Easter is an excellent EYFS topic. Its connection to spring, certain animals, Easter eggs, and chocolate makes it the perfect holiday to teach new vocabulary related to seasons, animals and food. Therefore, educators can explore many Easter-related activities, resources, and ideas with their pupils in the classroom or setting.
Contents
Why do we celebrate Easter in Early Years?
Easter is a fantastic way to teach children about different cultures and religious festivities, and Easter is an important Christian celebration and holiday in many countries. Age-appropriate resources and activities help broaden children’s horizons, improve their storytelling skills, and enhance their ability to discuss different topics confidently.
What is Easter?
Easter is a Christian as well as a cultural holiday based on the lunisolar calendar. Originally linked to the Jewish Passover, it evolved into a unique celebration in 325 AD, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus.
In addition to traditional Christian motifs, other Easter symbols include the egg, decorated chocolate, the Easter bunny and the Easter basket. In most countries celebrating Lent and Easter, the holiday falls on the Sunday after Good Friday.
Fun Easter activities for communication and language development
There are many easy crafts and activities that early years teachers can organise in class. Here is an excellent range of EYFS activities you can explore with your children in the run-up to Easter.
Egg carton daffodils craft
Easter and springtime are often when we see daffodils. The children can make their daffodils in class, and egg cartons are perfect to create the daffodil shape. Use Chatta to describe step by step the things you need to do to make these daffodils. E.g. Carefully cut the carton and paint the pieces yellow, etc.
Egg hunt
An Easter egg hunt is a brilliant experience for the children to enjoy at Easter. They can hide eggs for others to find, look for eggs that the children have hidden, collect them in a basket, count them and describe their colours and sizes. Take photos and describe the Easter egg hunt using Chatta. E.g. We found some eggs in the reading corner. We found some eggs under a cup, etc.
Easter nests recipe
Easter nests are lovely to make, and children can then fill them with chocolate eggs. Describe what they do with Chatta. Talk about how they’re made, lay out the step by step instructions, and describe all the extra details that make the nests so wonderful using Chatta. E.g. Melt some chocolate in a bowl. Stir in some cornflakes or rice crispies, etc.
Eggy bread recipe
There are many delicious recipes you can make with the children at Easter. Eggy bread is brilliant because eggs are so popular at Easter. Describe the recipe step by step using photographs and add them to Chatta. E.g. Slice a piece of bread into thin strips. Beat an egg and dip the bread in the egg mixture, etc.
Hot cross buns rhyme
Everyone loves hot cross buns. The traditional rhyme people sing is something that’s been sung by children year after year. “Hot cross buns!/Hot cross buns!/One ha’penny, two ha’penny/Hot cross buns!” Use Chatta to record the rhyme and send it home so the children can sing it with their families.
Onion print chicks
With sliced onions dipped in paint, you can make wonderful Easter chick pictures. Use Chatta to describe the actions and the colours and what the pictures of the chicks look like. E.g. First, slice an onion. Then, dip it in paint.
Paper plate pecking hen
Another great Easter activity is to use a paper plate and complete a pecking hen activity. You can describe what you do with Chatta. E.g. This is a paper plate pecking hen. Paint a paper plate, stick on a beak and some paper feathers, etc.
Easter bunny ball rolling game
Make a simple ball rolling game. Decorate it with the Easter bunny. The children will enjoy playing it, and they can describe what they did and how much they enjoyed it. Take photos and add them to a Chatta board. E.g. Stick some big ears on top of a box. Cut a very big hole. See how many balls you can roll in.
Signs of spring walk
Exploring the great outdoors at Eastertime gives so many opportunities to find the first signs of spring. The flowers, leaves, buds…everything is coming to life! Take photographs, and describe the signs of spring that you see using Chatta. E.g. We saw pink blossoms, buzzing bees and swimming tadpoles, etc.
Spring into action!
Easter comes in spring. Let the children “spring” into action with some jumping and bouncing activities. Jumping up and down, playing leapfrog and keeping active. Take photos of some activities the children enjoy and describe them with verbs using Chatta. E.g. Jump up and down like a frog. Throw the eggs into the basket, etc.
We hope you enjoy these Easter activities. If you know of any activities we’ve not listed here, tweet us @hellochatta or share your activity in the Chatta community.
You can download the Chatta software and trial it for free by visiting https://app.chattalearning.com.
