Engage

Below you will find a selection of Easter activities to enjoy with your child.

Number and Quantity eggs

Support your child's understanding of number and quantity in this Easter game.

Safety first

This experience is not suitable for children under 3 due to small parts.

What to do

Prior to starting, use a marker pen to draw on some plastic eggs. On the top half of the egg write a number from 1-5. On the bottom half of the egg draw the matching number of dots. Place the plastic egg halves in a basket and some pom poms (or other small items) in another.

Invite your child to try and match the egg halves together. Can they recognise the number and then find the corresponding half with the right number of dots on?

When they have matched them together, ask your child if they can count out the right number of pom poms to go inside!

More information

Children need plenty of practical opportunities to explore the concepts of number and quantity.

Colour Egg hunt

Support your child's colour recognition in this exciting egg hunt

Safety first

Ensure that you hide the eggs in places that are safe for your child to locate them.

What to do

Use some felt tip pens to colour in the bottom of each compartment in an egg box using a different colour for each. Next, draw some egg shapes on some card or paper that are the corresponding colours. Hide the paper or card eggs in your garden or house for your child to find.

Give your child the egg box and ask them to identify the colours inside. Explain that you have hidden some eggs for them to find and they need to find the correct coloured eggs for the colours in their egg box.

Support your child in looking for the eggs. Use positional language, for example "under the chair" or "on top of the table". You could also invite your child to find other items of the same colour that fit in the egg box.

More information

Being able to identify and match colours supports your child's ability to sort and categorise.

Playdough Easter eggs

Support your child's pincer grip and hand strength in this playdough experience

Safety first

Ensure your child is supervised with small parts and consider any allergies your child may have when making playdough

What to do

Explore some playdough with your child. Show your child how you can use your hands to mould the dough into an egg shape.

Make eggs of different sizes and talk about how they are different. Try introducing new vocabulary such as 'minuscule' or 'ginormous'

Next, encourage your child to decorate their playdough eggs by using creative materials such as sequins, pom poms, gems or leaves. Invite them to talk about their designs!

More information

When you include your child in making the dough, as well as playing with it, you are supporting their understanding of early scientific concepts. You can explain to your child that when you combine the mixture of salt and flour with the solution of oil and water you are making a new substance and it would be very difficult to turn the playdough back into its original ingredients.

Egg name hunt

Support your child's letter recognition in this fun Easter hunt

Safety first

Ensure the eggs are hidden somewhere that it is safe for your child to locate them

What to do

Cut enough egg shapes from card to make up the letters in your child's name. For example if your child is called 'Harry' you would need 5 egg shapes. On each egg shape, write a different letter of your child's name. Make sure you use a capital letter for the first letter in their name and lower case letters for the rest of their name. Hide these around your garden or in your house.

Explain to your child that you have hidden some letter eggs for them to find. Give them a basket or other container for them to collect them in. Tell them how many letter eggs they are looking for. Each time they find one encourage their problem solving skills. For example "You are looking for 5 eggs, you've found 1, how many more to find?" As they find the eggs encourage them to identify the letter and the sound it makes, for example "You found the letter 's' it makes the 'sss' sound"

When your child has found all of the letters, encourage them to put them in the right order to make their name. You might want to have a name card prepared so your child can match the letters.

More information

Exploring letters in fun activities like this one helps to develop your child's interest in letters and letter recognition.