Easter Fun ~ Read now & save for later!

Happy Easter weekend everybody!

Today officially starts our spring break and my "to do" list is growing longer by the minute. Between yard work, house work, school work and cleaning out my boys' closets {I'll tackle mine during summer vacation!}, maybe I'll get something productive accomplished on this week off. My life seems like one big "project". There's always something I'm working on. Anybody relate???

Although Easter is already here, I'd like to share some cute things we did the past few weeks. Read now, save for later. :-)

We read one of my favorite stories Easter Eggs Everywhere! by, Steve Metzger. This cute little rhyming book is a great way to incorporate problem and solution. Bunny wakes up late and realizes Easter is just a day away and he needs to get his eggs painted. With the help of a sly fox, bunny is convinced into getting an egg-painting machine that ends up being more trouble than it's worth. With the help of bunny's friends, the eggs get painted just in time for Easter.

Following this story I like to create our own eggs, but using "magic spray" instead of an egg-o-matic machine, like in the story.

Here's how we make our own eggs:

(1) Cut out an egg shape on coffee filters. I usually staple several filters together and cut. It takes up less time. To flatten filters, put them under a pile of books for a while.

(2) Students use WATER BASED markers to design their egg. I let them design it any way they'd like, encouraging them to use bright colors. I write each student's name on the edge of the egg with a PERMANENT marker so it won't mix with the other colors when sprayed.

(3) Then I tell the kids I'm going to use my "magic spray" {WATER!} that will transform their eggs. I spray each child's egg on a plate and let dry.

(4) As the eggs are drying I let the kids be creative and think of a good place they would like to "hide" their egg. I created a simple prompt for them to fill in the blank. "I will hide my Easter egg ___________."

Once the eggs are dry, I staple it to their sentence.

Check out our colorful eggs!

Kids loved how their egg magically changed with the spray. {They still don't know what's in that magic spray bottle. And that magic spray is good for other things besides changing eggs, too! Anything that needs a little magic...just spray it on!}

Another little craftivity I like to do around Easter is make bunny bags. This is a following directions activity. Print a copy of the directions page here.

Here's how we make the bags: (I have everything pre-cut so all the kids have to do is glue. I don't have templates for the pieces. I cut the pieces to fit the size brown lunch bags I have, as some are smaller than others. For the eyes, I made copies of those on the photocopier and just cut them out.)

(1) Using the following directions page (see link above), read each direction aloud to the class.

(2) They follow each direction to complete their bunny bags. (I have a finished one on display so they can have something to go by.)

The bunny bags do take a little bit of prep time, but once the pieces are cut, it's easy. An alternative would be to let students create their own by giving them the construction paper, allowing them to cut their own pieces. That should make for some unique bunnies!

Thanks for stopping by the Crazy Critter Café!

Hope everyone has a very Happy Easter!