[00:00:00] Hey friends. Welcome back to the Firstieland Podcast. Did you notice that Easter is early this year? It’s less than two weeks away. I can’t believe how fast time is flying, but it’s almost here. So today I have some fun ideas for you to add to your lesson plans just for Easter that kids are going to love. So let’s get started.

Spring was always one of my favorite times of the school year, partly because the countdown is on until the end of the year, but also because there are so many fun activities that you can do with the Easter holiday. So here are a few of my favorites, in no particular order.

Idea number one is to have your kids color Easter eggs and write about the process, but not the typical dip-and-dye method. Because honestly, I always thought that was a little bit boring, having to just sit there and wait for the eggs to dye in the cup. So instead, have your kids bring in six hard-boiled eggs from home. I always brought in at least an extra dozen or so for anybody who [00:01:00] forgot one or maybe broke an egg or something.

Give the kids a black permanent marker and have them draw designs on their eggs. They can draw lines or zigzags or polka dots, or they could even draw little pictures. Then give them a tray of watercolor paints and let them paint their eggs. We always put watercolors on our supply list so all the kids had their own tray, but if you don’t do that, you could just put one tray in the center of each table for the kids to share.

The eggs really turn out cute. They’re very vibrant and pretty, and it’s way more fun than just dipping them in the water and waiting.

And then when the kids finish painting their eggs, have them write the steps for how to color Easter eggs. It’s just a fun way to practice how-to writing, and the kids really enjoy it. You could even have them write their opinion of which type of Easter egg dyeing they liked better, dipping or painting.

We actually used to do a lot of writing in the spring because the kids had finally learned all of the different genres, so we could practice how-to writing, opinion writing, [00:02:00] informational writing, and narrative writing, all of them.

One really fun opinion writing prompt for Easter time is to give each kid a marshmallow peep to eat and then let them write their opinion about whether they liked it or not. A lot of kids like peeps, but I’ve also had lots of them who didn’t like them at all. Personally, I only like them when they’re stale.

Another good writing prompt is to write their opinion of jelly beans. When we did this one, I’d give the kids a little cup of jelly beans that had both sweet and spicy jelly beans in it. So they’d try the jelly beans, and then we’d meet at the carpet to describe them.

We had a little chart that I made with a big bag of jelly beans on it, and then we’d write words that describe the sweet and spicy jelly beans. So the kids wrote words like sweet or sour or sugary or spicy, you know, words like that.

And then when they were done, they’d write their opinion. The question on the writing template was, “Which do you like better, sweet or spicy jelly beans?” So they had to write their opinion, and then they made a little jar of jelly beans craft to go with it. It was just [00:03:00] another fun way to practice opinion writing.

One of my favorite books to read around Easter was How to Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace. It’s just a cute book that shows the Easter Bunny delivering his eggs, and he keeps finding all these traps along the way, but he dodges all of them and gets the job done.

So after reading the book, we’d talk about what kids would do if they wanted to try and catch the Easter Bunny. So first, we’d make a list of things that we would use for bunny bait. The kids would write things like carrots or jelly beans or lettuce, and then they’d actually plan their trap out on paper.

Then when they were done, they’d write the steps for how to trap the Easter Bunny. I had a couple of different templates that the kids could choose from, and it was just another fun way to practice how-to writing.

All of these writing activities are in my TPT store, and you can grab them at firstieland.com/easterwriting, that’s all one word, or I’ll put the link in the show notes.

Another one of my favorite read alouds for this time of the year is The Tale of Peter Rabbit [00:04:00] by Beatrix Potter. I mean, it’s not exactly an Easter story, but it’s really perfect for this time of the year.

Sometimes we’d use this story and then compare and contrast Peter Rabbit with Peter Cottontail. We’d also use this story to compare and contrast Peter to Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail in the story. You know, how are they the same and how are they different?

You can talk about other story elements like character, setting, and plot. We’d sequence the events of the story. I mean, this book really is good for so many comprehension strategies.

I always wanted to add a little math in there, so I had my kids do a worksheet where they had to sort and graph the vegetables in Mr. McGregor’s garden. And we’d do some subtraction story problems where they had problems that said things like, “Mr. McGregor had six carrots, and Peter ate two. How many were left?” So you can use this book for math activities too.

And then finally, we used The Tale of Peter Rabbit to learn a little bit more about real rabbits. We’d read a little nonfiction mini book about rabbits, [00:05:00] and then they answered some comprehension questions about the story.

So The Tale of Peter Rabbit is really a great book with so many possibilities for ways that you can use it. And what’s nice about it is it’s not actually an Easter theme, so it works really for any time of the year, but I think it’s particularly good for spring.

If you want to grab this resource in my store, you can head to firstieland.com/peter.

Okay, and then one last activity that you can do is with the book The Easter Bunny’s Assistant. Have you read this book? It’s hilarious because in it, the Easter Bunny is looking for an assistant, so he hires a skunk to help him out.

Well, the skunk is really excited to be his helper, but the only problem is that every time the skunk gets excited, he sprays. And so everything is stinky. The Easter Bunny tries to get him to help with different things, but he keeps getting excited and spraying, and eventually the Easter Bunny has to fire the skunk.

I love this book, and usually I would always suggest that you actually read the book if you can, but for this one, there’s actually a YouTube video of this story with sound effects [00:06:00] that makes it hilarious. So I’ll put the link in the show notes. You need to check it out.

So after we read The Easter Bunny’s Assistant, I tell the kids that the Easter Bunny had put an ad in the Bunnyville Gazette for an assistant since the skunk didn’t work out, and the kids were going to get to apply to be his assistant.

So the first thing they did was fill out a job application, and that was really cute. It had questions like, “Can you color eggs?” and “Do you like jelly beans?” They had to answer all the questions, draw their best egg designs, and then write all the reasons that the Easter Bunny should hire them.

They turned out really cute, and then I set up six different stations around the classroom and told the kids that they were going to get to try out some of the different jobs in Bunnyville.

So station number one was the Easter basket maker. At this station, they made a really cute little Easter basket craft.

Then at station number two, they were the candy testers. I had little bags of different Easter candy for each kid with things in it like jelly beans. I think there was a marshmallow peep, and I remember I [00:07:00] found tiny little chocolate bunnies. So the kids got to eat the candy, and then they had to put the names of the candy in ABC order, and then write what their favorite candy was.

At station three, they became the Bunnyville gardener, and at this one they planted carrot seeds and then wrote the steps for how to plant carrots.

At station four, they became the official Easter egg hunters. I hid little paper eggs all over the room, and each egg had a letter on it. Then they had a little secret message decoder that they took around the room with them, and they filled in all the letters in the blanks on their decoder paper to solve the secret message, which I think spelled out “Hoppy Easter” or something like that.

Let’s see, station five was the Easter egg artist. I had giant Easter egg patterns at this station, and the kids used watercolor paints to color them.

And then the last station was the official jelly bean sorter. At this one, each kid got a little cup of jelly beans, and they had to sort them by color and then [00:08:00] graph them.

It was a really, really fun day. We used to do this the week before spring break or sometimes right after we got back from spring break as a fun way to ease back into school. The kids loved it.

Some years we did this as a whole grade-level day, and each teacher would do a different station in their rooms. The kids would rotate around to each room, and we made a whole morning of it. We’d have parents come and help, and everybody loved it. But some years I just did it by myself in my room. Either way, it was a lot of fun and really just perfect to do around Easter.

Okay friends, there you have it. Lots of different ways to make learning feel a little bit more like play in your classroom, but still have every single activity be academic and hitting your standards.

You can do fun writing and math, and even reading comprehension strategies, all with a cute Easter theme. If you want to take a closer look at any of these activities, remember that I have a YouTube channel where I’m showing all of these activities, and I’ll also put all the links to everything in the show notes.

Okay, [00:09:00] friends, that’s it for today. Until next week, remember to make learning feel like play, and I’ll see you next week.

Thanks so much for tuning in. I hope you’re walking away with some great tips that you can use right away. Be sure to hit the follow or subscribe button so you never miss an episode. And if you’re enjoying the podcast, I’d love it if you’d leave a review.

You can find the show notes and links for everything mentioned in this episode at firstieland.com. I’ll see you next week in Firstieland.