and inexpensive way is to use Art Tissue:
1. Prepare eggs (be sure they are clean, hard boiled, and
cool).
2. Prepare Art tissue by cutting many
colors into small pieces (a great way to use scraps).
3.
Cover the table with paper for easy clean up.
4.
Set out small dishes with a little water in each (less than a quarter inch--just
enough for children to wet their finger tips).
5.
Give each child an egg (names can be put on ahead of time with crayon).
6. Children dip their fingers into the water and wet
the egg. Then, they place a piece of the art tissue on the egg and gently
press it. Remove the paper and the egg is colored. The child can repeat
the process many times making different combinations of colors. They dry
fast. It's great fun and best of all the children can do it themselves.
0Here's
a great way to make your April singing sessions more fun, from Kelli Stockford,
in Oregon:
Egg Basket:
Print familiar song titles on pieces of paper and place them in colored plastic
eggs. Place the eggs in a basket. At Group Time, a child chooses an
egg, opens it, you read it, then the group sings that song.
**From Stormie: Alternative to Kelli's idea above:
Egg
Basket #2: Print an action (hop, jump, crawl, run, skip, gallop, etc) on the
pieces of paper and place them in the eggs. A child opens an egg, you
read the action, then s/he does it.
0From
Elly Lampner:
Egg
Painting: In advance, place large metal nuts/washers inside plastic easter
eggs then tape the eggs shut with duct tape. For the project, place sheets
of paper in the sensory table. Using spoons, children dip the eggs into
bowls of tempera paint and then scoop them out onto the paper in the table. They
can then move magnetic wands above the eggs to make them roll on the paper creating
colorful designs.
0From
Julaine, in Cincinnati, Ohio:
Pre-Math:
Easter Egg Sort: I put a dozen plastic eggs in a clean egg carton. I
fill each color egg with small items of the same color for a sorting activity.
Children can dump out all the items and mix them, and then sort them by
color.
Money-Saving Tip: I buy plastic
eggs at the end of the Easter season each year. They are always really cheap
then. That way, I have replacements for the next year should any of them
break.
Suggested
Books:
0From Pam Bruns
Works, Topeka, Kansas:
It's
Not Easy Being a Bunny, by Marilyn Sadler; Roger Bollen, Illustrator: Children
love predictable, interactive books - and this one is sure to please! It's
a humorous tale of P.J. Funnybunny (from the series of P.J. Funnybunny books),
who decides he is tired of being a bunny. So he embarks on a hilarious journey
in hopes of finding the perfect new animal family. After reading it a few
times, children will be able to predict the next animal home he goes to.
This is a fun circle time book.
Extension: Puppets: In
advance, make popsickle-stick puppets of the animals in the book so that each
child can have an animal to "act out" during the story.
Making
a Multi-Cultural Connection:
To
provide a frame of reference, show children where countries are located on your
classroom globe or map, and if possible, provide related pictures and books:
From
Sylvia Berrones, Rio Grande Valley, Texas/Mexico border:
Mexico
(located on the continent of
North America):
Different
Idea On Easter Eggs: I was raised in South Texas and to us this Mexican tradition
is the norm. We start collecting eggshells early in the school year. The
eggs should be broken only on the top so there is just a small hole at the top
of the egg. Before Easter, the children color the eggs using markers. (Sometimes,
I also use dye for the various visual effects.) We then fill them with
confetti and cover the hole with tissue paper (glued) and/or tape. The
eggs are then used for our Easter Egg Hunt. Afterwards, the eggs are
broken over each others' heads, a Mexican tradition. (Actually, I show the
children how to crush the eggshell in their hands first and then simply sprinkle
the confetti inside onto our friends' heads rather than pounding the eggs onto
heads.) Here where we live, these kinds of eggs (called "cascarones")
can be bought on almost every street corner around Easter, as "boiled"
Easter eggs are almost unheard of around here!
Variations: Fill the
eggs with flour or sugar or birdseed.
----------------
Reminder
from Stormie: If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom
ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you
can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards." Click here
to check them out.
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