Saturday, March 29, 2014

Easter!

Honey Pot is 3 1/2 years old.
Little M&M is 2 years old.

Easter Books

We hadn't gotten themed library books in a long time, as we've been focusing on Honey Pot's letter units and Little M&M's colors. It was so fun to go with a list and grab so many books to go along with our theme. We have really been enjoying these too! For half of the week we kept them downstairs in the living room to share and read together. Then we split them up for the second half of the week: the top row of big kid books in Honey Pot's room for bedtime readings, and the bottom row of toddler (mostly lift-the-flap) books in Little M&M's room.


Marshmallow Bunny Craft

This idea comes from No Time for Flashcards. It was a perfect start to our week of Easter activities! The kids each had to sample one marshmallow before the craft, and were given three to eat afterward. I'm proud they were able to craft without eating midway through! I printed a bunny template directly onto colored paper (because my freehand drawing skills are atrocious). Then I squirt the glue around the template, and the kids got to work!



Little M&M needed to reapply some glue. Happy to do it himself!


Adding googly eyes, a nose and a tongue.



Honey Pot did her own gluing for the facial features.


So cute!


Playdoh Fun with Easter Shapes

Playdoh is quickly becoming one of Honey Pot's favorite downtime activities. We are so happy to have received this tub of cookie cutters from Santa for Christmas. It's getting a lot of use! We cut out tons of egg shapes and decorated them with buttons, colored noodles, and other designs from our tools.



We have two silicone cupcake liners with our playdoh supplies, so Honey Pot couldn't resist making an Easter cupcake! Notice the bunny cutout on top!


And bunny faces with googly eyes were also created. Such fun!


Strawberry "Carrots"

I saw this idea floating around on Pinterest, but do not know whom to credit for the original idea. We made carrots out of strawberries! I stuck a lollipop stick into each to make it easier for little helpers to dip them.


We melted down the orange candy coating, and dipped our strawberries in. Then we placed them into our cake pop stand to harden. 




We didn't dip all the way to the stems, for fear of the strawberries falling off the sticks. But they came out pretty cute!



Yummy!


Magnetic Pom Poms

I printed this cute egg shape from Free Homeschool Deals for Little M&M to do some color matching. I put it on a cookie sheet and provided him with the magnetic pom poms. He loved it!




Easter Worksheets

Honey Pot completed some worksheets from Over the Big Moon. First some practice in completing patterns.


Then circling which bunny is different, and explaining how.


And finally counting and number recognition. I am so pleased to have found this so she could get some extra practice for numbers 11 and 12. She did great!


Easter Sensory Basket + Fine Motor Skills

As a spur of the moment activity one rainy morning, I brought out an old Easter basket and set of empty eggs. Little M&M sat for a good long while, opening and attempting to close the eggs. Putting them into the basket, taking them out.


He loved the sound it made when he opened it. "Pop!"


Pattern Block Bunny Puzzle

We love our pattern blocks from Melissa and Doug! We tried out this bunny puzzle this week.


This is as far as Little M&M got. He's still new to this type of puzzle!


Honey Pot loves doing these, and finished hers all by herself.



Egg Hunt and Color Match

Little M&M had a fun time while his big sister was at preschool one morning. I hid some eggs around the room for him to collect, then bring back to the bunny that matched it.



He had so much fun with this, and asked for more! So we brought out bowls in orange, yellow and blue too, and matched those. Though I don't have pictures of that part.


Egg Hunt and Pattern Matching

Honey Pot also had a hunt, while her little brother was napping. I hid some egg halves around the room, and she had to collect them all in her basket.


When she had found them all, she had to put them back together by following the pattern cards. I found the idea for mixed-up eggs at Make and Takes, although in their activity, the kids hunted for patterns, instead of creating them. I thought Honey Pot might enjoy snapping them back together herself! It was great fine motor practice!



There was a top and bottom of each color, so in addition to finding the right color she had to pay close attention to their size in order to create the egg properly.



She did great!


Paper Plate Chick Craft

I found the idea for this from Keeping It Simple. First Honey Pot painted a small paper plate yellow.



Then she glued on two googly eyes and a beak I cut out of orange paper.


Looking at her finished product. :) I think she liked how it came out!


Then I added pipe cleaner feet. So cute!



Easter Egg Garland

The kids also helped me create this Pinterest-inspired plastic egg garland! Love this!





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