The Easter Egg

This week's activities were inspired by Jan Brett's book The Easter Egg. 

This was our Easter party, so things are a little different and more “special” than usual.   We met at a local park, and our big siblings joined in on the fun!

Gathering Activity: Bunny Hats

 

I bought these adorable Bunny Hat kits at Target.  The moms and little ones decorated these together.  The children had a fun time making theirs and quite quickly got into character.  If you don't want to buy these at Target, you can click here  DLKTK KIDS to find instructions on making one out of paper.  

Our little ones had NO PROBLEM getting into character. 

Story Time: The Easter Egg by Jan Brett 

 
 

We sat on blankets together and read the story The Easter Egg by Jan Brett.  It is a MUCH longer story than we usually read with our kids. Luckily, the novelty of being outside on the blankets kept them seated much longer than usual.  We did not press our luck with any songs though.

  The Easter Egg is story very similar to Horton Hatches an Egg.  Hoppi Bunny is trying very hard to create a beautiful Easter Egg to share with the Easter Rabbit.  He visits all of the other rabbits and admires their unique creations.  He tries each of their talents, but none are a good fit for him.  Then he finds an egg that has fallen out of its nest.  Hoppi helps the mother bird out by sitting on the egg for several days and nights until it hatches.   When the Easter Rabbit arrives to choose his favorite egg, Hoppi is not there with the other rabbits.  The Easter Rabbit finds Hoppi in the woods and takes the now hatched egg and places it atop all of the other eggs in the wagon.  The Easter Rabbit loves Hoppi's gift of love and sacrifice best of all.  The artwork is lovely, in true Jan Brett fashion, very detailed. 

Art: Bunny Brownie Gift Jars 

In the book, the main character, a bunny, sits on an egg that has fallen out of tree and waits for it to hatch.  I saw these adorable Bunny Brownie Jars and thought it would be fun for us to assemble together at the park.  To me they look like little bunnies sitting on eggs.

 

 

We set up all the materials needed on the picnic tables and let the mom and child make these together and attached labels.

  I definitely recommend the little bags she suggests for the graham crackers.  

 

I thought the children could choose someone to share the Bunny Jar with and then go with their mommies to deliver it.  But if you decide to keep them for yourselves, I will never tell.  :) 

If you want to make these adorable Bunny Gift Jars you can get all the directions including printables for labels here at The Tip Junkie.

Snack: Rice Krispies Chocolate Dipped Eggs 

 

We ate these yummy dipped and decorated Rice Krispy Eggs.  We found the directions at Food Family Finds.   The mom in our group who made these, suggested just using your hands to shape the eggs.  She felt like using the plastic eggs as a mold was an unnecessary and difficult step.

***While half  of the moms hid eggs, the other half played these games with the children. 

Egg and Spoon Balancing 

We gave each child her own plastic blue egg (not the ones we were hiding) and large spoon.  We let them practice walking from one line to a finish line balancing the egg on the spoon.  No competition, just balancing practice and fun.  We told them they were keeping the baby birds inside safe.  This little girl made sure she held her tongue just right.

 

Birdie, Birdie, who has the Birdie 

This is played like "button, button, who has the button."   Have one blue egg.  Let a child “sit” on the egg like the rabbit in the story.  

The guesser closes his eyes while the egg is hidden and then asks “Birdie, Birdie, Who has the Birdie.”  Let them guess until they find the egg. 

 Play until everyone gets to hide and guess.  This game was a little complicated for some of our little ones.  When we asked "Who has the birdie?"  the child holding it would gleefully shout, "I do!" It took a little bit of the guessing part out of the game.  But they still had fun hiding it and "guessing."  


Very Special Easter Egg Hunt

 Each family brought 12 filled eggs per child, along with an Easter Basket.  We  let the children pretend to be the Easter bunny looking for beautiful eggs! 

 

 

****In addition, we hid a special egg for each child with his/her name on it.  This egg had a baby bird inside, like the one that the bunny takes care of in the story.  

 They loved searching for their own special eggs.   Then after they found the egg with their name on it, they loved playing with the little birds inside. 

We ended the morning with free play, a fun picnic and these yummy Apple Cider Jigglers.   

We are participating in Toddler Approved's Virtual Book Club.  Please check out all of these other fun ideas inspired by Jan Brett's book, The Easter Egg.  Feel free to add one of your own, too!